S.I.U. - The Sailor Investigation Unit
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME
Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai and Kodansya. All
other characters were thought up by me. Well, its true, isn't it?
Part Two
Philosophical Absolutes
If there was one sure thing about Sailorpluto, it was that
absolutely no-one had even the slightest idea about how to properly
psychoanalyse such a woman. Aoi very rapidly came to this
conclusion as she read through the various texts by differing police
and professional psychiatrists and psychologists, and other such
thinkers.
For instance, Ikido Hideaki, a psychiatrist with some standing
in certain circles, considered Pluto to have something of a martyr
complex.... That, according to data collected, she has been more
than willing to sacrifice her very existence for what she thought
was right, or what she thought may be the best outcome. Aoi skipped
the part about where this evidence came from. "Various witnesses",
it said. She wished she had been given names. She would have liked
to have talked to them herself.
Ebutso Kaori, an historian and columnist who has studies the
life and activites of the Sailorsenshi described Pluto as, perhaps,
their secret leader. Being the oldest, according to evidence
collected (which WAS confirmed due to retrospective photographic
evidence dating back as far as 1968 - before Aoi had even been born)
it was likely that she regarded the other senshi as her proteges.
However Mitsuru Kensuke, a sociologist from the Kansai region,
disputed this by pointing out the fact the Pluto would often take
orders from certain other members of the senshi, and only ever
seemed to be laying the foundations for the arrival of the other
senshi due to her activities in the distant past. There was even
evidence, albeit very suspect, that she was partly responsible for
bringing about the closure of the Pacific conflict in 1945....
Aoi sniffed and chuckled at the presumptuousness of some of
today's pseudo-intellectuals. Although, considering the powers of
time that Pluto was supposed to contain (again, according to the
evidence of certain nameless individuals) she was probably very much
capable of achieving this momentous feat. Which then begged the
question, just how old was she? And how far would she go to achieve
her aims, whatever they were?
Aoi stretched, clearly feeling that she wasn't getting
anywhere. She had chosen to pour over the psych reports in the hope
of predicting how the senshi would react to the death of one of
their compatriots.... Murdered in a mysterious and bizarre manner,
in a motel on the edge of town. Of course, she was probably getting
distracted by the manner in which most of the writers had to format
their texts. It was complex and often required knowledge of the
terminology. Something Aoi WAS familiar with. There had been a
stage, during her years at University, when she considered becoming
a pyschologist or sociologist herself. Unfortunately she had been
sidetracked during her studies and was only able to complete a
Psychiatry course as a finishing subject.
Still, when it came to joining the police force, this was of
benefit to her. It gave her an added step-up to avoid ending up as
one of the "uniforms", so to speak. She much preferred the more
closed atmosphere of detective work, anyway.
But the SIU was not her idea of where to use her talents. And
it insulted her intelligence to think that there was somebody out
there that thought that that was all it was good for. She shivered
for a few moments and took a drag on her cigarette, allowing the
fragrant smoke to fill her lungs. She had taken up smoking as a
side-effect of her posting, and found it an immensely comforting
habit. Damn all those who predicted for her an early death...
Everyone was going to get scragged by the toxins in the atmosphere,
anyway, so why not hasten the process a little. At least it took
with it an element of honesty.
She placed the cigarette back in the ashtray and read on. So,
according to James Colliers, a psychiatrist from the UK, Pluto
showed definite signs of an incipient pschopathy.... That she, at
no stage, expressed sympathy or empathy for those who would suffer
due to her activities. He was even bold enough to diagnose Asperger
Syndrome with a borderline psychotic personality disorder. Aoi
didn't know about the Asperger Syndrome, although it would explain
the solitude with which Pluto carried herself. Asperger Syndrome
was a little known, high-functioning variant of Autism, first
discovered by Asperger in Germany shortly before the Second World
War. Because of these events, the condition, and its related
studies, remained fairly esoteric until the early 1980's when
certain authorities began to question the total validity of Kanner's
umbrella theory of Autism as being a severe disorder. Naturally,
like all disorders of its kind, it had a scale of severity, ranging
from the severely disabled (often combined with a group of other
disorders) to low, medium and high functioning. And then, bewteen
high functioning Autism and what could roughly be termed as
normality sat the condition known as Asperger Syndrome.
Aoi scratched her head. She really didn't know enough about
the disorder to make a comment. Her studies only ever brushed
lightly on Autism itself, let alone Aspergers. All she knew is that
Japan had its own ideas about how to treat children with Autism, and
she was not entirely in favour of those ideas. Still, the
Psychiatric community was a cabal not to be reckoned with, so she
never voiced her opinion on the matter.
As for a borderline psychotic personality disorder.... Well,
she could believe that, somewhat. After all, anyone who went
running around the dark streets of Tokyo at night in a very short
sailorfuku, taking on monsters, aliens and various gangsters had to
have an element of self-delusion. The Sailorsenshi probably lived,
in their own minds, a kind of fantasy existence. Perhaps her ideas
about them accepting death as a risk they must take, due to their
activities, was wrong. Perhaps they really DID feel they were
invincible, capable of thugging on anyone who stood against whatever
it was that they stood for. Whatever the case, with one of them now
dead, that perception, if it existed, was going to be shattered in a
very big way.
