a/n: A simple idea, a possiblilty that just wouldn't leave me alone. This is set between chapters Seven and Eight of Inner Universe
Disclaimer: The only thing I own is this story, and Mayuka. Go ahead and take everything else, but watch out for those nutty lawyers
Encounter
By: Jun-kei
Foot steps echoed down the hall, as she walked along it, dressed in her beige military uniform, identifying her as a Sergeant Major of the Special Forces. She pulled her white gloves down past her wrist, making sure that they were on tightly. Mayuka walked slowly down the corridor. She looked around the fallen rubble, the toppled bookcases. Just hours ago this place was a battlefield. Though a small one, property damage did happed.
But this wasn't of her concern right now.
What concerned her was more important. Yoko Kayabuki, the Prime Minister had ordered for her presence.
The strangest part was that she had no idea why.
And she hated every second of it; every second of being kept in the dark, of not knowing information because someone so boldly withheld it from her.
She hated the thought because it made her nervous of what the future had in store for her, nervous of the fact that for once, she had no cards to play, and would most likely lose this round.
She hated loosing. In fact, she hated seeing this stupid 'life' thing as just a game. There had to be so much more to it than that. Something to live for, a goal that was set out for one to complete, a partially pre-determined destiny. The more she thought about it, the more the world and all of its flaws began to agitate her. She almost felt as though she could sympathize with people like 'The Laughing Man'.
But to get someone like her to admit to that would be impossible.
Mayuka Yukiko Kusanagi, was once again 'Sergeant Major' just like the old days.
And the mask she wore was just as strong as her resolve too. Like a Noh mask, though the person who wears it has different feelings, the expression on the mask never changed.
It remained the same, her expression: Cold like stone, an expression that betrayed nothing, not even the slightest of emotion.
No body could see 'Sergeant Major' Kusanagi get nervous.
Never.
But that was exactly how she felt right now.
Her eyes flickered with the moonlight catching her attention. She suddenly stopped. The androids sent her in this direction, and she made her assent slowly. But despite her distracted mind, her feet still took her right to where she needed to be.
Right in front of the office door of Yoko Kayabuki, the first female Prime Minister of Japan.
Mayuka mentally sighed, and knocked on the door. Solemnly waiting for a reply.
"Who is it?"
Came a soft reply.
"Madam Prime Minister, it's Sergeant Major Mayuka Kusanagi. You requested my audience?"
A shuffle of papers could be heard though the other side of the oak door before an answer came.
"Please, come in."
Mayuka sighed to herself, before her gloved hand wrapped around the doorknob, twisting it slowly. Mayuka opened the door, and stepped inside the ruined office. To her left, the bookcase that was behind the couch was toppled over, on top of the couch. In the center, was the huge hole left by the cyborg she shot and killed. Mayuka took her time examining it, prolonging herself from going face to face with Kayabuki. But eventually, it was no longer an option. Mayuka finally looked to her left, to where a desk was. And behind it, in a two-piece red suit, with a skirt for the bottom, was Yoko Kayabuki. The first female Prime Minister of Japan.
Mayuka stood at attention, saluting Kayabuki.
"Madame Prime Minister, it is an honor."
"No, no, the honor is all mine. Relax, and take a seat."
Mayuka stopped saluting, but remained standing. She felt like a little school child again, being called into the principal's office, getting all comfortable, only to find out she was being held responsible for doing something she had no knowledge about.
"I don't think that's necessary M'am. I have plenty of work to return to a Section Nine. If it isn't an inconvenience, may I ask that we keep this meeting brief?"
Yoko Kayabuki looked towards the young woman and sighed.
"You military types, always down to business…you really need to lighten up."
"Small talk was never my strong point, M'am. And besides, considering what position you have in the country, isn't such a statement hypocritical coming from one such as yourself?"
Yoko chuckled.
"I suppose so."
"Madame Prime Minister, may I ask what this meeting is about?"
"Always straight to business…you don't even crack a smile."
Kayabuki sighed again, as she opened up a file on her desk.
"Well, if you won't smile…I wonder if…"
Mayuka's expression seemed to be a questioning glance, just as Kayabuki looked down. But the expression disappeared. Mayuka's emotionless mask once again took over.
