A/N: wow...I'm surprised. I thought that everyone forgot about little me when I was buried under my homework. But then there are the reviews...

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

lol. Three isn't bad for a start. And I also know that MMK's also ready to kill me. Come on now, will you be happy if I gave you some home baked cookies, update often, and make the story really good?

On the other hand, yes, Mayuka was a stubborn piece of work to cut out. (mainly cause it's one of those characters I made that I actually do like...) So thus she is reborn as my writing sidekick Chibi May! (yes, I've had too much sugar.)

Chibi May: You're a disgrace Jun, you really are!

Jun: ignoring comment Disclaimer: go to Chapter one. It's in there.

Chibi May: and now you're just being lazy.

Jun: Keep it up and I'll erase your sketch in my notebook!

Chibi May: You have no sketch of me in your notebook. They waited long enough Jun. Quit procrastinating!

Jun: procrastinating! Who's procrastinating? I'm not-

Chibi May: And here we have chapter number two... sweatdrop Jun, you're making a fool of yourself.

Jun: clears throat Enjoy the chapter

The Lithium Flower

By: Jun-kei

Chapter 2: Kage

Yukimura stretched and yawned before sitting back down at the diving pod again beside Ishikawa. "So…any luck to back up my idea old man?"

"I still think this plan of yours is messed up. There's no way to prove that she's alive."

Yukimura growled. "Well, if she isn't Kage, then Kage has to know about her! I've been pulling any and every connection I have, and they all point to the fact that Kage has something to do with almost everything we've been involved in!"

Ishikawa frowned. "Funny, I saw no sign of them."

Yukimura shook his head as he lowered the dive helmet, "Watch," He said, motioning Ishikawa to do the same.

Ishikawa stared at the document they first found on Kuze blankly. "Ok…what about it?"

Yukimura smiled. "At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but, how bout we enter cyberspace for a sec?" With Ishikawa's nod, Yukimura felt his conscious body whirl about him before he found himself standing again. He looked at his appearance; he was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans with a black leather jacket on. Turning to see his partner, he was surprised to see the elder male looking much younger than he usually did. He wore black jeans with a baggy sweatshirt; his usually scruffy looking hair was barely passed his shoulders in a wolf-cut.

"W…wow…"

"What?"

"It's just, I never seen your online avatar before…"

"Let's get back to the matter at hand Takeda. It's bad enough you got the chief to rope us into investigating this in the first place."

Yukimura nodded as he pulled up the document again. "Computer, magnify point twenty-nine." Soon, the surrounding image became blurry.

"What are we looking at?"

Yukimura smiled as his avatar began typing in mid air, soon, the blurry image became binary code. Eventually the data then turned to a symbol: A silhouette of a raven with it's wings outstretched as if it were taking off appeared, and in the center of it in dark purple letters was the phrase: "shushousha no shinri, fukuzai zaichuu kokuei…"

"An advocate of truth concealed within shadow…" Ishikawa looked up for a second, watching as Yuki smiled.

"And this code was found in many documents. Meaning he or she, but going by my theory, it's a she…was tampering in our files."

Ishikawa stared in disbelief and started looking through the other files, only to find the mysterious code that programmed the symbol.

"So, is she helping, or distracting?"

"I'd say helping. The information we got were on forbidden sites that mysteriously disappeared two days after we hacked in and took whatever info we needed."

"Now, that's strange if I've ever heard it."

Both men logged off the world of cyberspace both evicting a heavy sigh. Today was bound to be another long one.

"I agree…" Yukimura muttered. He suddenly looked up when a ray of light shone in the dark room, covered only by a woman's shadow.

"Major!" Yukimura nearly screamed in shock, only to find a young, green haired woman with crimson eyes staring at him.

"Just who the hell are you?"

"Wow…what a gentleman…" The woman said sarcastically. "I'll leave that one on my growing list…Takeda…right?"

"Huh? What the hell are you talking about, woman?"

"You're Takeda Yukimura …am I mistaken?"

"Who the hell are you and how the hell do you know my name?"

Her crimson eyes narrowed. "I'm now your co-worker, and a friend of someone you knew."

"Knew?" Yukimura repeated.

"Yes, knew. She often used to talk about you before she left."

"Who?"

"Umey…May…"

"May…as in, Mayuka Yukiko Kusanagi?"

She shrugged. "When I first met her that wasn't her name. Even though I call her that now, every once and a while I'd remember that name."

"What name was that?"

"I can't tell you. I promised her I wouldn't tell. She had her reasons for such, and just because she's 'dead' doesn't mean I can't respect that wish."

Yukimura frowned. "Just what do you know?"

"Nothing really. Considering the fact that I myself called the death, I don't think it's possible for such a feat as her walking around again. Even if she found a way, she wouldn't be the person we knew, so technically, either way Mayuka Kusanagi is dead."

