Return-Path: desaix@sysnet.net
Received: from desaix (b53beth08.sysnet.net [206.142.16.70])
by unix6.sysnet.net (8.10.1/8.10.1) with ESMTP id f35JWCC27533
for desaix@sysnet.net; Thu, 5 Apr 2001 15:32:13 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: 200104051932.f35JWCC27533@unix6.sysnet.net
From: "David A. Tatum" desaix@sysnet.net
To: desaix@sysnet.net
Subject: OtR3.txt
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 15:31:28 -0400
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: Microsoft Internet Mail 4.70.1155
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-UIDL: 9LU!!WO*"!CK!!I3+#!
Part 3:
Noa and Asuma, half-dressed after their difficult night's sleep, were
trying to relax in the main room of their hideout. Things were slightly
tense between them after what they said and did the previous night, and
they were uncertain how to relate to each other after the unexpected
change. Trying to avoid the issue, they'd seperated to do very different
things. It had turned into a very lazy afternoon.
Noa was furiously her Patlabor game, trying to beat her top score. She'd
seen a steady improvement in her performance that day, but part of that
might have been that there wasn't much else to do in the cabin. Briefly,
she glanced over at Asuma, blushing slightly. No, not much else to do at
all.
Asuma was lying on his elbows, reading one of the manga they'd been
supplied. It wasn't something he'd normally be interested in (it was a
girls manga), but considering the limited options it was probably the best
way of preventing boredom. In an attempt to breech the wall of nerves
they'd erected between them, he first tried helping Noa out on her video
game. That hadn't worked out, however, and he found that the screen on the
Headgear Mini-Game device wasn't big enough to allow two people to view
what was going on at once- at least not without getting too close to each
other for comfort. He also considered suggesting they watch some
television, but he doubted anything of interest was on the local TVs...
though he should probably consider watching the news later that night, just
to make sure there weren't any major updates on their case.
"Say, Asuma?" Noa said, not looking up from her game.
"Yeah, Noa?"
"Are there any OTHER girls you'd have hesitated before sleeping with?"
Asuma blinked, and looked over at her. She was doing her best to keep her
smile from showing- obviously, she was teasing him.
"Not in this building," he said.
"And outside of it?"
"I don't know... I mean, there definitely are some. Most of those others,
however, are for completely different reasons."
Noa raised an eyebrow. "MOST of those others? What about those 'others'
who aren't covered in that 'most?'"
"Well, let's see. They'd have to be someone who I liked a lot... and who I
would be afraid of losing what I had with them... and who I trusted with
pretty much anything... hmm, not sure there really ARE any others who fit
all of those requirements."
"Good," Noa said smugly.
"Now, what you SHOULD have asked is if there are any other girls who I
WOULDN'T have hesitated before sleeping with," he added, smiling up at her
maliciously.
"What! Why you-"
"Shh!" Asuma said suddenly, leaping to his feet. "I think I hear
something."
Noa started listening along with him. She just barely made out what it was
he was listening to. "Is that a... helicopter?"
Asuma nodded. "Yeah... and it's getting closer. Do helicopters come
around here often?"
"First time I've ever heard one in these mountains, as far as I can
recall."
"Damn- that's almost certainly the police," he growled as the helicopter
got close enough for them to know that it was landing near them. "Wong
must have sold us out- quick, grab anything you can, and let's get out of
here!"
Noa glanced out the window. "Asuma, wait!"
"What is it?" he said, stopping with his shirt half-buttoned- he'd been
wearing just the T-shirt up until that point.
"That isn't a police helicopter. In fact, I think I see Utsumi waving to
us from its window," Noa explained, using the pseudonym Richard Wong had
first given them when they had first met.
"Utsumi?" Asuma said, surprised. He resumed buttoning his shirt, but with
less urgency. "Why is he here this soon? It's only been a day since we
last saw him!"
The helicopter finished its landing procedures, and Wong left it
accompanied by someone else. Noa, still looking out the window, gasped.
"Asuma, Takeo's with him!"
He paused. "Well... it's too late to try and run now that they've landed.
Let's just hope she's on our side. Utsumi said he would try and help our
investigation- maybe he's bringing her in to do it, and she has to ask us
some questions or something."
Noa turned to face him, and as she watched him fix his shirt remembered her
own partially-clothed state. Quickly, she buttoned up her own blouse
(which she'd been wearing unfastened), and turned to wait for the
unexpected guests.
There was a knock at the door. Noa glanced at Asuma, who nodded, and
opened it.
"Ah, hello, Noa, Asuma," Wong greeted. "I brought along a guest who simply
insisted that she see you to make certain you two were safe."
"Hello, Asuma." Takeo said, stepping in alongside him, smiling. For the
first time, Asuma noticed an odd similarity between her smile and Wong's-
perhaps it wasn't as wide, but it appeared almost identical in shape. It
was almost as if she WOULD be smiling just like him if her lips would let
her.
"Uh, hi, Takeo," Noa said nervously.
"Noa," Takeo acknowledged. "Have you been taking good care of Asuma?" she
asked in hidden amusement, noticing that the younger woman's shirt wasn't
buttoned up quite right.
Noa blushed. "Well... we have had a few problems. We need a few supplies
to remain... comfortable."
"Oh?" Wong said. "Did we not bring enough for you in our care packages?"
Asuma nodded. "We need some changes of clothing- we've been stuck in our
uniforms ever since we escaped, and there's only so much bathing will do.
We could also use something to help clean those clothes."
Wong nodded. "Oh- oh! I'm sorry I did not think of that when I showed up
yesterday! Give me your clothing measurements before I leave, and I'll get
you a complete wardrobe by nightfall. Is there anything else?"
Noa raised her hand. "Yes! We could use a larger futon and- ulp!" She
was cut off as Asuma's hand went over her mouth.
"A larger futon?" Takeo repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh, yeah," Asuma said, still holding his hand over Noa's mouth despite the
fact she was now biting him. "See, she's had to sleep on this really small
kids' futon she used to sleep on when she was, like, five or so, and was
hoping to find something a bit more comfortable." Once Noa realized he was
only trying to keep their secret a bit longer, she stopped biting him, and
he was able to move his hand away.
Wong laughed. "Of course! I'll send her a nice queen-sized futon along
with the clothing. Is that all?"
Asuma was a little surprised at the size of the offered futon, but decided
to ignore that little puzzle. "Well, the whole place is a bit shabby, and
could use a few things to fix it up. We don't need that stuff right away,
but if we have to stay much longer we could use some materials and tools to
rebuild the damaged portions of this house."
"Oh, I doubt you'll have to stay in it much longer," Wong said. "A few
days, a week at most."
That surprised all three of them. "You really think we'll be done with
this investigation so quickly?" Takeo said.
Wong looked at her sadly. "I'm afraid so... and then our truce will run
out, and I'll have to start hiding from you again. A shame, really, but I
promised to do my best to keep my end of the bargain."
"How do you figure we'll be done in a week?" she asked.
"Ah, well, see- our little research project with those phone records worked
two ways. You were able to discover what people in the police were
actively conspiring to force the investigation to turn on Asuma, and I was
able to find out who it was in Shaft who'd ordered the frame-up. I talked
to my friends in the departments those people head, and they'll try and
find for us the murder weapon your Inspector Matsui identified. Once they
do that, we'll go there, extract it, and use it to prove Asuma's innocence.
In the meantime, your Inspector Matsui and Captain Gotoh, if I'm any judge
of their competence, will be able to break down the police conspiracy in a
very brief time." He paused. "Which really doesn't leave much
investigation for us, does it? Ah, well- do you want to join me on the ski
slopes before we leave?"
"Richard Wong," Takeo warned. "We're only here on business. If you're
attempting to butter me up into liking you again, you're wasting your
time."
Wong sighed theatrically. "Oh, well."
"I would like a chance to talk to Noa and Asuma privately before we depart,
however. Would you mind leaving us alone for a little bit?"
Wong raised his hands in surrender. "Leaving you alone as ordered. Have
fun." Winking at her, he left the house and made his way out to the
helicopter.
Takeo closed her eyes and shook her head, that smile that reminded Asuma of
Wong still on her face. "You two are in a lot of trouble, you know," she
said. "I don't think you realize what it means to ally yourselves with
Richard Wong."
"Maybe not," Asuma said. "Though I do know enough not to trust anything he
says."
"Well, that's a start," she said with chagrin. "But there's a lot more to
Richard then just an untrustworthy guy. He's not going to hurt you, or let
you get hurt- not physically, at any rate- if you're a friend of his. And
when he told me he thought of you two as friends, I believed him."
"Are you sure about that?" Noa asked. "It sure didn't seem that way when I
had to fight the Griffin!"
Takeo nodded. "Hurting and humiliating are two very different things in
his book." She blushed slightly. "I happen to know that he finds
humiliating those he cares about something of a... um... turn on," At
Asuma and Noa's wide-eyed stares at her, Takeo quickly changed the topic.
"Realize, the Griffin got into a lot of fights- many of them very intense
battles- but it was controlled well enough that it wouldn't kill anyone.
It hurt Asuma, yes, but that was unintentional and unexpected. If it had
been going to kill you, it could have, Noa- and probably long before the
battle turned in your favor, too."
Cold chills ran down both her and Asuma's spines- Noa, at the thought of
how close she was to death in those fights, and Asuma, at the thought of
how close he could have come to losing Noa.
"So you're saying we can trust certain things about him?" Asuma asked.
"No- don't even trust what you know about Richard, because he'll use his
own patterns against you. Trust me- I've seen him work."
"Why is he really doing this for us?" Noa asked.
Takeo laughed. "Who knows? Richard's quite eccentric- he told me those
speakers that Bud was using on the Griffin to yell at you were put there so
that he could get the labor to play selections from Wagner's operas as it
moved. He lives by his own rules, and no-one understands Richard Wong but
Richard Wong himself."
"So how did you two come to join forces in this case?" Asuma asked. "Did
he approach you, or what?"
