Authors Note: I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! I have been working on another muse of mine;( This aside, I am sad that no one has really reviewed for this story, ah well. I am posting anyway; on to this chapters' notes. I'll admit that this chapter kinda threw me for a loop, still does. It was not an easy chapter to write. Simply put, I was having the most trouble by keeping with the story and not giving away too much too quickly. I hope I did a good job, but I won't know unless you all tell me. So Please READ and REVIEW. Thanks ;3
~Introduction~
Wufei stood in the middle of evidence lock up, his eyes not believing what they saw. Both Preventer personal who where on the graveyard shift where strung up on the caged fence that surrounded access to the storage facility holding every piece of Preventer Tokyo evidence. Their blood was dried and pooled at their feet. Some sticking to the metal fencing.
It made him sick to his stomach to look at the sight, "Who found them?" He asked the woman standing beside him, his boss in all manner of fact, but also a person who he considered a comrade and a friend. "Their relief found them twenty-eight minutes ago. It's been a circus ever sense. Before you ask, there is no video footage for this entire floor- the system was being repaired last night."
He looked at the woman proper. "Convenient, Yeah I know." Despite the calm in her voice, he could see in her brown eyes a look of horror and anguish that such a thing occurred on her watch. Anna Une ran a tight ship, and as current Commanding Officer of the Preventer Head quarters; Tokyo branch, this kind of foul up was unacceptable.
Minus her two inch heels that she wore to the office every day she was slightly taller then himself maybe an inch taller. Her long normally straight brown hair was pulled back messily in to a hurriedly brushed pony-tale. That and the fact that she was missing her trade mark heels told him she had still been sleeping when the call had come through to her.
She was pale, paler then normal, but Wufei had to give the woman credit she knew how to keep up appearances while in front of her troops. "Why weren't the captain's informed of this or more guards assigned to the sensitive areas of this building?" He was blunt, and cold, but this was how she expected him to be and he would not, could not disappoint her. Not in this instance. "Gillson was in-charge of assigning personnel." She sent him a side long glance, "and don't worry he is going to be dealt with severely."
"What is missing?"
Anna sighed, "So far nothing stands out a few pounds of drugs, and some hand guns, although they where all nondescript with their serials erased. What does make me worry however is that it appears that your latest murder investigation files have been tampered with, and the list of articles is missing from the ledger. Further more all images of the weapon and its manifest have been wiped from the system."
Wufei felt his stomach plummet. "The gun is missing?" He watched as Preventer's shifted boxes around, and forensics did their job. Anna's silence told him that it was indeed missing, and so continued. "Do you think they were after that weapon?" He inquired and Anna didn't respond straight away. "The fact of that guns unique nature hasn't been published in any of the on board records, tells me that the gun wasn't taken because of it's make up. So I cannot say indefinitely that the gun was specifically targeted, but if you want my personal opinion, then yes that gun was the mark." Anna motioned for him to follow her. She led him to the elevator and waited until they were aboard alone to talk again. "Do I need to tell you what your mission is?"
She didn't, but Wufei knew she would, so he didn't answer. "Your mission is to find out everything you can about that gun, who would have an interest in it and why. I want every little detail of that weapon from it's maker to the last person to come in contact with it. Saki Taylor's case file is now closed, and a new one is opened. Use any resource necessary to find out who broke in to our house. I want them arrested and I want that gun back in lock up!" The emotions she had been hiding within view of those working in the evidence locker spilled out at Wufei. He had expected as much, after all women can't contain their emotions, it's embedded in their DNA.
Chapter Four: The Illusion of Something
At the dojo, Ayame stood rooted in place looking at the wall where five weapons had once sat. Her mind raced on what it could mean. Only one person knew she had those weapons, and she wouldn't have stolen them because she knew what they meant. Granted that person didn't know about all the weapons, only two.
