Totally just hit me that Motoko is technically listed as dead while the second season is going on. Duh… So, I did a little drabble on Kurotan. Cause she's cute.

PS: Small warning on implied stuff… but if you're watching GitS you should be over it by now.

"Motoko! You're home!"

A pause. "Hi, Kurotan. It's been a long time; how are you?"

"I'm… um." On the phone, Motoko raised an eyebrow. The pediactric nurse sounded a little hesitant now that she was actually speaking. "Actually – Motoko, could we… could we just meet for coffee or something? I haven't seen you in forever and I want to talk… to you."

"Sure," she replied, not exactly confused or surprised. "When?"

"You came! I almost expected you not to show!"

"It's my day off," she murmured, noting that Kurotan had stood up but not bounded over to hug her.

"I see…" there was a long pause, Motoko giving the coffee in her place a questioning look. "I ordered your coffee with mine," the other girl offered.

"Kurotan," Motoko finally said, "what's up? Problem at work? Room mate being difficult?"

The nurse bit her lip, nervously fiddling with her shirt ties. "No, no, nothing like that… well, sort of." She sighed. "Motoko, I'm moving. I met this girl at the club, you know, the one we went to when we first started dating… but she's at the university and graduating… she wants to go to Osaka for a job and I can't…" she bit her lip, as if afraid that too much had come out at once. When Motoko said nothing, "I don't want to give her up. There's an opening at the hospital over there… and I took it last week." She gave her friend a look of desperate hope – wanting her to understand.

"I was wondering when you would get out of here," Motoko finally said, one finger trailing, "you always talked about it."

Kurotan let out a breath she hadn't quite known she was holding. "Yeah. Are you sure you're all right with it? I felt a little like I was going behind your back… there was just never time to mention it."

Motoko shrugged. "I wasn't there. How could I expect you to wait for something you weren't even sure was coming back?"

"Oh." Kurotan thought for a moment, and then shrugged, giggling. "This is the cleanest breakup I've ever gone through."

"Could you really call it a break up?" Motoko asked dryly.

She giggled again. "I guess not. Say, do you have anyone else? Our relationship was totally open, but I'm always curious."

"Not exactly," Motoko said, taking a sip of coffee, "he'd never work out."

"Oo! " Kurotan squealed in delight, "He?"

"I play both sides of the fence, Kurotan, you know that."

"Oh sure, but it's still weird to think about! Especially since I'm so stuck on the one side-," she grinned, eyes flicking to a pair of women who had sat down in the booth next to their table. "So what's wrong with him? Too dominate? I'd think that'd nice – competition can be fun you know." She grinned cheekily.

"No, nothing like that," Motoko said after a chuckle. "It's just better if I leave it at 'it won't work.'"

Suddenly, Kurotan began to laugh. "You work with him! That has to be it!" She shook her head as Motoko gave her a light glare. "All right, I won't tease. But 'it won't work' is a pretty lame excuse if you ask me."

Motoko snorted, a small part of her agreeing and the rest telling it to shut the hell up. "Yeah, well, it'll do."

"For now."

Motoko gave her friend another glare, and she alughed. They spent the rest of the afternoon talking about old times while sharing tips and secrets, and parted that evening as friends.

A month later, Kurotan stepped into her empty apartment to give up the key. She collected the newspapers from her box, shuffling through them to see if anything interesting had happened in Nihama while her rent was running out.

Her hands paused on a picture of a bombed out building, with the headline 'TERRORIST SUPPRESENT GROUP TURNS ON GOVERNMENT'. Curiosity piqued, she scanned the article, and her mouth went dry.

'All members of Public Security Section Nine have now been apprehended or killed; a triumph for the privacy and safety of our nation.'

She turned to the next page, with a series of photos and captions on it, dropping the other papers to scatter on the floor.

"Motoko," she whispered, finding the woman's picture and a small caption 'Killed on the morning of March 23rd. Threat status: Zero.'

Ok. So it's hardly little. And it's sad... but I loved it.