Kuroi Fuku, Momoiro Hana (Black Uniform, Pink Blossom)
Sequel to Lady Starfarer
Chapter 2: The Cracks You Left Behind
Heero slammed into the wall with a sickening thud. He put one hand to his right shoulder, staring at his fingers in amazement as they came away wet and red. His usual firm mask seemed to have melted down onto the floor. Still gazing at his hand in shock, he slid down the wall to collapse in disbelief.
"Heero!", Duo cried. He ran over to his friend, kneeling beside him. While he propped Heero up as best he could with the handcuffs on, Duo glared daggers at Minami. "Damn you!", he yelled. "Damn you to Hell, you selfish, arrogant bitch!"
In a heartbeat, Minami was in front of him. Her hands wrapped tightly around his collar as she slammed him to the wall. "What did you say?", she hissed, tightening her grip.
"Damn you, bitch," Duo choked out, speaking made difficult by Minami's constricting hold at his throat.
"That's what I thought you said," she replied. Releasing his collar with one hand, she belted him hard in the stomach. Duo gasped for air and dropped to the ground. She gave him a swift kick, then marched over to Lieutenant Shimura.
"Are you happy now?", she demanded. "I've had to go and damage the General's present because of you. I very much doubt she'll be please when she hears of this."
Shimura was sweating nervously. Minami turned to the cadet, frozen against the opposite wall. "You, there," she ordered. He scuttled up hurriedly, saluting with a shaking hand. "Go get the medical team. See to it that the GSW boy is taken to the infirmary. Have the medics patch him up just enough that he doesn't die, then send him to the cell where we will be placing the rest."
"Um...ex-excuse me, sir," the cadet began, voice trembling, "but...what is a GSW?"
"Gunshot wound," Minami answered snippily. "Don't they teach cadets anything anymore? Think you can carry out my orders?"
"Yes, sir!" The cadet saluted again, his hand no longer shaking, and sprinted off to get the medical team.
"Um…Lieutenant Yoshi? Shouldn't one of them be taken in for interrogation?" Lieutenant Shimura, it seemed, had recovered slightly.
Minami thought a moment. "I suppose. Which one, though? Since I'm in a sporting mood…I'll let you pick."
Shimura blinked; obviously this was not the reply he'd expected. "Hm…I think…that one." He pointed to Trowa.
Minami shrugged. "Fine with me. I'll take him to interrogation as soon as we're done in the prep room." Grabbing Trowa by the handcuffs, she yanked him after her as the medical team arrived with a stretcher for Heero.
Minami led him into a small room down the hall. She seated him in the only chair in the room and unlocked his handcuffs. Tossing the cuffs on a table, she strapped his wrists to the arms of the chair and his ankles to the legs. Opening a small box on the table, she withdrew a syringe. Flicking the side with her fingernail, a brief stream of fluid shot out the needle.
"Do you know what this is?", she asked, holding it up to the light. Trowa shook his head. "This is a highly developed toxin. Extremely deadly and, when coupled with torture, a very effective truth serum. But," she added, "no torture, and it's just a very slow poison. As far as I know, there is no antidote."
"Why are you doing this?", Trowa whispered. "What have you done, Mina-chan?"
At the sound of the familiar nickname, she froze. Turning to face him, he saw tears in her eyes. "I…I don't know, Trowa…It…it was all supposed to be a perfect plan…but now…it's gone to Hell in a hand basket…and I can't get it back…I'm not proud of what I've done, Trowa…I hate myself for it all…but…it was supposed to work out…it was…Forgive me, Trowa. Ask the others to forgive me, too….and remember this…it's very important…The answers are under Duo's collar…only you'd better hurry…or it won't matter…"
Rolling up her sleeve, she cleaned a place on her upper arm with a bit of gauze from the box. Unflinching, she pressed the needle to her skin and thumbed the plunger down. Satisfied, she dropped the syringe and the gauze back into the box. Minami rolled down her sleeve and re-buttoned it. Smoothing her uniform shirt, she undid the straps that kept Trowa in the chair. She clipped the handcuffs around his wrists and began to lead him out of the room.
"You…" Trowa murmured. "You…injected yourself…with that poison…Are you going to die, Mina-chan?"