"No... we were following the same lead, and just happened to meet. I was
about to arrest him until I found out he could contact you two, and we made
an agreement where I would arrest him if he kept you two safe. He's
actually been quite helpful- which isn't really a surprise; he usually is,
when he wants to be."
"So... what should we do?" Asuma asked.
"You?" Takeo said. "You're already doing it- stay hidden. Just relax,
have some fun, and think of this as a vacation... but stay indoors. Well,
maybe there are some things you could do- I suspect it would be safe to go
skiing, if you wear some sort of disguise- but just use caution and don't
let anyone see your faces."
"Yeah, that's pretty much what Utsumi told us," Asuma said.
"I just wish there was more to do around here," Noa sighed.
Takeo's smile grew a little. "Oh, I'm pretty sure you'll think of
something. Look, I'd better be going- I'll come by to check on you guys in
a week if we haven't cleared you by then."
"Bye, Takeo," Noa said.
"Hold on," Asuma said. "Give Noa and I a chance to write down the things
Wong needs to get us our new clothes."
Takeo nodded, pulling out a pen and a small note pad from her vest and
handing them over to Asuma. "Write down anything you want to tell him in
this."
Asuma and Noa took their turns with the notepad before handing it back to
Takeo. "We'll see you in a week, Takeo," Asuma said.
Takeo smiled as she turned to go. "By the way... if you hadn't tried to
hide it, you'd have gotten a bigger futon."
"Huh?" Asuma and Noa chorused.
"Well, it's pretty obvious you two are sleeping together. If you'd just
come out and admitted it, he'd have given you a king-sized futon to share
instead of the smaller queen-sized one. Honesty has its rewards with
Richard."
As she continued out the door, Noa and Asuma both facefaulted.
* * * * *
Inspector Matsui stopped leading when they reached the door labeled
'Section Chief Fukushima.' His two companions halted when he paused and
pulled out a cigarette. Gotoh looked at the office, looked at Matsui, and
nodded slightly. Shinobu, on the other hand, just looked confused.
"Are we going in to get the section chief's help, too, or are we just
stopped so you can smoke a cigarette?" she asked, somewhat harshly as she
wasn't very comfortable being left in the dark.
"His 'help?'" Matsui echoed. "Hmm... I guess that's a good way to put it.
The answer to your question is we're stopped here so that I can smoke a
cigarette BEFORE we go in to get some 'help' from your section chief. I'm
going to need it to calm my nerves- sometimes it seems Mr. Fukushima does
his utmost to make me feel uncomfortable, and I'm gonna need this smoke to
get through this."
Shinobu looked at him, still confused. She was used to reading between the
lines with Gotoh- well, sometimes she was- but she didn't understand
whatever it was Matsui was implying. Or at least didn't want to
understand. "Well, should I go in and get him, or are we all going to have
to wait for you to finish this cigarette break?"
"We're going to have to wait, Shinobu. See, Fukushima isn't going to help
perform the questioning- he's going to be the person we're going to
question."
Finally, it all clicked in Shinobu's head. "You don't mean HE'S the one
who sold us out to Shaft? But he's our section chief! Surely he
wouldn't..." her voice trailed off into memories. Memories of the time
she'd confronted the same section chief about the possibility that the
SRX-70 that had been donated to her labor unit was being used by Shaft to
develop military labors. Blood money, she had called it. Fukushima's
response, for some reason, rang in her head that moment.
"Labor units run on money, not on pride," he had said.
"In addition to a number of phone calls between him and several suspected
Shaft administrators," Matsui explained, "I accessed his bank accounts and
discovered regular deposits to him by dummy corporations set up by Shaft
Multinational. While Shaft is not the only group I started out suspecting,
I've since got a few 'tips' to make me believe that Shaft WAS the
organization which framed Asuma and murdered his father, and while
Fukushima isn't the only person who appears to be receiving bribes from
Shaft, we've got other leads- namely your apparently altered report on the
missing weapon- that seem to connect to him."
The door behind the three of them opened. "And, in addition to all that,
you're able to discuss all of this in front of my office without giving me
a chance to defend myself," Fukushima growled. "Come in- I've heard what
you all had to say. Let's talk."
The three officers, looking a little like schoolchildren caught cheating on
a test, followed him in and closed the door behind them. Fukushima sat
down at his desk, gestured for them to take a seat, and then folded his
hands together.
Matsui, sitting down, cleared his throat. "Um, sir, I still have a few
questions-"
"Stow it!" the section chief barked. "You can ask your questions later. I
get a chance to explain my side of things, now." He paused, waiting for
their reactions.
Matsui seemed unhappy, but nodded and leaned back in his chair to hear what
Fukushima had to say for himself. Shinobu felt vaguely shell-shocked-
while intellectually she'd been convinced that there had been an internal
conspiracy to frame Gotoh's protege Asuma, she hadn't quite connected that
to corruption in the police- especially not to someone who she worked with.
She might not have liked Fukushima, but she was very by the book, and had
always felt that Fukushima was a by-the-book man, as well. His apparent
betrayal was something she'd never have expected in a million years, even
if the evidence for his had hit her on the head.
Gotoh, however, was as unflappable as ever. "Go ahead, chief. We all
appear to be wondering why you would frame one of your own for the murder
of his father." Unflappable, but still not very happy. Shinobu, who had
never heard him address someone so darkly- least of all someone as powerful
as the section chief- shuddered slightly at his tone.
"I did nothing of the kind!" Fukushima denied violently. "I will admit to
taking money from Shaft Multinational, but I wasn't doing anything like
that for it." He paused, sitting back defiantly. "I merely was something
of a paid consultant and lobbyist for them. I was asked to support their
labor designs over that of the Shinohara Heavy Industry designs back when
the two were competing for the Patlabor contracts, and received a modest
fee for my support. Since then, I've been supplying them with some
information when they've requested it- medical reports on the effects of
high-stress assignments on pilots and that sort of thing. However, I've
never done ANYTHING which I felt has hurt or hindered my police work in any
fashion- especially nothing which might have lead to one of my officers
being framed for murder." Disdainfully, he added, "In fact, I think it
could have helped us out significantly, if we hadn't been paranoid about
their motivations. They were willing to just GIVE us an SRX-70 was in part
due to my aid... and I STILL feel it was a mistake to get rid of it."
Shinobu was starting to get angry now. The SRX-70 incident had been a
trying time for her, and she still got mad thinking about how she'd almost
been duped into illegal weapons testing. Fukushima had refused to see her
problem with it at the time, and now he was only compounding his errors in
her mind. Still, she was able to keep her cool, and not do anything too
violent. She did break a pencil she was holding between her fingers,
however.
Gotoh noted Shinobu's waning restraint, and decided to ask a question
before she snapped. "Hmm... you say you've done nothing to lead to one of
your officers being framed for murder. I don't doubt that you believe that
when you say it, but can you be certain they never used your work in ways
you weren't aware of? I wonder... you didn't happen to alter a report at
their request, did you? A missing weapons report?"
Fukushima blinked. "Now that you mention it, they did ask that I change
one report from listing a missing revolver to say that it fell into the
Tokyo Bay instead of listing it as having been misplaced following the
action. I happen to know for a fact that the weapon in question was
non-functioning, however."
"Non-functioning?" Shinobu said. "How?"
"It was defective, according to my source at Shaft. They were merely
studying the trigger system, but the barrel had been damaged."
That got Shinobu out of her chair. "And you believed him?" she growled,
slamming her fists down on top of Fukushima's desk. "Shaft makes weapons
systems for the armies of fifty different countries. The police revolvers
used by Ingram and Peacemaker labors are pretty pathetic compared to Shaft
equipment- they had no need to study the trigger systems of those weapons!"
"Shinobu," Gotoh said, trying to calm her down slightly.
"How much did they pay you to believe them, 'Chief?' The ONLY possible
reason they would have for wanting to obtain one of those revolvers would
be to use a labor-designed weapon that WOULDN'T be traced back to them,"
she said. "So, 'Chief,' guess what? You DID participate in framing one of
our officers- and it's your fault he's on the run right now!"
"Shinobu!" Gotoh snapped, trying to get her attention.
She relaxed slightly, turning to Gotoh. "Sorry... but to think I used to
actually treat this man with some respect..."
* * * * *
Noa went through the crate of stuff that had been delivered for her.
Fortunately, she and Asuma hadn't had to unload the futon themselves, but
the boxes of clothing Wong had sent were much larger than they were
expecting. Noa pulled out some laundry detergent (complete with
instructions for how to hand-wash things, as if she needed them), four nice
blouses, three pairs of slacks, a skirt, and some underwear. Then she
started finding some items she hadn't thought to ask for- an iron, some
soap and shampoo for the bath, some toothpaste, some mouthwash, some maxi
pads (not her usual brand, but she couldn't really complain) and other
toiletries.
There was one thing that she couldn't quite identify, however, until she
took it out of the box and carefully studied the English writing.
"Eep!" Noa blushed, dropping the box once she realized what it was.
Asuma, unpacking his own box, looked over at her. "What?"
Quickly, she grabbed the box and hid it behind her. "Uh... nothing."
Asuma smiled teasingly. "Are you hiding something from me?"
"No!" Noa cried out, her voice trembling with embarrassment. Realizing she
just shouted, she giggled nervously.
Asuma's smile grew, and he crawled over to her on his hands on knees so he
could confront her face to face. "Come on- what is it?"
"Nothing! Really!" Noa insisted desperately. He was trying to be playful-
she was just trying to keep him from finding the box and getting the wrong
idea. Unfortunately, the more she fought the more he thought she was
playing, too.
"Then what's that you're holding behind your back?" he asked.
"I'm not holding anything behind my back- see!" Noa said, showing both her
hands.
Asuma feinted a look of surrender, then with a battle cry of "Ha!" ducked
around underneath her hand to grab the box from behind her.
"Asuma!" Noa cried, outraged.
Asuma gave her a toothy grin of victory, but then noticed that she wasn't
just disappointed or embarrassed like he'd expected, but actually looked a
little scared. His smile dropped, but he still took a good look at the
item Noa had been trying to hide.