Ishikawa smiled as he looked up from the diving helmet. "While I'll be damned. It's Mori! They actually allowed you to join Mori?"

"I'm only here to see if I can uncover even the slightest of reasons…what happened to attract her to this place." Mori replied sullenly.

The major then walked in, scanning the room. "How's your luck on your investigation Ishikawa?"

"We just managed to find a logo, nothing else."

The major's cool eyes fixated on Mori, and Mori blinked, mentally shivering.

'How can you tell what I'm feeling?'

'You're eyes, they give you away.'

'But…how? They're prosthetic!'

'I knew someone with similar eyes. Over time you learn.'

"Is there something wrong?" Motoko's voice broke Mori out of her reverie.

"No…no ma'm." Mori replied.

Motoko didn't take it at face value but didn't want to harp the woman about having her own thoughts. It wasn't as if it was illegal to. "I see you've already met Ishikawa and Yukimura."

"Excuse me Major." Came a third voice of a huge man with brown prosthetic eyes. He then sat at one of the computers.

"And the one who just walked in is Boma."

Mori nodded dumbly. Motoko took this as a cue to continue. "Do you want to introduce yourself or what?"

"You do it."

Motoko nodded. "Listen up guys! We've got a new recruit. She another former militant as well." Motoko pointed at Mori. "This woman here is Jun-kei Yurika Mori, Sergeant of the former Stamina Rose unit."

"Jun-kei Mori?" Yukimura repeated. "From that 'Mori' family! What the hell is she doing here?"

Motoko looked at Yukimura, her ruby eyes narrowed. "According to Aramaki, that is confidential…"

Yukimura growled, noticing the faint distain in Motoko's voice. "But why…she's a medic for god's sake! What the hell does she want in a counter terrorist group like Section Nine? It's not like she'd be any use to us! Everyone knows that medics rarely did any fighting during the war! If you ask me she's useless! No, I take that back, what I mean is that if anything she'll just be a liabili-"

"I'm right here you asshole! So quit talking about me like I don't even exist!" Jun-kei glowered. "I have my own reasons for that. And while we're on the topic of motives Takeda, I suggest you learn the motive of holding your own tongue! It can be very irritating!" Jun's voice echoed loudly in the quiet room. Realising this, the medic soon became disgruntled and quiet, like a solider that had just stepped out of line.

Ishikawa shook his head. "So that's how you know Mayuka…from the army…she was Sergeant Major of that same unit, correct?"

Jun turned to Ishikawa, her eyes showing silent thanks for changing the subject. "Yes, that is correct. She was my superior officer." She replied; composure regained.

"Changing topics already, huh old man?" Yukimura muttered, earning a hard stare from Motoko.

A young boy of about fifteen walked slowly through the streets, of Taiwan he wore a white muscle shirt, and faded blue jeans. His hair was a dark grayish black that was only a bit shorter than shoulder length that flared out around the base of his neck and his eyes grayish green. Around his neck was a green diamond shaped pendant and another necklace that looked like a keyhole. On his feet were brown sandals.

Outside as usual was hot as any other day in these places. It had been a few months since everything, as he knew it, came crashing down about his ears. Even now he couldn't believe that his hero, Rou, was dead. And to this day he shuddered with the thought that the lady he met with the cybernetic body might have had something to do with it. She wasn't a part of the local Yakuza, and she wasn't a refugee, or tourist. She was something else, some sort of authority in power. But what exactly, even now he wasn't sure.

He was another stray refugee. Refugees had no one to help them, and no place to go. Thus, despite his age he decided after what that lady with the ruby red eyes and violet hair did for him, he would become a vagrant, someone who wandered aimlessly. His parents died when he was really young, and even now, he couldn't remember his name. Thus it didn't matter where he went or how he did so.

He slowed down his brisk pace when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Someone was following him, and that usually wasn't a good thing. He walked down the ally way and stopped; there he stood face to face with a Xiaojie member he remembered.

"So, it's you again, huh kid?" He had forgotten about them, they obviously didn't forget about him. The man slowly advanced on him, but he held his ground.

"Didn't you listen to the lady when she said you couldn't bug us anymore?" The man smiled.

"She isn't here, now is she?" The boy growled. They were just scum after all.

"A grown man, with a gun, picking on a little defenseless boy? I've heard of despicable before, but this one's an outrage."

The voice was cool and collected, both the boy and man turned around to look at a figure who wore a beige cloak with a dark blue trim, the cloak ended just a little past the knees, revealing faded black jeans underneath. It was tapered to the side at their hip, so at their right leg, the edge of the cloak was slightly shorter, and ended just above their knee. Their footwear was a pair of black sandals. The collar that reached up and covered their mouth from view half covered the figure's face with the help of the dark purple shades they wore. Their hair was long; it passed their shoulders, and was darkly coloured. If anything, the boy knew that it was a woman…the same woman who saved him so long ago.