She tried to imagine what it would be like to be one of them,
and she leaned back in her chair, picking up her cigarette and
taking another long drag. She rolled the smoke in her mouth, then
blew it out into the air, making rings with the smoke. She so MUCH
had wanted to be one of those magical girls in her youth, just like
on television. Growing up had not been easy under the fairly macho
atmosphere of a Japanese coed school. She had always been
headstrong, and never allowed herself to be bullied around by the
boys. but doing that only gave her an untouchable reputation, and
she soon came to regret the ostracism that came with it.
Still, she passed all of her subjects, and very rarely caused
her teachers any trouble. She wasn't the most brilliant student in
the world, but there were a hell of a lot who would sit below her on
the marking books. The hard-nosed rote learning style of the
Japanese education system had not leant itself kindly to her
abilites. But then, it wasn't until she arrived at university that
anyone realised what her abilities truly were. As her mother said,
she was not one of those destined for a normal life.
But still, those fantasies had persisted, running right into
her early twenties. She watched all those magic girl anime shows,
wishing she had lived that kind of life. An extraordinary diversion
from the normal, humdrum existence that she had lead. It wasn't
until she reached her mid-twenties, when she became sullied by the
acceptance of social will that those dreams began to fade. It was
also during this time that the stories of the Sailorsenshi started
to appear in the press and tv news bulletins.
Perhaps it was because she held an element of jealousy that
she felt a certain contempt for them. Every time someone would
mention the Sailorsenshi, the BITCH in her would come RIGHT out.
"So what about them?" She would say. "They aren't anything
special. Just a pack of dumb, ditzy schoolgirls, running around
Tokyo, doing silly attacks on silly monsters. What is so good about
them?"
And then the Sailorsenshi started getting older, and larger in
numbers, and more effective in fighting not only silly monsters and
a paraphenalia of magical villains, but also the gangs and mobs that
had had Japan under its thumb for quite some time. Some of the
Sailorsenshi's activities were cutting pretty close to the bone in
financial and political circles. Did they really understand the
kind of people they were dealing with, here? Perhaps, if her
earlier theory about them not really believing they were capable of
dying was true, then perhaps they had an idealised concept of what
and who their enemies truly were. It is easy to think of things in
a very black and white manner if your enemies are uncluttered by
such simple concepts as human frailty.
She rubbed her head. Now she was beginning to give herself a
headache. A combination of her tiredness and staring at a computer
screen for too long. She put out her cigarette and stood,
stretching as she did so. She stepped from the office into the
darkened corridor, and followed it to the last door on the left.
Switching on the light, she stepped in what acted as the
SIU office's kitchen, and wandered over to the hot water urn. She
felt the side to see how warm it was, and shrugged when she felt it
to be not quite warm enough. She lifted the lid and looked inside,
pleased that she wouldn't have to refill it. She switched it back
on and opened the cupboard above, taking out a mug and a large tin
of granulated coffee. She placed them on the counter beside the
urn and opened up a drawer underneath, pulling out a spoon.
She opened the lid of the tin and scooped up a teaspoonful
of the noxious brown powder, dropping it into the mug. Ah,
caffeine. Another wonderful chemical to which she had become
addicted during her time at the SIU. If it wasn't the cigarettes
that lay in their multitudes within her ashtray, it was the frequent
visits and revisits to the kitchen to keep up the caffeine content
of her bloodstream. Although she had to admit she was something of
an addictive personality, she had never really taken to any
particular pastime or substance to feed that personality. She has
the fear of Kami placed into her after what had happened to her
mother....
She had been placed into an institution due to an addiction
to painkillers.... Very POWERFUL painkillers, including Codeine,
Doxylamine Succinate and Morphine. Her mother had been a similarly
driven woman, although she reserved her energies for the medical
profession.... Not a good thing when you are someone for which the
only way to truly cope with life was by artificial means.
Her mother had collapsed one day after overdosing. It was
only then that anyone discovered just how deeply she had become
engaged in satisfying the illness. It took her three times as much
for a woman of her age and build to finally bring her down.
She had been in that hospital for nigh on five years before
Aoi had felt the first itching.... To send herself totally blotto.
And that desire frightened her away from all forms of chemicals...
Even beneficial ones that doctors would try to prescribe her when
she would fall ill. How she laughed at that attitude now.
She wondered how the Sailorsenshi dealt with such feelings
and desires. The lack of self-esteem and self-worth, the depression
and despair. Of course, there were always the high moments... those
times that made life all that so much more worthwhile. And yet, she
REALLY wanted to know what got the senshi through the darkest of
emotional times. Did they live a fantasy existence there, as well?
Were they in a constant state of euphoria due to their powers and
what they were able to do with them? And how would they react now
that one of their number was dead.
If they knew she was dead, of course. How would Pluto react?
Did Pluto know? If her much-vaunted time powers were not just the
creation of some overstretched imagination or some hack journo, then
why didn't she do something to save her comrade. And if she did
know, was she involved in the girl's death? And if she didn't know,
then WHY not? Of course, if she didn't know, that would just
support the argument about those powers being a con.
One thing was for sure. Pluto was not likely to act in a very
appreciative manner if she was NOT involved in the girl's death.
Aoi closed her eyes and shook her head. If there was anyone amongst
them who truly had the ability to do something about it, then it was
her. Of all the senshi, Pluto frightened Aoi the most, simply
because nothing about her WAS clear, WAS simple. Aoi liked the
clear and the simple. She liked order, both in herself, her
surroundings and in others, and someone like Pluto simply didn't fit
into any category she could tolerate.