"It's a box of condoms," he said simply. "An assortment- ribbed, flex-tip,
and... flavored?"
Noa nodded. "Uh huh," she mumbled.
"What's the problem, though? I mean, it's probably just a gag gift- you
wouldn't believe some of the silly things they put in my box. But you're
acting scared of this. Why would a box of condoms scare you?"
Noa blushed. "Um... I'm not sure how to explain it. Last night was
wonderful- we found out what we meant to each other, we snuggled up under
the sheets- even if part of why we held on so tightly was to fit on the
futon, we kissed each other, and we... um... did a few other things." Her
blush grew until she looked as red as her hair, but she continued. "But we
never got far enough to have to use anything like that. I was a bit glad,
actually... I'm not ready for that kind of step. This morning, when I was
thinking about last night, I was wondering what I'd have done if you HAD
tried to start something like that... something I wasn't ready for. I
figured one excuse I could use was that we didn't have anything like this
to protect me from... well, getting pregnant." She sighed. "Now that
we've got them, though, I... I can't think of any reasons other than 'I'm
not ready yet.'"
Asuma smiled comfortingly. "And what makes you think you NEED any other
reasons?" She blinked at his response. "Look, Noa, I'm not going to do
anything to hurt you, nor will I do anything to rush you. Like you said- I
can boss you around in the daytime. At night, however, it's your turn."
Noa smiled back weakly. "And what if you try something during the day?"
"Then you automatically take over, okay?"
"Okay," she said. "Say... you said you got a bunch of gag gifts. Like
what?"
"Um..."
"Come on! Let me see!"
"Ack!"
* * * * *
Takeo sat down next to Wong, removing her skis after a long, hard day of
going downhill. She sighed briefly as she recalled her vehement objection
to skiing with him. Of course, he was easily able to just ignore all of
her arguments and rent skis for the two of them, anyway. Then, of course,
she let herself be convinced to ski with him, after all: "It'll help
maintain our cover," he'd explained, "We don't want people wondering why a
helicopter flied up here and then left without someone from it visiting the
famous ski slopes... unless you WANT people to come and investigate around
the area of Noa and Asuma's cabin."
Takeo bought into that hook, line, and sinker. Then, of course, he spent
the entire day they were skiing hitting on her. The only pause had been
when they took a short break to fill up Noa and Asuma's new care packages.
His one comment about the extra things she'd added (which had included
feminine hygiene products for Noa (just in case), some books she knew Asuma
liked, and a couple other odds and ends) had been on the box of condoms-
"I'm surprised you're carrying a thing like that around," he'd said,
smiling like always. "You wouldn't happen to have been thinking about
using them, would you?"
The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she got. Here he was,
still hitting on her like the events of the past year just hadn't happened.
It seemed like he was hoping a few jokes would ease all of the betrayal
she'd felt at his running out on her, and that that would be the end of it.
Things would be back to normal, and forget all the little details like how
she'd be forced to arrest him on sight again when this was all over.
Well, he was wrong, and she was about to let him know and let him know just
how wrong he was, dammit! Just as soon as she figured out how to tell him,
that was.
Furiously, she grabbed her skis and slammed them onto the return counter
for the ski rental place, almost breaking them in the process. With that,
she stormed out of the room, trying to project her displeasure with the
world to anyone who might be paying attention.
One of the few people who WAS actually paying attention happened to be her
intended target: Richard Wong. Noticing the cloud over her face as she was
leaving, he quickly jumped up and followed her (he'd actually finished with
his own skis several minutes beforehand, he was just waiting for Takeo to
catch up). As it turned out, however, his rushing after her caused
EVERYONE to pay attention. The immediate rumors that started spreading
noted that the nice young couple which had arrived by helicopter that
afternoon was having a rather nasty fight. Some of the other men in the
ski lodge were hoping the couple would break up so that THEY could have a
shot at the cute ski-bunny who'd arrived so suddenly in the middle of the
day, but who had apparently been attached to the weird foreigner with the
odd smile. At any rate, Takeo and Wong were the talk of the whole place in
a matter of minutes.
Wong finally caught up with her in the lobby of the lodge, looking a little
flustered. "Takeo, what's wrong? Why are you so upset?" he asked.
"Nothing! I'm not upset," Takeo snapped. "Let's just get out of here,
okay?"
Wong scratched his head, confused. "Get out of here? Where are we going?"
"Home, of course! Where do you think?"
Wong still looked confused. "How do you expect us to get home? It'll get
dark before we get the helicopter warmed up, and it isn't equipped for
night flying."
Takeo clenched her fists, closing her eyes. "You mean... we have to stay
here overnight?"
"Well, we could always head back to Noa's cabin, if you'd prefer, but I
suspect your friends wouldn't like that," he answered, his smile returning
for the first time in this conversation, albeit hesitantly.
"And, let me guess, you only rented one room."
"Well, I don't really budget more than one room for business trips to ski
lodges," he replied.
Takeo sighed, defeated. "Fine. Where's this room of ours?"
"Right this way!" Wong gestured with a flourish, and started leading her
through the hallways of the lodge. They stopped at a door, and he used a
card to open the electro-magnetic lock. "Allow me to escort the lady
across the- eh?"
Takeo totally ignored his gallant gesture, just walking right past him into
the room. She grabbed a sheet and a pillow off of the one bed and headed
over to a sofa. "I'll spend the night here, thank you," she said, lying
down.
Wong followed her in after a second, letting the door close behind him.
"Um... if you want, but it might get kind of cramped."
"I'll be fine, as long as you stay in the bed where you belong," she
grumbled, turning so that she wouldn't be facing him as she slept.
Wong sat on the bed, his smile falling again. "Did I do something wrong?"
he asked. "Why are you acting so... hostile?"
Takeo sat up, spinning around to face him. "Look, did you really think it
would be all that easy?"
Wong blinked. "I'm afraid I just don't understand. What are you talking
about?"
"Listen," Takeo said, taking a deep breath. "We may have been lovers back
in Hong Kong, but that was over the day you never came back. It was even
more over when I found out you didn't even quit Shaft like you said you
would. If you think that, just because we have a temporary truce, I'm
going to go back to the way things were just because you con me into
spending the night in the same room as you... well, let's just say you're
SADLY mistaken."
Wong blinked. "Um... Takeo, check the closet."
Takeo blinked. "Why?"
Wong sighed, and walked over to the closet. Opening it up, he gestured to
the fold-away bed that had been placed there. "I was planning to sleep on
this, but if you insist on using the sofa, I'll be happy to take the
regular bed..."
Takeo blushed slightly. "You mean... you weren't just assuming we'd be
sharing the same bed?"
"Well, I was hoping you wouldn't mind if we did," Wong admitted, his smile
once again returning. "But I was prepared either way."
Takeo's blush disappeared, but she still looked somewhat embarrassed. "I'm
sorry... it's just that, with the way you tricked me into this ski trip and
that crack you made about the condoms I got for Noa and Asuma... and then
there was just one hotel room, and one bed, and..."
"Like I said, I was hoping you wouldn't mind," Wong said. "And I'm not
sorry for what I said and did- the ski trip was unavoidable, and that joke
was just too good not to make- but I'm certainly not going to ask you to
resume our former intimacies if you don't want to." He paused. "I am not
the most admirable of men- I do many crimes against the world merely for my
own gain, and I have no qualms about hurting those I care about if they are
in my way- but there are certain lines I will never cross. I will not
allow your co-worker to be successfully framed for the murder of his father
because my employers crossed one of those lines. I will not force you into
anything you are not ready for, because THAT would cross one of those
lines."
"You most certainly AREN'T the most admirable of men!" Takeo snapped. "You
lie, you steal, you cheat, you betray... but you're still better than I've
been treating you." She took the blanket and the pillow, and walked over
to the closet where he was standing. "Tell you what: You're paying for
this room and all, so I should be the one to get the rollaway bed. You
take the regular bed, and consider that my apology, okay?"
He paused, considering her offer. "Okay, deal," he said, heading over to
the bed. His expression took on some feigned disappointment, however. "I
guess hoping that you'd sleep with me in apology was too much, wasn't it?"
Takeo, who knew him well enough to know he'd been planning some sort of
zinger like that, merely swatted him with her pillow hard instead of
slapping him like she otherwise might have. "Yes, it was. Now get to
sleep- and if you even THINK about dreaming about me, I'm going to toss you
off the helicopter tomorrow... while we're in the air."
As he started to make his way under the covers of his bed, he blinked.
"Wait a minute- it's my helicopter. How are YOU going to get ME thrown
off?"
Takeo smiled evilly- oddly reflecting Wong's own expression. "Oh, I'm
pretty sure I could think of a few ways. I've had to toss the occasional
man out of a window in my time. And if I can toss Ohta out the window when
I'm drunk, I'm pretty sure I can toss you out of a helicopter door when I'm
sober. Or maybe even THROUGH the helicopter door."
Wong hesitated. That sounded... painful. And serious. "Um, yes, ma'am."
* * * * *
Matsui was not really surprised to find Gotoh sleeping in the Captains'
Office when he returned to the reclaimed land the day after the questioning
of Section Chief Fukushima. He WAS, however, a little surprised to find
that Shinobu was in the same office and NOT complaining about the laziness
of the other captain.
"You're letting him sleep on duty?" he said curiously.
Shinobu giggled slightly. "Actually, he's off duty. I've never known him
to go home when I'm here- instead, he just sleeps in the office and fixes
himself coffee and soups using his teapot and a sterno heater."
Matsui blinked. "Odd... oh, well. It's a good thing for me that he IS
here, at any rate... I need to... discuss... a few things with some other
higher-ranking officials, and need him to help me out."
Shinobu frowned. "Would I be able to help?"
"Well... not unless you're willing to leave the base while on duty."
Shinobu nodded fiercely. "This whole mess didn't seem all that real to me
until I heard that stuck up Fukushima's admission. Yesterday, I wouldn't
have been willing. Today, though... just tell me what we need to do, and
I'll call Gomioka in here to take over while I go do it."