"Let's see, we have a file on someone you should be rather familiar with. Supposedly born in two thousand ten. Not much is known about this girl except she has only one known living relative, her older sister. Her parents died when she was very young, couldn't have been more than one or two at the time, and her sister was nine years old. Later on, she and her sister were adopted by another family, a couple who couldn't have children. She was diagnosed with a severe case of claustrophobia, believed to have been induced by how her parents were killed: in a car crash, that compacted the car, yet left both children unharmed because the mother protected them, using her own body as a buffer."
Yoko looked up at Mayuka for a few minutes, edging her to respond, but Mayuka remained silent. The information didn't even make a dent, she could tell at how Mayuka's expression didn't change, not even slightly. Kayabuki shook her head and returned to looking back down at the paper.
"Continuing on… this same girl was the creator of the 'Kiss of Death' Virus that cause all computers to go offline, ten years ago. Then, hours later after causing the epidemic, she released a counter virus called 'Embracive life'. She, of course, didn't name it as such. The media did, however, due to the government wanted to keep it quiet that a ten-year-old girl managed to do such damage was their top priority. So there was a publication ban on her name, and all other personal information. The child was a classic run-off-the-mill genius they said. And even wrote over encryption codes of programs on her personal computer. Being a minor, who caused this accidentally, charges were dropped after she went on trial. But ever since that happening, public security Section Five have been keeping a close eye on her, and even have an in depth description of her hacking style that they interrogated her on."
Yoko paused again, noticing the sudden tension in the room.
"What…"
Mayuka spoke very slowly, still keeping that wall of defense around her.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"You'll see. They said a few days later the girl hack herself a flight to the United States. There she forged documents and managed to get herself into the army. After six months of training, she was sent to be apart of Special Forces Stamina Rose Squad One. When she was twelve, though the papers the army had said twenty-four, most of the squad were killed. She watched her superior officer die in front of her eyes, and lost eighty percent of her left arm in combat. Present day, there are only two survivors of Stamina Rose, Field Medic Jun-kei Yurika Mori, and this girl."
Silence ensued them both for over ten minutes. Yoko then looked back down and spoke again.
"She's believed to be a hematophobic, due to what happened in the war. Recently she was in a coma, for eleven days, back in December. I even came to see her. Medics say that it appears she has a Multiple Personality Disord-"
Kayabuki was interrupted when Mayuka slammed the desk with her fist.
"How long," She yelled, "Are you going to keep talking about me, like I'm not here?"
"Is there something wrong with what I'm telling you?"
"How much digging did you do on me, huh bitch?"
Mayuka growled. Yoko shook her head.
"I'd watch my tongue if I were you."
"I really don't give a damn for ethics right now! If I wanted someone to regurgitate the facts of my life, I would have written an autobiography!"
Yoko smiled.
"I was wondering if you really would get angry. Aren't you a hypocrite to 'As the perfect solider one must kill both ego and emotion'?"
Mayuka growled but didn't answer. She already stepped out of line as it was.
"I know you were that child from ten years ago. Meaning, you're no more than twenty years of age, am I correct?"
"Yes M'am."
"So young. You still have a whole life ahead of you, and yet so far you decided to have ties to the Yakuza, and once was a vigilante."
"Are you trying to patronize me?"
Yoko shook her head.
"No, no, but I want to establish some facts with you."
"And those are?"
"You do realize that you are a criminal."
Mayuka nodded.
"Is this an attempt to let me know I could be brought into custody at any moment?"
"Not at all. Mayuka, I have a question to ask you, why do you think I became the Prime Minister?"
Mayuka frowned.
"How the heck would I know? I don't understand your motives I'm not you. My only guess is that it's because it's your homeland."
Kayamuki smiled.
"We're more alike then you think. That's exactly why I became Prime Minister, because I love my homeland, and its people."
"Alike?"
Yoko nodded.
"We think in similar ways. In fact, when I was your age, I thought the same way you did. I was a risk taker, I would have done anything as long as the ends justified the means."
"You make yourself seem rather old."
The prime minister laughed.
"I suppose so. It's been a long time since I've actually acted like I was thirty-nine."
"You're younger than I thought."
"Yes, that's true."
Mayuka narrowed her eyes.
"But why would-"
"I've known what happened to you when you were under capture by the Yakuza."
"Oh, you do, do you?"
