Unknown Potential
by Seiri

A/N: Long chapter! Celebrate! Yay!

Once again, I thank all of you who have left such excellant reviews! *bows*
Hmm... I'm trying to remember any other notes I wanted to put up before this
chapter... you may see hints of Naota pining for Haruko -but that's nothing new,
now is it? Enjoy!

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Chapter 4


Naota blinked as he started at the smooth gray ceiling of his room, on his back.
His feet practically hung over the side of the bed now, for he had grown
considerably from the time he had arrived at the station. The uniform he wore
from the time he received it was too small for him now, and he often left the
shirt open to reveal the white undershirt beneath it -though the pants he wore
were too large for him in the first place, so he fit better into them now.

He sighed. This was were Naota spent most of his growth spurt, on this desolate
station near Pluto. No one was there for for him during this time of change,
away from most of human contact. One of the saddest things was that he felt that
he was approaching 16 soon, but once again he did not know when this would
happen. He didn't even know when his own birthday was.

Naota looked to the bluish purple tender bruised skin on his inner right arm.
The pain was easier to take now, but the bruise never went away. Neither did the
tiny crimson hole in the center of it on his skin that the needle would pass
through everyday, which led to a vein that held his life's blood. This allowed
the needle to suck in some of the deoxygenated blood that was pumped through his
veins.

The pain was easier to take now.

It was close to dinner, at least he thought anyway -it was the third time that
he was getting hungry that day. He wasn't going to get up to get food just yet,
for he had found an interesting topic of thought, born of his boredom.

Haruko... the illusive woman with the silk rose hair and the captivating golden
eyes of a bird of prey -who had haunted his dreams for years. Where was she now?
She was in space too, wasn't she? He wondered if she had found Atomsk, or if she
even remembered him and her time on Earth. He sighed. She was another part of
how much he missed his home -even if he knew she wouldn't be there. Her bass was
there... and at least he knew that she had been there once. Naota had a chance
of seeing her there. Here... everything was hopeless. There was a weight in his
heart, and he felt that he might be better off dead.

Naota adored sleep. It was then he was able to forget that he was alone. He
could see everyone again. Everything was the way it was before. He could even be
with Haruko... able to touch her skin, breathe in her scent, hold her in his
arms....

The door to Naota's room slid open. He was half expecting a robot to be there,
in the doorway. What was actually there though surprised him. It was another
breathing person. From what he knew, they were part of the crew... from the
upper decks. It was a woman in an official looking uniform with a stern look
upon her features. She stood in the doorway, glaring down at him in the room. He
sat up on his bed, slightly apprehensive. Come with me. she spoke just as
sternly. With a small nod, Naota stood up and followed the woman out of the
room.

They traveled down the hallway. What were they planning to do to him? A shiver
ran down his spine as he wondered of the possibilities. To his dismay, his hands
started to shake with anxiousness. Then he saw the glow of the gate, the exit.
His heart jumped in his chest. He was passing through the gates... would he pass
back through them after this was over? As they approached the gate, it simply
dissolved to let them pass -Naota had held his breath. This led to the rest of
the hall, which ended with an elevator. Silently, they entered and proceeded to
take the elevator to the second highest deck of the station. He barely felt like
he was anywhere at all, out of his body... in space...

The elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open to reveal a well lit hall
with many doors. Naota was led down the hall to a turn down into another hall,
his heart racing -where was he going? What were they going to do with him?!
Before he could acknowledge where he was, they had stepped into a room that had
a table that glowed like a plasma screen, that was displaying something similar
to a map... of space. Then he noticed the people standing in the room. The same
three people from the moment he had woken up in space... it seemed like an old
memory of a dream -it was hard to believe that he had lived any other way then
the way he had been living for nearly the past two Earth years. With them,
however, stood a congregation of what looked like soldiers, robot and human
alike. Naota was grabbed by his arms by two of unidentifiable figures. He didn't
put up much of a struggle.