"If you're going to do that," Gotoh, who looked like he was still sleeping,
said, "You'd better let me write a few extra orders. I'm going too, after
all, and so Gomioka's going to be in charge of both units for a while."
"Your awake?" Matsui said, startled.
Gotoh finally opened his eyes and sat up. "Been awake the moment the door
opened. I'm a pretty light sleeper."
"Well, then... write out your orders and let's go, shall we?" Matsui
suggested, trying to recover his wits.
* * * * *
Takeo sat in the ski lodge's cafe, munching on some pastry or another she
had bought for breakfast as she skimmed over the newspaper headlines. The
night had gone rather quietly after she'd made that threat to toss Wong out
of the moving helicopter, and now there were plans to head back after
lunch... she wanted to go after breakfast, but the departure time was
totally out of her hands.
The sound of a chair scraping against the floor caused her to look up from
the paper, and was somewhat surprised to see a total stranger taking a seat
next to her. He was a rather handsome man, wearing a slightly seductive
smile to go with his ski outfit. He'd taken what seemed to be his
breakfast with him when he came to sit next to her, and seemed to be
setting himself up to hold some sort of conversation while eating.
"Hi," he said.
"Hello," Takeo said hesitantly, turning her attention back to the newspaper
in an attempt to show her disinterest in holding a conversation.
"I saw that fight you had with your boyfriend, yesterday," the man said.
"My boyfriend? I don't have a boyfriend!" Takeo said, startled.
"Oh? Then who is that guy who's helicopter you flew in on?"
Takeo started to answer, then realize she didn't actually have one. Saying
he was a co-worker wouldn't sound true- not for someone who took her in on
a helicopter. "My ex-boyfriend, sort of. But that was a long time ago-
this is the first time we've seen each other in... well, almost half a
year. And the last time we saw each other didn't end very well." Well,
Takeo felt it didn't go well- being dumped into the laundry basket
certainly wasn't her idea of a good ending.
The stranger's smile grew to show his gleaming teeth. "Indeed? Then
you're unattached... good." He made direct eye contact with her. "Perhaps
you'd like to go skiing with me, today? Especially as you and your...
companion... seem to have had a falling out."
Takeo, who was starting to get a bit annoyed at having her breakfast
interrupted, shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't have time," she said as
politely as she could. "I'm supposed to leave at noon for a business
meeting."
The man's smile slipped a little, but he didn't give up. "Indeed? Where
do you work?"
Takeo got a smile of her own. She knew a line that chased away most of the
more annoying men she knew. "I'm a cop for the Special Vehicles, Second
Section... in Tokyo."
"Really!?" the man said brightly, his smile regaining the lost ground and
then some. "I live out by that Chinese restaurant you guys always order
from. What a happy coincidence, don't you think?"
Takeo's smile held, but the teeth that were showing started grinding. This
guy was relentless... and his persistence was starting to get annoying.
When Wong- the only other guy who she'd ever noticed hitting on her- first
approached her, he always knew when he was wanted and when he wasn't. This
guy just didn't seem to care. Was there any way of getting rid of him?
"Um... really? Well... that's good to know... um," she hesitated.
"Excuse me," Richard Wong said, approaching the table. "It appears that
we'll be ready to go sooner than expected- seems the helicopter can leave
right now, if you want.
Takeo nodded. Turning to the man who was annoying her, she quickly said,
"Well, I'm sorry, but it seems I'm going to have to cut this conversation
short. Bye!"
Without giving the man a chance to respond, she rushed to stand up and
nearly dragged Wong out of the room with her.
"I take it my intervention was rather timely, eh?" Wong commented.
"Let's just say I'd prefer your company to his. Let's get packed and get
ready to go, okay?"
* * * * *
Asuma sighed, putting down the manga he'd been reading and standing up.
"I'm bored. Wanna go wax Alphonse or something, Noa?" he asked,
stretching.
Noa glanced over at him anxiously. There was something he'd been avoiding
for some time, and she was starting to wonder about it- what was he feeling
about his father's death?
It almost seemed as if he was totally unaffected by the fact that his
father was murdered. Well, that wasn't true- she DID recall him looking
kind of saddened back during the boat ride to Hokkaido when he recalled the
memories of sailing with his father, but outside of that there'd been
nothing from him. And that hadn't lasted long- just until he sighted
Wong's ship.
Noa had initially put his avoidance of the topic to all the stuff that had
been going on- their need to escape, Wong's sudden appearance, and their...
recently discovered closeness. But they weren't on the run at the moment,
Wong wasn't likely to show up any time soon, and they weren't really doing
anything that would make their 'closeness' get in the way. She had thought
that once things settled down, he'd be able to think- and talk- about his
father's death. But he hadn't said one word about it since they'd arrived
at the cabin, and he seemed to be going on as if everything was normal...
well, as normal as being stuck in a cabin in the middle of nowhere could
be.
"Something," Noa answered. "Asuma... why are you so unconcerned about your
father's death?"
Asuma stumbled. That was sudden. "What?! What brought that up?"
"Well, you haven't said a thing about it since it happened, and I'm
starting to get worried, that's all," Noa explained.
Asuma looked... well, hurt wasn't the right word. Offended, perhaps.
Almost angry. "So you're starting to think I did it? That I really DID
kill him?" His voice showed some of the genuine hurt her question had
caused, however.
"What? NO! Of course not!" Noa quickly replied. "But... well, you don't
seem to have reacted to his death much at all. But if you're bored, I
thought, well, you might want to talk about it."
"Why would I want to talk about it?" he growled angrily.
This was not going well- it reminded Noa of that big fight they'd had over
his father back when she first discovered that they weren't getting along
well. They hadn't spoken socially to each other for days after that
incident, and she really didn't want the same thing to happen to them this
time. Not talking for days in a situation where they had no-one to talk to
but each other would be hell. Still, this was something Noa felt she HAD
to get him to talk about.
"Because... because I care about you, Asuma!" she exclaimed. "I don't want
something like this eating away at your insides. I know that fighting with
your father all the time tore you up, because you always got mad whenever I
brought him up. Angrier than I ever saw you. But I also know that you
WANTED to make up with him, especially after I saw you run after him that
time we visited your brother's grave. He's DEAD, Asuma, and you never had
time to reconcile... don't tell me you don't feel anything about that!"
Asuma winced as if stung. "Geez, Noa... what ARE you trying to do? I KNOW
my father died before we could return to being the family I wanted to be,
but I've been trying to not think about it."
"Sorry," Noa apologized. "I don't want to hurt you, but I'm afraid you'll
be even MORE hurt if you don't get this off your chest. I'm TRYING to
help."
Asuma glared at her. "You should stick to piloting Alphonse. You're not
very good at this... especially with the way you spring this sort of thing
on a person so suddenly." He sighed. "This is the SECOND time you've
blurted out something about facing up to my feelings with my father- you
really should learn to ease this sort of thing into the conversation, you
know?"
Noa smiled guiltily. He didn't seem quite as angry as he had been, and he
DID have a point. "Sorry, Asuma... but I still think we should talk about
it."
"Well... talk about what?" Asuma asked. "I mean, it's not like there's
anything I can say about it. My father's dead- nothing will change that.
I didn't have time to reconcile with him- nothing will change that, either.
So, well, it might hurt a bit to think about it, but what can I do? Why
should I hurt myself even more by thinking about it, when I can't do
anything about it?" He paused. "I'd rather worry about the present, where
you and I are stuck out in the snowy mountains, where all we have to do is
find ways to combat the boredom of life in a hideout while we wait for
others to find the evidence it will take to allow us to go home. I'm just
afraid that if we don't find new things to do soon, we'll annoy each other
to death."
Noa blinked at him. "Hey, are you saying I'm annoying?"
Asuma smiled. "Of course you're annoying. Doesn't mean I don't like you,
though." His smile changed a bit, showing less humor and more
understanding. "Look, if it'll make you feel any better, we'll head over
to my father's grave when this is all over, and maybe I'll have a chance to
mourn. But right now, while we still don't know how all of this is going
to end- however peaceful it is at the moment- I'd rather worry more about
how to survive each day with my sanity intact than worry about what can't
be fixed."
Noa nodded. That made sense, but it still seemed like a rather... cold...
way to look at things. "Asuma... if it was ME who was dead, and not your
father, would you still be acting so casually?"
Asuma blinked. "If... if it was you? That would never happen, though.
Anything that would get you would also get me, as closely as we work
together."
"That's not an answer," Noa said.
"No, I guess it isn't," Asuma admitted. "But it's something I can't really
think about. I wondered, back during the first Griffin incident, what
would happen if you couldn't handle it- if it killed you before I got there
to back you up. I couldn't even imagine it- after all, you're probably the
only thing keeping my life stable, and you have been since we met. I can
tell you I wouldn't be the same, that's for sure. It's different with my
father's death, though... I don't have to redesign my life to replace him,
because he was never really a part of it." He shrugged. "I guess you just
mean more to me than him."
Noa glanced out a nearby window. The sun was nearly down. "That's...
well, sweet, sort of. It wasn't really a nice way to put it, though."
"Sorry," he replied.
"But I mean it- it's really sweet. Especially since you don't seem to
consider staying HERE to not be a major adjustment in your life, but the
idea of being without me would be one." Noa smiled at him. "It's almost
nightfall... doesn't this mean I should be the boss, soon?"
Asuma blinked at the apparent change of subject. "Well... I guess, but
that's not really what I meant..."
"Good!" Noa replied. For some reason, some of her concerns had disappeared
in that discussion, and her eyes went to the box where they'd placed a
number of the gag gifts they'd gotten from Takeo. "There's something ELSE
I want to talk about, but I think you're going to have fun with this
discussion..."
* * * * *
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
desaix@sysnet.net
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
anime fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/zednik.geo/fanfics.htm
List owner of the Temporary FFML Refuge (FFML-R)
To subscribe, send a blank message to
FFMLRefuge-subscribe@listbot.com
And follow the instructions in the response...
