-Seiya-
He recognised that he had pushed the envelope too far, he understood he overstepped his boundaries once again and he knew he had no one else to blame other than himself that he was in the hole that he was in. The room had an uncomfortable draft that kept passing by his bare neck, making him all too aware that he had cut off his long hair and the itch in his face reminded him that he had not had a chance to have a clean shave for days, but he knew that there was nothing he could do but to sit it out, with patience and conviction. He had been here before, he survived before, he would survive again. He was a survivor; he was a fighter. The room had no window and the only occasional light that he had was what came through the slim slit under the door behind him. His senses had been playing tricks on him for days due to lack of stimulation until he found the upside of the draft on which he could focus all his senses on to keep his sanity. It was only light draft that came from the door, but from it he could tell the change of guards and when his single meal of the day would arrive. He could faintly hear a door being opened and closed and the draft indicated to him that he would get his only visitor that ever came to see him in here. Without getting up or opening his eyes, he waited for the upper flap of his door to be opened.
"Ready to confess?" Shinji grunted with the routine of a dog that knew that he was barking pointlessly up the tree for the cat to come down.
"I have nothing to confess." Seiya replied irritated between gritted teeth and once again he heard the flap close and the draft lessen, but not disappear.
-Michiru-
She was standing on the darkened training floor with Kumiko, ready to counter whatever the other person was going to throw at her. Not a moment too soon she dodged rubber bullets and blows from a training knife.
"You need to be faster than this if you truly want to be able to carry your own weight and some." The older woman taunted her as she almost managed to stab her abdomen.
"Are you sure you are being slower than yesterday for my sake or is age catching up with you?" Michiru dished right back while trying counter the attack.
"This is where you are wrong about the objective of this training, it's about you running and surviving and not beating me, since there is no way of you being capable of doing so. You are under equipped to beat me by default." Kumiko just chuckled wryly.
"Can't blame a girl for trying." Michiru just shrugged before proceeding with more successful evading techniques.
The attacks increased in intensity and frequency but Michiru managed to make it to the safety isle to press the button to indicate the end of the training unit.
"See? I survived." Michiru grinned out of breath.
"Are you sure about that?" Riko asked as she joined her on the isle and peeled a green sticker off Michiru's left shoulder. "Had this been poisoned, we wouldn't be talking."
"That was sneaky...when.." Michiru replied startled.
"Don't underestimate her that she'd only use brute force. Poison is a time proven woman's weapon after all." Riko gently chided Michiru while Kumiko climbed onto the safety isle with all her equipment but without a hint of fatigue on her.
"Will we go for another round or is she already dead?" Kumiko asked Riko and Riko held up the green sticker that started to turn yellow.
"Technically, she would be alive for another day before any signs would show." Riko commented.
"Not too bad." Kumiko nodded mildly impressed. "I would have guessed that she would make it here with orange even. I apologise for going too easy on you, Michiru. I promise to train you better this time." Kumiko chuckled while dropping some of the gear that she had been carrying before going down into the training field again.
Before Michiru could follow Kumiko back down, Riko held her back.
"I know this is an unfair playing field, but life is not fair and your opponents will never be fair and always cheat whenever they get the chance to, so keep that in mind well as why you do this, so when it is desperate, you know what to do." Riko said evenly.
"Can I have a weapon this time?" Michiru asked her in gest in return.
"That is the best weapon that I can give you. Now go and survive." Riko winked supportively.
-Mamoru-
He was exhausted when he left the hospital and knew he had no one to blame but himself. After having argued with his father that the plans that he had come up with would only fly under the radar when his son would not disappear from the surface of the earth, he was allowed back at the hospital for his shifts, but that meant added work with all the 'family meetings' between the shifts and catching up on all that had happened in either sphere during his absence. His head ached as he walked towards his car, vaguely aware that someone was following him. Just before he reached his car he abruptly turned around and growled menacingly while holding his car keys as if to attack the other with it. "How often do I have to say that I do not need babysitters!"
Mamoru almost tripped backwards when he noticed that the man that had followed him was not one of his dad's men, but Shinji.
The quiet, yet often stern, man took the keys from his hands effortlessly and unlocked the car with an unexpected ease before opening Mamoru the passenger door.
"It would make for a bad image if the son of Masaru-sama would cause an accident while overtired at the steering wheel. No matter how many lives you safe, it would not offset the lives you would take if something were to happen." Shinji just said calmly gesturing for Mamoru to get into the car so that both of them could get out of the harsh November winds. The sun that was setting behind him made it look like Tokyo was being consumed by a slow burning fire and his dark shadow contrasted menacingly in Mamoru's eyes.
Mamoru obliged without further comment and got seated while Shinji got into the driver's seat and adjusted everything for his comfort before driving off.
