Great Angel of Fire

Chapter 24

Kasadi stormed out of the house fuming. Yes, she realized that it looked very strange that she was upset about not being allowed to fight in battle considering that she was a bigger pacifist than Emma, the Queen of "Can't We All Just Be Friends?" Land. But, Fudge Nuggets, this was her destiny! She knew that she had come to Japan for a reason, and it wasn't to attend the most prestigious Preparatory Academy in the World.

"Lord, I just wish I was home!" Kasadi said to herself as she made the turn out of Suburban Tokyo to Urban Tokyo. "I wish I never came to Japan, that I never found out who I was. That I was just home and eating Home-made Macaroni and Cheese." Just as she said this, she passed a small little restaurant, with a sign in bright red and gold letters – "Old Country Buffet."

She stopped, looked to the Heavens Above, said, "Oh, you're good," and walked in.

After filling herself with Macaroni and Cheese, Home-made Apple Pie, and a Twice Baked Potato with all the fixin's (In that order), her anger towards her cousin started to simmer down a bit. She knew that Emma and Meggie were only trying to protect her. She also knew that if the roles were switched, she would have just sent them straight back to America for their protection. So by the time she finished her meal, she was almost not angry anymore. Almost.

And so when she left the restaurant, Kasadi decided that she wasn't quite ready to head home yet. Instead, she opted to walk another block to the movies and see Horton Hears a Who. Twice. That's when she ended her afternoon of blowing off steam, and started to head for home.

During the few weeks that she'd actually fought with the Senshi, her senses had enhanced enough to be able to pick up the smallest things. She could smell a woman's perfume through a restaurant window and from across a bridge, she could tell exactly what school's uniform a child was wearing, as she passed an apartment building, she could hear a couple arguing from the top floor. All these things she knew, while she was barely paying attention to her surroundings; these skills were the reason that, at that precise moment, Kasadi knew who was following her.

She played it cool once she realized who it was. She kept walking calmly, occasionally stopping to look into a shop window if something caught her eye, picking up a pacifier a baby dropped – little things, so as not to let her stalker know that she knew he was there.

She was a block away from home when she made the sharp turn into the alley. She ducked behind a dumpster and waited. All but ten seconds passed before he followed.

A few seconds of waiting for the right moment, and then...

She leapt out from behind the dumpster, grabbing the man and latching onto him like a child riding on her father's back.

"Agh! Hell – get off me! I come in peace!"

"Says the demonic being!" retorted Kasadi, tightening her grip.

"I'm not going to hurt you, you crazy chick, so get off me!"

Kasadi paused for only a second. "You promise you'll be nice?"

"Girl Scout's frickin honor!"

Kasadi slid off his back and leaned against the wall of the alley. The Shadow staggered to the other wall, clutching his throat and swearing under his breath.

"With a mouth like that, you're on the wrong side," observed Kasadi, sitting down at the base of the wall. "You should be a Sailor."

"What does that have to do with – oh. Ha ha ha. Sailor Funny Bone, are you?"

"No, Sailor Irrelevant."

"Huh. How ironic." The Shadow slid down the wall into a sitting position, so that they now sat opposite one another in the narrow alleyway, almost toe-to-toe.

"How do you mean?"

"Well...I was created to kill you. That's pretty much my reason for being."

"Not 42?"

"And I just find it wildly ironic that I should understand exactly how you feel, when really we shouldn't have anything in common at all."

Kasadi snorted. "How are we alike at all?"

"Well for one we were both born with a self-destruct button. For another, we were both sadly disappointed by poor mentors."

"I have great mentors!" Kasadi snapped.

"Mentors who don't teach… Isn't that a bit oxymoronic?"

To that Kasadi had no reply.

They were silent for a moment. The sounds of cars and horns and people seemed so far away, as if the two of them were underwater, cushioned from the world.

It was Kasadi who finally broke the relative silence.

"Why?" she asked simply, not realizing that he wouldn't understand the specific question, having not heard the thought process behind it.

"To get to the other side," he replied.

"No – sorry – I meant…I meant why do you…do what you do?" Kasadi wasn't holding back now. She had been forced to hold back for months and she was so sick of it. "You honestly seem like a decent person. I mean, just sitting here and talking to you, and listening to you… You don't seem evil." He didn't answer. Kasadi continued. "So my question is…why do you do it, if you don't have to?"

It was a long, quiet moment before the Shadow answer. Hoarsely, softly, he replied, "I do have to."

