Byrnstar - Thanks! One of my biggest challenges for this fandom is writing conversations that have proper rhythms as well as conveying how close the members of Section 9 are. I just hope I'm getting it done right!
green-eyed-bastard - Ah, yes, the wrist lock. It's been bugging me that Togusa is always getting the crap knocked out of him, so I guess this is one small retribution in his favor...
qirien - Pazu just doesn't get enough love.
Veritas in Pitus Nectarinium - He's not a biker dude per se, at least not in how I understand the phrase. He doesn't even use it all the much -- just when he has something personal he wants to take care of quickly, like here.
Apparition7 & Alaskantiger - You two have inspired me to go on!
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When Togusa had nearly killed Pazu while jumping the training field fence, it had been a beautiful day with a shining sun and an azure sky. Unfortunately, the following days were not so pleasant.
Rain poured down relentlessly on the city, lightning jumped amongst the clouds leading to power outages in numerous buildings, and thunder rattled the windows of Public Security Section 9.
"How does weather like this just creep up?" Batou asked as a particularly violent lightning bolt flashed.
"Mysteries of world that will probably never be solved," Ishikawa replied as he finished his crossword. Then he frowned and put the newspaper down. "Hey where is what's-his-name -- Togusa?"
"He called ahead and said he'd be late. Stuck in traffic, apparently."
"I did hear something about a wreck..."
"Make it plural." Batou rubbed the back of his neck. "We have our own generator, don't we?"
"Unless there's been a major change to the building within the last three days that the Chief forgot to tell us about. Why?"
"I need to go look up something, is all." Batou headed for the door of the break room. Ishikawa sighed and tucked the newspaper underneath his elbow before following.
Batou promptly commandeered the dive room (much to the disgruntlement of the red-suited hirelings of the crime lab) for his research. It didn't take very long; he simply logged in and accessed Section 9's employee records.
"Why are you looking up Togusa?" Ishikawa asked wearily.
"'Cause I wanna know about him." Batou studied the profile picture through the headset for a moment before shrugging and clicking on the natural man's biography.
"Obviously. Why can't you just ask him?"
"People don't tell you about the skeletons they have locked away in their closets."
"Are you making a threat assessment?"
Batou scowled, and Ishikawa smiled. Naturally, Batou would want to dig something up on Togusa after being humiliated with yesterday's wrist lock.
"It doesn't have anything to do with yesterday," Batou snarled, correctly interpreting the smile.
"I didn't say anything."
"Keep it that way." Batou began reading. He looked puzzled at the content and checked to make sure he had the right file. Then he scrolled back down. "Did somebody switch his life with another guy's?"
"No," Ishikawa said. "But then..."
The two friends looked at each other. Then they looked back at the computer screen.
"This can't be right though," Batou said. "It just...it can't. We don't hire lunatics. Official ones, anyway."
Ishikawa nodded slowly. "Yeah. But look, it says that he was released when he was fourteen."
Batou minimized the biography and accessed the medical records. "But they didn't have follow-ups on him. Of any kind. That's not how asylums work, they check up on their patients. And come on --" He highlighted the name of Togusa's rescuer. "Ilya Vitkowskii was only eighteen! You have to be twenty-one before you can do anything involving the medical field!"
Ishikawa gnawed on a knuckle briefly before he said "Move."
Batou vacated the chair, and Ishikawa began typing. "Ilya Vitkowskii...Here." The man popped up on the screen. "Not much to go on...nationality is Russian, 116 pounds, six feet even in height -- deceased?"
"He's dead?"
Ishikawa squinted. "He was killed in the New Tokyo Birch Park gas-line explosion."
"My God..."
Everyone knew about the White Birch Park gas-line explosion; it had touched off a severe earthquake that had rocked the entire island.
"Go back to his bio," Batou said suddenly. "When was he admitted to the asylum?"
"Mmm, let's see...ah. He was --" Ishikawa blinked. "This can't be right either -- nine years old!"
"Wha-at?"
"They found him on the streets when he was nine years old, covered in blood, dazed and confused -- exceptionally violent."
"How can a nine year old kid be 'exceptionally violent'?"
"He..." Ishikawa swallowed. "He killed two doctors and three nurses when he was -- ten. Then they moved him to the psychotic ward --"
"Where they me kept pumped full of drugs for the next four years." Togusa's voice sailed out, making Batou jump a mile and Ishikawa yelp.
"Togusa --" Ishikawa lifted the headset, eyes wide. "We were -- uh --"
"Prying into my personal life?" Togusa leaned over the computer and pushed several keys. The windows on the screen disappeared. "You know, if you two wanted to know what my childhood was like, all you had to do was ask." His sugary tone belied the anger written all over his face.
He was soaking wet. Water dripped off of his brown pants and pooled on the floor while his dark turtleneck stuck to his too-thin body,(1) and his shoes squished when he moved. The matching jacket being carried over his arm wasn't in much better condition. Togusa brushed his drenched bangs out of his eyes and glared at the two men, his golden eyes glimmering eerily in the greenish glow of the computer light.
But he stayed silent.
He was waiting for an explanation, Batou realized. But they didn't really have one.
He tried anyway. "We were -- uh --" He fumbled madly.
"Curious," Ishikawa provided hastily.
"Curious." Togusa's voice was flat with disbelief; his face could have been made out of granite. He draped his jacket over a chair-back and folded his arms. "Right. Pull the other one."
"I'm serious," Batou protested. "I mean, I was curious anyway, and then I roped Ishikawa into it, and it's not like we thought we'd be finding out anything like -- that --" He waved at the computer screen.
Shit. Togusa wasn't buying it. Batou could tell from the way his eyes were narrowed -- like a wild cat pondering the best way to make its next kill.
But he didn't make the kill. Instead, Togusa slowly picked his jacket back up. "I'll...take your word on that."
He took a step backwards, the calculating look still in his eyes. Then he said, "I'd prefer we keep my tenure in the bughouse just between us."
"Sure," Ishikawa gasped. He had forgotten to breathe somewhere between the moment he had last spoken and now. "No problem."
"Good."
Togusa left the dive room. The two men slumped in relief.
"How did he know we where here?" Batou asked.
"Probably from listening just outside the door," Ishikawa rasped. He shuddered. "Did you see the way he looked at us?"
"Yeah." Batou stared at the puddles of water on the ground. "Kinda like looking at wild animal. A hungry one..."
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(1) It struck me today when re-watching some of the episodes from season one that Togusa was INCREDIBLY thin. I mean, he must have one hell of a metabolism to get that lean.