A thought occured to her. If Pluto WAS aware of what
happened, did she know... About the SIU? About the investigation?
About her and what she was doing to try and match her wits? Aoi
shivered at the thought as steam began to rise from the urn. She
placed her mug beneath the nozzle and turned it on, allowing the
water to wash through the granules at the bottom. She watched as
the cup filled, she mind and attention being dragged from her
musings to the tart smell of the dark brown liquid. She shut it
off when the water reached near the top, and turned the urn down
to about half heat. She reached up into the cupboard again and
dragged down the sugar bowl. Ah, sugar, just the thing she needed
to go with the caffeine. Nothing like that combination to het you
totally hyper.
She gently scooped two teaspoons of sugar into the mug and
replaced both it and the coffee tin into the cupboard, shutting the
doors behind it. She absent-mindedly stirred the sugar into her
brew as her mind began to race again. So.... If Pluto did know,
then it was likely that she was going to have to match wits with
her. How did one do that with someone who was supposed to know the
future? She would have to double-guess and triple-guess everything
she did. And even then, she wouldn't know if that was what Pluto
was expecting. She sighed. All this theorising was getting her
nowhere. Pluto was simply too big a conundrum to work with. She
needed someone more predictable than that. Perhaps Sailormoon
herself?
Ah, Sailormoon, the one that had caused the SIU to exist in
the first place... Although it was abvious she was NOT the first
to appear... Venus made an appearance long before her, and Kami
knows how long Pluto was around before that.... Probably seen
several civilisations come and go in her travels for all she knew.
Still, Sailormoon was an utterly predicatble beast. her every
emotion was as clear as glass. Aoi liked that. Even though she
hated the very idea of Sailormoon in the first place. But then,
she hated the Sailorsenshi anyway, so that really shouldn't have
come as much of a surprise.
She stopped stirring the coffee and considered putting milk
in it, eventually deciding that that was too much work for her, she
put it to her mouth and sipped it, finding it a tad hot. She blew
on the top a couple of times, intellectually realising that it was
a futile gesture. No matter how much she tried to cool it this way,
it wasn't likely to happen any faster. She hated the Sailorsenshi
just SO much, and she really didn't know why. Jealousy wasn't
enough. That would mean accepting that there was still a large
portion of that silly little schoolgirl within her. The one that
wanted to go through all those transformation sequences and wear
silly, and occasionally revealing, clothes, thug on bad guys and
fall in love with impossibly good-looking bishounen types.... If
that kind of person existed within her still, she would most likely
die of embarassment.
No, she wanted to BRING THEM DOWN! Yes, that was what she
wanted to do. As a member of the Police Force, who had been put to
shame by their successes. This was a matter of honour for her and
her colleagues. And even as she nodded on that point, she knew it
was total bullshit. Still, the thought of actually catching them...
To cross-examine them, chew them up through the system and spit them
out the other end, not even the shell of their former selves, really
burnt its way through the tender folds of her brain.
As she continued to sip her coffee, she heard the front door
of the office open, and stepped out into the corridor. An elderly
man, in his late sixties, stood there, looking around the offices,
rather disappointed until he saw her. She smiled, recognising him
immediately.
"Ah, Akizuki-san. So good to see you." She stepped up to
Akizuki, holding out her hand. He took it warmly, nodding.
"You too, Kikotsuka-san."
"What brings you here at this time of the day?"
"I heard... From one of your colleagues, about this most
unfortunate incident."
"Ah. You mean the senshi murder?"
"Indeed." Akizuki nodded. "Such a terrible thing to have
befallen the child." He sighed, sadly. Aoi understood Akizuki's
sadness. He, after all, had been the first man chosen to lead the
SIU in the last two years of his career as an officer. After having
set up the SIU's framework, he retired, but had never quite gotten
over the thrill of chasing the senshi... The possibility of ever
catching one of them in the act, or exposing them. In a way, it
could be said that he was not that much different to her. But he
didn't, could never, hate them as much as she did. He had grown
fond of the girls, like they were some form of elusive family.
"I was just sitting down to eat dinner, with my wife. I'd
had to make it as she is not in the best of health anymore. That's
when DCS Konatsu called me. I have to say, it came as quite a shock
to me."
"Same here. I was getting pretty used to the idea that we
would never get one of those girls." She smiled at him. "Would you
like a cup of coffee? Or, perhaps, tea?"
"Oh yes, indeed. Very kind of you." He shuffled alongside
her as they made their way to the kitchen, gesturing to her with a
"ladies first" when they reached the doorway. She'd rather liked
Akizuki's strange, genteel, old-worldly nature. He had never come
across to her as a threatening figure. One of the reasons why he
had been such a success at his job. Everyone would underestimate
him because of how he acted.
"You know..." he said. "I always believed we would catch one
of them, one day. Well, not catch so much as have one of them give
themselves away to us. Or, perhaps, all of them. I'd always
believed they would see that as the best course of action."
"Well, its a bit hard to know with them, really." Aoi placed
her mug on the counter and pulled another from the cupboard,
gesturing to the tea and coffee.
"Tea, thankyou." He nodded. "Yes, I suppose you're right.
They are a secretive bunch. But really, I never thought them to be
doing any harm in their activities. I was quite happy to let them
run around, defeating the kinds of criminals we would never, in a
million years, be able to catch and incarcerate."