Received: from desaix (b53beth08.sysnet.net [206.142.16.70])
by unix6.sysnet.net (8.10.1/8.10.1) with ESMTP id f35JWCC27533
for desaix@sysnet.net; Thu, 5 Apr 2001 15:32:13 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: 200104051932.f35JWCC27533@unix6.sysnet.net
From: "David A. Tatum" desaix@sysnet.net
To: desaix@sysnet.net
Subject: OtR3.txt
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 15:31:28 -0400
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: Microsoft Internet Mail 4.70.1155
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-UIDL: 9LU!!WO*"!CK!!I3+#!
Part 3:
Noa and Asuma, half-dressed after their difficult night's sleep, were
trying to relax in the main room of their hideout. Things were slightly
tense between them after what they said and did the previous night, and
they were uncertain how to relate to each other after the unexpected
change. Trying to avoid the issue, they'd seperated to do very different
things. It had turned into a very lazy afternoon.
Noa was furiously her Patlabor game, trying to beat her top score. She'd
seen a steady improvement in her performance that day, but part of that
might have been that there wasn't much else to do in the cabin. Briefly,
she glanced over at Asuma, blushing slightly. No, not much else to do at
all.
Asuma was lying on his elbows, reading one of the manga they'd been
supplied. It wasn't something he'd normally be interested in (it was a
girls manga), but considering the limited options it was probably the best
way of preventing boredom. In an attempt to breech the wall of nerves
they'd erected between them, he first tried helping Noa out on her video
game. That hadn't worked out, however, and he found that the screen on the
Headgear Mini-Game device wasn't big enough to allow two people to view
what was going on at once- at least not without getting too close to each
other for comfort. He also considered suggesting they watch some
television, but he doubted anything of interest was on the local TVs...
though he should probably consider watching the news later that night, just
to make sure there weren't any major updates on their case.
"Say, Asuma?" Noa said, not looking up from her game.
"Yeah, Noa?"
"Are there any OTHER girls you'd have hesitated before sleeping with?"
Asuma blinked, and looked over at her. She was doing her best to keep her
smile from showing- obviously, she was teasing him.
"Not in this building," he said.
"And outside of it?"
"I don't know... I mean, there definitely are some. Most of those others,
however, are for completely different reasons."
Noa raised an eyebrow. "MOST of those others? What about those 'others'
who aren't covered in that 'most?'"
"Well, let's see. They'd have to be someone who I liked a lot... and who I
would be afraid of losing what I had with them... and who I trusted with
pretty much anything... hmm, not sure there really ARE any others who fit
all of those requirements."
"Good," Noa said smugly.
"Now, what you SHOULD have asked is if there are any other girls who I
WOULDN'T have hesitated before sleeping with," he added, smiling up at her
maliciously.
"What! Why you-"
"Shh!" Asuma said suddenly, leaping to his feet. "I think I hear
something."
Noa started listening along with him. She just barely made out what it was
he was listening to. "Is that a... helicopter?"
Asuma nodded. "Yeah... and it's getting closer. Do helicopters come
around here often?"
"First time I've ever heard one in these mountains, as far as I can
recall."
"Damn- that's almost certainly the police," he growled as the helicopter
got close enough for them to know that it was landing near them. "Wong
must have sold us out- quick, grab anything you can, and let's get out of
here!"
Noa glanced out the window. "Asuma, wait!"
"What is it?" he said, stopping with his shirt half-buttoned- he'd been
wearing just the T-shirt up until that point.
"That isn't a police helicopter. In fact, I think I see Utsumi waving to
us from its window," Noa explained, using the pseudonym Richard Wong had
first given them when they had first met.
"Utsumi?" Asuma said, surprised. He resumed buttoning his shirt, but with
less urgency. "Why is he here this soon? It's only been a day since we
last saw him!"
The helicopter finished its landing procedures, and Wong left it
accompanied by someone else. Noa, still looking out the window, gasped.
"Asuma, Takeo's with him!"
He paused. "Well... it's too late to try and run now that they've landed.
Let's just hope she's on our side. Utsumi said he would try and help our
investigation- maybe he's bringing her in to do it, and she has to ask us
some questions or something."
Noa turned to face him, and as she watched him fix his shirt remembered her
own partially-clothed state. Quickly, she buttoned up her own blouse
(which she'd been wearing unfastened), and turned to wait for the
unexpected guests.
There was a knock at the door. Noa glanced at Asuma, who nodded, and
opened it.
"Ah, hello, Noa, Asuma," Wong greeted. "I brought along a guest who simply
insisted that she see you to make certain you two were safe."
"Hello, Asuma." Takeo said, stepping in alongside him, smiling. For the
first time, Asuma noticed an odd similarity between her smile and Wong's-
perhaps it wasn't as wide, but it appeared almost identical in shape. It
was almost as if she WOULD be smiling just like him if her lips would let
her.
"Uh, hi, Takeo," Noa said nervously.
"Noa," Takeo acknowledged. "Have you been taking good care of Asuma?" she
asked in hidden amusement, noticing that the younger woman's shirt wasn't
buttoned up quite right.
Noa blushed. "Well... we have had a few problems. We need a few supplies
to remain... comfortable."
"Oh?" Wong said. "Did we not bring enough for you in our care packages?"
Asuma nodded. "We need some changes of clothing- we've been stuck in our
uniforms ever since we escaped, and there's only so much bathing will do.
We could also use something to help clean those clothes."
Wong nodded. "Oh- oh! I'm sorry I did not think of that when I showed up
yesterday! Give me your clothing measurements before I leave, and I'll get
you a complete wardrobe by nightfall. Is there anything else?"
Noa raised her hand. "Yes! We could use a larger futon and- ulp!" She
was cut off as Asuma's hand went over her mouth.
"A larger futon?" Takeo repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh, yeah," Asuma said, still holding his hand over Noa's mouth despite the
fact she was now biting him. "See, she's had to sleep on this really small
kids' futon she used to sleep on when she was, like, five or so, and was
hoping to find something a bit more comfortable." Once Noa realized he was
only trying to keep their secret a bit longer, she stopped biting him, and
he was able to move his hand away.
Wong laughed. "Of course! I'll send her a nice queen-sized futon along
with the clothing. Is that all?"
Asuma was a little surprised at the size of the offered futon, but decided
to ignore that little puzzle. "Well, the whole place is a bit shabby, and
could use a few things to fix it up. We don't need that stuff right away,
but if we have to stay much longer we could use some materials and tools to
rebuild the damaged portions of this house."
"Oh, I doubt you'll have to stay in it much longer," Wong said. "A few
days, a week at most."
That surprised all three of them. "You really think we'll be done with
this investigation so quickly?" Takeo said.
Wong looked at her sadly. "I'm afraid so... and then our truce will run
out, and I'll have to start hiding from you again. A shame, really, but I
promised to do my best to keep my end of the bargain."
"How do you figure we'll be done in a week?" she asked.
"Ah, well, see- our little research project with those phone records worked
two ways. You were able to discover what people in the police were
actively conspiring to force the investigation to turn on Asuma, and I was
able to find out who it was in Shaft who'd ordered the frame-up. I talked
to my friends in the departments those people head, and they'll try and
find for us the murder weapon your Inspector Matsui identified. Once they
do that, we'll go there, extract it, and use it to prove Asuma's innocence.
In the meantime, your Inspector Matsui and Captain Gotoh, if I'm any judge
of their competence, will be able to break down the police conspiracy in a
very brief time." He paused. "Which really doesn't leave much
investigation for us, does it? Ah, well- do you want to join me on the ski
slopes before we leave?"
"Richard Wong," Takeo warned. "We're only here on business. If you're
attempting to butter me up into liking you again, you're wasting your
time."
Wong sighed theatrically. "Oh, well."
"I would like a chance to talk to Noa and Asuma privately before we depart,
however. Would you mind leaving us alone for a little bit?"
Wong raised his hands in surrender. "Leaving you alone as ordered. Have
fun." Winking at her, he left the house and made his way out to the
helicopter.
Takeo closed her eyes and shook her head, that smile that reminded Asuma of
Wong still on her face. "You two are in a lot of trouble, you know," she
said. "I don't think you realize what it means to ally yourselves with
Richard Wong."
"Maybe not," Asuma said. "Though I do know enough not to trust anything he
says."
"Well, that's a start," she said with chagrin. "But there's a lot more to
Richard then just an untrustworthy guy. He's not going to hurt you, or let
you get hurt- not physically, at any rate- if you're a friend of his. And
when he told me he thought of you two as friends, I believed him."
"Are you sure about that?" Noa asked. "It sure didn't seem that way when I
had to fight the Griffin!"
Takeo nodded. "Hurting and humiliating are two very different things in
his book." She blushed slightly. "I happen to know that he finds
humiliating those he cares about something of a... um... turn on," At
Asuma and Noa's wide-eyed stares at her, Takeo quickly changed the topic.
"Realize, the Griffin got into a lot of fights- many of them very intense
battles- but it was controlled well enough that it wouldn't kill anyone.
It hurt Asuma, yes, but that was unintentional and unexpected. If it had
been going to kill you, it could have, Noa- and probably long before the
battle turned in your favor, too."
Cold chills ran down both her and Asuma's spines- Noa, at the thought of
how close she was to death in those fights, and Asuma, at the thought of
how close he could have come to losing Noa.
"So you're saying we can trust certain things about him?" Asuma asked.
"No- don't even trust what you know about Richard, because he'll use his
own patterns against you. Trust me- I've seen him work."
"Why is he really doing this for us?" Noa asked.
Takeo laughed. "Who knows? Richard's quite eccentric- he told me those
speakers that Bud was using on the Griffin to yell at you were put there so
that he could get the labor to play selections from Wagner's operas as it
moved. He lives by his own rules, and no-one understands Richard Wong but
Richard Wong himself."
"So how did you two come to join forces in this case?" Asuma asked. "Did
he approach you, or what?"
