Chapter 3: Contact
*Present Day, Hina City Airport*
"Japan…I haven't been here in a while."
Naomi Winters, freelance telepath, level 7, self-confessed sex kitten and the object of fantasy and lust of many a male Psi-Corp member. It was not that she didn't like being the woman that got every man's attention whenever she would walk into a room; on the contrary, she adored it. She took a look around her surroundings through her dark brown sunglasses, watching for one of the black Mitsubishi Lancers that the Japan branch of Psi-Corp so adores using. She was dressed in tight pants, which did little to enhance her already attractive figure, a blue baby t-shirt and a pair of red gloves. Her hair was still tied in a ponytail, the white still prominent. Psi-Corp members were not allowed to dye any snow white hairs.
It was a sign of power for a telepath, the more white hair, the more powerful the telepath. Naomi was a powerful telepath, one of probably fifty or so capable of telekinesis. She was however, weak and virtually insignificant when compared to the Psi-Corp's most powerful members, collectively known as the White Council. Still, she was a valued operative, much more so than her rival, Ms. Smith would admit. From the data that her long time nemesis, Ms. Smith, sent her, she was more powerful than the estimated level of Mutsumi's telepathic power, but only by a small margin. It was clear that Mutsumi would be as powerful as she was with the proper training but for the time being, Mutsumi may as well be a level 2 telepath.
"Ms. Winters." A man in a brown trench coat greeted as he approached. "Welcome to Japan."
"I assume you're Sven Kolinsky, my contact?" Naomi asked, giving the man a once over.
"Yes."
Sven was a tall man, probably just below seven feet tall, wearing a crisp black business suit. He was slightly tanned, probably due to his prolonged assignment into the Japanese branch. His large blue eyes and short, neatly combed blonde hair was perfectly out of place in an Asian country. Naomi scanned him, knowing he was not powerful enough to detect her, let alone stop her. He was a relatively weak telepath but the Corp did know that he had another value: he was capable of detecting even faint levels of telepathic power in any person. Since he was suited for such tasks, he had been assigned many, many times around the world, detecting potentially useful telepaths.
"So, why have you been assigned to be my local contact?" Naomi asked as she got into the car. "You know the target or something?"
"My cover is as a professor in her school, Tokyo University." Sven answered as he began to drive. He inadvertently began to stare at Naomi's body. "She just so happened to be in my class."
"Don't give yourself eye strain." Naomi said coldly.
……….
*Present Day, Hinata Sou*
Mutsumi lay down on the floor of her room, her ears picking up the faint sound of Kanako's violin playing. She hadn't stopped playing that thing since yesterday; she seemed intent on mastering that thing. By now, several of Hinata Sou's residents had heard the low, tearful, sad music she had been playing and it was close to bringing several of them to tears. Mutsumi sighed and stood herself up, she was feeling such negative energy, such overwhelming pain and sadness by listening to the music and she just had to leave the place. She walked down the stairs, finding the lower floor empty, save for Keitaro who was once more, cleaning the hot springs. Mutsumi came close to him, offering a caring smile.
"Ara, Kei-kun, you look like you need a rest."
"Yeah, I guess I do." Keitaro said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "But I can't really stop working right now. Say, don't you have any classes today?"
"Ara, I don't have any today." Mutsumi answered. "Professor Kolinsky said he'll be out on personal business today and since he's my only class today..."
Mutsumi and Keitaro sat on the area just in front of the entrance, him wiping his sweat as he lay the mop down on the floor. He looked at Mutsumi, the beautiful girl he loved so much, and could do nothing but smile. Mutsumi and Keitaro held each other's hands, the beautiful girl from Okinawa showing a faint blush as they did so. Keitaro once was torn between Narusegawa, the red cockroach that seemed to have the habit of man-flinging him into orbit and Mutsumi, who he seemed instantly attracted to from the moment he saw her. It took some time but now, Keitaro realized who truly loved him. And, looking back at things happened and how he felt, he wouldn't have it any other way.
"Why her? Why, of all people, did it have to be her?"
Naru's fist was gripping the wooden beams just outside her room tightly, almost ripping her fingers into them. It wasn't that she hated Mutsumi; it was more like she hated the thought of losing Keitaro. She couldn't really blame Mutsumi though, like it or not, she was the one who pushed Keitaro away in the first place. She sighed, deciding to just sit down and forget about it. In the silence of the room, she managed to hear something that everyone else in Hinata Sou had been hearing for a while now: Kanako's violin music. As the solemn, dirge like notes played out into the air, Naru, and anyone else who heard her, could feel the unspoken pain that they conveyed so effortlessly.
"It's a symphony." Naru whispered as she tucked her head between her legs. The music was enough to make her cry. "It's the symphony of a broken heart."
……….
*Present Day, Kanako's Room*
"Kanako-san…" Shinobu stood just outside the darkened room. "May I ask you something?"