"You admire them?" Aoi asked, placing a teabag into the cup
and letting water from the urn nozzle run through it.
"Oh, I admire their purity of purpose. But then, I understand
that life is never so simple. No milk or sugar, thanks."
Aoi nodded and switched off the nozzle, placing the cup on the
benchtop. She thought for a few moments. "What do you think of
Pluto?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, Pluto. Very hard for me to judge, that one. I only
heard about her around the time I was leaving the unit, so my
knowledge is rather limited. But then, isn't everyones'?"
Aoi smiled and jiggled the teabag a couple of times, tossing
it into the bin and handing him the cup. He took it appreciatively.
"Ah, thankyou." He sipped the cup. "You know, I was a much
bigger expert in those early senshi.... They were so much easier to
work with. Less philosophically compromised, if you know what I
mean?" Aoi nodded. "If it had just been them... if the others
hadn't made an appearance, I honestly would have believed that they
would be known by now. I don't think those girls have anywhere near
the foresight and understanding of their elder counterparts."
"I'm wondering on how they would react. Like Sailormoon, for
example..."
"Ah yes, Sailormoon..." He gulped down the tea. Aoi wondered
if he had any nerves in his throat... that had to be hot. "Now,
she would react in an extremely emotional manner.... She would
probably take it upon herself to revenge her fallen comrade."
"So you think she WOULD do something... dramatic."
"Oh, of course she would. Many of them would. Quite a few of
them are somewhat... unbalanced, emotionally."
"Are you saying they are dangerous?"
"Well, of course they are dangerous. Anyone who wields their
kind of power without some form of strict control is dangerous. But
I don't think they will do anything that will harm people
deliberately...."
Aoi sighed as he gulped down the last of his tea. He handed
her the cup, smiling. "Force of habit. Back in my old days, I
found I was never given the time to drink my tea. Something would
always distract me." Aoi chuckled, which made him smile. "Ah yes,
I'm glad there are young women like you in the force these days.
Having nothing but men in my day made it such a starkly morose
experience. You won't believe some of the meetings I've had....
All those square jaws and unsmiling, ugly old faces...." He shook
his head. "Hard to believe I'm one of those old folks now. Forgive
me, just an old man rambling on."
Aoi shrugged. "That's fine. I'll prove to you how much
better things are with 'young women like me' running things." He
nodded, a lopsided smile on his face.
"I remember the report I received recommending you. I think
the term your old superior used was 'obsessed'. I was about to
abuse him for being so presumptuous."
"Until you met me, of course."
"Of course." He looked at his watch. "Is that the time? I'm
sorry, I must be going.... I promised Kikuko I'd be home at least
before sunrise this time."
"Eh? You out often?"
"Hmm... Meeting with some of the oldies. You know, some of
them are still within the force.... Take Chief Superintendant
Watanabe, for example..." He smiled. "We joined in the same class,
you know? Never thought I'd see him heading the political wing of
the department. He was such a boofhead in his younger days. Used
to be a sumo wrestler.... Pretty mean one, too. But then, you can
never judge a person's character on initial experiences."
"No, you can't." Aoi blinked a couple of times, yawning and
rubbing her eyes. Akizuki chuckled.
"These late nights can be murder on you. Especially on your
personal life." The pair of them stepped back out into the
corridor, walking back towards the front door. "You know, Kikuko
is my second wife?"
"Really?"
"Yes. My first left me, back in the days when divorce was a
big no-no. Still is, really, I guess. She said I wasn't providing
her with what she required. I can't argue with that. I was very
rarely home. So our families anulled the marriage, which went
smoothly since we had no children. I eventually met Kikuko and
remarried." He chuckled. "I soon learnt to become more involved in
my home life. She wouldn't let things go, otherwise."
Aoi nodded. In truth, hearing about failed marriages wasn't
the first thing that came to mind as topics she wanted to discuss.
She'd had enough of that from Kaji to last a lifetime. Still,
Akizuki's doddering figure and trembly voice took out some of the
sting.
"Well, its been nice seeing you again." He held out his hand,
and she shook it warmly.
"Its been nice to see you, too. Been what, about three
years?"
"At least, at least. Good luck on finding this unfortunate
girl's killer."
"I'll give it my best shot, Akizuki-san."
He waved to her and was about to step through the door when he
paused and turned. "By the way, Kiko-san, what would you do if you
were to... Catch the Sailorsenshi, so to speak?"
Aoi frowned, not understanding the question. "Pardon?"
"What would you do? Would you... stay within the unit, or
move on to fields anew?"
"If I'd caught them myself, without help from anyone else, I'd
probably apply for a position in Major Crime. After having done
something of that magnitude, they surely couldn't reject me."
Akizuki nodded, smiling, then waved. "Who knows what rewards
are coming to those willing to seek them." He stepped through the
door and disappeared into the darkness.
Aoi ran a hand through her hair. Rewards indeed! I don't
have to get into Major Crime as a reward! I'm good enough as it is,
now! She shook her head and turned back towards the kitchen.
Outside, Akizuki turned to look at the small office building.
"A keen one, that one. She may be able to give us the information
we require...." He rubbed his chin, thoughtfully, then continued
on.