She had to try and figure out who was behind the theft without Preventer's help, she couldn't afford to be a suspect in Saki's death. She couldn't bear the thought of losing the two girls living with her. They were her life. Without them, she was nothing more then the black gun that remained. Death.
She held a crisp clear image of the person who could have done such a thing but she also knew that person to be long dead. The image of a person maddened with both jealousy and murderous rage, enough so to threaten the very fabric of life as human-kind had known it. A woman who had in essence attempted to not only destroy the colonies only chance of survival and unification but also betrayed her own people. Sisters of one bounding ideal and principal.
Securing Human-kind's natural right to life, freedom, justice, judgment, and finally death earned by age. That was the founding principal that spurred the creation of their sister hood. The Ideals where that of unification and peace. A peace time where people learned the meaning of love and life beyond any measure of doubt. The ability to understand that fighting while sometimes necessary where not the only means of ending conflict.
The Ideals of the Sanc Kingdom were that of total pacifism, though valiant in their attempts- they were also fool hearty. In this Ayame's sister hood where originally charged with not only the revenge of the colonies oppression, but also the proof that when tyrants rear their ugly heads people had to rally together in order to strengthen their beliefs and secure their rights and freedoms given at birth.
This was the cause of her sister hood, five stood as symbols and potentially martyrs, while one carried on the title that was Wind. The last assassin of a family comprising of many many generations long before the colonization of space and the conception of the destructive atom bomb. The Winds blew strong during one's attempt at racial purification and lasted through the ages to present date. Yet the final successor was also the destroyer of all they had tried to build.
Ayame's mind raced in circles trying to figure out why she couldn't get the image of her long dead sister out of her mind, a ghost that never seemed to truly die within her, despite the fact that she her self had been the one to place her at deaths door more then ten years in the past.
Her gut plummeted at the very idea that the woman wasn't dead, and that she had been walking among the world and colonies plotting and planning to re-take what she believed was rightfully hers. The very idea rocked her to the very core. 'She couldn't be alive, I watched her burn- I committed the final blow to her spinal column, and left her to burn. She is dead.' she internally argued as she heard Satomi and Kana walking about the apartment, and the phone ringing. Kana racing to answer it, beating Satomi, barely, as usual. Ayame couldn't imagine the idea of that image being shattered by a past she had already come to terms with, and should have been buried along with the flames of war.
Ayame knew that without a doubt, if the woman she feared suddenly was alive, that would be exactly what would happen. Every one she had ever come in to contact with since that day in the country side, would be in danger worse then a death threat. The fiend would stop at nothing to utterly destroy not only her but those she loved through some of the worst tortures that one human mind could ever think to conceive.
For the first time in more then twenty years Ayame Taylor suddenly felt terror screaming to the surface just like the day Rina had adopted her...
'Blood spurs you forward,further in to your dread...' The words echoed in her mind like the finality of the executioners ax. 'Further in to your dread... your dread... your dread... your dead.' The face of her sister was suddenly before her and all she could focus on was the fire of hatred burning in the depths of her sharp emerald green eyes, as fire of the literal kind burned around them.
The face jumped forward at her, and suddenly everything was dark around her.
She was laying flat, panic still riding the wind. She bolted up right, finding herself at a disadvantage, and looking about her for an enemy. Her hand already closing around a weapon that she kept under her pillow just in case.
Slowly, very slowly her disorientation fell away. Ayame looked around her, and found that she was in her bed room, the sheets pooled about her waist. Silently she crept from her room, avoiding the loose floor boards. The short combat knife still clutched in her hand as she looked about the silent apartments.
First she opened Kana's bedroom door, only enough to peer in and see the lump of a girl sleeping, watch her roll over in her blankets a soft sigh escaping her lips. Further down the hall past the small three piece bathroom, was the room that housed Satomi at night. The door was already open a crack, and Ayame could see clearly that she too was sleeping soundly.