"Go away." She said coldly.
Kanako resumed playing after that, not particularly caring whether or not she hurt Shinobu's feelings or was disturbing anyone else in the old inn. For the time being, she had only one thing on her mind: to play to her heart's content. She was always a sad girl, perhaps at the very core; all she really wanted was for someone to pay attention to her. She had composed the music she had been playing herself, the sign of countless a life riddled with loneliness, isolation and sadness. No one could possibly understand how it was to be her unless they went through the exact same thing. So, even though her arm was slowly becoming strained and weary, she kept on playing her songs, not a single tear falling. She had a heart of solid ice.
"What tears may fall…" Kanako whispered into the air before playing another note.
……….
*Present Day, Hina City Airport*
"Japan…" the voice said with scorn. "…a damned country full of suicidal idiots."
Gustave hated Japan; he hated anything Asian in fact. He firmly believed that anything that wasn't from Europe, America or Russia was inferior, detrimental to the human race and should be wiped out as quickly as possible. As he stepped out of the airport, where a small car was waiting for him, he took one look at his surroundings and spat on the ground. He stepped into the KGB vehicle, happy to see that the driver was not an Oriental. This man had a serious superiority complex, scoffing at every person the car passed by. He would have loved to allocate the KGB's resources to destroy this country and every last Asian country in the most brutal manner possible but for now, the telepaths were his main target.
"I assume arrangements have been made?" Gustave asked.
"Yes, Comrade." The man answered. "Though there are unconfirmed reports that Naomi Winters has arrived ahead of you. We're uncertain of the accuracy of the report however."
"Assume the worst and operate accordingly." Gustave answered. "If Winters is here, Ms. Smith, Talia and a few other high ranking telepaths can't be far behind. This may be the golden opportunity to create a rift in the Psi-Corp's upper ranks."
……….
*Present Day, Somewhere in Shanghai*
She was not especially tall, probably just a few inches above five feet. Her hair was black as ebony, her skin like tainted marble and her eyes brown and warm. She stood, wearing her crisp and formal looking off-white business suit, her hands in her pockets. She stood before seven people, all wearing white cloaks. The room was poorly lit but she knew these people, they were the White Council, the heads of Psi-Corp, the most powerful telepaths alive. Most of their hair was snow white, which was a sign of the immense power they had at their disposal. At the center of the gathering of powerful minds was the only one among them with a head of hair that was completely white: Ling Xiao Yin, founder and absolute head of Psi-Corp.
"Naomi Winters has arrived in Japan." Ms. Smith reported. "The operation has begun."
[Excellent, everything is going as planned.] The mute Chinese telepath said. [There is something bothering you, isn't there Ms. Smith?]
"Well, Commander Yin, I am concerned about Subject# 666." Ms. Smith admitted, she knew it was useless to hide it. She had been scanned by these telepaths from the moment she walked in. "I still believe that it was a mistake to have sealed up the memories and powers of that child."
"Are you defying the orders of this Council?" another telepath, one with a Russian accent, asked. "Are you going to defy the power of this council?"
……….
*Present Day, Kanako's Room*
"That's a really sad piece of music, Kanako-chan."
"What do you want, Narusegawa?" Kanako raised an eyebrow as the woman she loathed walked in. Keitaro made his choice and abandoned Kanako for Naru to later abandon Naru for Mutsumi. Regardless of the fact that the two of them were both scarred by this, Kanako still loathed her. "You know you're not welcome in here."
"Why are you so angry at me?" Naru asked. "We're both in the same boat, you know."
"If that's the only thing you came here to say…" Kanako's stopped as she saw Narusegawa drop down to the floor, unconscious. Coldly Kanako put on a glove and dragged her by the arm out of her room. "Baka."
To Be Continued
Kanako: Alight folks. I'm in a good mood and have run into some spare time on my hands so here's a little idea I cooked up. Seeing as how the Fanboy War is so full of strange and really ecchi Author/Character scenes, I came up with a little side-story series type of thing: Lemons. You heard me right. Lemons. None of which will be posted on Fanfiction.net but rather, will be sent by e-mail to whoever wants them. I'll be writing those lemons while I write this story. Planned pairings are as follows: Kebinu/Naru, Eijentu/Kitsune, Eijentu/Forte, Talon/Naru and Edwards/Mint. No, I'm not writing a Kana/Kanako lemon, though if it feels worth it, or Kebinu bugs me enough about it *evil smile*, I'll make a really, really ecchi Kebinu/Silver story. Just request it and after a week or 2, give or take, you'll be able to enjoy those scenes I saw fit to delete from the story. And Kana's coming back, in a way. I'll be co-writing his next project, which puts our muses, Chibi Kanako (his) and Naru (mine) at an uneasy alliance.
Stats:
Number of hours spent writing: 3
Number of days on HD: 4