END OF PART 2
DDFA ayanami@internode.on.net
MAPPY on DALnet's #ajas
15th February 1998
by DARK DAY FOR ANIME
Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai and Kodansya. All
other characters were thought up by me. Well, its true, isn't it?
Part Two
Philosophical Absolutes
If there was one sure thing about Sailorpluto, it was that
absolutely no-one had even the slightest idea about how to properly
psychoanalyse such a woman. Aoi very rapidly came to this
conclusion as she read through the various texts by differing police
and professional psychiatrists and psychologists, and other such
thinkers.
For instance, Ikido Hideaki, a psychiatrist with some standing
in certain circles, considered Pluto to have something of a martyr
complex.... That, according to data collected, she has been more
than willing to sacrifice her very existence for what she thought
was right, or what she thought may be the best outcome. Aoi skipped
the part about where this evidence came from. "Various witnesses",
it said. She wished she had been given names. She would have liked
to have talked to them herself.
Ebutso Kaori, an historian and columnist who has studies the
life and activites of the Sailorsenshi described Pluto as, perhaps,
their secret leader. Being the oldest, according to evidence
collected (which WAS confirmed due to retrospective photographic
evidence dating back as far as 1968 - before Aoi had even been born)
it was likely that she regarded the other senshi as her proteges.
However Mitsuru Kensuke, a sociologist from the Kansai region,
disputed this by pointing out the fact the Pluto would often take
orders from certain other members of the senshi, and only ever
seemed to be laying the foundations for the arrival of the other
senshi due to her activities in the distant past. There was even
evidence, albeit very suspect, that she was partly responsible for
bringing about the closure of the Pacific conflict in 1945....
Aoi sniffed and chuckled at the presumptuousness of some of
today's pseudo-intellectuals. Although, considering the powers of
time that Pluto was supposed to contain (again, according to the
evidence of certain nameless individuals) she was probably very much
capable of achieving this momentous feat. Which then begged the
question, just how old was she? And how far would she go to achieve
her aims, whatever they were?
Aoi stretched, clearly feeling that she wasn't getting
anywhere. She had chosen to pour over the psych reports in the hope
of predicting how the senshi would react to the death of one of
their compatriots.... Murdered in a mysterious and bizarre manner,
in a motel on the edge of town. Of course, she was probably getting
distracted by the manner in which most of the writers had to format
their texts. It was complex and often required knowledge of the
terminology. Something Aoi WAS familiar with. There had been a
stage, during her years at University, when she considered becoming
a pyschologist or sociologist herself. Unfortunately she had been
sidetracked during her studies and was only able to complete a
Psychiatry course as a finishing subject.
Still, when it came to joining the police force, this was of
benefit to her. It gave her an added step-up to avoid ending up as
one of the "uniforms", so to speak. She much preferred the more
closed atmosphere of detective work, anyway.
But the SIU was not her idea of where to use her talents. And
it insulted her intelligence to think that there was somebody out
there that thought that that was all it was good for. She shivered
for a few moments and took a drag on her cigarette, allowing the
fragrant smoke to fill her lungs. She had taken up smoking as a
side-effect of her posting, and found it an immensely comforting
habit. Damn all those who predicted for her an early death...
Everyone was going to get scragged by the toxins in the atmosphere,
anyway, so why not hasten the process a little. At least it took
with it an element of honesty.
She placed the cigarette back in the ashtray and read on. So,
according to James Colliers, a psychiatrist from the UK, Pluto
showed definite signs of an incipient pschopathy.... That she, at
no stage, expressed sympathy or empathy for those who would suffer
due to her activities. He was even bold enough to diagnose Asperger
Syndrome with a borderline psychotic personality disorder. Aoi
didn't know about the Asperger Syndrome, although it would explain
the solitude with which Pluto carried herself. Asperger Syndrome
was a little known, high-functioning variant of Autism, first
discovered by Asperger in Germany shortly before the Second World
War. Because of these events, the condition, and its related
studies, remained fairly esoteric until the early 1980's when
certain authorities began to question the total validity of Kanner's
umbrella theory of Autism as being a severe disorder. Naturally,
like all disorders of its kind, it had a scale of severity, ranging
from the severely disabled (often combined with a group of other
disorders) to low, medium and high functioning. And then, bewteen
high functioning Autism and what could roughly be termed as
normality sat the condition known as Asperger Syndrome.
Aoi scratched her head. She really didn't know enough about
the disorder to make a comment. Her studies only ever brushed
lightly on Autism itself, let alone Aspergers. All she knew is that
Japan had its own ideas about how to treat children with Autism, and
she was not entirely in favour of those ideas. Still, the
Psychiatric community was a cabal not to be reckoned with, so she
never voiced her opinion on the matter.
As for a borderline psychotic personality disorder.... Well,
she could believe that, somewhat. After all, anyone who went
running around the dark streets of Tokyo at night in a very short
sailorfuku, taking on monsters, aliens and various gangsters had to
have an element of self-delusion. The Sailorsenshi probably lived,
in their own minds, a kind of fantasy existence. Perhaps her ideas
about them accepting death as a risk they must take, due to their
activities, was wrong. Perhaps they really DID feel they were
invincible, capable of thugging on anyone who stood against whatever
it was that they stood for. Whatever the case, with one of them now
dead, that perception, if it existed, was going to be shattered in a
very big way.
