Perfection: Dassuru
Chapter: San

(Quick note: there will be conversations between Usagi & various other people who can't, or chose not to, speak English. All of those will be in the following format: "Blah blah blah." to avoid any confusion it might cause. Ok? Ok. =D)

"You must be Miss Tsukino." the honey blonde that was sitting on the floor behind a table said, looking up at the girls with a smile when they walked in, but her eyes focused on Usagi.

"Yes Ma'm, I am. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Darlian." she said, bowing to her slightly and smiling back.

"Pleasure is mine, have a seat and we can get this started. Ami, my aid should be here soon, she went to go do something for me." Ririna said motioning to the floor pillows littered around the room. "From what Hiiro tells me you used to live here in Tokyo, Miss Tsukino. Miss Hino... you lived in Hirosaki for a short while... so that means you both speak Japanese, correct?"

"Yes, Ma'm." they chorused, but Rei added; "It's been a while since I've had to use it, though, so I'm a bit rusty."

Ririna nodded before smiling almost sheepishly, "That's good, I learned a bit from Hiiro years ago, but I'm afraid I've forgotten all of it without use. My aid used to live here, though, so I guess we have enough people that understand it to handle anything that may come up?"

"Yes, Ma'm. Most of the children in urban areas are taught English in school, as well. So there shouldn't be too much of a language problem." Usagi said, and Ririna nodded again before the door behind her slid open and a young woman with short bluish hair stepped in quietly, her nose in a book.

"Kami-sama... Ami-chan?!" Usagi breathed out, a hand covering her mouth as the girl's head shot up in shock.

"U-usagi-chan?" the girl asked in shock, walking over to her, collapsing to her knees and hesitantly reaching out to place her hand on Usagi's shoulder as if she didn't believe her eyes.

The moment Ami realized that Usagi was in fact real she pulled her into a hug, crying lightly, as Usagi still in shock, wrapped her arms around her. Ririna and the others merely stared on in confusion before Ririna cleared her throat.

"Oh, Miss Ririna, I'm sorry." Ami murmured pulling herself together suddenly, as she straightened up, wiping her eyes.

"Not to be nosey... but what was that about?" Minako asked, blinking in confusion as she tried to piece together what had just happened.

"We went to high school together," Usagi said as Ami nodded; "Haven't seen her since before I left for Brussels... She had already left to begin her medical training in Germany by that time."

"I'm sorry about the outburst, it was just such a shock to see her again..." Ami mumbled, head down as she stared at her hands slightly embarrassed.

"It's quite all right, Ami, now where were we?" Ririna asked, gently smiling at them.

"Miss Darlin, if I may be as bold as to make a suggestion..." Makoto spoke up looking between the girls for the approval of something she had brought up earlier, they all nodded. "It may be best to change your appearance some how. Nothing to drastic necessarily, but some thing that'll make it a bit harder for people to identify you."

"Yeah, your face has been plastered everywhere since the resignation, it'll make life a bit easier whenever you have to go out." Minako said, and Ririna sighed slightly, nodding her agreement.

"I considered cutting my hair before we even left for here... but I knew that the media would probably be there when the plane left, so... I'm reluctant, but willing." she said quietly and all the girls nodded, before Usagi reached into her bag and pulled out a small binder and handed it to Ririna.

"Just read what's in there and tell me yes or no, Ma'm. You don't have to elaborate any if you don't want to." she whispered to her, receiving puzzled looks from everyone.

Ririna blinked, nodding before opening the binder, quickly reading the first few lines she glanced up at Usagi in shock before looking back down and quickly going through the rest of the 10 pages of photos and information.

"Yes... It's true, all of it Miss Tsukino." Ririna murmured, closing the binder and setting it on the table. "But please, don't speak of it to anyone."

Usagi nodded and stood, bowing to Ririna formally. "It'll be a pleasure to work for you, Madam, but if you'll please excuse me... I need a moment to myself. You guys can handle the rest of the details."

"Usagi-?" Rei asked preparing to stand up but Usagi shook her head.

"I'm fine, just need a moment to think."


------


"Usagi-chan?" the midnight haired miko asked, walking up to the blonde sitting on the temple steps. Usagi glanced up at her, before scooting over a bit and making room for her to sit if she pleased.

"Yes, Miya-sama?" she replied, leaning her head against the railing beside her as Miya sat down gracefully beside her.

"No one ever blamed you, you know. Mamoru had other things going on at the time that he never talked about. If anyone is to blame it's me; I was too young to be taking on a child when Yuri-nee died. I insisted though... with Chi-nee being in school still, and pregnant with Ami-chan... An 18 year old fresh out of high school shouldn't be taking care of a five year old who just lost his parents." Miya said, sighing and shaking her head as she cupped her chin in her palm. "He had tried to run off many times before you two met..."

"But we were supposed to be best friends... I should have been paying more attention and I wasn't. I was too wrapped up in trying to get onto the police force... and I was way too young to be doing so." Usagi growled out angrily, standing up and stomping down to stand on the bottom of the steps.