"No... we were following the same lead, and just happened to meet. I was
about to arrest him until I found out he could contact you two, and we made
an agreement where I would arrest him if he kept you two safe. He's
actually been quite helpful- which isn't really a surprise; he usually is,
when he wants to be."
"So... what should we do?" Asuma asked.
"You?" Takeo said. "You're already doing it- stay hidden. Just relax,
have some fun, and think of this as a vacation... but stay indoors. Well,
maybe there are some things you could do- I suspect it would be safe to go
skiing, if you wear some sort of disguise- but just use caution and don't
let anyone see your faces."
"Yeah, that's pretty much what Utsumi told us," Asuma said.
"I just wish there was more to do around here," Noa sighed.
Takeo's smile grew a little. "Oh, I'm pretty sure you'll think of
something. Look, I'd better be going- I'll come by to check on you guys in
a week if we haven't cleared you by then."
"Bye, Takeo," Noa said.
"Hold on," Asuma said. "Give Noa and I a chance to write down the things
Wong needs to get us our new clothes."
Takeo nodded, pulling out a pen and a small note pad from her vest and
handing them over to Asuma. "Write down anything you want to tell him in
this."
Asuma and Noa took their turns with the notepad before handing it back to
Takeo. "We'll see you in a week, Takeo," Asuma said.
Takeo smiled as she turned to go. "By the way... if you hadn't tried to
hide it, you'd have gotten a bigger futon."
"Huh?" Asuma and Noa chorused.
"Well, it's pretty obvious you two are sleeping together. If you'd just
come out and admitted it, he'd have given you a king-sized futon to share
instead of the smaller queen-sized one. Honesty has its rewards with
Richard."
As she continued out the door, Noa and Asuma both facefaulted.
* * * * *
Inspector Matsui stopped leading when they reached the door labeled
'Section Chief Fukushima.' His two companions halted when he paused and
pulled out a cigarette. Gotoh looked at the office, looked at Matsui, and
nodded slightly. Shinobu, on the other hand, just looked confused.
"Are we going in to get the section chief's help, too, or are we just
stopped so you can smoke a cigarette?" she asked, somewhat harshly as she
wasn't very comfortable being left in the dark.
"His 'help?'" Matsui echoed. "Hmm... I guess that's a good way to put it.
The answer to your question is we're stopped here so that I can smoke a
cigarette BEFORE we go in to get some 'help' from your section chief. I'm
going to need it to calm my nerves- sometimes it seems Mr. Fukushima does
his utmost to make me feel uncomfortable, and I'm gonna need this smoke to
get through this."
Shinobu looked at him, still confused. She was used to reading between the
lines with Gotoh- well, sometimes she was- but she didn't understand
whatever it was Matsui was implying. Or at least didn't want to
understand. "Well, should I go in and get him, or are we all going to have
to wait for you to finish this cigarette break?"
"We're going to have to wait, Shinobu. See, Fukushima isn't going to help
perform the questioning- he's going to be the person we're going to
question."
Finally, it all clicked in Shinobu's head. "You don't mean HE'S the one
who sold us out to Shaft? But he's our section chief! Surely he
wouldn't..." her voice trailed off into memories. Memories of the time
she'd confronted the same section chief about the possibility that the
SRX-70 that had been donated to her labor unit was being used by Shaft to
develop military labors. Blood money, she had called it. Fukushima's
response, for some reason, rang in her head that moment.
"Labor units run on money, not on pride," he had said.
"In addition to a number of phone calls between him and several suspected
Shaft administrators," Matsui explained, "I accessed his bank accounts and
discovered regular deposits to him by dummy corporations set up by Shaft
Multinational. While Shaft is not the only group I started out suspecting,
I've since got a few 'tips' to make me believe that Shaft WAS the
organization which framed Asuma and murdered his father, and while
Fukushima isn't the only person who appears to be receiving bribes from
Shaft, we've got other leads- namely your apparently altered report on the
missing weapon- that seem to connect to him."
The door behind the three of them opened. "And, in addition to all that,
you're able to discuss all of this in front of my office without giving me
a chance to defend myself," Fukushima growled. "Come in- I've heard what
you all had to say. Let's talk."
The three officers, looking a little like schoolchildren caught cheating on
a test, followed him in and closed the door behind them. Fukushima sat
down at his desk, gestured for them to take a seat, and then folded his
hands together.
Matsui, sitting down, cleared his throat. "Um, sir, I still have a few
questions-"
"Stow it!" the section chief barked. "You can ask your questions later. I
get a chance to explain my side of things, now." He paused, waiting for
their reactions.
Matsui seemed unhappy, but nodded and leaned back in his chair to hear what
Fukushima had to say for himself. Shinobu felt vaguely shell-shocked-
while intellectually she'd been convinced that there had been an internal
conspiracy to frame Gotoh's protege Asuma, she hadn't quite connected that
to corruption in the police- especially not to someone who she worked with.
She might not have liked Fukushima, but she was very by the book, and had
always felt that Fukushima was a by-the-book man, as well. His apparent
betrayal was something she'd never have expected in a million years, even
if the evidence for his had hit her on the head.
Gotoh, however, was as unflappable as ever. "Go ahead, chief. We all
appear to be wondering why you would frame one of your own for the murder
of his father." Unflappable, but still not very happy. Shinobu, who had
never heard him address someone so darkly- least of all someone as powerful
as the section chief- shuddered slightly at his tone.
"I did nothing of the kind!" Fukushima denied violently. "I will admit to
taking money from Shaft Multinational, but I wasn't doing anything like
that for it." He paused, sitting back defiantly. "I merely was something
of a paid consultant and lobbyist for them. I was asked to support their
labor designs over that of the Shinohara Heavy Industry designs back when
the two were competing for the Patlabor contracts, and received a modest
fee for my support. Since then, I've been supplying them with some
information when they've requested it- medical reports on the effects of
high-stress assignments on pilots and that sort of thing. However, I've
never done ANYTHING which I felt has hurt or hindered my police work in any
fashion- especially nothing which might have lead to one of my officers
being framed for murder." Disdainfully, he added, "In fact, I think it
could have helped us out significantly, if we hadn't been paranoid about
their motivations. They were willing to just GIVE us an SRX-70 was in part
due to my aid... and I STILL feel it was a mistake to get rid of it."
Shinobu was starting to get angry now. The SRX-70 incident had been a
trying time for her, and she still got mad thinking about how she'd almost
been duped into illegal weapons testing. Fukushima had refused to see her
problem with it at the time, and now he was only compounding his errors in
her mind. Still, she was able to keep her cool, and not do anything too
violent. She did break a pencil she was holding between her fingers,
however.
Gotoh noted Shinobu's waning restraint, and decided to ask a question
before she snapped. "Hmm... you say you've done nothing to lead to one of
your officers being framed for murder. I don't doubt that you believe that
when you say it, but can you be certain they never used your work in ways
you weren't aware of? I wonder... you didn't happen to alter a report at
their request, did you? A missing weapons report?"
Fukushima blinked. "Now that you mention it, they did ask that I change
one report from listing a missing revolver to say that it fell into the
Tokyo Bay instead of listing it as having been misplaced following the
action. I happen to know for a fact that the weapon in question was
non-functioning, however."
"Non-functioning?" Shinobu said. "How?"
"It was defective, according to my source at Shaft. They were merely
studying the trigger system, but the barrel had been damaged."
That got Shinobu out of her chair. "And you believed him?" she growled,
slamming her fists down on top of Fukushima's desk. "Shaft makes weapons
systems for the armies of fifty different countries. The police revolvers
used by Ingram and Peacemaker labors are pretty pathetic compared to Shaft
equipment- they had no need to study the trigger systems of those weapons!"
"Shinobu," Gotoh said, trying to calm her down slightly.
"How much did they pay you to believe them, 'Chief?' The ONLY possible
reason they would have for wanting to obtain one of those revolvers would
be to use a labor-designed weapon that WOULDN'T be traced back to them,"
she said. "So, 'Chief,' guess what? You DID participate in framing one of
our officers- and it's your fault he's on the run right now!"
"Shinobu!" Gotoh snapped, trying to get her attention.
She relaxed slightly, turning to Gotoh. "Sorry... but to think I used to
actually treat this man with some respect..."
* * * * *
Noa went through the crate of stuff that had been delivered for her.
Fortunately, she and Asuma hadn't had to unload the futon themselves, but
the boxes of clothing Wong had sent were much larger than they were
expecting. Noa pulled out some laundry detergent (complete with
instructions for how to hand-wash things, as if she needed them), four nice
blouses, three pairs of slacks, a skirt, and some underwear. Then she
started finding some items she hadn't thought to ask for- an iron, some
soap and shampoo for the bath, some toothpaste, some mouthwash, some maxi
pads (not her usual brand, but she couldn't really complain) and other
toiletries.
There was one thing that she couldn't quite identify, however, until she
took it out of the box and carefully studied the English writing.
"Eep!" Noa blushed, dropping the box once she realized what it was.
Asuma, unpacking his own box, looked over at her. "What?"
Quickly, she grabbed the box and hid it behind her. "Uh... nothing."
Asuma smiled teasingly. "Are you hiding something from me?"
"No!" Noa cried out, her voice trembling with embarrassment. Realizing she
just shouted, she giggled nervously.
Asuma's smile grew, and he crawled over to her on his hands on knees so he
could confront her face to face. "Come on- what is it?"
"Nothing! Really!" Noa insisted desperately. He was trying to be playful-
she was just trying to keep him from finding the box and getting the wrong
idea. Unfortunately, the more she fought the more he thought she was
playing, too.
"Then what's that you're holding behind your back?" he asked.
"I'm not holding anything behind my back- see!" Noa said, showing both her
hands.
Asuma feinted a look of surrender, then with a battle cry of "Ha!" ducked
around underneath her hand to grab the box from behind her.
"Asuma!" Noa cried, outraged.
Asuma gave her a toothy grin of victory, but then noticed that she wasn't
just disappointed or embarrassed like he'd expected, but actually looked a
little scared. His smile dropped, but he still took a good look at the
item Noa had been trying to hide.
