Patlabor: Personal Files
An Episodic Patlabor Fanfic by David A. Tatum
Disclaimer: Insert legal junk here...
Episode 11: Daily Relief
January 28, 2000
(Ya know, I'm beginning to regret having put dates in this fic... oh, well.
This fanfic is set in a universe where the Y2K problem really existed,
where labors run rampant, and where you can have three new years
celebrations in 1999... well, you get the idea)
Shinobu and Gomioka both stood up as Gotoh returned to the hospital's
waiting room.
"How are they?" Shinobu asked.
Gotoh sighed. "Mashimo and Seiroku will both be out of action for three to
five days, at least- and that's only if they take a lot of bed rest. Noa
is worse off- she had to have surgery for a punctured colon. She'll be out
for more than a month recuperating, and then light duty only when she gets
back. Koichi Miyagi can only have very light duties for the next few days,
and nothing that'll put any stress on his leg. Shinshi will be fine by
tomorrow, but the doctors said he had a concussion earlier in the week that
should have treated than, and have advised bed rest. That means we have
six people out of major action for the next week or so."
Shinobu raised an eyebrow. "Six?"
Gotoh nodded. "For some reason, Shinohara suddenly asked to take a lot of
leave he had been saving up. Considering we would be down two labor crews
regardless of his being on the station or not, I figured it wouldn't do any
harm to grant his request."
"I knew that stupid bet of yours was a terrible idea," Gomioka grumbled.
"Now look at us- we're down a whole labor team! And for what? For some
silly grudge match between you and a captain from the riot squad?
Disgraceful."
Gotoh shrugged off the near insult. "At any rate, we're going to need to
reorganize the SV2 until things get more closer to normal."
"Most of the injuries were to your two units," Shinobu noted, "But I do
need a transport driver for my second team since Mashimo was injured."
Gotoh nodded. "Since both Izumi and Shinohara are unavailable, I'll lend
you Hiromi. He's our best driver, and his size makes him rather
intimidating."
Shinobu nodded happily. "Thanks," she said.
"By the way, do you happen to know what happened between Seiroku and
Mashimo to set them off on one another like that? Beyond the events in the
game, I mean."
Shinobu frowned. "I'm not entirely sure. I believe it has something to do
with one of them ratting out the other for having something they weren't
supposed to in their cabin- something alchoholic, probably, though I don't
know for sure. Whichever one it was who got turned it found out about it,
and the confrontation that followed resulted in a pretty nasty fight. That
was how Seiroku's nose got broken the first time. Then, there was a
training incident where Ueki accidentally hit the same nose with a pugil
stick, and then the martial arts training where Ueki threw Seiroku onto the
ground face first, breaking his nose, and then... well, you get the
picture."
"Indeed," Gotoh said. "Well, at any rate, Gomioka and I still need to
reorganize our teams. I suggest we use Kumagami to take Seiroku's place in
Ohta's unit, and Kenji to take the command car for Joudo's labor. That
means that we're back down to having two units, but we have two captains
for them. Say, Captain Gomioka, how would you like to take today's shift
at captain, and we'll alternate days until we can return to three units
again?"
Gomioka was caught a little off guard. Gotoh and Shinobu were both acting
rather unconcerned with the situation, considering... of course, there had
been several times where the second unit- or part of it- had been knocked
out of action for several days in the past- the first Griffin incident
which lead to Asuma and Takeo both being hospitalized for the entire
action, the time food poisoning took down not just most of the labor
operators in the second unit, but the entire mechanics squad as well, and
various incidents where one or both labors were rendered inoperable for a
period of time.
It was when Gomioka had come to the realization that temporary
reorganizations were a commonplace thing in captains lives that Gotoh
posed his question, and so Gomioka was unprepared for it.
"Yes, sir," he replied automatically, not thinking.
Gotoh nodded. "Good. If you and Captain Nagumo will excuse me, I want to
go home for the day. I'll take over for you tomorrow."
Shinobu was shocked. He usually spent every minute either on duty or
trying to hang around her- even if it meant staying on base when on duty.
There were times Shinobu wondered if Gotoh even had a home of his own, or
if he lived on base- for him to be leaving was downright un-natural to her.
"Gotoh? What are you going to be doing? If you don't mind my asking, that
is...."
Gotoh grabbed his coat from the chair and started out the door. "My niece
is in town for the week... I thought it might be nice to visit her while
she's here, considering she IS staying at my place."