"Maybe you were Usagi-chan... but in the end you got your wish, ne? Didn't even have to go through the police training first, and you ended up being trained by the head of the Preventer's undercover department- and then being his partner." Miya said, standing and brushing off her robes as Usagi stared at her, shaking slightly.

"Yeah! It was beyond my wildest dreams, huh... But I come home from the station that day, and Okaa-san says Mamo-kun is gone... that he had run off the day before and they had found him dead at the park, at the exact same spot we had met, with his wrists slit." she said, nearly yelling before a choked sob escaped her throat. "I might as well have killed him myself, Miya-sama, and then I don't even stay long enough to see him put six feet under. Hiiro gave me the option of staying long enough for the funeral, but I said no and left with him the day after."

Usagi glanced up at Miya before, walking back up the stairs and off to find a washroom.


------


"Tsukino?" Sally's voice floated through the door to her as she splashed water on her face, scrubbing away the tearstains.

Startled slightly, Usagi grabbed a towel and patted her face dry before sliding the door open; "Yes..?"

"We're ready to have that chat, if you are." Sally said, and Usagi 'oh'ed before setting the towel back where she had gotten it from and following her to a room on the opposite side of the temple from where they had met before. Sally slid a door open and ushered her inside a room where Minako, Rei, and Makoto waited before shutting it behind them.

"So, what's up Doc?" Usagi asked, taking a seat on an empty pillow besides Rei.

"Une didn't issue the original orders for the investigation... that's why none of the guys were informed until that final letter. She was brought the information that had been gathered, didn't really believe it- but had the sources checked and every other procedure. Which turned up that they had taken care of everything- all the information came from reliable sources. Many people involved in the Wars were targeted... and then there were you four. Because of certain things the guys were involved in during the war, it isn't surprising that their partners were brought in... because almost all of you would have been old enough to be involved some how and were daughters of politicians, or high ranking military that they could have had contact with during the wars... except you, Usagi." Sally said pinning each of them with a look before her attention shifted to her.

"But Une says there is something special about you. She won't tell me what, and says I had to ask you."

Usagi let out a sigh, and closed her eyes in thought.

"There is a lot of things different about me, Doctor Po, but nothing special." she muttered, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Then what's different, Usagi." Sally pushed, her eyes softening as she looked at the young girl.

"Besides the fact that I was trying to get on as an undercover cop at age 15, and if it hadn't been for my age I probably would have made it?" Usagi asked looking up at Sally with a light glare, which she merely shrugged off.

"Yes, besides that. I didn't have to look hard to find that out."

"Finished school when I was fourteen?"

"Impressive, but I knew."

"Or maybe it's the fact that Hiiro and I were roommates after I turned 18?" Usagi mumbled sarcastically and Sally cocked an eyebrow at her, in an almost skeptic manner.

"Roommates?" she asked, and Usagi raised an eyebrow back at her.

"Yes, roommates... both of our names are on the lease. Couldn't be that hard of a thing for you to find out." Usagi said, before shaking her head, adding; "It can't be that big of a deal, anyways. It's common for partners to share an apartment."

"Almost all of the guys, at one point or another offered to split a place with Hiiro- between the White Fang and the Mariemaya incident, all of them but Hiiro were living with Quatre in fact. It's actually a bigger deal then you realize." Sally said, and Usagi tilted her head in thought before shrugging.

"Things happen, people change... the Eve Wars ended ten years ago."

"Yes, that is true... but because of who Hiiro is, I find it a bit hard to believe he would have." Sally said, and Usagi shot her an angry look before standing calmly.

"If you would, Doctor... I'd like to have a word with you in privet." Usagi said, before walking out of the room sliding the door shut behind Sally and giving her an angry look before she lead them outside.


The moment they stepped onto the porch facing the back grounds Usagi whirled on Sally saying; "Doctor, I may not have known Hiiro while he was a pilot, but I know him now, and I knew him while he was still the cold calculating soldier you and the others think of him as. He's capable of being more then the Perfect Soldier, and if I ever hear of you or anyone else talking like he's not able be just as human as the rest of the world- you'll regret it, I promise you this."

Sally watch Usagi for a moment, surprise written in her eyes before a thought slipped into her mind, "You love him."

Usagi started, staring at Sally before shaking her head. "I'm attached, he was my teacher, and my salvation from the way my life was at the time he recruited me. He is my best friend, my mentor... I guess you could say I love him, but it isn't in the way you're thinking."

"And is he 'attached' as well?" Sally inquired, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared at this young woman Hiiro had trained like he was trained... but without the deprivation of emotions.

"You'd have to ask him that. We watch each other's backs and take care of each other, even when we're not on a mission, but I don't know if I'd go as far as to say he's attached." Usagi said, jumping down the small ledge to the ground, crossing her arms behind her back as she looked up at the sky.

Sally let a moment of silence pass before a sudden realization hit her.

"You called him the 'Perfect Soldier', he hasn't used that since the Wars. Where'd you hear it from, Usagi?"

"Research, and before you ask- Yes, I know exactly what roles him and the others played in the Wars." Usagi said, letting a few more moments of silence go by before she turned her head to look at the shock on Sally's face.

