WARNING! I now contain some spoilers READERS beware!

Extraction

With her death he made a fervent pledge. Whenever it came to matters of the heart to keep them secret and safe. Each time following her death and his recovery of the soul he pulled every burst emotion from his memory. It was the only way to protect those he would ever come to love if he was blessed enough to love again. Hiding them in objects he could recover with his external memory. It strategy he was sure no one else knew he had, in fact the only one he believed capable was the one he was truly trying to protect at this point.

Many nights and days had past since he relived the loss of Ananda, a painful reminder of the loneliness he had to bear alone in this job. Like the woman he now admired, he had to be stoic and outwardly unfeeling.

The day before that night was like most, she was working by his side…but in a guise different from any other. This day he actually had the sense of protecting her. A pilot for a chairman was having serious delusions of grandeur and seemed like he could be a good candidate from their new main concern. The major or Motoko played the part of a call girl, similar to the legend of Heidi Fleiss, high class and seemingly unattainable to the common man. This pilot had an appetite for her. He desired her in every way imaginable and the only way to lure him was to let him attempt to live his fantasy. The very thought burned Batou thinking that some one could buy the intimacy of some one he respected more that his own father or authority in his life.

Tonight this was the object of his extraction. One of the few nights he knew he would have to himself. As these memories of Motoko accumulated he strung them together each time to scrutinize every detail to see if there was any return in emotions from her. Tonight was no different.

He was a ranger buzzed cut and acclimated to his post, becoming the front man to seek when it came to ballistics artillery or heavy fire combat. His face body and mind were already hardened to the idea of war.

Batou received orders to act as security for a woman and provide her safe passage through a war zone. It had been quite some time since he had seen a woman without ranger prosthetics. When he first saw her he felt the blush of embarrassment under his cheeks. She was tall with Amethyst hair and a body to rival all beauties in the world. Her walk and actions down to the most infinitesimal detail were that of perfection. He knew just from this that she was a cyborg, after all no one is that beautiful. Feeling that any one that had to look like this outwardly was as shallow as a puddle, he went about his duties and executed them with the same precision those around him came to expect. Following the mission when they were in clear neutral territory when she approached him.

"You were perfect, you know I designed every situation along the way really just to see how you would fair. At this stage I would say you are the best of your kind. If you stick by my side I promise you will have more than enough excitement than any human adrenaline junkie could handle." With her short monologue she turned sideways being half coy, "so how bout it" she had a look on her face that if she wasn't a woman he would love to punch off.

Batou was insulted that she had set him up, like it was some kind of elite audition. He would have preferred to be briefed on that fact. mulling this idea in his mind he became more and more angry at her fixated on her caliber of audacity. She stood in front of him unnaturally, unblinking and unmoving. Though he was revolted by her actions he was also intrued by her proposition, if his boss allowed the set up to occur she must be from a very elite group. Regaining all control of his emotions he responded

" I guess with this big dog and pony show I am supposed to say yes?"

"Well that's what I came here with the idea of."

"Well I guess I could try this super covert elite group of yours out…I mean I can always get out whenever I want to."

"Yup your exactly right, meet me at this location Friday at precisely noon, I thrive on punctuality so don't be late. Read over this packet and sign the last two forms…" She was spouting off orders as if this whole scenario was all predestined. If he would have protested at any point it was now wiped from his mind. At this moment he realized just how superior to him that she was. Batou could only sit there and nod like a puppy dog.

That was his first memory of the Major; from then on he followed her with out question.

A few other short and insignificant memories flickered by, looks or acknowledgements of his achievements that made him swell with pride. His next memory was the only other time he witnessed another lifetime member be recruited. She was always very unorthodox, never afraid and always having some sort of half formulated plan. They were in Mexico moving a very important object of epic proportions. It was a combined effort between the Americans and the Japanese. A very gifted sniper had chose them as his new prey. It was the moment that she took off on her own apparently winging a plan. It was nearly impossible for him to restrain himself and adhere to her orders. She was gone for a long time. There were moments when he felt as if he had to pick his stomach off the ground where he stood. She had no fear of loosing her body let along her life. He feared for her death or severe injury at that point more than he feared his own. He felt a primal instinct that was nearly impossible to shake. He remembered her bring a man back smaller than he in stature but quite strong in his build next to the major.