Minami ignored his question and said, very softly, "They'll hurt you Trowa. Interrogation is really just torture…but you don't have the poison…You're strong and you won't tell them anything. Oh…they'll hurt you, though…They will hurt you…but you'll survive…Above all, remember Duo's collar."
By this time, they had reached the interrogation room. "Forgive me, Trowa. I pray I may someday atone for what I've done." The door opened and someone inside took Trowa's handcuffs and pulled him in. The door clicked shut and Minami heard the sound of a bolt sliding home. She stood for a few minutes outside the door, as though waiting for something. When the familiar sounds of interrogation began, she spun away and stalked down the halls. Reaching her quarters, she locked the door behind her and flopped onto her bunk. Tears coursing down her face, she screamed into her pillow.
"Trowa!", Quatre screamed and threw himself against the door. "Trowa!!" He pounded on it with his handcuffed fists, until they began to bleed. Tears ran from his eyes and down his cheeks. "Trowa!!!" He continued to beat on the door until Duo and Wufei managed to drag him away from it. Heero was sitting morosely in the corner, nursing his wound.
Quatre dropped to his knees in the center of the room, weeping. "They're killing him," he said between sobs. "They're killing him, and there's not a thing we can do about it. I…I…If you left me alone with Mina for five minutes…she'd be so dead you wouldn't recognize her."
Duo and Wufei looked at each other, shudders running down their spines. Somehow, such harsh words coming from the gentle blonde were all the more frightening.
"Something's wrong," Heero said softly, the first words he'd spoken since his return from the infirmary. "Something is very wrong."
"No kidding!", Quatre snapped, voice tight. "The girl we thought was our friend betrayed us! She's shot you, beat-up Duo, and God only knows what she's done to Trowa!" The name had barely passed his lips when he began to sob again.
Suddenly, he stopped crying and sat straight up, as though someone had flicked a switch. He pressed one ear to the door, listening intently. "Someone's coming!", he whispered, and backed away from the door; Heero's barely audible "That's not what I meant" lost in the other boy's footfalls.
The door slid aside and someone pushed Trowa into the room. He collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath. The door closed and Quatre hurried over to him. With no hesitation, he began to stroke the other boy's hair comfortingly.
"It's okay, Trowa," he murmured. "It's okay."
"It's not okay!", Trowa forced out. "It's not!"
"I know," Quatre said, the anger in his voice apparent. "We all trusted Mina too, and now she's gone and - "
"No!" Trowa had found his voice, and he intended to use it. "She saved me!"
"Wha…What did you say?", Quatre asked, voice shaky.
Trowa poured out the story of what Mina had said in the prep room, choking up when he came to where she used the syringe on herself. "They may have tortured me," he finished, "but she's the one that's going to die!"
"Oh my God," Quatre whispered.
Duo crossed himself and murmured, "Kyrie eleison."
Wufei could only looked stunned.
"I told you something was wrong," Heero said softly, no hint of victory in his voice.
Trowa jerked bolt upright, remembrance flashing across his features. "Duo!", he yelped, running to the other boy. Duo looked scared for a moment as Trowa nearly pinned him to the wall. Trowa's fingers flashed under his fellow pilot's collar, triumph in his eyes as he retrieved a small square of white paper. "Just where she said it would be."
Seating himself in the center of the room, he spread the piece of paper out neatly. "It's a note," he said as the other pilots gathered around. Very slowly, Trowa began to read it aloud.
"Dear guys,
Forgive me for what I've done. I don't know if it could be helped or not.
It was just what I saw at the time as an option. Again, I beg your forgiveness.
Approximately five minutes after Trowa's return is the scheduled guard change.
I will see to it that the new guards are detained for exactly one minute and thirty
seconds. Make the most of it, as a faulty computer code will unlock your cell
door at this time. Turn right out of your cell and head straight down the hallway.
At the end of the hall is the hanger where your Gundams are; the majority of
repairs should be completed The only other people in there will be a handful
of techs. I'm sure you can handle it from there. Enclosed are Duo's lock picks,
confiscated from his hair upon arrival. They should do a neat job on the handcuffs.
I will see you soon, I promise. Again, my friends, forgive me.
All my love always,
Minami Kamikaze Yoshiro."
Everyone was silent, until Heero spoke. "How long has it been since Trowa got back?"
