Ken just blinked and smiled a bit. "Your room is next to mine." He continued to remove his shirt after he heard Satori said 'thank you' and 'sorry'. He changed into his sleeping outfits and stared at the ceiling. 'Yup. I have a family now. Wait... Did I just saw Satori blush? Satori can actually blush?' He smiled at the thought. Satori's image while she was close to him and while she had a blush on her face ran across his mind. 'Kami-sama! She's so cute!' then, he remembered Yoji's remarks. "UNFAIR!. . . You lucky dog you. . ." Ken grinned and mumbles. 'Yup. I'm lucky, Yoji. Eat your heart out!' Ken drifted off to sleep, grinning, and in his mind, the image of Satori's green hair and blue/yellow eyes. . .
CHAPTER 4: VISIT
"Satori! No! Don't touch that!" CRASH! There goes the China porcelain set. "Satori! Don't. . ." BANG! Ken's radio was smashed up into pieces. Most of Ken's things were broken and smashed by an 18-year-old marionette, which has the mind of a 10-year-old kid. Ken sighed. 'And I thought it'll be much easier to take care of her in this state of mind.' Satori had been with Ken for 2 weeks and his conclusion about her growing a year in mind per hour is wrong. No one (except Manx and the three other officers) knew that this girl in Ken's place was a marionette. It's much safer this way.
"Oops... Sorry, Ken." Satori said as she picked up the small pieces of porcelain. "Satori will clean it up." She bent down but Ken shook his head.
'I had enough of this!' Though Ken is really frustrated at his present situation, he can't complain. Chief's order and he can see Satori anytime he wants to... Even if he doesn't want to admit it, he likes Satori. "Satori, go to your room... Now."
"But Satori still has to..."
"I'll take care of this mess. Go to your room. Now." Ken said calmly as Satori entered her room. Ken cleaned up his apartment and went to Satori's room afterwards. Satori had her head bent and quickly looked up as she heard Ken enter the room. "Satori, I want you to relax Ok?" Satori nods and Ken reached for Satori's nape and pushed the flat button again. "At least she can take care of herself..."
Satori eye's glowed yellow and she closed them for a while, then opened them again. "About time you activated my circuit." She looked at the person beside her and she was surprised to see his condition. 'GOD! He looked terrible but still..." She gave a slight smile then blushed. "What am I thinking!' Satori shook her head to remove the thought. "Um... Ken, I'm really sorry. I didn't think I'd become a problem..."
She was cut-off by Ken's hand on her arm. "No. It's alright. I can't blame you." Satori nods, still ashamed of her actions. Ken suddenly stood up and stretched. "Well, I better go to work now. Take care of everything ok?" 'Thank goodness today is Saturday! I think I better take Satori shopping for clothes tomorrow. She can't wear my shirt all the time.' Ken looked at Satori, who was now wearing Ken's oversized shirt that reached till her knees. 'Well. . .She looked real good in that huge shirt. . . THERE IT GOES AGAIN! Maybe I do hang a lot with Yoji.' Ken ran his hand over his hair again. 'Stupid Yoji. . . I'll get him for this. . .'
Satori looked at Ken. "Ken, are you okay?" Ken nods and was about to exit Satori's room. "Ken?" He turned back. "Um... Do be careful." Satori said, worriedly. Ken smiled and raised his hand in a 'Don't-worry-I'll-be-careful' signal. Satori was still feeling guilty for her actions for the past 2 weeks. "How will I make-up for my stupidities?' Soon, she snapped her fingers and beamed up. 'I know!" Satori stood up and started to prepare his big surprise for Ken.
Ken entered Aya's office and flopped down on the chair across his desk. "So, how was Satori?" Omi asked Ken while finishing some reports. Ken just shrugged and grabbed a couple of papers from Aya's desk to look at his task.
Aya looked up from the newspaper he's reading. "Is it that bad?"
Ken sighed. "Well, ignoring the China porcelain set, radio, angry neighbors... All's well. I can't blame her though. She didn't know what she's doing."
Omi stopped typing and looked at Ken. "So, what did you do?"
"I activated her emotional circuit." Aya and Omi exchanged looks and grinned at Ken. "No! It's not like that! I think it's much better to have her circuit activated so that she can think for herself."
"Really now Ken..." Aya mused as he placed an arm on Ken's shoulders. "What do you think about Satori? Never once that you thought of her as a real woman?"
"She's nice and I never forgot that she's a marionette." Omi and Aya narrowed their eyes at Ken. "Okay! I admit! She's cute! GOD! I always forget that she's a marionette! When she made mistakes, I can't stay angry at her! All she has to do is stare at me, say sorry and I'd forget everything. Happy now!"