Something in Kasadi snapped. "No you don't!" she shouted. "This isn't a game you play for the fun of it! Every move is calculated, it has a purpose – a reason. You have a reason. Now what is it?!"

"It's tradition, I suppose," he said, only slightly shaken by her outburst. "A long proud lineage of bastards screwing over bastards. I didn't hop on this bandwagon for myself, and I sure as hell can't get off."

"But WHY?!"

"BECAUSE THEY'VE GOT MY SOUL!!"

A shocked stillness fell on the alleyway. Kasadi said nothing, and the noises of the city seemed nonexistent.

"You think I want to follow their orders? You think I want to hurt people? You think I want to – to burn in hell?!" Shadow clenched his fists, a rigid, tensed form, every muscle in his body taut with fury. "Of course I don't. Of course I don't. But I have no choice. Trust me; if I did….I sure as hell wouldn't be doing this…kidnapping you I mean. Fighting you. I don't want to be here. Well…yes, I do. I want to be with you…but not like this. Never like this."

"You know…we've only met two other times before tonight…those are pretty strong words for the third date." Kasadi chuckled and she was sure that if he wasn't wearing the mask, Shadow would have smiled.

"Well, let's just say the Silver Shadow is only my night job…"

The conversation had gone silent again as Kasadi pondered what he just said. Shadow was staring at the ground, with his head hung and Kasadi just continued to look at him.

Once again, Kasadi brought the conversation back to life. "How do they have your soul?" Shadow was quiet for a long time, and she had almost given up on getting an answer out of him when he finally spoke.

"Well….It's not like they extracted my soul and stuck it in a jar or something. That's way too Angel," he began to explain, "My soul is still there…I just don't have the copyrights to it. As my nighttime self…I remember everything my daytime self does. He doesn't know I exist, but I recall both our memories. That's why I'm not just some emotionless, stoic…'It.' That's why they've got leverage on me. That's why I remember you."

"Say quoi?"

"Tell you what: if we live past this, I'll explain everything."

"I'll hold you to that."

Neither moved, locked in a staring contest that was not nearly so simple. Kasadi tried to probe into his head through his eyes, just visible behind the mask, for eyes are indeed so often the gateways to the soul. But they were cast in shadow, shaded by the silver accessory.

Even though, she stared, trying vainly to find the good soul she just knew had to be trapped behind that gleaming barricade.

"You realize," Shadow started, "I still have to take you into custody… An…admittedly atypical and extremely memorable Heart-to-Heart doesn't change that."

"Yeaaaah," said Kasadi, shrugging, "but hey, we got to stall for a while."

"Yeah." Shadow was the first to stand up and he held out his hand to help her up. The moment she grabbed it, he jerked her up, just a tad too fast and forcefully, and she stumbled, tripping over her feet and twirling. She felt herself fall backwards, and when she thought she was going to make contact with the pavement Shadow's arm flew around her back while the other supported her neck. From far away it would have looked like they had just finished off a tango with deep, extravagant dip.

Their faces were inches from each other when Shadow whispered, trying to make light of it, "Shall we dance?"

And that's where it clicked in Kasadi's head. Memories flashed before her mind's eye as a scene in a strobe light, memories of a place that seemed so far off, one that geographically was but chronologically really wasn't all that far behind them. The smell of wood and paint, and the sandpapery feel of his callused hands, these callused hands… And above and beneath and through all of it, the voice that she finally truly heard, finally picked out from amid the coarse disguise, saying those exact words.

"What?" she whispered, barely audible.

Shadow quickly pulled her back to his feet, realizing what he'd just done. But he didn't let go of her.

Kasadi thought back to the past four months. How every time she came in contact with the mysterious Silver Shadow, it was like constant déjà vu.

"We should go," he said, dropping his arms and turning around.

"No, I have a better idea." She grabbed his shoulder, spun him around and ripped off his mask.

They both froze on the spot, neither knowing what they should or could do. Kasadi was in shock, and he was trying not to lose his head.

"No…Hiro…" she choked out, tears threatening to spill.

Hiro spun around, as if he was just going to take off, but soon stopped with his hands in fists at his side. He then spun around again and stared at her straight in the face. His eyes were darkened, they seemed veiled, and his face contained none of its usual natural and inherent kindness for her. He was Hiro…without access to a soul.

He stared at her a moment, at a loss for words.

"Well," he finally said, the vocal disguise now useless since she knew what to listen for, "since now we're both going to die –" He rushed up to her, put his hand behind her neck and kissed her full on the mouth. Kasadi froze, still taking in on what had just happened, and just when her brain started working again and telling her to kiss him back, he disappeared.

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