"Perfect Soldier... Shinigami... Silencer... Solitary Dragon..." she pause briefly before posing the question, "What was Quatre's nickname, Doctor? I couldn't find one for him."

"Desert Prince…"

"It's fitting… he's Arabic, ne? Despite the blond hair…" Usagi mumbled, as Sally jumped down to stand by her.

"You know about Hiiro and Ririna's old relationship, don't you?" Sally asked, nonchalantly and Usagi glanced over at her, nodding.

"Yeah, what about it?" she replied, eyebrow slowly making it's way up as her curiosity kicked in.

"I was just wandering if… well, if-"

"If Hiiro is still in love with her." Usagi cut in, and Sally stared at her for a moment before nodding. "It's none of your business, and none of mine either, though he has told me his feeling on the matter."

Sally nodded in understanding, before turning back to face the temple. "We should probably get back in there."

Usagi nodded, a motioned for Sally to lead the way.


------


Quatre blinked as Trowa burst into where him, Wufei, and Duo were waiting for his and Hiiro's return from their mission.

"Trowa? What's going on?" he asked, standing up as Duo rushed past him, seemingly already knowing.

"That idiot got himself hurt didn't he?" Duo asked, growling a bit and Trowa nodded.

"He's in the infirmary, Iria is taking care of him but she's going to need out help… he won't stay still." Trowa said calmly as Duo cursed before taking off to the wing where the infirmary was.

"Who wants to call Usagi and tell her?" Trowa asked Quatre and Wufei as he turned to follow Duo.

Wufei and Quatre glanced at each other before looking back at Trowa and chorusing; "You can."

Trowa fought the urge to roll his eyes at them before taking off back down the hall after Duo.


------


The sharp ringing of a cell phone interrupted the conversation between Minako, Makoto, Rei, Usagi, and Sally, as they all turned to stare at Usagi's pocket where the ringing was coming from. Scrunching her face in thought, Usagi pulled the phone from her pocket, flipped it open and hit that talk button.

"Hello?" she asked in confusion, before Trowa's face popped up on the small screen on the phone.

"Usagi. Got some bad news." He said, causing her eyes to widen as the others huddled behind her, trying to see and hear what was going on.

"What is it?" Usagi replied, her free hand bunching into a fist tightly, nails digging into her skin already nervous.

"Hiiro got shot while we were out. Iria, Quatre's sister says he'll be fine if she can treat it quick enough bu-" Trowa stopped as he was cut by a grunted yell, making him let out a frustrated sigh; "Hiiro won't stay still, insists he's fine and that he can take care of himself… stubborn bastard."

Usagi's eyes widened, before they thinned to a glare similar to Hiiro's.

"Put the damned idiot on." She growled out, and Trowa nodded, before there was a pause in the transmission as he put the phone on hold.

Moments later, Hiiro's face appeared on the screen, a glare to match Usagi's on his face.

"Hii-kun, manuke!" was the first thing out of her mouth, causing him to grunt and glare harder at her.

"I'm fine, despite what these idiots are saying. It's only my leg, I've dealt with worse on my own." He said, and she rolled her eyes, a frustrated sigh coming from her lips

"And how many of those times did you nearly die and go out of commission for over a month? Hii-kun, you let Iria-san take care of it, or I'll tell Trowa-san to send you down here and I will." She threatened, and he raised an eyebrow at her.

"You realize that I'd probably die on the trip down if I wasn't allowed to take care of at least part of it myself, ne?" he asked, and she rolled her eyes at him again. "You know, that'll eventually fuck up your eyes if you keep it up…"

"Oh shut up. Yes I know that, why do you think I threatened it?" She growled out and he laughed a bit, smirking at her.

"Besides the fact that you can't even bandage a wound properly?"

"Why you little-!" another laugh cut her off, before he winced slightly, as Iria's voice could be heard in the background; "I got it out."

"You were distracting me?" he asked, with a small grin before wincing again.

"Not on purpose, but they used that to their advantage." She said, the look in her eyes softening. "Let them give you a pain killer and get some rest, Hii-kun."

"Hn. Fine." He grunted, rolling his eyes at her.

"Let me speak to Miss Iria, please." She said, gently smiling at him and he nodded before handing the phone over to the light blonde woman.

"He'll be fine, Miss Tsukino, just as long as he stays off of it enough for it to heal properly."

"Like that'll happen…"

_____________________________________


Done. Wheee.

*pouts* I only had one guess... now I feel all sad... ;.; ...oh well, shit happens. ^^; but Gackt-san got the chapter sent to her early o.o I told her I'd have it done some time during the weekend... so I was only a little off ;

Hmm... I'm trying to decide if I should the next chapter should be yon or shi... only problem with calling it shi is I might be tempted to kill someone...

crystalgem2003: Miya is one of my own characters. *nodnod*

-pg 10/06/03 - 6:38 pm

(changed a few things... nothing too major, but it was brought to my attention that Ami probably over reacted, which I now fully agree with ; - 10/07/03)

(Revised, lengthened as of 10/8/2003, thanks to the Desert Fox for a few corrections on information^^;)