"Maybe..." Aya said as he removed his eyeglasses. "You're hiding something from us Ken. We know you too well." Omi chuckled as Ken glared at them.
"You two irritate me!" Ken said through clenched teeth.
"Then, quit stalling and tell us everything... lover boy!" Omi batted his eyelashes and Aya laughed. Ken blushed.
"Fine! If it makes you two stop bothering me!" Aya and Omi listened attentively and Ken sweat dropped. "Wow. You're really interested huh?"
"QUIT STALLING!" Both of them shouted.
"Okay! She told me that I don't have to be sad anymore and that she's now my family but I doubt if she still remember that since she said it before I activated her circuit." Aya and Omi chuckled but Ken ignored them. "And... and... I... I... I um..." Ken stuttered.
"You what!"
"I... um..." Ken blushed and mumbled in a small voice. "I planned to kiss her." Aya and Omi's eyes widened.
"You what!" Both said at the same time.
"Are you two deaf! I said I planned to kiss her!" Aya and Omi whooped in delight and Ken blushed more. Unfortunately, Yoji entered the office at that time.
"Did I miss something?" Yoji asked seeing Ken blush while Aya and Omi laughing. "This has to do with Satori, right?" Omi nods. "I knew it. What base?" Ken gaped at him as Omi and Aya laughed. "Seriously, What did he say?"
"He... he... tried... to... to... kiss Satori!" Omi said in between laughs. Yoji grinned and soon joined in the laughter.
Ken turned crimson. "I said planned! Not tried! Stop it!"
Yoji gave Ken a slap on the back. "You're slowly learning all my ways Ken. About time too." Ken glared at Yoji and slapped him hard on the head. "OUCH!"
Their laughter stopped when an officer went in Aya's office. "Chief! Hostage problem in Asakana street. A 3-year-old girl is taken hostage by a drug-addict."
Aya nods and dismissed the officer. "Okay guys, let's go. We have a job to do."
The four police officers went to their positions. Yoji and Ken were assigned to break in at the back while Aya and Omi tried to talk the hostage-taker to surrender.
"This is the police. Come on out with your hands up!" Aya shouted through the megaphone.
"No!" The hostage taker said and appeared on the window. "You come closer and this kid will die!" He pointed the knife to the girl's neck.
"Officer, please... save my baby..." A lady pleaded to Aya and Omi, obviously the girl's mom.
"Don't worry lady. We'll do all we can to get your child.
Meanwhile Ken and Yoji were already inside the house. Since Omi and Aya were talking to the hostage-taker, it's much easier for them to enter the place. Yoji took cover on a near-by wall and Ken slowly approached the hostage-taker and he was taken by surprise when Ken jumped on him. The girl temporarily forgotten, the hostage-taker punched Ken on the face and quickly lunged on Ken and pointed his knife on Ken's chest.
Ken had no chance to fight. This man is a lot bigger than him. He tried to get the knife away from him but the man had a lot of strength to push it closer to Ken's chest. Ken kicked the man's stomach and moved away from him. Ken staggered a bit and cannot see straight because of the hit he received.
The hostage-taker took this chance. He took his knife from the floor and was about to stab Ken. All of them were taken by surprise when they heard a gun-fire.
"My girl!" The woman called out.
"Don't worry madam. The girl's safe." The woman looked at Omi., not believing his words. "Ma'am, the hostage-taker is holding a knife. Not a gun. I'm sure that the gun-fire belongs to either two of our men." 'I hope...'
Sure enough. Ken and Yoji went out of the building holding a crying girl. The woman rushed to them and hugged the child, saying 'Thank you' repeatedly and thanking the gods that her child's alright. Ken smiled and touched his face. 'That damned man punched me real good! If it weren't for Yoji, I'm dead.'
Aya and Omi rushed to Ken and Yoji to see if they're alright. Other officers went in the house to take the dead body of the criminal. "Whoa! You've got a good one there." Omi pointed out.
"As if I don't know... This really hurts! And Yoji, thanks."
"All in the day's work! How about lunch at your place?" Ken groaned but agreed. He did owe Yoji his life. "I just want to see that marionette of yours." Ken glared at Yoji and mumbles something about going home and putting some ice and ointment on his shiner.