Ensured that the girls where safe even though she was still confused how she had gotten in to her bedroom, never mind in to her pajamas. She moved swiftly, as her last memory came to her mind. "The weapons..." Her inward reminder had her spurring around a corner in to her private in home office, and whipping around to look at the wall case that housed four gleaming weapons of different colours. All of them long-slides. Her hand shakily reached out and ran feather light against the black metal of one of the guns.
A shiver worked down her spine and took four steps backwards. She leaned back against her solid oak desk starring at the weapons in the cabinet. Ayame couldn't believe her eyes. Each and every one of them remained in place. As she stood there she began to remember the days events.
After she had opened the package, she was so shocked that she found herself distracted and dazed for the majority of the day. Satomi had even asked her if everything was alright when they had dinner that evening. Ayame had ordered out, something she very rarely did. To prove to the girls everything was fine with her, she had taken both of them down to the dojo and sparred with them. It had been an enjoyable reprieve from the letter, but before bed she had found herself looking over the package once again.
"It would appear I am much more sentimental now then I was..." She sighed as she shook her head and walked out of the office, in to the kitchen, knowing she wouldn't get anymore sleep.
" Today, the weather has proven to be bright and sunny with only a 5% chance of cloud cover leading us in to the afternoon hours, so we would like to remind you that if you are spending extended time outside today to wear a hat. It may not be hot but the sun is still quite strong on days like today.
" In other news, Preventer issued a statement earlier this morning about the apparent lock down five days ago. Sadly they didn't have any uplifting news for us here at T-USEN. Yet another has been added to the ranking percentage of teen suicides. In the last four years the Global tally for suicides has risen to 17.9 percent from the 13.2 percent recorded in A.C. 203. This is a generally disturbing fact and with us we have a specialist ,Ronald Harry Willins Jr. from Tokyo's Institute for Suicide prevention and reco-" The screen of a small television anchored to the wall flicked to black as Duo's soft soled boots thumped impatiently to the tile floor of CR division head quarters.
"Oh yeah, lets make a story to tell everyone how to recognize the signs of impending suicide, still doesn't make people give a crap long enough to do anything about it." He grumbled as he stood up his chair squeaking on the floor in protest to being treated so roughly. Duo was clad in his usual black cargo pants and CR department jacket over a plain Grey t-shirt. "I wish the news would learn to play something up lifting instead of either trying to incite a panic in to the population or send us all in to a depression. Seriously, some of us already have majorly depressing jobs, do we really need to hear a national replay every morning on how fucked up this world is after war?" He muttered sloshing the murky coffee around a coffee pot before deciding wisely against ever attempting to digest the muck.
"I honestly think it's ingrained in human genetics, I mean the world sucked before war, during war, why shouldn't it suck after it too? Do you honestly believe the vultures have decided to change their tune because the dance has changed?" Kekko let out a none feminine snort as she typed up a report. "Besides, if you hate the news so much, why do you bother to watch it? It only serves to encourage them."
"Because there is always an off chance their babbling could lead to us getting a report faster then the switch board. They do tend to circle the shit after all." Duo sighed, pronouncing his sentence with the still swirling coffee in the pot. "When are we going to get a decent cup of coffee in this joint anyway?"
"Just as soon as you can draft up the papers as to why getting a decent coffee maker takes president over stalking up on mace for the unit." Kekko dead-panned. "Oh, when you do, let me know, because I totally want to be there when you plan on handing it in . It never gets old to watch your ass get chewed out." Duo struck a pose, "You just like watching my ass!" He just managed to dodge the stress ball she tossed at him, as a phone rung. "Preventer Children Relation Division Yurigami speaking." Kekko answered in her most professional tone.
"Yes, he's here. Okay just a moment." Kekko held out her receiver and half shrugged at Duo's questioning look. She shifted out of the way to let Duo answer the telephone call. She looked at the wall clock, and sighed, wondering mildly if she had done her home visit for Satomi and Kana that month. It would give her an excuse to go and see Ayame.