"It's you!" The woman raised an eyebrow over the glasses, standing up to full height. She was slightly shorter than the boy remembered, and with close observation, it appeared that underneath the cloak her left arm was in some sort of sling.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said, in that cool calm manner. "But I suggest you leave the boy alone. I have a short temper." She amplified the point by taking out a gun. It was an older model of gun, a custom C-Z 75, but the woman didn't seem to care.

The man took this as a threat, and was about to pull the trigger when a bullet skimmed his ear. "Tisk, tisk, a little hard on hearing are we? I said leave here now. And if that's not motivation enough, my next shot will be right between your eyes." She drew back the hammer, the man panicked. "So, what will it be? Run like a coward and see tomorrow, or try something stupid and die like a fool?" The man backed away, and turned and ran from her. The woman sighed, placing the gun in its holster, which was underneath her cloak. The boy looked up, his expression excited.

"It's you again lady!"

The woman raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what you're talking about kid."

He frowned. "Of course you do. You saved me a few months ago too." The woman shook her head.

"I just got here." He sighed, looking at her.

"Stop lying."

She shook her head. "That's the thing. I'm not."

He looked at her again, taking a retake of her. "Well, thanks anyways."

She shrugged it aside. "I have no patience for people like him. I was just doing my job."

"Your job, huh?" She nodded. "So, what were you doing the last time you were here?"

The woman stopped in annoyance, "Look, I don't know what the hell you're talking about kid, you're mistaking me for someone else!" She growled, taking off the sunglasses, and pushing the hood of the cloak away from her face. The boy looked at her. It wasn't the lady, for the lady's eyes were ruby in colour, and hers were an ice blue.

"Oh sorry…it's that a few months ago I met someone who looked just like you, but her eyes were different."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Different?"

The boy nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, she had ruby eyes." This comment seemed to set off alarms in the woman's head, for immediately after hearing such, her eyes widened. "Do you think you know her?"

"Look kid, there aren't many people who look like me."

He nodded. "I assume such…you're body's natural…right?"

"That, kid, is none of your damn business." She sighed when the boy lowered his head. "That doesn't mean I know or don't know who it is…it just reminded me of something."

The boy glanced at her, questioningly. "So, what's your name?"

The woman frowned. "What about yours? It's custom to introduce yourself before asking for someone's name."

The boy smiled. "I have none."

She stood there eying him. "Really…hmm, I think I'll call you Shinyuu then. You don't mind, do you?"

Shinyuu looked at her. "You're calling me 'true courage' why?"

She shrugged. "I have nothing better to do…seems to fit though, right?"

He nodded. "So, if I'm Shinyuu, then you're?" She shook her head.

"Nothing for you to worry about." She said, briskly walking away, he caught up with ease.

"I'll just keep following you. And I'll even tell the police you have a gun."

She inwardly cursed. "Stupid kid. Don't poke you're nose where it doesn't belong!"

Shinyuu grinned. "Why?"

The look in her eyes was sheer venom, as she slammed him against the ally's wall.

"Stop asking questions!"

He looked down. Now that she flailed the cloak behind her, he could see her left arm. She was wearing a tank top underneath that ended just below the ribs, but her left arm was covered in bandages from the neck down. And over her hand was a black glove.

"Hey, what happened to your arm?" She stopped, looking at her left arm, her eyes saddened for a moment.

"An accident. And don't you dare ask for the details!"

Shinyuu smiled. "So, what kind of work do you do?"

"That's none of you're business." She dropped him harshly, beginning to walk again. "I know you won't leave me alone kid, so just to let you know, I'm getting a hotel room for tonight. Keep harassing me and I'll have them throw you out."

"So what is your name?" He asked eagerly.

The woman sighed. "Well calling me lady probably won't do. Call me…Kage." With that she turned around and began walking as the boy stood there.

"Kage…she just said to call her kage…but Kage is the name of an underground mercenary!" He blinked in shock before realizing how much further ahead he was to her, so he began to run to catch up.

A/N: Ahh yes, the plot thickens. And yes, I like shadows...I'm obsessed with the darkness of lates (insert evil laugh)

Now, if I feel generous enough I'll update tomorrow (providing that I finish...) So I was so kind to leave in a preview, consedering I already have it planed out.

Next Chapter: Jun revels in the dark memory of May's death, and Kage has a few unplesent memories and thoughtsthat haunt her as well. As for Shinyuu? He learns why it's never good to wake up someone mid-nightmare...especially when she has a heavy trigger finger and a fully loaded hand gun that she keeps within arms reach when sleeping.

We shall see each other soon.

Ja ne!

Jun-kei

P.S. Don't forget to R&R!