Satori smiled at her work. She prepared lunch for Ken, cleaned up his apartment, and done his laundry. She was now wearing one of Ken's shirt and shorts, since she washed the shirt she was wearing previously. 'That's the least I can do for him. Ken will be surprised when he sees all this.' She smiled proudly at her thoughts and remembered the way Ken looked at her while she was looking at his family picture. 'He may think I'm stupid for not noticing the obvious.' She bit her lower lip then smiled. 'Oh well...'
Ken staggered to his apartment and opened the door. He sat down on the couch. His hand still on his head. 'This really, really hurts! What will Satori say if she sees this! I did told her that I'll be careful! SHIT!'
"Welcome home, Ken! How was your day? Did you..." Satori stopped asking as he saw Ken sitting on the couch with his hand on his face. Trying to hide his injury. "Are you okay?" Ken nods but she didn't believe him. "Is something wrong with your left face?" Ken shook his head. "Then why are you covering it?" Ken said nothing.
"I'm alright... Don't worry." Ken mumbles. "I'm just tired..."
Satori looked at Ken suspiciously. 'I may be a marionette but I'm not stupid.' She thought. She sat on the table in front of the couch and took Ken's hand away from his face. At first Ken resisted to budge but Satori pulled a bit harder.
"What in the world happened to you!" Satori asked, shocked, when he saw Ken's shiner. Ken was about to explain but she raised her hand. "Don't tell me. Just sit there. I'll get you an ice pack and ointment."
Ken looked at Satori as she gets an icepack and ointment from his room. 'She really is worried about... me.' Ken smiled and leaned a bit on the couch. 'This stupid thing really hurts.'
Satori went back to the room and placed the ice pack on Ken's left eye. She placed some ointment on her index finger. "Remove that pack for a while and close your eyes." Ken followed her instructions. "I told you to be careful and not to get into danger, but did you listen? No..." She leaned closer to place some ointment on his left cheek. "You became a hero of who-knows-who at who-knows-where because of who-knows-what!" She squeezes again the ointment tube and placed some more on Ken's cheek. "What if something happened to you!"
Ken tried to remain still and smiled a bit knowing that Satori's worried about him. "Ouch. Careful." Satori mumbled a 'sorry' and continued to brush some ointment on Ken's wound. He held Satori's hand to make her stop. "Are you worrying or you just like to give me a lesson?"
"Of course I'm worried! What if something happened to you! You're the only family I have remember?" She blushed after realizing what she had said. "There. Done." She straightened up and went to Ken's room to place the ointment back on his fist aid kit. Unknown to her, Ken followed her.
Satori placed the ointment down when she turned back, she collided with Ken. She fell down. She closed her eyes and waited for pain to come over her but nothing came. When she opened her eyes, she saw Ken's arms around her waist. 'No wonder I didn't fell down.' She straightened herself and blushed, still aware of Ken's arms at her waist. "Arigatou."
Ken smiled at her. "No problem. Um... Do you really mean what you said back there?" Satori nods. "Thanks. I thought you already forgot about it."
Satori shook her head. "I know what I said during those times, though I forget some of what I did." She smiled a bit. They just stayed like that for a while. Satori was aware of their condition and looked away. Looking at the floor like it's something new to her.
"Satori?"
Upon hearing her name, Satori felt her face was tilted up and soon found herself staring at Ken, who now has his index finger and thumb under her chin. Satori was blushing furiously and Ken smiled even more. "Yes?" She said softly, her emotional circuit acting up every second.
"I would just like to say thank you... for caring..." Ken said before leaning forward and their lips were just an inch apart. Satori closed her eyes. Seeing that Satori was comfortable about it, Ken lowered his head and was about to brush his lips over Satiori's when the apartment door burst open.
"HEY! KEN! WE'RE HERE! WHERE ARE YOU! WOW! THESE FOODS LOOKED DELICIOUS!" Yoji shouted from the living room. Satori turned crimson and quickly pulled away from Ken then ran to her room.
Ken just took in what happened. 'She... she didn't pulled away when I tried to kiss her. She just pulled away when...' Ken narrowed his eyes and stormed out of his room. "You..." He said while pointing to Yoji. "YOU OWE ME BIG TIME! You know what! I was THIS CLOSE!" He moved his thumb and index finger in a small sign and sat down on the dining table. He ran his hand through his hair while mumbling curses.
Yoji, Aya and Omi just stared at Ken. "What did I do!" Yoji asked as he looked at Aya and Omi then scratched his hand on the back of his head. Aya and Omi just shrugged.
Ken sighed. "Forget it. Just sit down." Yoji was about to insist in asking what happened. "I said it's alright! Just sit down!" They all knew what Ken is like when he's angry, so they just sat down looking at Ken.