"Taking prisoners now are we?" he smiled more happy that she was back unharmed and in good spirits.

"More like recruiting highly trained specialists." She said it coolly and evenly like she was asking for a glass of water. Batou's jaw dropped.

"Are you out of your right mind? He shot and killed two…"

"And he had us all wondering what was going on, in fact he had me going during out confrontation."

"But you can't just…" she cut him off again

"Who is going to tell me no?" It was a self-answering question. Still he stood still in a dumbfounded look about him. The man was extremely exhausted having the appearance that he never rested for a minute in his short life.

"We have covered as much ground as we needed to today, tomorrow will conclude this excursion. We all need some well-earned rest now so we are going to bunk down in the church. As the surviving members of the team bunked down there was a scent of resentment in the air, it didn't air towards the newfound gunman but for the Major and her tactics. Again, he felt it, the ancient need to protect her. The team was divided not only in thoughts but also in the way they slept. The one eye-ed new comer had been the first to laze into his sleep. Motoko lay in front of him with her face to his. Batou felt like her behavior was odd…couldn't she feel the same unease within the regiment? How stupid she was for lying with her back to her enemies! With this thought he took place on her other side facing the Americans. It was impossible for any one to register if he was asleep or not due to his thorough training and inability to tell if his eyes were closed.

Morning came with little incident. It was apparent that they were very concerned with the state Batou was in unsure of how to take it; through out the night there was quite a bit of whispering question his condition.

"Well sorry you didn't sleep last night" no good morning or how are you or inquisition on a report…

"How umm how did you know"

"Well your brain patterns stayed in the alert range sometimes dropping to a near sleep but never getting there," it looked like she had something snide to spit but she observably refrained. He knew what she wanted to say. It probably sounded something like awww were you protecting me? It was a mockery to him and his judgment that's why she chose to keep quite. He couldn't understand why she couldn't just be a little appreciative of his loyalty to not only her but also his trust in her.

His memory fast-forwarded to the day that the major received a new advancement in camouflage.

"It's called thermo optics" He was now park of Public Security section 9. Chief Aramaki a wise old human man was briefing the team on it capabilities, "However since it is only in very basic testing stages the Major will be the only one equipped with it for now. Major will you please provide every one with a demonstration."

Without another word she stood from her chair, with the utmost dignity and class any one could ever hope to attain. She stood in perfect posture in the center of the room, at that moment she dropped the lose smock covering her, she revealed a sculpted cybernetic body with more poise than a human could carry, Batou was ashamed for staring at her like she was a piece of art, but he had no time to sit in his shyness, only a moment later she disappeared to the naked eye. Gentleman I encourage you to at this moment point the major's location using only your basic eyesight like you would in every day duties. Puzzled they all took their best guess at where she was. Batou felt he knew her the best and thought where would she most likely go, always eager and competitive to be the best.

"Major please reveal your position."

There she was with her gun pointed at the back of Batou's head. Not at all where he had figured she was. He was angry and disgusted with himself…why was she intentionally making him feel like this? Couldn't she see what she was doing? He ignored the rest of the briefing to upset with himself for not thinking that she would pull a prank on him. When the team was given orders he followed them to the letter but secretly he was still stewing over the matter. It wasn't till they had completed their obligation to that part of the case that he came back to his senses. There she was again in front of him fully undressed. Her clothes still on a building above her, she had no way of covering herself. It was a no question needed scenario. Batou took his jacket off, shook it out a bit and placed it over the majors shoulders. His actions seemed to surprise her; she turned and looked at him with inquisition.

"You're welcome,'

He didn't want a snide remark something to push him away or mock him like she did so many times intentionally or not.

"Thank you"

Batou figured any one raised in a family with any values would have done the same. He shook it off, it couldn't be because he didn't want any one seeing her the way only he wanted to, no, that was entirely impossible.

That was all the permission he needed, her thank you provided him the leeway to cover her every time she used that thermo optics camo.

A/N more to come! I promise (haha whether you like it or not) PLEASE R&R just wanna see where I am with it.