"Yes. In my eyes, you're innocent. You were a minor, a mere child scared for your life, forced to comply with their orders."
"I disagree. What's done is done. The fact that it was by my hand, regardless of the circumstances doesn't change that. I'm as guilty as they come."
"Perhaps. But it wasn't your fault."
Mayuka smirked.
"Go tell that to the judge."
"I will if I must."
"So was this all it was about, just to tell me non-sense?"
Yoko stood up.
"Not quite."
She said as she walked around her desk, coming face to face with her.
"They've been worried about you."
"They have nothing to worry about."
Yoko raised an eyebrow.
"Has the training really hardened you that much?"
"No. Life in itself has done that."
"You know, from what I've seen, you're as reckless as they said you were. Tell me, did you feel any remorse for those you killed earlier today?"
Mayuka was caught off guard by this question, but her expression became neutral once more.
"W-W-was I supposed to?"
"You shouldn't bottle up your emotions."
"I don't care for what you say! You're a hypocrite, to be one in your position; it requires you to keep many emotions under wraps. Despite how you may feel, you must admit that many times you were forced to make judgment calls that went against many peoples, including your own, ideals! Just admit it that many times you too wanted to yell at them all for forcing your back up against the wall, don't you dare deny it! And further more, I'm nothing like y-"
Mayuka suddenly wished she could take the words back, as she brought her hand to her now burning cheek. She could feel her eyes water. But grabbing onto her emotions again, it was replaced by utter rage.
"Are you done with your little out burst?"
"Ow…why did you…"
She began, stopping herself. Mayuka smirked.
"You have more of an arm than I thought."
Her voice was bitter as she stared at Kayabuki with a death glare.
"If one is going to act like a child, one will be treated like it."
"Awe, I'm sorry, did my words hit too close to home?"
"Even your mannerisms are the same as mine were when I was your age."
Yoko shook her head, as she tilted Mayuka's head so that their eyes locked.
"You have, very peculiar eyes. Though you have the dark hair of your ancestors your eyes are so vibrant. As blue as the stone of sapphire, and that is their natural colour. You have a great deal of water in your personality too, I can see that."
Yoko's voice was soft, almost motherly.
"Since when did this-"
"You seem to be constantly lying to yourself. Stop bottling your emotions. Because if you keep lying to yourself, you destroy who you are piece by piece. Someone once told me that 'with out truth there is no life. Truth may be life itself.' It was because of him I made it my duty to help those I can."
Yoko's expression hardened slightly.
"Mayuka, they say that the eyes of a person is a window into their soul. And when I look into your eyes, I see a tortured one, desperately trying to hide itself from view. For so young, you've already seen more than your share of bloodshed, of how corrupted the world is. You have the potential to do what you want. Don't make yourself suffer anymore than needed. That's all I ask of you."
Mayuka was silent. She didn't answer for quite some time.
"Don't make myself suffer?"
She growled, slapping Kayabuki's hand away from her.
"I'd rather die then knowing I left people like the Yakuza stay at large!"
"But you're only one person."
"So! Even one person can make a difference!"
"But you've already suffered enough because of them. Is this for revenge?"
Mayuka laughed.
"You'd think this is for revenge? Are you stupid? I wouldn't hail my own death for something like revenge."
"Hail your own death?"
"I'll decimate the Yakuza, even if it costs me my life. And first in order is toppling the Mehiji Empire."
"That's rather foolish."
"Perhaps so, but I couldn't live with myself knowing that some other innocent girl who was abused by them stained her hands with blood, leaving the memory of such on one's mind when one has no training for it weights down one's conscious."
Yoko scowled.
"Fool! What about your own conscious?"
Mayuka turned around.
"The first time I held a gun, Madame Prime Minister, was back in the army. That was when I first shot and killed a man too. Seeing the red liquid life pour out of him like that…knowing it was because I did it, simply because I pulled back on a tiny piece of metal. I found it hard to believe I killed another living person, one who, for all I knew wasn't much different from me. The shock…it makes your stomach do flips. But the scariest thing is to look back, and realizing that each time you shot a man down it felt more and more natural. Almost as natural as breathing."
"But surely you've put that behind you."
"In the eyes of fellows, I did what I thought was necessary. In the eyes of outsiders, I'm a monster."