"Have fun," she said as the door shut behind him. She stared at it for
several moments, wondering why she hadn't heard about his niece being in
town before. Several long moments.
"Shinobu, are you listening?" Gomioka asked.
That started her out of her reverie. "I'm sorry, what did you ask?"
"Do you want to take the first shift or the second today?"
"Oh... first. Go and get some sleep, but do so in the dorm rooms. With
just two units, you're on standby today."
"Yes, Ma'am!" Gomioka cried, saluting. Shinobu didn't even notice as her
attention was once more on the door that Captain Gotoh had gone out of.
'What is he up to?' she wondered. His behavior was so uncharacteristic of
him he MUST be doing something- after all, he didn't get the name of 'Razor
Blade' Gotoh for nothing- but what was it? And why didn't he want to ask
her about it?
* * * * *
"Uncle Gotoh!" the teenage girl cried as her uncle came through the door.
"I didn't think you'd be able to visit!"
Gotoh smiled. "Well, I still might want to talk to Shinobu again later
today, but I figured I shouldn't miss a chance to talk to you while you
were in town. So, how has life been since that little training prank we
pulled together on my unit?"
"I got accepted to all my colleges, Uncle Gotoh! I could even go to the
police academy, if I wanted!"
Gotoh smiled. "That's great! Let's celebrate. Where do you want to go
out to eat?"
* * * * *
Noa blinked open her eyes to see Asuma sitting at her bedside.
"Ack! What are you doing here?!" she screeched, trying weakly to pull the
blankets up to cover her nightclothes... only to discover she wasn't
wearing her usual pajamas, but a hospital gown. Which was probably worse,
but once she realized she was in the hospital she calmed down and
remembered he was probably just worrying about her.
Asuma looked a little annoyed at being yelled at. "Well, I figured you
might want someone here when you woke up to tell you what was going on. I
took some leave time to keep you company for the next few days as well...
but it's not too late for me to cancel it if you don't want me around."
Noa glared at him. "Of course I want you around- I want company, and I
want that company to be my boyfriend. So, how long until I can use
Alphonse again?"
Asuma squirmed uncomfortably. Noa calling him her 'boyfriend' so
blatently, while not unpleasant, made him feel rather uneasy- as if he
wasn't entirely sure what he was getting into, and wasn't entirely sure if
he'd like it or not. Still, he wasn't going to stop her from doing so...
well, not unless there was a chance one of their co-workers might overhear.
"Sorry, Noa... you had to get surgery to repair a punctured colon. The
wounds themselves weren't really that severe, but since you had to go under
anesthesia and get stitches you are out of action for a while. No police
work- which means no Alphonse- for a month. Then, only light duty- which
STILL means no Alphonse- until you receive medical clearance... and they
won't give you that until at least two weeks after you get back on duty-
that's a policy I was told about when my ribs got busted."
"Six weeks without Alphonse?" Noa cried weakly, distressed.
Asuma sighed- he hadn't wanted to tell her that. "I'll see if I can
arrange for you to visit him when you're back on your feet, but that won't
be for a while yet." He hesitated. "I can try to take his place while you
can't see him, though- I'll still be here."
Noa smiled tiredly- she was still feeling the effects of the drugs they had
used to put her under. "That's sweet, Asuma... but no. Alphonse fills a
part of my heart you don't... but then again, you fill a part of my heart
he can't."
Asuma almost asked her what she meant by that, but then he noticed she'd
fallen asleep as she said it.
* * * * *
Shinobu sighed, relaxing into her chair. All of her paperwork for the next
five weeks had been completed, there had been no calls, and there wasn't
anyone around flirting with- er, bugging her. She'd tried to puzzle out
what Gotoh was doing, but she didn't have enough evidence to even start
investigating... though she was fairly certain visiting his niece had nothing
to do with it. She had called his house the moment she could and found
that niether he NOR his niece were there.
The other person she might talk to, Gomioka, was asleep... and she could
tell he needed it. Shinobu wasn't too sure about him, any more. She'd
been certain that he would be a good captain when she recommended his
promotion, but it appeared at times the job was getting too stressful for
him. There was certainly no reason for him to jump on Gotoh about the
softball game- it was supposed to be just a friendly contest, not the near
bloodfest it became. There was certainly no way of knowing that the riot
squad captain was actually willing to injure fellow police officers to win
some stupid game.