You've been called here for the instructions for your mission. the eldest of
the three, which he now noticed were sitting in seats at the head of the
rectangular table. He looked on to the table, which became brighter as the
lights of the room dimmed. You are to transport captive 001652 from our station
to Medical Mechanica HQ in the Beta Quadrant. The shuttle has been prepared and
you are to leave as soon as possible. On the table, a diagram of the distance
from the station to where ever HQ was.

Naota felt his blood run cold. He was being moved, father away... farther away
from Earth, Mabase, his home -everything... He was leaving to someplace else,
and he didn't know what they were going to do with him once he arrived there.
Would it be like here? Worse? Were they going to... kill him? He didn't even
know why they had him in the first place. Panic slipped through his bones, as he
felt himself start to shake. He would never see his home again...

Then suddenly, he was shoved out of the door by the two soldiers that held his
arms -it hurt and he felt the spot of his bruise throb. They practically dragged
him down the hall; the panic, dread, and pain were too much for him to make use
of his feet. He wanted to scream, fight, get away somehow... but he knew that he
could go no where, no one would help him -mentally he screamed out to those how
could take him away from this and save him...

Tasuku.


Haruko.


Tasuku.

Haruko.

Tasuku. Haruko.

Tasuku. Haruko. Tasuku. Haruko. Tasuku. Haruko. Tasuku. Haruko. Tasuku.


Haruko.

-Naota's cheek stung as his face made impact with a wall of a small closet sized
gunmetal room. Out of sheer instinct, he scrambled to his feet as quickly as he
could. As he turned to move to the door -the sharp prod of a gun against his
temple made him freeze. Mamimi and the gun...

Once again, Naota felt the cool metal of the floor slap him, followed by the
sealing of a cell door. He was going father away...

The loud hum of the engine of the shuttle made the walls vibrate around him,
they were going to take off. Naota felt the walls close in on him, and his
stomach turned. The humming seemed to turn into a high pitched scream, from the
inside of Naota's head. They were off.


All the systems were in check, diagnostics were taken hours before take off. The
pilot of the shuttle went over all of the controls, and made that sure all of
them were working to their fullest potential. Once they had left the inside of
the station, things went smoothly. They would be at HQ within the day. A few
minutes passed by. They breathed a sigh of relief -this mission had been
assigned so quickly. It must have been because intelligence had picked up on
some new information concerning-

The loud ringing of the alarm sounded as the red light signaling a malfunction
in the system lit up. Suddenly, the Artificial Gravity gage level dropped
dramatically in a matter of seconds, and the pilot muttered a curse as they left
their seat.


As Naota had finally sat up from the position he had been thrown to the floor
in, the whole ship had left from under him as if their were no gravity. W
-wha-? He was cut off as he heard the ringing of the alarm. What had just
happened? They had only taken off a few minutes ago -were they under attack?!

Before he could finish asking himself that question, however, the door to his
cell slid open. He could leave. He could escape. Despite all the reasoning in
the back of his mind telling him that he could not escape -he had no place to
run- he pushed off the side of the cell and he glided into the hall. Before
looking out for guards, he made a mad dash down the hall, pushing and pulling
along the side -feeling like he was in a nightmare where no matter how fast you
move away from an attacker, you never move fast enough. He could see a light at
the end of the hall. As he was concentrating on getting there -an arm snaked
around his waist and dragged him into a dark room. The door shut.

Oh holy shit. This was it -he was going to die. He would never see Mabase or
Earth ever again... No one would know where he was or how he died or anything...
He wondered how painful it would be if he put up a struggle or not when he could
feel the voice of his captor against his ear. Hiya, Ta-kun.

No -it couldn't have been real. Naota was going to die and he was hearing
Haruko's voice in his head... Come to think of it, if he died... he would never
get to see her ever again.

He gave out a sharp cry as he tried to push himself off of his attacker, but
their hold was too strong. He felt himself be turned around by the arms, to face
his attacker. Only black could be seen, for his eyes had not grown accustomed to
the dark. The hold on his arms became softer as one of them left his side a ran
a hand through his hair.

Calm down, it's just me. The hand continued down his temple to his cheek to
wipe away his tears.

Naota's breath caught in his throat and his heart skipped a beat.

H- Haruko?

'Been a while, huh?