Wufei had spent a good two hours sitting in Anna's office going over his plan for the mission she had given him. Due to the fact that the weapon in his evidence lock up was special in a not so good way, the case had to be handled with care. His superiors believed that the potential for mobile suit involvement had risen to the degree for extreme caution.
So he now stood in the sub-levels of Preventer once again in the evidence lock up, as he looked down the hall way, he noted ironically that the weapons storage was just down the hall behind a door that was not very stable looking. "Hinamora, has the snoops been in the weapons store?" At his question a dark haired native to japan rose his head from the stack of papers he had been rifling through. "Yes, they're still in there. C.O. Une ordered that every inch of the sub-levels be searched and secured. I expect it will be days before they are done down here, maybe another week. I hope you didn't have any plans."
Wufei didn't give him an answer, but continued his walk through his feet cautiously moving him through the room, keen eyes inspecting every inch of the room from every new vantage. He was a firm believer that a second walk through was always better done by fresh eyes.
Slowly as he took a step he knelt down looking under the metal shelves where a shining reflection caught his eye, and a scent rose above the smell of coppery blood. He inched closer and noticed a small sliver tray tucked way at the back of the shelf. "Hinamora, hand me my kit." Wufei held out his hand behind him, and near instantaneously he felt the weight of his small investigation and evidence collection kit resting there.
"Did you find something?" Hinamora tried to see past Wufei's bulk, but couldn't manage. "Perhaps. Your in my light." Wufei watched the mans shadow retreat. After putting on gloves Wufei slowly worked the small container forward, and noted quite quickly that the small glimmer that had caught his eye was tinfoil wrapped around a water bottle cap. He froze in mid motion.
All the uses such a small object could hold ran through his mind, and he glanced at the anxiously waiting man behind him. "Suspicious object code black." He said firmly, before looking back to where he was laying. The cap was less then an inch across, but he knew that was more then enough room to plant an explosive meant to cause damage and death.
The new officer took off on the fly, heading for the weapons storage. Wufei didn't dare move his left hand that was currently attached to the small object. He took a slow shuddered breath and let it out in an attempt to calm his rapidly beating heart. It didn't take long for the guys in the other room, to make their way back in to the evidence lock up. "What did you find Chang?" an older graying male questioned sternly his gray-blue eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"It appears to be a water bottle cap lined in tinfoil. It contains substances unknown. Smells like roses or rose powder of some kind. All other information is unknown." He reported with out hesitance. "Alright, just don't move." The suspicion left the mans eyes as he turned to look at his subordinates. "Get the black gear." A man ran off down the hall, while the elder remained. "Chou, why didn't your guys find this?" Wufei asked suspicions running thick in his tone.
"There was no reason to suspect explosives, though I will say there is no excuse for something that suspicious to be laying about, and there will be repercussions." At the man's answer Wufei turned his head. "Interesting, that's the second time today I have herd that answer."
He looked up at the man who appeared from his angle to be a giant, though in truth he only stood six feet off the ground, his dark almond shaped eyes held lines caused by scowling and deep sages underneath from far too many sleepless nights. His short cropped hair was salt and pepper with only a minimal hint of the original black that it had once been. Despite his apparent age, the man was built like an athlete, lean but heavily muscled. By the way he stood and experience both told Wufei that them man knew how to handle himself.
"Indeed, It would seem it's time to cull out the ranks again, and promotions are coming around once more." Chou sighed, "Hard to believe that it only takes a few years for people to relax against threats that still haunt the darkest reaches of human-kind." Wufei couldn't help but agree, and the irony wasn't lost on him that he was the one who just reached under a shelf to inspect a suspicious object without a second thought.
'I think I am getting old...' He inwardly sighed glancing back at the cap currently pinched between his thumb and fore finger.
While her employer was in the sub-levels Karin sat at her desk, as her fax machine rang, She turned to it and watched as a slip of paper was printed out. She noted that the coding on the top was an order to close a case. Which told her that the case Wufei Chang had been working on was either dried up, or bumped off for a more important case.