Satori ran to her room. She closed her door and leaned against it. 'He was about to kiss me. But. . . Why?' She blushed and smiled. She then placed her hand over her chest. 'Why's my emotional circuit acting up real fast?' She thought and bit her lower lip, smiling still. 'But I like it. . .' She thought. She stayed at her room and listened to the ramblings outside and heard Ken's voice.
"You. . .YOU OWE ME BIG TIME! You know what! I was THIS CLOSE!" Satori blushed again and smiled. Satori stayed in her room for a while and went out shortly.
Yoji beamed. "Yo! Satori! Hi!" Satori waved and smiled a bit.
"Hi. Ken didn't tell me you guys are dropping over." She went to the kitchen, put on Ken's apron and started to cook more foods for Ken's friends.
"Yeah. We just dropped in to check on Ken." Aya said then turned his attention to Ken. "So, how are you?"
Ken mumbles. "Fine." 'Until you guys appeared'
Satori stood beside Ken and placed some dishes on the table. "There. Dig in." Yoji started to wolf-down the food.
"Wow Satori!" Yoji said with mouthful of foods. "These are good." Satori smiled as all of them agreed. "Hey! That's Ken's shirt and shorts right?" Satori nods.
Ken stared at Satori. She was wearing his old shirt and training shorts. 'Wow. She looked hot!'
Yoji smiled and leaned closer to Satori. "You look cute in those." And was about to reach Satori's behind. Ken glared while Aya and Omi chuckled. To their surprise, Satori grabbed his wrists.
"Your touching, or should I say GROPING, won't do me any good. If you don't want to be thrown out from this floor down, keep your hands away from me. Believe me. Crashing from fifth floor to ground floor will really hurt.." Ken raised an eyebrow at Satori and Satori smiled at him in return. All of them laughed at Yoji.
Aya patted Yoji's back. "Too bad Yoji. Better luck next time."
Yoji pouts and his hand reached out again but Satori grabbed it and said warningly. "There will be no next time. And if you tried that again, I will cut something from you that will never ever grow back..." She said in a warning voice and Yoji gave a shocked look.
They all laughed again and the day went by with Ken glaring occasionally at Yoji because of his groping, talking about anything and everything under the sun. Night time comes and they left at around 9PM.
Ken fidgeted a bit while thinking what he can say to Satori. He's really embarrassed at what happened earlier that day. "Um... Satori?"
Satori dried the last dish she was washing and looked at Ken. "Hmm?"
"Uh... I'm sorry about that incident earlier..." Satori held up her hand. "Wha..."
Satori blushed. "No problem. Really."
Ken scratched the back on his head and looked down. " I hope you don't think that I'm a pervert."
"I don't." Ken looked again at Satori. "The only pervert I can think of now is Yoji." She joked, giggling a bit as Ken chuckled. "Seriously, it's alright. But... I really wished that Yoji didn't come into the scene that early." Satori turned crimson. 'Oh my God! Did I just said that!'
Ken eyes widened. 'Is she saying that...' Ken smiled. "Yeah. Me too." They both laughed. "By the way, we will go shopping tomorrow." Satori tilted her head to the side. A sign if she's confused or want to ask the question 'why'. "We'll buy you some clothes and swimwear. I plan to take you with me to the Headquarters' outing next Saturday."
"But Ken, you know that I can't get my internal circuits wet."
"You can go to the beach and not get in the water."
"Can I really come? I mean, I can just stay home. I don't want you to waste away a day's vacation. You need it"
"No. It's really alright." 'If you only know that being with you is fun enough' Ken thought. "I insist."
Satori beamed up. "In that case, I'll come! I want to see the beach!"
Ken nods. "Tomorrow then, 10AM." Satori nods and Ken yawned. "I really need to sleep."
"Yeah. After what happened this day, you should rest." Ken was about to go to his room. "Um... Ken?"
Ken looked back at Satori and yawned again. "Yeah?"
Satori blushed and walked towards Ken then stood up on her tip-toes. She kissed Ken's lips quickly but pressed her lips firmly over his. "Oyasumi. Sweet dreams", then she went to her room.
Ken just stood there. Amazed. 'She just kissed me.' Ken grinned, mumbled a soft 'YES!' under his breath, and went to his room. He still can feel Satori's lips on his own. Even if it's just a quick kiss. He slept with a goofy grin plastered on his face.
Satori placed a hand on her lips and smiled. 'His lips are warm... and I just initiated the first move...' She blushed, closed her eyes and drifted to sleep with peaceful smile on her face.