As if on some sort of cue, her form slowly became visible due to the light from
a crack in the door. Naota noticed how they weren't on the ground, how there
wasn't any gravity, and the shuttle was slowly spinning around them. Strap
adorned on her back, he could make out the familiar shape of the Rickenbacker
behind her. Haruko had been to Earth.

He placed one hand on the hand placed on his cheek, and with another he reached
out his arm, daring this all to be some sort of illusion. Slowly, he moved his
right hand towards Haruko's face. Before it could reach her however, she caught
his hand before it reached her. We don't have time. Just hold on to me, okay?
she spoke softly, not really asking him anything as she slid his arm around her
waist. A blush rose to his cheeks as he gave a small nod. He wrapped the other
arm around her, clutching onto her back. Taking in a deep breath, he buried his
head into her chest.

Naota clinged to Haruko as she pushed off the side of the wall of the room and
exited the room after it opened. They started down the hall in the direction he
was headed before when a small ray of light exploded just to their left. Shit!
They've got lasers... She trailed off, turning one of the knobs on the bass and
then holding it up like a bazooka. She repetitively shot back at them -like a
squall from mother nature in a bad mood, before pushing towards the other end of
the hall again. Another close shot went off a foot away from Naota's left leg.
He's grip around Haruko became tighter. It was then he noticed that he was
shaking and he couldn't stop himself... and that his face was once more
saturated with tears.

At least Haruko had come to save him...

They sped down the corridor that seemed to last into infinity, Haruko constantly
pulled and dragged, like a fish trying to swim upstream. Her body contorted
itself to her aiming needs -a direct shot every explosion from her bass.

Naota could see it then, if he tried -the exit. They were a pair of sliding
gates that would lead to the exit hall of the shuttle -to space. And to their
freedom. He slowly slid away from her as they arrived at the gates, as to let
her hack her way through them. He couldn't remember a time when he knew that she
was a computer hacker -but not wasn't a very good time to start.

As he opened his mouth to speak, to thank Haruko, to curse, to pledge his
eternal adoration of her forever, to ask her what they were going to do, where
they were going, where she had come from... why she had come to save him - she
turned to him and looked directly into Naota's eyes, silencing him and answering
any and all of the questions that he may have wanted to ask.

Suddenly, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Before a sense of relief
could finally totally wash over Naota, there they were... reinforcements. They
seemed to appear from everywhere but from nowhere at all. Haruko yelled a curse
as she turned to face away from her progress at the gate and Naota as the floor
of the ship rushed up to meet with his body -the gravity had been turned back
on.

It's too soon! Haruko had yelled aloud as she brought the Rickenbacker back up
to her eye level and shot repetitively, her face not displaying her usual insane
glee when firing at living targets -but a strong expression of determination.

As she turned to face him, her eyes were dilated. Naota suddenly felt a sharp
pain in his arm -a dart was stuck in it. He had been shot with something and the
floor rushed up to pat him on the back. As he fell, he could only form one word:
as he words stared to seem to echo and the world began to spin.
No! -Ta-kun! Haruko yelled out, taking a step over to him -but was halted
by a wire net shooting inches before her.

she again cursed, looking around franticly for some kind of faster way
through the exit. She stopped short as a small dart similar to the one still
stuck in Naota's arm whizzed past her head. They wanted her as well.

Surprised, she once again turned her gaze to Naota quickly. It may have been
that darkness was welling up in the corners of his vision, or that his wishful
thinking had gotten the best of him, or maybe a little of both, -or just maybe
what he was seeing was the truth- but the look that claimed Haruko's face at
that moment was one he had never seen her wear before -one of complete regret
and sadness. It remained on her features as she hurriedly completed her job at
the gate as it swished open. Shouts and yells were heard as she stepped though
the gateway -the door swished closed. She had left him behind.

Although he felt a million years away from everything -he uncontrollably felt a
sob rack through his body a moment after the gate shut, proceeding others.
Before the groups of soldiers had a chance to run over and check out the
situation -he let go his grip on the conscious world.


END PART I


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Yes, there will be at least one more part to this story(about twice the size of
the first part), and it will be posted here -so don't worry about it.