That wasn't the only thing that made her wonder- she had dismissed the
fears Gomioka had expressed about his leadership ability the other day as
rookie mistakes, but in truth Gomioka was having a very poor success rate
with his men. Perhaps she should ask Gotoh to take over the temporary
combined unit for the rest of the week, and give Gomioka some extra time
off to relieve some of his stress. She knew it didn't help that his
marriage was in trouble- a week off might be enough time for him to work
that out, at least. Then again, knowing what a workaholic Gomioka was,
he'd never go for it.
Shinobu distracted herself from her thoughts with a loud yawn. 'Hmm, I'm
getting awfully tired,' she thought to herself, stretching. 'Usually,
though, there's a lot more to do during the day... I wish Gotoh was here-
or at least that he would call like he usually does when he isn't in the
office. Then at least I'd have the challenge of fending off his advances.'
Sighing, she stood up and walked over to her personal mailbox, checking to
see if anything new had come in for her since the previous night. Finding
a small stack of letters, she pulled it out and headed back over to her
desk.
"Hmm," she said to herself, "Let's see what we've got.... Junk, junk,
junk, bill, postcard, bill.... Wait, postcard?" Checking the address on
the back, she blinked. "Tsuge Yukihito? Why, I haven't heard from him
since he left on that mission for the U.N. several months ago! I wonder
what he has to say?"
Tsuge Yukihito had been an instructor of hers at the academy... and a
little bit more in her personal life. Things had gotten rather...
intimate... between them for a while. After she'd gotten command of her
own unit, however, their rendezvous became fewer and fewer. At some point-
shortly after Gotoh had been transferred into the SV2 to become her XO- she
had realized that they'd drifted apart completely. They still communicated
by mail frequently, but they hadn't seen each other in more than a year.
At times, Shinobu wondered if the timing of that realization had been a
coincidence... but it wasn't that she was no longer in love with Tsuge.
She was. It was that he wasn't around any more.
Of course, that might have been it. Tsuge was unavailable, and Gotoh was.
While she loved Tsuge, she couldn't deny being at least a LITTLE attracted
to her fellow captain. It would never work out between her and Gotoh,
though- he was too much of a slob, and Tsuge was still number one in her
heart. Well, maybe not NEVER work out, but it would take a while.
Smiling fondly to herself, Shinobu started reading the letter on the back
of the card.
"Shinobu, my Love," it began.
"I am not entirely certain what I can and what I can't tell you. Suffice
to say, however, that as much as I care about you, this will be the last
time I will ever talk to you or send you any sort of letter. I am very
sorry. However, I will leave you with one thought of comfort- here is a
poem I have composed, which should explain things better than I could say
them...."
Shinobu stopped reading right there. "What?" she gasped. "Why?" She
tried to read on, but the tears that had suddenly appeared in her eyes made
that impossible.
It was probably inevitable that one of them would have said it, but she was
still unprepared for it. Obviously, he had also realized that they were
over, and was breaking all ties. A real break up, instead of the simple
seperation they had been living under.
'Why?' Shinobu thought to herself. 'I loved him, and now he isn't even
going to talk to me again....'
* * * * *
Gotoh smiled at his niece. "Well, were do you want to go next?"
His niece seemed to consider the question for a bit. "Hmm... I think I'd
like to go see where you work... I mean, I may go to the police academy,
and if I do I might wind up involved with labors. Shouldn't I see what it
is I'd be getting myself into?"
Gotoh seemed a little surprised. "Of course... in fact, while we're on our
way there, why don't we stop by police headquarters and I can introduce you
to a few friends of mine. They should give you a better example of what
life in the police is like..."
* * * * *
A few hours later, Gotoh and his niece were walking through the halls of
the SV2 Barracks.
"...met Shinobu before, but that was when we were on the campus," Gotoh was
saying. "Now you'll meet her in her professional environment, just like
you met Inspector Matsui in his."
His niece laughed. "Matsui was funny... how can someone so fat be a good
field officer?"
"You'd be surprised," Gotoh replied, opening the door to his office and
looking in.
Shinobu was slumped down into his chair, a now empty bottle of whiskey
stolen from his file cabinet clutched protectively in her hands, her
uniform jacket and vest removed, her shirt top loosened, and tears dripping
down her face.