"It's a box of condoms," he said simply. "An assortment- ribbed, flex-tip,
and... flavored?"
Noa nodded. "Uh huh," she mumbled.
"What's the problem, though? I mean, it's probably just a gag gift- you
wouldn't believe some of the silly things they put in my box. But you're
acting scared of this. Why would a box of condoms scare you?"
Noa blushed. "Um... I'm not sure how to explain it. Last night was
wonderful- we found out what we meant to each other, we snuggled up under
the sheets- even if part of why we held on so tightly was to fit on the
futon, we kissed each other, and we... um... did a few other things." Her
blush grew until she looked as red as her hair, but she continued. "But we
never got far enough to have to use anything like that. I was a bit glad,
actually... I'm not ready for that kind of step. This morning, when I was
thinking about last night, I was wondering what I'd have done if you HAD
tried to start something like that... something I wasn't ready for. I
figured one excuse I could use was that we didn't have anything like this
to protect me from... well, getting pregnant." She sighed. "Now that
we've got them, though, I... I can't think of any reasons other than 'I'm
not ready yet.'"
Asuma smiled comfortingly. "And what makes you think you NEED any other
reasons?" She blinked at his response. "Look, Noa, I'm not going to do
anything to hurt you, nor will I do anything to rush you. Like you said- I
can boss you around in the daytime. At night, however, it's your turn."
Noa smiled back weakly. "And what if you try something during the day?"
"Then you automatically take over, okay?"
"Okay," she said. "Say... you said you got a bunch of gag gifts. Like
what?"
"Um..."
"Come on! Let me see!"
"Ack!"
* * * * *
Takeo sat down next to Wong, removing her skis after a long, hard day of
going downhill. She sighed briefly as she recalled her vehement objection
to skiing with him. Of course, he was easily able to just ignore all of
her arguments and rent skis for the two of them, anyway. Then, of course,
she let herself be convinced to ski with him, after all: "It'll help
maintain our cover," he'd explained, "We don't want people wondering why a
helicopter flied up here and then left without someone from it visiting the
famous ski slopes... unless you WANT people to come and investigate around
the area of Noa and Asuma's cabin."
Takeo bought into that hook, line, and sinker. Then, of course, he spent
the entire day they were skiing hitting on her. The only pause had been
when they took a short break to fill up Noa and Asuma's new care packages.
His one comment about the extra things she'd added (which had included
feminine hygiene products for Noa (just in case), some books she knew Asuma
liked, and a couple other odds and ends) had been on the box of condoms-
"I'm surprised you're carrying a thing like that around," he'd said,
smiling like always. "You wouldn't happen to have been thinking about
using them, would you?"
The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she got. Here he was,
still hitting on her like the events of the past year just hadn't happened.
It seemed like he was hoping a few jokes would ease all of the betrayal
she'd felt at his running out on her, and that that would be the end of it.
Things would be back to normal, and forget all the little details like how
she'd be forced to arrest him on sight again when this was all over.
Well, he was wrong, and she was about to let him know and let him know just
how wrong he was, dammit! Just as soon as she figured out how to tell him,
that was.
Furiously, she grabbed her skis and slammed them onto the return counter
for the ski rental place, almost breaking them in the process. With that,
she stormed out of the room, trying to project her displeasure with the
world to anyone who might be paying attention.
One of the few people who WAS actually paying attention happened to be her
intended target: Richard Wong. Noticing the cloud over her face as she was
leaving, he quickly jumped up and followed her (he'd actually finished with
his own skis several minutes beforehand, he was just waiting for Takeo to
catch up). As it turned out, however, his rushing after her caused
EVERYONE to pay attention. The immediate rumors that started spreading
noted that the nice young couple which had arrived by helicopter that
afternoon was having a rather nasty fight. Some of the other men in the
ski lodge were hoping the couple would break up so that THEY could have a
shot at the cute ski-bunny who'd arrived so suddenly in the middle of the
day, but who had apparently been attached to the weird foreigner with the
odd smile. At any rate, Takeo and Wong were the talk of the whole place in
a matter of minutes.
Wong finally caught up with her in the lobby of the lodge, looking a little
flustered. "Takeo, what's wrong? Why are you so upset?" he asked.
"Nothing! I'm not upset," Takeo snapped. "Let's just get out of here,
okay?"
Wong scratched his head, confused. "Get out of here? Where are we going?"
"Home, of course! Where do you think?"
Wong still looked confused. "How do you expect us to get home? It'll get
dark before we get the helicopter warmed up, and it isn't equipped for
night flying."
Takeo clenched her fists, closing her eyes. "You mean... we have to stay
here overnight?"
"Well, we could always head back to Noa's cabin, if you'd prefer, but I
suspect your friends wouldn't like that," he answered, his smile returning
for the first time in this conversation, albeit hesitantly.
"And, let me guess, you only rented one room."
"Well, I don't really budget more than one room for business trips to ski
lodges," he replied.
Takeo sighed, defeated. "Fine. Where's this room of ours?"
"Right this way!" Wong gestured with a flourish, and started leading her
through the hallways of the lodge. They stopped at a door, and he used a
card to open the electro-magnetic lock. "Allow me to escort the lady
across the- eh?"
Takeo totally ignored his gallant gesture, just walking right past him into
the room. She grabbed a sheet and a pillow off of the one bed and headed
over to a sofa. "I'll spend the night here, thank you," she said, lying
down.
Wong followed her in after a second, letting the door close behind him.
"Um... if you want, but it might get kind of cramped."
"I'll be fine, as long as you stay in the bed where you belong," she
grumbled, turning so that she wouldn't be facing him as she slept.
Wong sat on the bed, his smile falling again. "Did I do something wrong?"
he asked. "Why are you acting so... hostile?"
Takeo sat up, spinning around to face him. "Look, did you really think it
would be all that easy?"
Wong blinked. "I'm afraid I just don't understand. What are you talking
about?"
"Listen," Takeo said, taking a deep breath. "We may have been lovers back
in Hong Kong, but that was over the day you never came back. It was even
more over when I found out you didn't even quit Shaft like you said you
would. If you think that, just because we have a temporary truce, I'm
going to go back to the way things were just because you con me into
spending the night in the same room as you... well, let's just say you're
SADLY mistaken."
Wong blinked. "Um... Takeo, check the closet."
Takeo blinked. "Why?"
Wong sighed, and walked over to the closet. Opening it up, he gestured to
the fold-away bed that had been placed there. "I was planning to sleep on
this, but if you insist on using the sofa, I'll be happy to take the
regular bed..."
Takeo blushed slightly. "You mean... you weren't just assuming we'd be
sharing the same bed?"
"Well, I was hoping you wouldn't mind if we did," Wong admitted, his smile
once again returning. "But I was prepared either way."
Takeo's blush disappeared, but she still looked somewhat embarrassed. "I'm
sorry... it's just that, with the way you tricked me into this ski trip and
that crack you made about the condoms I got for Noa and Asuma... and then
there was just one hotel room, and one bed, and..."
"Like I said, I was hoping you wouldn't mind," Wong said. "And I'm not
sorry for what I said and did- the ski trip was unavoidable, and that joke
was just too good not to make- but I'm certainly not going to ask you to
resume our former intimacies if you don't want to." He paused. "I am not
the most admirable of men- I do many crimes against the world merely for my
own gain, and I have no qualms about hurting those I care about if they are
in my way- but there are certain lines I will never cross. I will not
allow your co-worker to be successfully framed for the murder of his father
because my employers crossed one of those lines. I will not force you into
anything you are not ready for, because THAT would cross one of those
lines."
"You most certainly AREN'T the most admirable of men!" Takeo snapped. "You
lie, you steal, you cheat, you betray... but you're still better than I've
been treating you." She took the blanket and the pillow, and walked over
to the closet where he was standing. "Tell you what: You're paying for
this room and all, so I should be the one to get the rollaway bed. You
take the regular bed, and consider that my apology, okay?"
He paused, considering her offer. "Okay, deal," he said, heading over to
the bed. His expression took on some feigned disappointment, however. "I
guess hoping that you'd sleep with me in apology was too much, wasn't it?"
Takeo, who knew him well enough to know he'd been planning some sort of
zinger like that, merely swatted him with her pillow hard instead of
slapping him like she otherwise might have. "Yes, it was. Now get to
sleep- and if you even THINK about dreaming about me, I'm going to toss you
off the helicopter tomorrow... while we're in the air."
As he started to make his way under the covers of his bed, he blinked.
"Wait a minute- it's my helicopter. How are YOU going to get ME thrown
off?"
Takeo smiled evilly- oddly reflecting Wong's own expression. "Oh, I'm
pretty sure I could think of a few ways. I've had to toss the occasional
man out of a window in my time. And if I can toss Ohta out the window when
I'm drunk, I'm pretty sure I can toss you out of a helicopter door when I'm
sober. Or maybe even THROUGH the helicopter door."
Wong hesitated. That sounded... painful. And serious. "Um, yes, ma'am."
* * * * *
Matsui was not really surprised to find Gotoh sleeping in the Captains'
Office when he returned to the reclaimed land the day after the questioning
of Section Chief Fukushima. He WAS, however, a little surprised to find
that Shinobu was in the same office and NOT complaining about the laziness
of the other captain.
"You're letting him sleep on duty?" he said curiously.
Shinobu giggled slightly. "Actually, he's off duty. I've never known him
to go home when I'm here- instead, he just sleeps in the office and fixes
himself coffee and soups using his teapot and a sterno heater."
Matsui blinked. "Odd... oh, well. It's a good thing for me that he IS
here, at any rate... I need to... discuss... a few things with some other
higher-ranking officials, and need him to help me out."
Shinobu frowned. "Would I be able to help?"
"Well... not unless you're willing to leave the base while on duty."
Shinobu nodded fiercely. "This whole mess didn't seem all that real to me
until I heard that stuck up Fukushima's admission. Yesterday, I wouldn't
have been willing. Today, though... just tell me what we need to do, and
I'll call Gomioka in here to take over while I go do it."
