Runaway
"We really need to look out for Shigeru now..." said Satoshi and he looked down thoughtfully.
"He's gone as far as kidnapping and blackmailing," added Kenji.
Kasumi stood beside them, listening to their conversation. They were flying towards nowhere while Shigeru was retreated elsewhere. Kasumi looked from side to side once in a while, disliking how far away they were flying out in space. Away from Shigeru....
"Kasumi," said Satoshi, breaking her thoughts. She looked up at him quickly. "Are you sure you're okay? You're really not hurt?"
"No," she replied quietly.
"You haven't yelled at us ever since we escaped Shigeru's ship," said Kenji and put a hand on her shoulder. Pikachu nodded in agreement.
"No," she repeated and stood up, shaking off Kenji's hand. "I just need some time to myself," she said and walked slowly into her quarters with Togepi.
Satoshi and Pikachu made small yelps and quickly ran after her, but before he could, Kenji blocked him with his arm and shook his head. Satoshi looked up at him sadly, but still anxious to get to Kasumi.
"Leave her be," said Kenji. "It's been a rough day, and she was in the middle of it. We should leave her alone so she can relax."
Kasumi sat in her bed, pressing her fingers and nose against the thick window. She couldn't see Shigeru's ship anywhere. Only the stars... endless stars.
"Shigeru..." she said and sighed. "If I had realized I loved you... maybe I would have been with you by now... but... but..." Kasumi's eyes welled up with tears and she burst out with her face buried in her hands. "Shigeru!!!!"
"Toge!" said Togepi and it climbed onto her lap and tried to comfort her. She slowly picked it up with shaking hands and could see its worried face. She moved her lips a little to cry more, but she wiped her tears and became serious. "I don't need to just wait like this. I'm not the princess-type and I'm tired of being treated like one so much I start to act like one as well. I wanted to ride in this ship for excitement, not some kind of nursing job!"
Satoshi sighed and gazed off into space. "Maybe we should check on her now," said Kenji. Satoshi's face lit up. "The poor girl's probably just sleeping, but still." The two boys walked into her room, but found it empty. There was no trace of her or togepi, except previous handprints on her bed and couch. But there was one little piece of paper that was taped to a cushion on her pillow. Satoshi ran to it in excitement. "Shigeru!" he said with his teeth gritted. But he looked at it and then suddenly looked shocked. Kenji looked over his shoulder and the paper didn't seem to have much writing on it at all.
Bai-bai.
-Kasumi
"What...? What does she mean by this?" asked Satoshi and turned to Kenji, but he only shrugged.
They burst back into the control room.
"Lei-9! Lei9! Status on the cargo area!" shouted Satoshi.
"Previous cargo total: 20 items," said the mechanical voice. "Current cargo total: 19 items."
"What was taken away?"
"Escape Shuttle removed."
"Kasumi took the escape shuttle?!" repeated Satoshi. "But- but why?"
Kenji took in a deep breath. He knew why, but he didn't think Kasumi would be so anxious to get back to Shigeru. He and Satoshi both saw them, but only he knew, but he respected Kasumi and kept silent about it.
"I don't know," said Kenji. "But I'm sure it must have been for a good reason."
Shigeru looked over Yoriko's shoulder and Ibui looked as well. "Sir," she said and her curly blue hair bounced as she turned her head. "There isn't any sign of Satoshi's ship, but I've located a small shuttle a little up ahead."
"Analyze it," he commanded.
"Yes, sir," she replied.
Shigeru wondered if the person in it could give him a nice boost on cash or weaponry. It seemed a little too small for anything rich in there, though. It was obviously only enough to fit in a bout two or three people, and possibly any other supplies. The standard model that he knew of.
"Sir," said Yoriko.
"Yes?"
"The ship contains one person, and something I can't identify. It's either an object, or an animal."
"Let me see what it looks like," he said.
The screen which held the graph of the ship returned to its original viewer and it took a nice close-up of the shuttle and the name of it. On the side of the ship were the words "PIKA-GALAXY."
"PIKA-GALAXY?" read Shigeru. He burst into insanity and looked closely at the screen. He demanded, "That's Satoshi's ship! Who's inside it?!"
Yoriko stumbled in her chair a little. "I- I don't know, we can't identify that kind of thing."
Shigeru stood up straight and calmed down a little, getting back to his more refined position and inflated ego.
"Anita," ordered Shigeru and looked over to a light-brown haired girl who looked up at him.
"Yes?" she replied.
"Get me down into that shuttle below us," he said.