She tried to imagine what it would be like to be one of them,
and she leaned back in her chair, picking up her cigarette and
taking another long drag. She rolled the smoke in her mouth, then
blew it out into the air, making rings with the smoke. She so MUCH
had wanted to be one of those magical girls in her youth, just like
on television. Growing up had not been easy under the fairly macho
atmosphere of a Japanese coed school. She had always been
headstrong, and never allowed herself to be bullied around by the
boys. but doing that only gave her an untouchable reputation, and
she soon came to regret the ostracism that came with it.
Still, she passed all of her subjects, and very rarely caused
her teachers any trouble. She wasn't the most brilliant student in
the world, but there were a hell of a lot who would sit below her on
the marking books. The hard-nosed rote learning style of the
Japanese education system had not leant itself kindly to her
abilites. But then, it wasn't until she arrived at university that
anyone realised what her abilities truly were. As her mother said,
she was not one of those destined for a normal life.
But still, those fantasies had persisted, running right into
her early twenties. She watched all those magic girl anime shows,
wishing she had lived that kind of life. An extraordinary diversion
from the normal, humdrum existence that she had lead. It wasn't
until she reached her mid-twenties, when she became sullied by the
acceptance of social will that those dreams began to fade. It was
also during this time that the stories of the Sailorsenshi started
to appear in the press and tv news bulletins.
Perhaps it was because she held an element of jealousy that
she felt a certain contempt for them. Every time someone would
mention the Sailorsenshi, the BITCH in her would come RIGHT out.
"So what about them?" She would say. "They aren't anything
special. Just a pack of dumb, ditzy schoolgirls, running around
Tokyo, doing silly attacks on silly monsters. What is so good about
them?"
And then the Sailorsenshi started getting older, and larger in
numbers, and more effective in fighting not only silly monsters and
a paraphenalia of magical villains, but also the gangs and mobs that
had had Japan under its thumb for quite some time. Some of the
Sailorsenshi's activities were cutting pretty close to the bone in
financial and political circles. Did they really understand the
kind of people they were dealing with, here? Perhaps, if her
earlier theory about them not really believing they were capable of
dying was true, then perhaps they had an idealised concept of what
and who their enemies truly were. It is easy to think of things in
a very black and white manner if your enemies are uncluttered by
such simple concepts as human frailty.
She rubbed her head. Now she was beginning to give herself a
headache. A combination of her tiredness and staring at a computer
screen for too long. She put out her cigarette and stood,
stretching as she did so. She stepped from the office into the
darkened corridor, and followed it to the last door on the left.
Switching on the light, she stepped in what acted as the
SIU office's kitchen, and wandered over to the hot water urn. She
felt the side to see how warm it was, and shrugged when she felt it
to be not quite warm enough. She lifted the lid and looked inside,
pleased that she wouldn't have to refill it. She switched it back
on and opened the cupboard above, taking out a mug and a large tin
of granulated coffee. She placed them on the counter beside the
urn and opened up a drawer underneath, pulling out a spoon.
She opened the lid of the tin and scooped up a teaspoonful
of the noxious brown powder, dropping it into the mug. Ah,
caffeine. Another wonderful chemical to which she had become
addicted during her time at the SIU. If it wasn't the cigarettes
that lay in their multitudes within her ashtray, it was the frequent
visits and revisits to the kitchen to keep up the caffeine content
of her bloodstream. Although she had to admit she was something of
an addictive personality, she had never really taken to any
particular pastime or substance to feed that personality. She has
the fear of Kami placed into her after what had happened to her
mother....
She had been placed into an institution due to an addiction
to painkillers.... Very POWERFUL painkillers, including Codeine,
Doxylamine Succinate and Morphine. Her mother had been a similarly
driven woman, although she reserved her energies for the medical
profession.... Not a good thing when you are someone for which the
only way to truly cope with life was by artificial means.
Her mother had collapsed one day after overdosing. It was
only then that anyone discovered just how deeply she had become
engaged in satisfying the illness. It took her three times as much
for a woman of her age and build to finally bring her down.
She had been in that hospital for nigh on five years before
Aoi had felt the first itching.... To send herself totally blotto.
And that desire frightened her away from all forms of chemicals...
Even beneficial ones that doctors would try to prescribe her when
she would fall ill. How she laughed at that attitude now.
She wondered how the Sailorsenshi dealt with such feelings
and desires. The lack of self-esteem and self-worth, the depression
and despair. Of course, there were always the high moments... those
times that made life all that so much more worthwhile. And yet, she
REALLY wanted to know what got the senshi through the darkest of
emotional times. Did they live a fantasy existence there, as well?
Were they in a constant state of euphoria due to their powers and
what they were able to do with them? And how would they react now
that one of their number was dead.
If they knew she was dead, of course. How would Pluto react?
Did Pluto know? If her much-vaunted time powers were not just the
creation of some overstretched imagination or some hack journo, then
why didn't she do something to save her comrade. And if she did
know, was she involved in the girl's death? And if she didn't know,
then WHY not? Of course, if she didn't know, that would just
support the argument about those powers being a con.
One thing was for sure. Pluto was not likely to act in a very
appreciative manner if she was NOT involved in the girl's death.
Aoi closed her eyes and shook her head. If there was anyone amongst
them who truly had the ability to do something about it, then it was
her. Of all the senshi, Pluto frightened Aoi the most, simply
because nothing about her WAS clear, WAS simple. Aoi liked the
clear and the simple. She liked order, both in herself, her
surroundings and in others, and someone like Pluto simply didn't fit
into any category she could tolerate.