He pulled the car with ease out of its spot and they drove in silence until they reached a red traffic light and Shinji pulled out an envelope out if his jacket before passing it onto Mamoru.
"Mitigation procedures have already been initiated, but this issue needs to be dealt with in a more permanent manner. How, that is your choice, but you might want to sleep over it before you make a decision." Shinji just said cryptically while keeping his eyes focused on the road, moving as soon as the light turned green.
Mamoru looked at the envelope with a mixture of dread and fear.
As the darkness continued to descend on the city, Mamoru noticed that Shinji took a different road than he usually did to get the estate.
"This is not the road home." Mamoru noted, incapable to hide his irritation.
"It is unwise to take the usual paths during unprecedented times. I also thought you might appreciate the privacy and time to assess the situation." Shinji addressed the unopened envelope. "I can assure you that no one besides the two of us and the depicted parties know of this indiscretion, though I am not entirely sure how long I can keep a lid on it for you." Shinji mused, rhetorically.
Mamoru opened the envelope to find a handful of pictures of his wife and Seiya being suggestibly close, but he knew better to think wrong of Usagi. He trusted her, he kept telling himself.
"Who took these pictures and what are you trying to suggest with these?" Mamoru asked irritated.
Shinji pulled the car into a quiet side street next to one of the few bigger Myamoto estates and parked before turning to Mamoru.
"The person who took them was an outsider who has been dealt with. They are of no concern anymore. Besides, your domestic affairs do not concern me, but if you have an internal security risk, I am tasked to deal with it as you see fit. By the way there is only one last picture still in the envelope. Look at it and then either tell me what to do, or enjoy the rest of the ride in silence. I suggest you to sleep over the matter a night before making your final decision though l." Shinji said calmly and waited for Mamoru to pull put the last picture.
On it, Seiya, soaking wet and barely covered with a small towel coming from the bathroom of their bedroom while Usagi's hair was barely visible from under the covers of their shared bed.
-Setsuna-
"Did all pertinent parties get this?" she asked Rei who only nodded silently.
"Including your family?" Setsuna continued to ask while putting the announcement back into the envelope with a deep frown.
Another nod.
The chair she was sitting in seemed to have become very uncomfortable, but she didn't know nor could decide if she should just stretch or get up from it all together.
Setsuna's head was aching. Nothing went according to protocol, but then again, when did anything ever go according to protocol when Haruka was even remotely involved.
"I need you to..." Setsuna started to speak again but stopped again as Rei handed her another sheet of paper.
'Not alone' was hastily written on top of the report with a pencil and Setsuna could not suppress an audible sigh.
"The neutrality of this organisation has been immediately confirmed to all other relevant groups and institutions via the usual channels. The order just needs your official confirmation signed and seal here." Rei informed her.
"Good to see that you are so were so well prepared." Setsuna nodded satisfied as she signed the paper before pressing her seal over the signature and handed it back to Rei.
"We Hinos have a reputation to live up to after all." Rei stated firmly before she added. "As do the Meioh."
But before any elaborations could be exchanged, an unfamiliar knock could be heard from the door.
Setsuna and Rei exchanged mutually understood looks indicating that the conversation was over, for now, and Rei slid the just signed paper under the many other ones that she was carrying before Setsuna called for the person on the other side of the door to enter.
To her surprise, it was Minako who entered.
Setsuna noticed that the blonde closed the door behind her deliberately slow before joining them by putting a report on Setsuna's desk and then standing next to the black-haired woman with an unmissable distance between them.
"What is the summary of these reports?" Setsuna asked Minako seemed have lost all her girlish charms but instead had taken in all the sternness that Rei was famous for.
"All overseas administrations are calm and monitoring has not made any out of the ordinary observations." Minako replied briefly before the uncomfortable silence spread in the room again.
Rei shot Minako a doubt laden side glance before focusing back onto Setsuna and pretending that everything was just as usual.
Minako wasn't as calm.
"Are we not going to talk about this?" Minako eventually blurred out with irritation.
"Is there something to talk about?" Setsuna asked calmly.
"THIS!" Minako slammed the familiar posh shimmering black envelope onto the table and looked at Rei challengingly.
"I have just been informed and I will look into it." Setsuna tried to calm the young woman.
"Something is not right here…"Minako almost pleaded with Setsuna, but Setsuna knew that her hands were bound in this matter.
"Aino-san, you seem overworked, please trust us, trust the system. We know what we are doing. How about you take a long weekend, Rei and I will manage a few days without you and you get to recouperate." Setsuna suggested gently.