Gotoh closed the door before his niece could see. "On second thought,
Shinobu is rather busy and doesn't look like she could talk to you right
now. Why don't you go talk to Sakaki of the maintenance squad, four doors
down on your right. I'll go see if I can help her out...."
His niece blinked. She knew her uncle well enough to know something was
behind that door that he DIDN'T want her knowing about. "Um, okay, Uncle
Gotoh," she agreed, running off down the hall. When she disappeared into
Chief Sakaki's office, Gotoh reopened the door and went in.
"Ah, Gotoh!" Shinobu slurred. "I thought that was you just a moment ago...
or was it a while ago? Oh, whatever... glad you're here."
Gotoh was concerned to say the least. As quickly as he dared, he moved to
her side. "Shinobu, what's wrong? Why did you, er..."
"Why am I as drunk as a skunk?" Shinobu finished for him. "'Cause I let
him slip through my fingers."
Gotoh blinked. "'Him?' 'Him' who?"
Shinobu shook her head drunkenly. "It doesn't matter anymore- he doesn't
want to ever talk to me again. I mean, I knew it was over, but I always
thought it would never REALLY be over, you know?"
"I... don't understand," Gotoh said.
Shinobu reached up and patted him on the cheek. "Don't worry,
'Razorblade.' I won't let it get out that you don't know everything."
"Er, thank you," Gotoh said, trying to keep himself from peaking down her
unbuttoned shirt. "Um... how'd you know I keep my booze in that cabinet?"
Shinobu laughed. "Are you kidding? After working with you as long as I
have, I'd be a TERRIBLE cop if I didn't know a few of your secrets. Just
like I know you bet on horse races and give your unit free beer despite
regulations against it...."
"Er, well, that isn't really that much of a secret," Gotoh noted.
"And you know what?" Shinobu continued, apparently not hearing. "I don't
care about it, I don't care if you drink when you shouldn't, I don't care
if you gamble, I don't care if you're a slob...." Reaching up, she grabbed
him by his lapels and pulled him down to look at him face to face. "All I
care about is that I can talk to you when I want to, okay? That's it."
With that, she pulled him even closer and kissed him fiercely. Gotoh was
so shocked that he didn't know what to do.
It was then that Chief Sakaki walked in. "Gotoh, why did you tell that
niece of yours to talk to... er, excuse me. I think I'll give her a guided
tour of the facilities for a while, okay?" Quickly, the door shut behind
him.
His quick exit didn't matter, though. The mood was broken, and Gotoh had
enough time to recover from the kiss and step back for a moment, to think
about how he should deal with all of this.
"Shinobu, stop... this isn't the way I want this to happen," he said. "Not
when you're drunk- not when you aren't in control of yourself. Not on the
rebound."
"I lost him because I didn't hold onto him tightly enough... you aren't
him, but you're all I've got right now, and I'm gonna hold tight onto you
enough to not lose you ever."
She was, in fact, holding on to him rather tightly... his shoulders, where
she was clenched onto with a vice-like grip, were starting to hurt rather
badly. Not that Gotoh cared at the moment.
"Shinobu, you aren't going to lose me. Go ahead and hold on, if you like,
but don't do it like this- you're drunk, and not in control of yourself,
and depressed." Gotoh paused. "Well, you're not in control of yourself
and depressed. I might not have any objection if you were just drunk...."
Shinobu laughed, sliding out of the chair to hang over him. "That's
probably why I like you so much- you can always keep your sense of humor
going no matter how bad the situation is. Well, that and I know you aren't
going anywhere... not like SOME people I've loved...."
Gotoh sighed. "Shinobu, please... I'm having a hard enough time resisting
you, do you have to hang over me like this?"
Shinobu sniffed, not quite able to cling onto him like she'd planned and
falling a little. "I'm a little upset you're able to resist me at all! I
thought you liked me?"
"I more than like you, Shinobu," Gotoh said, catching her before she
slumped to the ground. "That's why I'm resisting you."
Shinobu didn't say anything in reply- she had passed out after standing up
too quickly.
Looking at her silently for a moment, Gotoh picked her up and carried her
into his personal office, where he had a cot set up. He didn't want to
carry her through the hallways and let her crews see her passed out, drunk.
Setting her on the bed carefully, he covered her with a blanket, and
stared at her for a moment.
"Hmm," he said to himself. "Looks like I'm gonna have part of a duty shift
today, after all."