A thought occured to her. If Pluto WAS aware of what
happened, did she know... About the SIU? About the investigation?
About her and what she was doing to try and match her wits? Aoi
shivered at the thought as steam began to rise from the urn. She
placed her mug beneath the nozzle and turned it on, allowing the
water to wash through the granules at the bottom. She watched as
the cup filled, she mind and attention being dragged from her
musings to the tart smell of the dark brown liquid. She shut it
off when the water reached near the top, and turned the urn down
to about half heat. She reached up into the cupboard again and
dragged down the sugar bowl. Ah, sugar, just the thing she needed
to go with the caffeine. Nothing like that combination to het you
totally hyper.
She gently scooped two teaspoons of sugar into the mug and
replaced both it and the coffee tin into the cupboard, shutting the
doors behind it. She absent-mindedly stirred the sugar into her
brew as her mind began to race again. So.... If Pluto did know,
then it was likely that she was going to have to match wits with
her. How did one do that with someone who was supposed to know the
future? She would have to double-guess and triple-guess everything
she did. And even then, she wouldn't know if that was what Pluto
was expecting. She sighed. All this theorising was getting her
nowhere. Pluto was simply too big a conundrum to work with. She
needed someone more predictable than that. Perhaps Sailormoon
herself?
Ah, Sailormoon, the one that had caused the SIU to exist in
the first place... Although it was abvious she was NOT the first
to appear... Venus made an appearance long before her, and Kami
knows how long Pluto was around before that.... Probably seen
several civilisations come and go in her travels for all she knew.
Still, Sailormoon was an utterly predicatble beast. her every
emotion was as clear as glass. Aoi liked that. Even though she
hated the very idea of Sailormoon in the first place. But then,
she hated the Sailorsenshi anyway, so that really shouldn't have
come as much of a surprise.
She stopped stirring the coffee and considered putting milk
in it, eventually deciding that that was too much work for her, she
put it to her mouth and sipped it, finding it a tad hot. She blew
on the top a couple of times, intellectually realising that it was
a futile gesture. No matter how much she tried to cool it this way,
it wasn't likely to happen any faster. She hated the Sailorsenshi
just SO much, and she really didn't know why. Jealousy wasn't
enough. That would mean accepting that there was still a large
portion of that silly little schoolgirl within her. The one that
wanted to go through all those transformation sequences and wear
silly, and occasionally revealing, clothes, thug on bad guys and
fall in love with impossibly good-looking bishounen types.... If
that kind of person existed within her still, she would most likely
die of embarassment.
No, she wanted to BRING THEM DOWN! Yes, that was what she
wanted to do. As a member of the Police Force, who had been put to
shame by their successes. This was a matter of honour for her and
her colleagues. And even as she nodded on that point, she knew it
was total bullshit. Still, the thought of actually catching them...
To cross-examine them, chew them up through the system and spit them
out the other end, not even the shell of their former selves, really
burnt its way through the tender folds of her brain.
As she continued to sip her coffee, she heard the front door
of the office open, and stepped out into the corridor. An elderly
man, in his late sixties, stood there, looking around the offices,
rather disappointed until he saw her. She smiled, recognising him
immediately.
"Ah, Akizuki-san. So good to see you." She stepped up to
Akizuki, holding out her hand. He took it warmly, nodding.
"You too, Kikotsuka-san."
"What brings you here at this time of the day?"
"I heard... From one of your colleagues, about this most
unfortunate incident."
"Ah. You mean the senshi murder?"
"Indeed." Akizuki nodded. "Such a terrible thing to have
befallen the child." He sighed, sadly. Aoi understood Akizuki's
sadness. He, after all, had been the first man chosen to lead the
SIU in the last two years of his career as an officer. After having
set up the SIU's framework, he retired, but had never quite gotten
over the thrill of chasing the senshi... The possibility of ever
catching one of them in the act, or exposing them. In a way, it
could be said that he was not that much different to her. But he
didn't, could never, hate them as much as she did. He had grown
fond of the girls, like they were some form of elusive family.
"I was just sitting down to eat dinner, with my wife. I'd
had to make it as she is not in the best of health anymore. That's
when DCS Konatsu called me. I have to say, it came as quite a shock
to me."
"Same here. I was getting pretty used to the idea that we
would never get one of those girls." She smiled at him. "Would you
like a cup of coffee? Or, perhaps, tea?"
"Oh yes, indeed. Very kind of you." He shuffled alongside
her as they made their way to the kitchen, gesturing to her with a
"ladies first" when they reached the doorway. She'd rather liked
Akizuki's strange, genteel, old-worldly nature. He had never come
across to her as a threatening figure. One of the reasons why he
had been such a success at his job. Everyone would underestimate
him because of how he acted.
"You know..." he said. "I always believed we would catch one
of them, one day. Well, not catch so much as have one of them give
themselves away to us. Or, perhaps, all of them. I'd always
believed they would see that as the best course of action."
"Well, its a bit hard to know with them, really." Aoi placed
her mug on the counter and pulled another from the cupboard,
gesturing to the tea and coffee.
"Tea, thankyou." He nodded. "Yes, I suppose you're right.
They are a secretive bunch. But really, I never thought them to be
doing any harm in their activities. I was quite happy to let them
run around, defeating the kinds of criminals we would never, in a
million years, be able to catch and incarcerate."