"Yes, sir. Right away," she said.
Shigeru was plunged out from his giant ship and he swam down to the little shuttle. He was wrapped in a thick type of material that covered his whole body, except for his head, which was wrapped in a more translucent film that kept his body from exploding from the low density of space. He managed to break into the outer door of the shuttle. He took off his head piece (not a crown) and dropped it onto the floor. He looked up at the ceiling where there was a hatchet that he could open and get into. He shoved it open and looked up.
Kasumi was standing there in a gray body suit similar to Satoshi and Kenji's instead of her nurse's dress. She had her hands up in the air with an armed laser gun, ready to take out whomever she could hear making such a loud commotion below. Though when she looked down, she saw Shigeru and took a step back in shock.
"Shigeru!" she exclaimed and dropped down onto her knees and let go of the gun, which dropped down with a clang, while he stayed half way through the door, looking up at her.
There was a moment of silence and staring until they quickly hugged each other tightly. They were catching their breaths, and could hear each other and feel the warm air rise up from them. They unlocked their arms and Kasumi pulled Shigeru up all the way from the door.
"Kasumi," said Shigeru, "What are you doing out here?" He leaned against a wall and Kasumi sat in the pilot seat. Togepi hopped onto her lap.
"Well..." she mumbled, "Looking for you. I want to go on adventures with you, and be with you," Shigeru made a little smile, dripping with his ego. Kasumi continued. "I mean.... I haven't really forgotten... and well..." Shigeru dropped his smile. "Are you sure you really want to be running away like this?" Kasumi's mouth flickered a little at his concern, so contrasted from his usual self. "Do you want to join me and become an outlaw as well, or something?"
"No... I don't want to become an outlaw.. but I do want to be in company with you and travel with you. Shigeru, you understand, don't you?" she asked.
He nodded. "Yes. But if you stay around me, people will get the wrong image of you. You don't want that, do you?"
"But I don't care about public humiliation."
"If I ever get caught, and you're with me, you will be too, and I don't know about you, but I don't want that to happen." Shigeru walked to Kasumi and she looked up at him sadly.
"I know you love me, Shigeru," said Kasumi. "It was only one kiss, but I know that deep down you care about me. And I know you want the best for me.... but I still really want to be with you."
Kasumi buried her head into her hands again and started to cry silently.
"Kasumi," said Shigeru, and put his hand on her shoulder. "I won't let you stay with me on this ship if you don't want to be seen as a criminal." Kasumi sniffed a little and put her hands in her lap.
"But then where will I stay?"
"Where do you suppose Kasumi could have gone?" asked Satoshi.
"I don't know," replied Kenji. "Maybe in the opposite direction we're going."
"That's probably where Shigeru is!" he exclaimed looking at the mini screen by his station.
"We should try and check it out, then."
Satoshi nodded. "We have to get Kasumi back. It won't be the same without her."
Kenji rubbed his forehead a little. He felt guilty, but he took the controls and steered the PIKA-GALAXY away.
After a while, the spotted Shigeru's ship, the unmistakable words "SHUKKETSU SURU SHINZO" (bleeding heart) on the side.
"You can stay in here," said Shigeru. Ibui was sitting on his shoulder contently, and looked at Kasumi sometimes. He showed her the room: it was simple. There were no satin curtains at the window, or any shag rug. Only a bed, some drawers, and some other furniture. The window was at the side, and it was as big as her own from the PIKA-GALAXY. "It hasn't been cleaned in a while."
"That's alright," she said.
"Do you want something to eat? Something to amuse yourself with?"
"No, that's okay."
"You shouldn't be so nice like this. You won't get very far that way," he commented. Kasumi looked to the side. "I know what you're thinking," he said. "If you don't want to be such a pushover," Kasumi made a little expression of concern by his brief insult, "you should try not to be so nice. Polite, but not nice."
"Well then, I would like something to drink."
There was a footstep heard from behind them before Shigeru could say anything. "Shigeru! How dare you capture Kasumi while she was gone," Satoshi appeared at the room with Kenji, and Pikachu on his shoulder, "and make her your sex slave and force her into saying she wants to drink--"
"Quiet!" interrupted Shigeru. His face was reddened with anger. Ibui made a small yelp as well. "I've done nothing of the such!"
"No," continued Satoshi, "I can't believe what's happening. Oh, poor Kasumi... to be treated so badly after she was gone. She meant no harm. Why, Shigeru? WHY?! Why must you blackmail us continually and yet each time it gets worse..."
