Chapter 33

The day dawned warm and bright, a fitting finale to his time in Japan. Kevin had seen entirely too many rainy days and dark nights, and the irony of the moment killed him.

The concourse was dead quiet at seven in the morning, with employees of the airport vastly outnumbering the sparsely spread out customers. Kevin had stopped by a newsstand to pick up a copy of the International Herald Tribune.

The IHT started as a joint venture between the New York Times and the Washington Post to create a newspaper catering specifically towards American expatriates around the world. For an international newspaper, it carried surprisingly in-depth United States reporting, taking articles from its two parent papers across the world. And perhaps most attractively, it had a good enough sports page to satisfy any nut who needed a daily football or hockey fix in the morning.

Kevin hadn't been keeping up with the home teams during his time in Japan and felt somewhat guilty about it. He had heard vague rumors that the Boston Red Sox had managed to win the World Series, but that couldn't be right.

He tucked the paper underneath his arm and moseyed on towards the lounge next to his departure gate. It was a long moment before he realized that someone was calling out to him.

"Sir, sir!" The clerk from the newsstand jogged up from behind him. "You forgot your change!"

Kevin was surprised. "Oh! Thank you very much. I guess I was distracted."

"Not at all, sir. Have a good day!" With military precision, the young woman turned around and jogged away.

Kevin stared after her, then numbly shoved the cash into his pocket and continued on. He searched the monitors, eventually locating his flight and settling down to read the paper. It was a full ten minutes before he realized that his eyes were simply refusing to focus on the words on the pages.

He sighed and folded his arms, intending to sleep. If he could not calm his churning mind with written word, he would stave it off with sleep. Kevin had almost fallen asleep, when he was interrupted by a polite cough.

A female voice addressed him softly, "Am I interrupting anything, Bin-kun?"

Kevin wearily opened his eyes and fixed them upon a pair of blue eyes. Ami stared at him with mild concern mixed with amusement. "Ami-chan!"

She shook her head and placed her bag down on the floor before sitting next to him. "Leaving without saying goodbye? I would have thought more of you, Kevin."

The American rubbed his eyes remorsefully. "Yeah well, I would have made it over, but things got in the way."

"So I have been told." Ami rubbed her right arm absently. "Still, you will be missed, Bin-kun. Remember the friends you made here."

"I will." Kevin closed his eyes. "But I'm still surprised that you braved an early morning to come see me."

Almost coldly, "I don't think I would have had I not received a request last night."

"A request," Kevin repeated softly.

Ami leaned down, picked up her bag, and gently placed it on her lap. A white cat popped out of the bag and languidly moved to sit on Kevin's armrest.

Immediately, the man's voice took on an unprecedented coldness. "Hello, Artemis."

The cat replied slowly, "Hello, Retainer."

Kevin's eyes flicked back to Ami, processing the new information. She did not seem particularly perturbed by the situation, indicating that she had a deeper knowledge than he had originally assumed. He filed that information away for later analysis. "Don't call me that."

"Then what should I call you?"

"Kevin. My real name."

Artemis sighed and seemed to shrink into himself. "Regardless of what you say or do or want...you will always be the Retainer of Serenity's family. It would be for the best if you actually accepted that."

Kevin shook his head. "It is not the position or the title I am averse to...but what I have become in order to assume it."

"You have become more than I could have hoped for, Kevin."

The American replied smoothly. "Artemis, yesterday I killed three men in the prime of their life. I felt them writhing in my hands and knew that I had the power to crush them. And when I had the chance, I did."

"That is the power you hold in your hands. You were given the power to defend humanity from whatever crises it is faced with. You are responsible for its use and I trust you with it still."

Emotionlessly, "Then why did I kill them? I could have easily stopped them, incapacitated them, left them for the police to take care of."

"They deserved everything that they got. You did not start that fight, Kevin."

"But I responded with force that I knew was wrong. No one deserves to die in such a way." He stopped. "I killed them because I could. Because it was easy.

"But what was most frightening was the fact that deep down in my heart...I wanted them to die. I wanted to crush them, to feel that thrill of power coursing through my veins."

The cat waved his paw dismissively. "I'm sure that was not the case--"

Kevin cut him off easily. "Do not presume to know how I think. It is an arrogance unbecoming even of you."

He spared a glance at Ami before continuing. Her expression was blank, but her eyes were alert, soaking up each detail of the conversation. He imagined that it would be recounted to Minako at some point, a thought which made him wince. The cat's back arched, but Kevin pushed on. "So be silent and let me finish. To be frank, I don't trust myself with these powers Artemis. They tempt me; they seduce me into actions that I would not normally take. I can't do it anymore. I don't want to sacrifice my sanity every time I transform and be reminded of the inferiority of my human form every time I transform back."

Artemis leaped onto the American's chest, digging his claws into the man's clothing. He hissed, "Don't be such a selfish, fucking child! I can't believe that you are willing to sacrifice this world to satisfy some petty moral concern. There are enemies coming and you're going to sit out because you don't feel like fighting. You goddamned traitor!"

In a single motion, Kevin slid his arm underneath the cat and flung him against the nearby row of seats. Artemis twisted gracefully in the air and managed to land on his feet without injury. The man replied poisonously. "There are no enemies, Artemis. I can see that now. A year has passed, with nothing more than the occasional pickpocket.

"I refuse to mortgage my life to become a pawn in your petty fantasies, Artemis."

The cat looked like he was about to leap at Kevin again, when Ami scooped him into her arms and cradled him gently but firmly. He wriggled around futilely, but eventually gave up in exhaustion.

Kevin nodded. "Thank you, Ami-chan."

"Not at all. I just don't think it would be a good idea to let one of my friends slice and dice the other."

"Appreciated."

Artemis squirmed. "You can't leave, Kevin! You have so much to do, so many things to accomplish!"

"But I must, Artemis. I can't call Japan home, no matter how much you or anyone else tries to convince me otherwise."

"So you're going to let some idiotic notion of patriotism get in the way?"

"This just isn't home." Kevin pursed his lips. "I don't know if it ever will be."

The automated voice of an airport official rang through the concourse, announcing the arrival of Kevin's early morning flight. The American leaned over to pick up his bag. "I guess I'll see you folks later."

Ami called out quietly. "And when will you be back, Bin-kun?"

Kevin hesitated, then replied softly. "When I understand myself and my powers better. When I have some answers for all the questions that are bouncing around my head."

Bitterly, Artemis exclaimed, "You won't find them in America. You won't solve your problems by running away from them."

The American gazed back just before entering the long connecting tube to the waiting airplane. "But it's the only way I know how."