"You admire them?" Aoi asked, placing a teabag into the cup
and letting water from the urn nozzle run through it.
"Oh, I admire their purity of purpose. But then, I understand
that life is never so simple. No milk or sugar, thanks."
Aoi nodded and switched off the nozzle, placing the cup on the
benchtop. She thought for a few moments. "What do you think of
Pluto?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, Pluto. Very hard for me to judge, that one. I only
heard about her around the time I was leaving the unit, so my
knowledge is rather limited. But then, isn't everyones'?"
Aoi smiled and jiggled the teabag a couple of times, tossing
it into the bin and handing him the cup. He took it appreciatively.
"Ah, thankyou." He sipped the cup. "You know, I was a much
bigger expert in those early senshi.... They were so much easier to
work with. Less philosophically compromised, if you know what I
mean?" Aoi nodded. "If it had just been them... if the others
hadn't made an appearance, I honestly would have believed that they
would be known by now. I don't think those girls have anywhere near
the foresight and understanding of their elder counterparts."
"I'm wondering on how they would react. Like Sailormoon, for
example..."
"Ah yes, Sailormoon..." He gulped down the tea. Aoi wondered
if he had any nerves in his throat... that had to be hot. "Now,
she would react in an extremely emotional manner.... She would
probably take it upon herself to revenge her fallen comrade."
"So you think she WOULD do something... dramatic."
"Oh, of course she would. Many of them would. Quite a few of
them are somewhat... unbalanced, emotionally."
"Are you saying they are dangerous?"
"Well, of course they are dangerous. Anyone who wields their
kind of power without some form of strict control is dangerous. But
I don't think they will do anything that will harm people
deliberately...."
Aoi sighed as he gulped down the last of his tea. He handed
her the cup, smiling. "Force of habit. Back in my old days, I
found I was never given the time to drink my tea. Something would
always distract me." Aoi chuckled, which made him smile. "Ah yes,
I'm glad there are young women like you in the force these days.
Having nothing but men in my day made it such a starkly morose
experience. You won't believe some of the meetings I've had....
All those square jaws and unsmiling, ugly old faces...." He shook
his head. "Hard to believe I'm one of those old folks now. Forgive
me, just an old man rambling on."
Aoi shrugged. "That's fine. I'll prove to you how much
better things are with 'young women like me' running things." He
nodded, a lopsided smile on his face.
"I remember the report I received recommending you. I think
the term your old superior used was 'obsessed'. I was about to
abuse him for being so presumptuous."
"Until you met me, of course."
"Of course." He looked at his watch. "Is that the time? I'm
sorry, I must be going.... I promised Kikuko I'd be home at least
before sunrise this time."
"Eh? You out often?"
"Hmm... Meeting with some of the oldies. You know, some of
them are still within the force.... Take Chief Superintendant
Watanabe, for example..." He smiled. "We joined in the same class,
you know? Never thought I'd see him heading the political wing of
the department. He was such a boofhead in his younger days. Used
to be a sumo wrestler.... Pretty mean one, too. But then, you can
never judge a person's character on initial experiences."
"No, you can't." Aoi blinked a couple of times, yawning and
rubbing her eyes. Akizuki chuckled.
"These late nights can be murder on you. Especially on your
personal life." The pair of them stepped back out into the
corridor, walking back towards the front door. "You know, Kikuko
is my second wife?"
"Really?"
"Yes. My first left me, back in the days when divorce was a
big no-no. Still is, really, I guess. She said I wasn't providing
her with what she required. I can't argue with that. I was very
rarely home. So our families anulled the marriage, which went
smoothly since we had no children. I eventually met Kikuko and
remarried." He chuckled. "I soon learnt to become more involved in
my home life. She wouldn't let things go, otherwise."
Aoi nodded. In truth, hearing about failed marriages wasn't
the first thing that came to mind as topics she wanted to discuss.
She'd had enough of that from Kaji to last a lifetime. Still,
Akizuki's doddering figure and trembly voice took out some of the
sting.
"Well, its been nice seeing you again." He held out his hand,
and she shook it warmly.
"Its been nice to see you, too. Been what, about three
years?"
"At least, at least. Good luck on finding this unfortunate
girl's killer."
"I'll give it my best shot, Akizuki-san."
He waved to her and was about to step through the door when he
paused and turned. "By the way, Kiko-san, what would you do if you
were to... Catch the Sailorsenshi, so to speak?"
Aoi frowned, not understanding the question. "Pardon?"
"What would you do? Would you... stay within the unit, or
move on to fields anew?"
"If I'd caught them myself, without help from anyone else, I'd
probably apply for a position in Major Crime. After having done
something of that magnitude, they surely couldn't reject me."
Akizuki nodded, smiling, then waved. "Who knows what rewards
are coming to those willing to seek them." He stepped through the
door and disappeared into the darkness.
Aoi ran a hand through her hair. Rewards indeed! I don't
have to get into Major Crime as a reward! I'm good enough as it is,
now! She shook her head and turned back towards the kitchen.
Outside, Akizuki turned to look at the small office building.
"A keen one, that one. She may be able to give us the information
we require...." He rubbed his chin, thoughtfully, then continued
on.
END OF PART 2
DDFA ayanami@internode.on.net
MAPPY on DALnet's #ajas
15th February 1998