by Mara S. S.
"Why haven't you used them yet?!" asked Higurashi Akane frustration and anger evident in her voice. She was in the General's office at Garderobe, the base of the rebellion. Her hands were planted on the table and she was almost nose to nose with the formidable general sitting calmly behind the table.
"Haven't used what?" questioned Midori, suddenly jolted into her serious leader mode. The sparks flying from the eyes of the woman before her threatened to burn down the entire table but the red haired general was unfazed.
Akane stepped back from the table, her hands curled into fists. "The nuclear missiles recovered in last month's Tehran raid." she said, staring defiantly at her superior.
Midori's eyes narrowed at her former student's harsh tone. She stared at something in the distance as if weighing something mentally then suddenly her body relaxed and she propped her chin on one hand. "What do you mean?" Midori asked in a more carefree tone. "What does Akane-chan want with those sorts of weapons?"
Akane stared at her leader as if she was an idiot or had suddenly grown another head. "To launch at the Palace and Fuuka of course." she answered in a clipped voice.
Midori raised an inquiring eyebrow as one hand doodled on a piece of paper. Encouraged, Akane added "Just two missiles then kaboom!" She spread out an arm to emphasize that point. "It's the end of the war."
Akane was the best soldier in the Covert Operations division, but sometimes, Midori sighed inwardly, the girl took a bit of delicate handling. "Eh? I thought that was Nao's line, making things go 'Boom!'" Midori asked, turning from doodles back to the irritated demeanor of the operative before her, a cheerful and clueless mask carefully on her face.
Akane's face twisted in frustration. "Midori-sensei!"
Midori just shrugged helplessly and made a show of reaching for the phone on her desk. "Please excuse me Akane-chan; I really don't get what you mean." A few buttons were pressed and in short order, a dark haired ninja who was the general's second in command, opened the door and entered the office.
"Akane-chan?" asked Akira, a puzzled look on her face. She looked from the apologetically smiling general to the snarling assassin who looked about ready to tear Midori's throat out. Akira quickly took Akane's arm and led her out of the room keeping up a pretty one-sided conversation "Akane-chan hasn't been back in the base for a while; I hope you haven't been out of practice? Sensei's told me that you've improved but that you still prefer to use guns on your missions. How is the old man by the way…..."
-o-
They were to be found later in the training room whose floor was lined with straw mats and whose walls were lined with mirrors. Akira threw a well-placed kick at Akane's head but the older girl evaded it with ease. They were both sweating profusely now, tired from their practice. To Akira's relief, Akane hadn't mentioned what had happened at the general's office yet.
The two of them had become good friends over the past few years. After the festival ended, when the war was just beginning, it was Midori, Dr. Youko and surprisingly, Akira who'd brought her back to sanity. There was no room in her heart for a beloved aside from Kazuya, but a friend… a friend was what she'd needed desperately then. It was the younger girl who'd begun teaching her martial arts before introducing her to the teachers in the Okuzaki clan. She'd learned martial arts, and how to use both blade and gun. She'd been a fast learner. Akira could still beat her at the first two but it was the latter she'd really excelled at. It was also that latter skill she used to execute her targets.
Akane's training under some of Akira's former teachers had given them a common bond. Akane usually preferred to stay at one of the Okuzaki's strongholds in between missions. She said it was because there were more sparring partners for her among the ninjas. On the other hand, Akira was the ninja clan's representative to the rest of the rebellion. She was based in Garderobe and was usually busy either coordinating the Okuzaki and rebellion forces or leading them in the field against the government's military forces.
The brown haired girl was dressed in nondescript clothes. She was pretty enough but her features were all medium. With the lessons from Nao on disguises and subterfuge, she'd gained the talent of being very difficult to pick out in a crowd. It was a useful characteristic for an assassin and she often could – and did – accomplish tasks that neither Akira's troops nor Nao's street gangs could not. But the same skills and ruthlessness that made her good at her job made both Midori and Akira worry that Akane still wasn't as stable as she seemed.
"Hey, Akane? What did you ask Midori about?" Akira asked cautiously reaching a hand down to the other woman who'd fallen on the mat. To her relief, Akane didn't go ballistic and instead said earnestly "Remember the Tehran raid last month?"
Akira nodded, flexing tired muscles. "Yeah, I commanded it. We seized some missiles from the military right?" Akane smiled cheerfully, getting back on her feet and finding her footing on the rough straw mat.
"Some of them are nuclear warheads and I know for a fact we have a ship stationed off Hong Kong so if we launched it at the centers of government in Japan, we'd end the war in one single stroke!" she added enthusiastically.
Akira felt her body go cold and goose bumps rose on her skin. What frightened her was that her friend was honestly convinced of the brilliance of the plan. She didn't think of the millions of lives a nuclear explosion would damage. She didn't think of all the people who would be killed instantly. She didn't think of the life long diseases she would inflict upon the survivors.
Not only that, but humanity as a whole would be threatened. If the Eleven Pillars were destroyed – destroyed, not dematerialized – and the Crystal Princess killed then there would be nothing to stop the HiME star from descending and devouring the entire world. Midori had made that clear to all of them but it seemed that the reason for the Festival, like a couple of other things like innocent casualties, hadn't entered her older friend's thoughts.
Akira often wondered if part of it was that Akane hadn't known the consequences of her actions back in the Festival. She was the first to lose her most important person and the only one who hadn't known what was at stake when she fought. Now, Akane was treading on dangerous ground and she didn't even know it.
"That seems an… interesting idea." Akira said slowly. Akane's face brightened even more. "But do you really think we could do it?" Akira added, carefully choosing her words. "I mean, we would have a hard time getting the missiles near enough to Japan to launch them." A small frown appeared on Akane's face.
"They could also possibly detect the missile in time to shoot it down." Akira continued, thinking fast. "It's better to save them for a time when we have a better chance of success right?"
Akane's frowned deepened and she stood for a while lost in thought. Akira began to collect their belongings when Akane slowly drew out "I suppose you're right…"
Akira heaved a sigh of relief. "Well then," she said gruffly, catching Akane in a headlock. "That's enough practice, we're both tired. Let's go see if Nao's here already." Yukino, Shiho and Akane were already back in Garderobe. Midori wouldn't tell them the reason why they were called, only that Yukino had important news. Nao was the only one among the former HiMEs that they were waiting for.
"I wonder what took her so long." Akane wondered.
Akira laughed as they exited the room. "Nao-chan probably stopped to set a couple of explosions on the way."
-o-
That night, Akira reported what happened to Midori afterwards and the added complication worried them both.
Midori bowed her head and came to a decision "There's nothing we can do about this, let's just see what happens after the meeting tomorrow."
The serious ninja looked up, surprised. "You mean…"
"Yup." Midori grinned. "Nao-chan's finally here, now we can start planning the action."
TBC
Disclaimer: Mai HiME belongs to Sunrise