"How about you trusting me!" Minako seemed close to tears and her words seemed less directed at Setsuna, but rather at the other woman in the room. Nonetheless, before anyone could say anything, Minako seemed to have caught herself and just silently slid the envelope back into her pocket. "You are right, Meioh-sama, I do feel a bit under the weather. I apologise for my inappropriate outburst and I will gratefully accept your generous offer to take some time off to rest up." The blonde uttered quietly and calm before bowing and leaving the office.
Once the door was closed again, Setsuna looked inquisitively at Rei who was suddenly extremely focused on the tip of her shoes.
"It's complicated." The black-haired woman just mumbled.
-Taiki-
Kakyuu was standing behind Yaten and was watching Haruka training in the training pit over the smaller man's shoulder as he entered the monitoring room.
The monitors were half filled with the blonde's vitals and the other with the training protocol that was being implemented by Yaten when he sat down on one of the chairs by the control panel.
"Did you get it done?" Haruka's voice came through the speakers the moment he logged into the system and got ready to aid his brother.
"Yes." Taiki kept it short as he spoke into the microphone and assessed the situation for Haruka.
"Did something happen while I was gone?" Taiki asked the other two in the room who only shook their heads, eyes focused on the screens or the fighting happening on the floor beneath them.
"Nope." The answer came suspiciously in unison, but before he could ask more, the door opened once more and Watanabe walked in with a very bad mood carved into her usually smooth forehead and the room went completely silent.
The professor walked to Taiki and took one of the tablets in front of him before settling on the couch behind them without a word of greeting or comment.
Taiki focused back onto the screens in front of him and looked at the various panels and statistics and was puzzled by the numbers that he saw. "Why is Haruka punishing herself so hard?" He asked almost absentminded with fear induced astonishment that he could not hide.
"Nonsense." Watanabe only grunted before she got up and stepped up to the microphone and spoke again. "What's this? Is this all you got?"
"Who knows…" Haruka's laboured words came in return through the speakers.
"Step aside." Yuuko instructed Yaten who was only too glad to get away from the control panel.
Yuuko stretched her arms and cracked her fingers before she got to work and adjusted Haruka's workout.
"That's too much …." Kakyuu murmured under her breath but Yuuko only shot her a small side glance before getting back to her task at hand.
After the professor was done, she stood up and faced Kakyuu squarely. "If you would have done as I had instructed you, I wouldn't need to be here and do it for you. She needs to be at the top of her game at all times. If you do not dirty your hands now then her blood will be on your hands later."
"But…this is very harsh on her recovering body. It might push her to a limit where there is no return." Kakyuu objected.
"An animal backed into the very last corner doesn't have that many options and needs to go beyond conceivable limits. Haruka needs to not just learn but understand that and with every fibre of her being. This is the fastest way to learn, because we are running out of time and that is a universal truth." Watanabe said sternly before she made her way out.
"Don't you want to see the outcome of your doing?" Taiki called after her, surprised by his own almost insolent behaviour.
"I trust that the inevitable outcome will prevail, for the sake of us all." Watanabe replied without turning around, only then he noticed a black envelope on the couch where the professor had sat earlier, but before he could have a closer look, he heard a loud crash and the echoes of a hail of bullets being fired, along with a string of profanities being exclaimed by Haruka.
He focused back onto the training field and tried to focus on when to abort the training program, but somehow the blonde made it to the safety zone, clothes torn and sweat soaked.
Haruka made her way to the monitoring room, still swearing and cursing, obviously in pain from the strain she had just put her body through and Taiki watched how Kakyuu rushed to her side and ushered her to the couch to sit down and to rest.
After examining Haruka, Kakyuu got up to get bandages, while Yaten was tasked with evaluating the training data, Taiki got up and set down opposite to Haruka, giving her a fresh bottle of water.
"This was crazy… you might want to talk to Watanabe-sensei about the training regiment …." He carefully suggested and the blonde nodded silently.
Haruka downed the water in one go and asked him to go and get her the special concoction that she kept in the fridge in her apartment that she usually indulged in after really hard trainings and he made his way there at once.
When he got back, Haruka was back on the training floor and Kakyuu was sitting on the couch sadly staring at a white envelope in her hand, while the black one lay prominently on the table in front of her.
"What's that?" he asked Kakyuu as he sat down next to her.
"The Christmas Concert ticket I gave her… she had it on her all this time…but I guess she might not be able to attend after all..." Kakyuu mumbled absent minded.
Taiki focused back on to the table and picked up the black envelope that lay there. Haruka's name was on it on one side, with the Chiba seal embossed in wax on the other side, already broken open. He carefully opened the envelope, pulled out the card inside and read the first line in gilded letters 'The Chiba clan is delighted to humbly inform you of the engagement of our beloved daughter Chiba Hiroko to Kou Seiya…...'