"If you're going to do that," Gotoh, who looked like he was still sleeping,
said, "You'd better let me write a few extra orders. I'm going too, after
all, and so Gomioka's going to be in charge of both units for a while."
"Your awake?" Matsui said, startled.
Gotoh finally opened his eyes and sat up. "Been awake the moment the door
opened. I'm a pretty light sleeper."
"Well, then... write out your orders and let's go, shall we?" Matsui
suggested, trying to recover his wits.
* * * * *
Takeo sat in the ski lodge's cafe, munching on some pastry or another she
had bought for breakfast as she skimmed over the newspaper headlines. The
night had gone rather quietly after she'd made that threat to toss Wong out
of the moving helicopter, and now there were plans to head back after
lunch... she wanted to go after breakfast, but the departure time was
totally out of her hands.
The sound of a chair scraping against the floor caused her to look up from
the paper, and was somewhat surprised to see a total stranger taking a seat
next to her. He was a rather handsome man, wearing a slightly seductive
smile to go with his ski outfit. He'd taken what seemed to be his
breakfast with him when he came to sit next to her, and seemed to be
setting himself up to hold some sort of conversation while eating.
"Hi," he said.
"Hello," Takeo said hesitantly, turning her attention back to the newspaper
in an attempt to show her disinterest in holding a conversation.
"I saw that fight you had with your boyfriend, yesterday," the man said.
"My boyfriend? I don't have a boyfriend!" Takeo said, startled.
"Oh? Then who is that guy who's helicopter you flew in on?"
Takeo started to answer, then realize she didn't actually have one. Saying
he was a co-worker wouldn't sound true- not for someone who took her in on
a helicopter. "My ex-boyfriend, sort of. But that was a long time ago-
this is the first time we've seen each other in... well, almost half a
year. And the last time we saw each other didn't end very well." Well,
Takeo felt it didn't go well- being dumped into the laundry basket
certainly wasn't her idea of a good ending.
The stranger's smile grew to show his gleaming teeth. "Indeed? Then
you're unattached... good." He made direct eye contact with her. "Perhaps
you'd like to go skiing with me, today? Especially as you and your...
companion... seem to have had a falling out."
Takeo, who was starting to get a bit annoyed at having her breakfast
interrupted, shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't have time," she said as
politely as she could. "I'm supposed to leave at noon for a business
meeting."
The man's smile slipped a little, but he didn't give up. "Indeed? Where
do you work?"
Takeo got a smile of her own. She knew a line that chased away most of the
more annoying men she knew. "I'm a cop for the Special Vehicles, Second
Section... in Tokyo."
"Really!?" the man said brightly, his smile regaining the lost ground and
then some. "I live out by that Chinese restaurant you guys always order
from. What a happy coincidence, don't you think?"
Takeo's smile held, but the teeth that were showing started grinding. This
guy was relentless... and his persistence was starting to get annoying.
When Wong- the only other guy who she'd ever noticed hitting on her- first
approached her, he always knew when he was wanted and when he wasn't. This
guy just didn't seem to care. Was there any way of getting rid of him?
"Um... really? Well... that's good to know... um," she hesitated.
"Excuse me," Richard Wong said, approaching the table. "It appears that
we'll be ready to go sooner than expected- seems the helicopter can leave
right now, if you want.
Takeo nodded. Turning to the man who was annoying her, she quickly said,
"Well, I'm sorry, but it seems I'm going to have to cut this conversation
short. Bye!"
Without giving the man a chance to respond, she rushed to stand up and
nearly dragged Wong out of the room with her.
"I take it my intervention was rather timely, eh?" Wong commented.
"Let's just say I'd prefer your company to his. Let's get packed and get
ready to go, okay?"
* * * * *
Asuma sighed, putting down the manga he'd been reading and standing up.
"I'm bored. Wanna go wax Alphonse or something, Noa?" he asked,
stretching.
Noa glanced over at him anxiously. There was something he'd been avoiding
for some time, and she was starting to wonder about it- what was he feeling
about his father's death?
It almost seemed as if he was totally unaffected by the fact that his
father was murdered. Well, that wasn't true- she DID recall him looking
kind of saddened back during the boat ride to Hokkaido when he recalled the
memories of sailing with his father, but outside of that there'd been
nothing from him. And that hadn't lasted long- just until he sighted
Wong's ship.
Noa had initially put his avoidance of the topic to all the stuff that had
been going on- their need to escape, Wong's sudden appearance, and their...
recently discovered closeness. But they weren't on the run at the moment,
Wong wasn't likely to show up any time soon, and they weren't really doing
anything that would make their 'closeness' get in the way. She had thought
that once things settled down, he'd be able to think- and talk- about his
father's death. But he hadn't said one word about it since they'd arrived
at the cabin, and he seemed to be going on as if everything was normal...
well, as normal as being stuck in a cabin in the middle of nowhere could
be.
"Something," Noa answered. "Asuma... why are you so unconcerned about your
father's death?"
Asuma stumbled. That was sudden. "What?! What brought that up?"
"Well, you haven't said a thing about it since it happened, and I'm
starting to get worried, that's all," Noa explained.
Asuma looked... well, hurt wasn't the right word. Offended, perhaps.
Almost angry. "So you're starting to think I did it? That I really DID
kill him?" His voice showed some of the genuine hurt her question had
caused, however.
"What? NO! Of course not!" Noa quickly replied. "But... well, you don't
seem to have reacted to his death much at all. But if you're bored, I
thought, well, you might want to talk about it."
"Why would I want to talk about it?" he growled angrily.
This was not going well- it reminded Noa of that big fight they'd had over
his father back when she first discovered that they weren't getting along
well. They hadn't spoken socially to each other for days after that
incident, and she really didn't want the same thing to happen to them this
time. Not talking for days in a situation where they had no-one to talk to
but each other would be hell. Still, this was something Noa felt she HAD
to get him to talk about.
"Because... because I care about you, Asuma!" she exclaimed. "I don't want
something like this eating away at your insides. I know that fighting with
your father all the time tore you up, because you always got mad whenever I
brought him up. Angrier than I ever saw you. But I also know that you
WANTED to make up with him, especially after I saw you run after him that
time we visited your brother's grave. He's DEAD, Asuma, and you never had
time to reconcile... don't tell me you don't feel anything about that!"
Asuma winced as if stung. "Geez, Noa... what ARE you trying to do? I KNOW
my father died before we could return to being the family I wanted to be,
but I've been trying to not think about it."
"Sorry," Noa apologized. "I don't want to hurt you, but I'm afraid you'll
be even MORE hurt if you don't get this off your chest. I'm TRYING to
help."
Asuma glared at her. "You should stick to piloting Alphonse. You're not
very good at this... especially with the way you spring this sort of thing
on a person so suddenly." He sighed. "This is the SECOND time you've
blurted out something about facing up to my feelings with my father- you
really should learn to ease this sort of thing into the conversation, you
know?"
Noa smiled guiltily. He didn't seem quite as angry as he had been, and he
DID have a point. "Sorry, Asuma... but I still think we should talk about
it."
"Well... talk about what?" Asuma asked. "I mean, it's not like there's
anything I can say about it. My father's dead- nothing will change that.
I didn't have time to reconcile with him- nothing will change that, either.
So, well, it might hurt a bit to think about it, but what can I do? Why
should I hurt myself even more by thinking about it, when I can't do
anything about it?" He paused. "I'd rather worry about the present, where
you and I are stuck out in the snowy mountains, where all we have to do is
find ways to combat the boredom of life in a hideout while we wait for
others to find the evidence it will take to allow us to go home. I'm just
afraid that if we don't find new things to do soon, we'll annoy each other
to death."
Noa blinked at him. "Hey, are you saying I'm annoying?"
Asuma smiled. "Of course you're annoying. Doesn't mean I don't like you,
though." His smile changed a bit, showing less humor and more
understanding. "Look, if it'll make you feel any better, we'll head over
to my father's grave when this is all over, and maybe I'll have a chance to
mourn. But right now, while we still don't know how all of this is going
to end- however peaceful it is at the moment- I'd rather worry more about
how to survive each day with my sanity intact than worry about what can't
be fixed."
Noa nodded. That made sense, but it still seemed like a rather... cold...
way to look at things. "Asuma... if it was ME who was dead, and not your
father, would you still be acting so casually?"
Asuma blinked. "If... if it was you? That would never happen, though.
Anything that would get you would also get me, as closely as we work
together."
"That's not an answer," Noa said.
"No, I guess it isn't," Asuma admitted. "But it's something I can't really
think about. I wondered, back during the first Griffin incident, what
would happen if you couldn't handle it- if it killed you before I got there
to back you up. I couldn't even imagine it- after all, you're probably the
only thing keeping my life stable, and you have been since we met. I can
tell you I wouldn't be the same, that's for sure. It's different with my
father's death, though... I don't have to redesign my life to replace him,
because he was never really a part of it." He shrugged. "I guess you just
mean more to me than him."
Noa glanced out a nearby window. The sun was nearly down. "That's...
well, sweet, sort of. It wasn't really a nice way to put it, though."
"Sorry," he replied.
"But I mean it- it's really sweet. Especially since you don't seem to
consider staying HERE to not be a major adjustment in your life, but the
idea of being without me would be one." Noa smiled at him. "It's almost
nightfall... doesn't this mean I should be the boss, soon?"
Asuma blinked at the apparent change of subject. "Well... I guess, but
that's not really what I meant..."
"Good!" Noa replied. For some reason, some of her concerns had disappeared
in that discussion, and her eyes went to the box where they'd placed a
number of the gag gifts they'd gotten from Takeo. "There's something ELSE
I want to talk about, but I think you're going to have fun with this
discussion..."
* * * * *
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
desaix@sysnet.net
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
anime fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/zednik.geo/fanfics.htm
List owner of the Temporary FFML Refuge (FFML-R)
To subscribe, send a blank message to
FFMLRefuge-subscribe@listbot.com
And follow the instructions in the response...