* * * * *
Gomioka stepped into the office when his shift arrived, feeling more
relaxed then he had been in a while. He had no Gotoh to deal with, which
meant he'd be having a MUCH better day than normal.
"I'm ready to take over, Captain Nagumo," he said, not looking at the duty
desk.
"Go ahead- I'm just finishing up some personal paperwork," Gotoh replied,
looking curiously at a postcard. "Shinobu's asleep on the cot in my
personal study- she was exhausted when I showed up to visit with my niece,
and I suggested I take over for her until your shift came up."
"Hi!" the afforementioned niece said, waving. "So you're the new captain.
I'm thinking of joining the police academy, and may even decide to transfer
here when I graduate. Who knows- you might become my commanding officer
one day."
'Great,' Gomioka thought to himself. 'Now his FAMILY intends to haunt me
for the rest of my career.'
"Well, we're going home," Gotoh said, picking up his coat and setting the
postcard on Shinobu's desk. "I'll be here to relieve you for standby duty
tomorrow."
"Carry on," Gomioka said.
Gotoh and his niece went out the door, leaving behind a mess on Gotoh's
desk.
"Bah... does he EVER clean up after himself?" He walked over to clean up
the mess, and noticed a bit of orange cloth. Curious, he picked that up
first.
"Shinobu's vest? What's that doing at Gotoh's desk?"
For some reason, Gomioka started feeling even MORE jealous than he had been
before.
January 29, 2000
Gotoh walked into the office. "Here to relieve you for standby duty, Mr.
Gomioka. Carry on."
Gomioka, the disciplinarian that he was, saluted. "Captain Nagumo has yet
to be awakened. I should take care of that before I go."
Gotoh shrugged. "Nah- don't bother. I'll do that."
Gomioka grimaced. Letting Gotoh have that opportunity was NOT a good thing
in his book- especially if things he really hoped hadn't happened the
previous day HAD actually happened, but he didn't have much say in the
matter. "Very well... I'll relieve you tomorrow."
Gotoh nodded. "I'll probably be on base even when I'm off duty. I've got
a lot of paperwork to catch up on."
Gomioka stormed out the door, not even bothering to acknowledge Gotoh's
announcement.
"Huh... I wonder what's wrong with him." Gotoh set his jacket on the chair
behind his desk and then stepped on into his personal office. Shinobu was
sleeping in his cot, her clothes ruffled badly, drool coming out of one
side of her mouth. Gotoh pulled out some equipment he had on hand and
perked up some coffee before going over to wake him up.
"Shinobu? Shinobu, wake up. Shinobu...."
"Ugh!" Shinobu grimaced, sitting up slowly. "What hit me?"
"Some cheap American rotgut whiskey. Nasty stuff to be drinking if you're
not used to it."
Shinobu winced, trying to open her eyes. "I got drunk?"
Gotoh shoved a cup of black coffee into her hand. "Yep. Pretty badly,
too."
Shinobu frowned. "How did that happen?"
"Something about a letter on a postcard, I believe. Um, you wouldn't
happen to remember anything you did last night, do you?"
Shinobu finally managed to open one bloodshot eye, glaring up at him.
"Why? I didn't embarass myself, did I?"
Gotoh coughed. "Well, actually..."
"What did I do?"
"You kissed me."
That got the other eye open. "You didn't take advantage of my being drunk,
did you?" she growled angrilly.
Gotoh shook his head. "Like I said last night, you were drunk, out of
control, and depressed. I might take advantage of you when you were drunk,
but not unless you were both in control and as happy as you could be."
Suddenly, that phrase triggered a partial memory of the previous night.
"Er... it never happened, got it? And it won't ever happen again,
understand?"
Gotoh nodded. "I know better than to argue with a woman with a hangover."
Shinobu nodded, wincing her eyes closed again as the pain from her head
(and her stomach) overwhelmed her. "But promise me you won't stop trying,
okay? Things get pretty boring when you aren't around here, bugging me."
Gotoh blinked at her in surprise. Maybe not all of last night was due to
the whiskey. "Like I said, I know better than to argue with a woman with a
hangover."
-------------------------
Next Episode: Unit 3's new labors finally arrive! There may be one last
mission for the old ones, however.... And now that Kanuka is part of the
team, will she or Seiroku be the unofficial 'third pilot'?
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