Wufei thought a moment. "Three minutes at the very most."
Heero nodded. "Duo, here's your lock picks. We're getting out."
"What if it's a trap?", Duo asked.
Heero shrugged. "Then, what? We get chucked back in the cell? Big damn deal. I say we try this. What do the rest of you think?"
"We go," Wufei said, voice firm.
"We…we go," Quatre said, wiping something from his eyes.
"I guess I can't really argue," Duo admitted. "We go."
All eyes turned to Trowa. "We go, because that what she wants. I'm not about to let what she's done go to waste."
The five nodded.
General Tajari pressed a button on her desk, opening a comm link with the small room outside her office. "Send in Lieutenant Yoshi."
"Yes, sir," the officer on the other end replied, saluting briskly.
Closing the comm link, Tajari looked into a mirror on the wall beside her desk. She studied her close cropped black hair, not a strand out of place. Her eyes were crystal blue and unwavering; they burned with sapphire flames. She smiled at her reflection and wondered if he was as pleased with her as she hoped he was.
A few moments later, the door to Tajari's office opened and Lieutenant Yoshi stepped inside, shutting the door behind her. She saluted, dropped her hand at the General's nod, and asked, "You wanted to see me, sir?"
"Yes…" The general paused. "Do you know what they call me?"
"The Cherry Blossom General, I believe, sir."
"Do you know why they call me that?"
"No, sir, I don't."
"It's all right. Hardly anyone does…My first name, lieutenant, is Akebono, after the kind of cherry tree. Many years ago, someone told me that someday I would be his Cherry Blossom General. Do you have any idea who that person was?"
"No, sir."
"It's all right. No one does, save myself, though if I said the name you'd know it in an instant."
"If you don't mind my asking, sir, who was that person?"
Akebono Tajari looked at Minami with something shining in her eyes. "His name was Treize Khushranada."
Minami's gasp was very low and soft; she wasn't certain the general had heard. "Oh God," she whispered.
Akebono mistook the words for something they were not. "I know how you feel. I felt like the most important person alive, because I had a higher calling and his name was Treize Khushranada. You, too, have a higher calling and are prepared to sacrifice yourself for such."
"Forgive me, sir, but I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about." Mina's mind raced. *Oh, God!*, she thought. *There aren't any cameras in the prep room and there aren't any bugs, either. How could she know? How the hell could she know?!?*
"Don't worry so, Yoshi," Akebono chuckled. "I'm not saying a damn thing to anyone else. By the way…it seems that my present has escaped. You know anything about this, Yoshi?"
Minami shook her head. "No, sir. All I know is that the guards who were supposed to be in front of their cell will be on KP duty for a year…as soon as they get out of the infirmary, that is."
The general chuckled. "Nice work, Yoshi. Very nice work indeed. Now…before I let you go, is there anything you want to tell me?"
Minami answered without hesitation. "Yes, sir. I've want to tell you that before I came to your office, I was turning in my resignation."
"Resignation? You don't resign from the military!" The tilt to Akebono's eyes showed that she was joking with the younger officer.
"Call it what you will, sir," Mina said, "but I am leaving the Kuro Senshi."
"May I ask why?" The was no malice in Akebono's words, only a curious, questioning tone.
"There are…important matters of family that have arisen recently. I cannot deal with them and with being a Kuro Senshi at the same time. Something has to give…and family always comes first. I hope you will understand."
General Tajari nodded. "I understand perfectly. Well, then, Lieutenant Yoshi, I wish you the best in all your endeavors. God-speed to you, Yoshi."
"Thank you, General." Minami saluted to her for the final time, then left the office.
"Thank you, Lieutenant." The words were soft; none other than the general knew that something had even been said.
*****
Well, here we go again. Mina's hardly in prime condition, the boys are escaping, and you finally get to meet General Akebono Tajari. (If you're wondering, the "j" in her name is pronounced like an "h".) I'm having fun with Akebono, so you can be sure she'll show up more in the future.
Anybody notice my song thing yet? Both this chapter and the first are titled after snippets of song lyrics. If you can guess correctly either this chapter or the first's songs, you win something swell. (Actually, it's just an e-mailed copy of the third chapter before I post in on FF.net, but that's still pretty cool.) I'll be waiting for your guesses!