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" exclaimed Shigeru and he slapped his hand over Satoshi's mouth. "First of all, I'm not blackmailing you! And if I was, it'd only be the second time! Second, I'd never try and turn Kasumi into a slave! Throughout my whole entire career of steeling, dealing, and killing, I've never raped a single girl! Now if there's somebody who'd even know how to, it's you!"
"Ibuiiiii!" agreed Ibui.
Satoshi struggled and took Shigeru's hand off. "Aha! So, you haven't raped a single girl, but you have raped married girls! What a shame, Shigeru. I knew you were mean, but I didn't know that you were this mea--"
"Guards!" interrupted Shigeru again and two women stepped up next to him. "Take away this idiot and his friend! Lock them up in our prison until I can think of something to do with them. At take that little rat, too."
The two women dragged Satoshi and Kenji off, along with Pikachu, and out of the room, leaving only Shigeru and Kasumi. There was a little silence except for the chirping of their monsters.
"I'm sorry," said Kasumi suddenly, "Satoshi can be really stupid. I think you already know that."
Shigeru nodded a little. He petted his ibui, who nuzzled its head into his hand. Kasumi stared at him and admired his love for his pokemon.
"So," he said and Kasumi looked up at him. "you... still want something.. to... drink?"
There was a moment of uneasiness as Satoshi's speech had suddenly entered their heads.
"Umm... I think I'll skip on that," she looked back to the floor, "Shigeru... I don't want you to hurt Satoshi or Kenji." Shigeru stared at her. "I mean, they're my friends. I know that Satoshi can be really ignorant, but I still care about him and Kenji a lot. We've been through a lot together.. more than you and me."
They switched glances. "Okay, I won't," said Shigeru, and Kasumi made a small face of relief. "But, Kasumi..." he held her chin up with his fingers. "I'll never forgive Satoshi for that battle in the past. And you can't stop me from hating him. Kasumi, do you understand?"
She nodded, accepting his thoughts, and he kissed her.
Kasumi woke up suddenly. Her eyes blinked a little. She was under the sheets on the bed in her room, but they had become wrinkled up in her sleep. She put her thoughts into order for a moment. Shigeru was in his own room, most likely asleep. Togepi was curled up on the table next to the bed. She could hear the humming of the engines being worked by the part of his crew that worked the night shift.
Kasumi started to feel uneasy when she thought of Satoshi and Kenji... they were both so close to her and yet she could do nothing to save them because of Shigeru. She felt tied between him and her friends.
She heard small noises coming from the vent near the floor. She crawled out of her bed and crouched down in front of it. From deep inside she could hear footsteps and tapping. She knocked on the metal a little, wondering if she'd get some kind of answer. After a moment, another knock came back to her.
"Is somebody down there?" she said just above a whisper. Her voice echoed down through the vent.
"Kasumi? Is that you?" said a deep voice.
"Kenji?" she said.
"Yeah, that's me. Kasumi, where are you?"
"I'm in my own room on the ship. Is Satoshi there?"
"He's right next to me; asleep."
There was a disturbance around them for a moment, the silence creeping around them except for the constant humming of the workers.
"Kasumi.. just to let you know... I understand how you feel about Shigeru," said Kenji.
"I know," she replied.
"And I understand that you want to run away, and I accept that very much."
Kasumi smiled. "I'm really sorry, Kenji... but when we started traveling, I wanted it for adventure, and I know that I happen to like nursing.. but it completely took away my ability to fulfill my need for excitement."
"It really won't be the same without you, Kasumi. And I don't know how Satoshi will react to this. I'm sure that as long as you're with Shigeru, he's going to come back to.. well, rescue you, I suppose."
"I know... I know. But Kenji, although I care about your and Satoshi very much, I love Shigeru and being with him would make me much more happy than with you. I'm sorry, I really am."
"Maybe we should tell him... maybe not, though..."
"Don't tell him. If he knows... who knows how he'll react to that? He'd most likely feel ashamed of himself for me getting the chance to meet Shigeru or even start traveling."
There was another second of silence, but Kenji spoke, "I'm sure that most of all he'll be crushed, Kasumi. Crushed to know that he lost a friend to his enemy."
Kasumi sighed and blinked once slowly. Her eyes began to water a little. "Well... as I said, Kenji, I'm really sorry... but I've chosen to stay with Shigeru and that's that. Goodnight."
She could hear Kenji's pleads not to go back to sleep, but she ignored them and went back to bed. From in the cell Kenji was in, he banged on the vents a little, but he received no answer and gave up.
Yet he knew that Satoshi would not.
-To be continued...