"I don't see a monster."
Mayuka laughed.
"You don't, do you? You're words are too kind! I see that from childhood, you didn't loose the essence that made you pure. You seem to have it, even now as an adult."
"Purity…?"
"Yes, I lost that the very day I ever touched that gun. The day I became Sergeant Major Mayuka Yukiko Kusanagi of Special Forces Stamina Rose Squad One, was the day that I gave up on childhood, and being pure. I decided to forge my way though arms. That very day was the day I was condemned, damned to hell."
"No one damned you. Not a single person."
Mayuka laughed.
"So you say. Tell that to Shikigami for me why don't you."
"So you're giving up without a fight? You have so much potential though."
"Potential is no longer the issue that presses on."
Yoko's eyes narrowed.
"Then what is?"
"Haven't you seen my hands?"
Mayuka held up her hands revealing the pair of white gloves.
"Gloves…what do gloves have to do with anything?"
"Clean gloves hide dirty hands."
Her voice was low as she said this.
"Thus is the way of the solider."
Her voice gradually became softer, making it harder for Yoko to hear.
"And mine,"
Kayabuki wondered what it was as she noticed Mayuka head tilted towards the ground.
"Are some of the filthiest hands ever. They have been stained red with the blood of those whom opposed me, far too many times. I did what I thought was right back then, as I am doing now."
Mayuka slowly turned towards Yoko Kayabuki, a small smile on her face.
"It doesn't sit well with me that I must kill again. But from all my hardships that I've been through the most radical change has came through the death of another person. Perhaps it is not the most humane way, but so far it as proved to be the most effective."
"If you do that, then Section Nine will have no choice but to-!"
"You can go ahead and call them in! The wheels have begun to turn. My plan has already been set into motion! But as long as I have done nothing that you can ping me on as a criminal, my words are nothing but the ramblings of a mad woman. You have nothing to go on! And you'll never know when I'll strike. But when I'll do, it'll be far too late. Mehiji will fall, Yakuza will be crippled, and I'll cease to exist."
Yoko glared at the other woman. "Cease to exist?"
"The chances of survival are minimal. And by what I plan to do, I would make it onto your criminal list. I won't let Motoko or the others shoot the final blow. If need be, I'll do it myself. But in the end, death is imminent."
"So you don't care if you die?"
Mayuka shook her head.
"No, no, you've got me all wrong. There is one thing that matters, one thing I do care about. In the end, I'll die happy knowing I've reached my goal."
"Goal?"
Mayuka smirked; she closed her eyes.
"Yes, my goal. And that goal is," Her eyes snapped open, filled with fury, "YAKUZA WILL FALL!"
"So…that's the be all and end all?"
"Yes. Unfortunately that's the way it is."
Mayuka walked around the hole in the office to the door, her gloved hand once again wrapped around the doorknob.
"My goal is important because even if I die I can die knowing that no one else will have to suffer like I did. No one else will have to shoulder this heavy burden. I alone know the pain. I alone shoulder it."
"But what about the people you care about? What will they say, knowing that you're dead?"
Silence filled the room. But eventually the creaking oak door broke it as Mayuka opened the door.
"Truthfully… I don't know." She whispered. Mayuka turned back to face Yoko.
"But if you're trying to change my mind, it's far too late. I have made my decision."
"It doesn't have to be final. People change their minds all the time."
Mayuka shook her head.
"But I haven't. Sayonara, Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki, of Japan. Continue to do what you think is best for this country."
Mayuka bowed before stepping through the door, closing it behind her. Yoko sighed as she walked back to her desk, taking a seat again.
"So, you're ready to die, are you, Mayuka Yukiko Kusanagi? You truly are the child of Yuki. She'd be proud to know you're willing to risk your life for something you believe in, for your own personal justice. Just like she did once."
Yoko sighed to herself, resting her arms on her desk.
"'Death is imminent' you say. That's why you said it, 'Sayonara' farewell. You intended for this to be our first and last meeting did you? Well then, Sayonara Mayuka Yukiko Kusanagi. I promise I'll visit your grave."
a/n: Don't ask me how I see the similiarities between these two characters. Some how my little mind has managed to give the reasons towards all this, and thus ended with me writing this.
Read and Review, let me know what you think.
Ja-ne!
Jun-kei