*Kat-chan out* ^_^ \/
Sequel to Lady Starfarer
Chapter 2: The Cracks You Left Behind
Heero slammed into the wall with a sickening thud. He put one hand to his right shoulder, staring at his fingers in amazement as they came away wet and red. His usual firm mask seemed to have melted down onto the floor. Still gazing at his hand in shock, he slid down the wall to collapse in disbelief.
"Heero!", Duo cried. He ran over to his friend, kneeling beside him. While he propped Heero up as best he could with the handcuffs on, Duo glared daggers at Minami. "Damn you!", he yelled. "Damn you to Hell, you selfish, arrogant bitch!"
In a heartbeat, Minami was in front of him. Her hands wrapped tightly around his collar as she slammed him to the wall. "What did you say?", she hissed, tightening her grip.
"Damn you, bitch," Duo choked out, speaking made difficult by Minami's constricting hold at his throat.
"That's what I thought you said," she replied. Releasing his collar with one hand, she belted him hard in the stomach. Duo gasped for air and dropped to the ground. She gave him a swift kick, then marched over to Lieutenant Shimura.
"Are you happy now?", she demanded. "I've had to go and damage the General's present because of you. I very much doubt she'll be please when she hears of this."
Shimura was sweating nervously. Minami turned to the cadet, frozen against the opposite wall. "You, there," she ordered. He scuttled up hurriedly, saluting with a shaking hand. "Go get the medical team. See to it that the GSW boy is taken to the infirmary. Have the medics patch him up just enough that he doesn't die, then send him to the cell where we will be placing the rest."
"Um...ex-excuse me, sir," the cadet began, voice trembling, "but...what is a GSW?"
"Gunshot wound," Minami answered snippily. "Don't they teach cadets anything anymore? Think you can carry out my orders?"
"Yes, sir!" The cadet saluted again, his hand no longer shaking, and sprinted off to get the medical team.
"Um…Lieutenant Yoshi? Shouldn't one of them be taken in for interrogation?" Lieutenant Shimura, it seemed, had recovered slightly.
Minami thought a moment. "I suppose. Which one, though? Since I'm in a sporting mood…I'll let you pick."
Shimura blinked; obviously this was not the reply he'd expected. "Hm…I think…that one." He pointed to Trowa.
Minami shrugged. "Fine with me. I'll take him to interrogation as soon as we're done in the prep room." Grabbing Trowa by the handcuffs, she yanked him after her as the medical team arrived with a stretcher for Heero.
Minami led him into a small room down the hall. She seated him in the only chair in the room and unlocked his handcuffs. Tossing the cuffs on a table, she strapped his wrists to the arms of the chair and his ankles to the legs. Opening a small box on the table, she withdrew a syringe. Flicking the side with her fingernail, a brief stream of fluid shot out the needle.
"Do you know what this is?", she asked, holding it up to the light. Trowa shook his head. "This is a highly developed toxin. Extremely deadly and, when coupled with torture, a very effective truth serum. But," she added, "no torture, and it's just a very slow poison. As far as I know, there is no antidote."
"Why are you doing this?", Trowa whispered. "What have you done, Mina-chan?"
At the sound of the familiar nickname, she froze. Turning to face him, he saw tears in her eyes. "I…I don't know, Trowa…It…it was all supposed to be a perfect plan…but now…it's gone to Hell in a hand basket…and I can't get it back…I'm not proud of what I've done, Trowa…I hate myself for it all…but…it was supposed to work out…it was…Forgive me, Trowa. Ask the others to forgive me, too….and remember this…it's very important…The answers are under Duo's collar…only you'd better hurry…or it won't matter…"
Rolling up her sleeve, she cleaned a place on her upper arm with a bit of gauze from the box. Unflinching, she pressed the needle to her skin and thumbed the plunger down. Satisfied, she dropped the syringe and the gauze back into the box. Minami rolled down her sleeve and re-buttoned it. Smoothing her uniform shirt, she undid the straps that kept Trowa in the chair. She clipped the handcuffs around his wrists and began to lead him out of the room.
"You…" Trowa murmured. "You…injected yourself…with that poison…Are you going to die, Mina-chan?"
