Opposite to Nikita's calm exterior, inside of her mind, a thousand of past memory and emotion crashed each other as she walked to Madeline's office to give Kaori's report. It has been almost three years since Kaori was given to her as her material. A terrified young woman like herself given the devil's choice. Nevertheless being a trainer made her staying objective to her material essential, she was taken by Kaori's light, her child like quality to see goodness in anything. One could call it just naives, but it was not that simple. Her mind kept flashing back to the time of her training and numerous missions with Michael.
Certainly, the life had dealt the cruel hands to her countlessly, but when she questioned about her young life on street before Section One and present situation together, she just could not find clear answer for herself.
"Ah, Nikita, how's Kaori?" Madeline asked Nikita as she walked into her office.
Schooling her face into unemotional mask, Nikita looked into the older woman's eyes and answered. "She is doing her best to adjust under the cricumstance. As you can see in reports, she is highly intelligent and skilled in the operative field both in combat and tatics. Also after three short years, her foreign language skills including English are improved dramatically. As you pointed out prevously, her physical beauty is greate asset for her, but."
"But..." Calmly, Madeline awaited Nikita's answer.
"Her mental resiliency is in question."
"Please explain in detail." Madeline smiled politely to Nikita.
"After 2 years formal training and 7 months of field missions, it seems her mind could not process the mission's stress accumulation. Her personal traits emphasized strongly in morality. You and I know that our methods do not fit in coventional ethics. So in her case, instead of excluding cause of stress, her mind attempts to take herself away from the picture, in typical method of a self-destruction. It is true that she does not know what she is doing, but slowly she is turning into a walking dead."
"Does it effect to the mission anyway?" Madeline looked down the pads.
"Not now, but I concern it might be in future.
"Do you have any solution?" Madeline's dark eyes looked into Nikita's, almost like trying pry into Nikita's hard exterior.
"She needs another type of job specification. Possiblly a profile field, she could be a cultural consultant to Far East division." It was the usual Madeline's mind game, Nikita told herself silently , forced her to hold her barrier, and continuted to breath evenly. If Madeline wanted to play, she could play too.
"Thanks." Madeline put down the pad on the desk and nodded, discharging Nikita.
Ignoring unvoiced command, Nikita remained in her spot.
"Yes?" After a uncomfortable pause, Madeline inquired.
"Will you take Kaori off from the cold-op position?"
"That's something you don't need to know, but that won't stop you from finding the truth." Madeline showed mysterious smile upon her face. "So, I tell you this straight forward to you. No, we won't take her from her current position. She will stay where she was before. Whatever the problem she has, she must cope and deal with like you did."
"Thanks for answer." Nikita walked out from Madeline's room. Deal like I did, quickly walking down the corridor, she cursed in her mind. At least, she had Michael to guide her in the maze of this hell called Section One; nevertheless, she didn't know his intention always and consequently had to endured countless emotional and physical scars. Can Kaori do it? Her material didn't have anyone like Michael to embark this nightmarish path together. She worried her aloneness. The time like this, she truly hated the unfairness of reality. Every time when she saw Kaori, she kept seeing herself into her material. Perhaps if she didn't meet Michael as his material, she might become another Kaori, a single flickering candle light in the dark storm.