Minami ignored his question and said, very softly, "They'll hurt you Trowa. Interrogation is really just torture…but you don't have the poison…You're strong and you won't tell them anything. Oh…they'll hurt you, though…They will hurt you…but you'll survive…Above all, remember Duo's collar."
By this time, they had reached the interrogation room. "Forgive me, Trowa. I pray I may someday atone for what I've done." The door opened and someone inside took Trowa's handcuffs and pulled him in. The door clicked shut and Minami heard the sound of a bolt sliding home. She stood for a few minutes outside the door, as though waiting for something. When the familiar sounds of interrogation began, she spun away and stalked down the halls. Reaching her quarters, she locked the door behind her and flopped onto her bunk. Tears coursing down her face, she screamed into her pillow.
"Trowa!", Quatre screamed and threw himself against the door. "Trowa!!" He pounded on it with his handcuffed fists, until they began to bleed. Tears ran from his eyes and down his cheeks. "Trowa!!!" He continued to beat on the door until Duo and Wufei managed to drag him away from it. Heero was sitting morosely in the corner, nursing his wound.
Quatre dropped to his knees in the center of the room, weeping. "They're killing him," he said between sobs. "They're killing him, and there's not a thing we can do about it. I…I…If you left me alone with Mina for five minutes…she'd be so dead you wouldn't recognize her."
Duo and Wufei looked at each other, shudders running down their spines. Somehow, such harsh words coming from the gentle blonde were all the more frightening.
"Something's wrong," Heero said softly, the first words he'd spoken since his return from the infirmary. "Something is very wrong."
"No kidding!", Quatre snapped, voice tight. "The girl we thought was our friend betrayed us! She's shot you, beat-up Duo, and God only knows what she's done to Trowa!" The name had barely passed his lips when he began to sob again.
Suddenly, he stopped crying and sat straight up, as though someone had flicked a switch. He pressed one ear to the door, listening intently. "Someone's coming!", he whispered, and backed away from the door; Heero's barely audible "That's not what I meant" lost in the other boy's footfalls.
The door slid aside and someone pushed Trowa into the room. He collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath. The door closed and Quatre hurried over to him. With no hesitation, he began to stroke the other boy's hair comfortingly.
"It's okay, Trowa," he murmured. "It's okay."
"It's not okay!", Trowa forced out. "It's not!"
"I know," Quatre said, the anger in his voice apparent. "We all trusted Mina too, and now she's gone and - "
"No!" Trowa had found his voice, and he intended to use it. "She saved me!"
"Wha…What did you say?", Quatre asked, voice shaky.
Trowa poured out the story of what Mina had said in the prep room, choking up when he came to where she used the syringe on herself. "They may have tortured me," he finished, "but she's the one that's going to die!"
"Oh my God," Quatre whispered.
Duo crossed himself and murmured, "Kyrie eleison."
Wufei could only looked stunned.
"I told you something was wrong," Heero said softly, no hint of victory in his voice.
Trowa jerked bolt upright, remembrance flashing across his features. "Duo!", he yelped, running to the other boy. Duo looked scared for a moment as Trowa nearly pinned him to the wall. Trowa's fingers flashed under his fellow pilot's collar, triumph in his eyes as he retrieved a small square of white paper. "Just where she said it would be."
Seating himself in the center of the room, he spread the piece of paper out neatly. "It's a note," he said as the other pilots gathered around. Very slowly, Trowa began to read it aloud.
"Dear guys,
Forgive me for what I've done. I don't know if it could be helped or not.
It was just what I saw at the time as an option. Again, I beg your forgiveness.
Approximately five minutes after Trowa's return is the scheduled guard change.
I will see to it that the new guards are detained for exactly one minute and thirty
seconds. Make the most of it, as a faulty computer code will unlock your cell
door at this time. Turn right out of your cell and head straight down the hallway.
At the end of the hall is the hanger where your Gundams are; the majority of
repairs should be completed The only other people in there will be a handful
of techs. I'm sure you can handle it from there. Enclosed are Duo's lock picks,
confiscated from his hair upon arrival. They should do a neat job on the handcuffs.
I will see you soon, I promise. Again, my friends, forgive me.
All my love always,
Minami Kamikaze Yoshiro."
Everyone was silent, until Heero spoke. "How long has it been since Trowa got back?"
Wufei thought a moment. "Three minutes at the very most."
Heero nodded. "Duo, here's your lock picks. We're getting out."
"What if it's a trap?", Duo asked.
Heero shrugged. "Then, what? We get chucked back in the cell? Big damn deal. I say we try this. What do the rest of you think?"
"We go," Wufei said, voice firm.
"We…we go," Quatre said, wiping something from his eyes.
"I guess I can't really argue," Duo admitted. "We go."
All eyes turned to Trowa. "We go, because that what she wants. I'm not about to let what she's done go to waste."
The five nodded.
General Tajari pressed a button on her desk, opening a comm link with the small room outside her office. "Send in Lieutenant Yoshi."
"Yes, sir," the officer on the other end replied, saluting briskly.
Closing the comm link, Tajari looked into a mirror on the wall beside her desk. She studied her close cropped black hair, not a strand out of place. Her eyes were crystal blue and unwavering; they burned with sapphire flames. She smiled at her reflection and wondered if he was as pleased with her as she hoped he was.
A few moments later, the door to Tajari's office opened and Lieutenant Yoshi stepped inside, shutting the door behind her. She saluted, dropped her hand at the General's nod, and asked, "You wanted to see me, sir?"
"Yes…" The general paused. "Do you know what they call me?"
"The Cherry Blossom General, I believe, sir."
"Do you know why they call me that?"
"No, sir, I don't."
"It's all right. Hardly anyone does…My first name, lieutenant, is Akebono, after the kind of cherry tree. Many years ago, someone told me that someday I would be his Cherry Blossom General. Do you have any idea who that person was?"
"No, sir."
"It's all right. No one does, save myself, though if I said the name you'd know it in an instant."
"If you don't mind my asking, sir, who was that person?"
Akebono Tajari looked at Minami with something shining in her eyes. "His name was Treize Khushranada."
Minami's gasp was very low and soft; she wasn't certain the general had heard. "Oh God," she whispered.
Akebono mistook the words for something they were not. "I know how you feel. I felt like the most important person alive, because I had a higher calling and his name was Treize Khushranada. You, too, have a higher calling and are prepared to sacrifice yourself for such."
"Forgive me, sir, but I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about." Mina's mind raced. *Oh, God!*, she thought. *There aren't any cameras in the prep room and there aren't any bugs, either. How could she know? How the hell could she know?!?*
"Don't worry so, Yoshi," Akebono chuckled. "I'm not saying a damn thing to anyone else. By the way…it seems that my present has escaped. You know anything about this, Yoshi?"
Minami shook her head. "No, sir. All I know is that the guards who were supposed to be in front of their cell will be on KP duty for a year…as soon as they get out of the infirmary, that is."
The general chuckled. "Nice work, Yoshi. Very nice work indeed. Now…before I let you go, is there anything you want to tell me?"
Minami answered without hesitation. "Yes, sir. I've want to tell you that before I came to your office, I was turning in my resignation."
"Resignation? You don't resign from the military!" The tilt to Akebono's eyes showed that she was joking with the younger officer.
"Call it what you will, sir," Mina said, "but I am leaving the Kuro Senshi."
"May I ask why?" The was no malice in Akebono's words, only a curious, questioning tone.
"There are…important matters of family that have arisen recently. I cannot deal with them and with being a Kuro Senshi at the same time. Something has to give…and family always comes first. I hope you will understand."
General Tajari nodded. "I understand perfectly. Well, then, Lieutenant Yoshi, I wish you the best in all your endeavors. God-speed to you, Yoshi."
"Thank you, General." Minami saluted to her for the final time, then left the office.
"Thank you, Lieutenant." The words were soft; none other than the general knew that something had even been said.
*****
Well, here we go again. Mina's hardly in prime condition, the boys are escaping, and you finally get to meet General Akebono Tajari. (If you're wondering, the "j" in her name is pronounced like an "h".) I'm having fun with Akebono, so you can be sure she'll show up more in the future.
Anybody notice my song thing yet? Both this chapter and the first are titled after snippets of song lyrics. If you can guess correctly either this chapter or the first's songs, you win something swell. (Actually, it's just an e-mailed copy of the third chapter before I post in on FF.net, but that's still pretty cool.) I'll be waiting for your guesses!
*Kat-chan out* ^_^ \/