She waited until the page finished printing, and pulled it out of the tray, her eye's scanned the page and a sly smirk spread on her lips. "Well now, that is interesting." She slid the file in to the appropriate folder, and pulled out her cell phone from her purse. Opening it she pressed three on her key pad, and waited until it dialed.
Someone answered on the first ring. "Hi Yuki-chan. Yes, I have some information that you and your reporter friends at T-USEN News may find interesting while pertaining to the story on the suicide at Preventer HQ. You'll never guess who the foster mother was to the young college student was before she died."
Karin smirked as the receptionist hurriedly spoke in her ear. "Yes, that's right a very reliable source, but your most diffidently entitled to do your research and take credit for the information." she watched the elevators where she knew where the only entrance to the floor, minus the emergency stairs. "Her name is Ayame Taylor, sensei at Ishi Na Dojo, currently tied in first ranked position in all of japan. The girls name was Saki Taylor. Yes that's right. Yes, now remember I expect the check to be negotiable at any unregistered source. Good, good. Yes dear. Okay bu-bye."
Heero couldn't believe the sight before his eyes. As he sat in the drivers seat of Trowa's rent-a-car, he watched a news van filled with their little troops converged on Ishi na Dojo. "Holy cow, what the heck do you think all this is about?" Catherine asked as she peered around Trowa's larger forum to look out the windshield. "Not sure, but Cathy please sit back."
"I should be the one telling you that Trowa, after all your the one who's got the dirty little secret." The brunette smirked slightly, "Perhaps but you are connected to that secret, and I doubt highly that the circus wants that kind of publicity again." The simple sentence had Catherine sitting back with a humph. "Party pooper."
Heero reached in to his cup holder and pulled out his small black cell phone. Flipping it open he hit 2 and watched the phone speed dial Duo's Cell number. "Why are you calling Duo?" Catherine asked spying on Heero who simply sent her a glance saying more then Trowa ever had to. The woman sat back hands raised in the I surrender sign. "Sorry I asked." She muttered under her breath.
"Yo, what's up buddy?" Duo's voice echoed through the ear piece of the phone. "Turn on the news." He ordered simply, and the sound of Duo's hacking coughs was all that he herd. "Why would I want to do that?" The Preventer finally questioned as he shuffled across his office and flicked on the television as he was told. "Are they playing anything on the dojo?" Heero asked calmly.
"Not as far as I can tell, why should they be?" Duo's impatient nature showing through, "Though there is a van parked outside of the dojo." Duo let out a long winded sigh, "Yeah okay I'll alert the cavalry. Say, how do you know that?" Duo murmured as he started text-messaging someone.
"I am sitting outside." The tapping stopped for all of thirty seconds as the information digested in his mind, "Cathy and Trowa are with you I assume." At Heero's grunted response, if one could call it that duo chuckled, "You don't have to sound all defensive, I've known you too long not to notice some kind of habits on your part man."
"I don't have habits." Heero defended, a little too quickly for his own good, but Duo left it be. "Anyway, I have work to do before Kekko gets back here and chews me out for not finishing it because you distracted me." Heero hung up the phone with out further comment from Duo- which he knew there would have been.
"So I take it we're not going in?" Catherine asked in a rather put-out sounding voice. "No, We cannot risk the exposure." Heero answered dropping his phone back in the cup holder while sliding the car back in to first gear. "We'll return when it's safe to do so."
"Damn it, and I wanted to take that woman's measure." Heero and Trowa turned and looked over their shoulders at Catherine, who smirked smugly, "What, How can I trust that my brothers will be safe if I can even take her measure? If you think I am just going to be waltzing off planet leaving Trowa and You here on your own- your more insane then I gave you credit for." She crossed her arms over her chest. "now since we aren't going inside, can you at very least stop for a coffee?"
Neither man said a word as they glanced at one another then turned to look out the windshield, which was just as well, because that was how Catherine knew them, Tall, dark, protective and silent. Her baby brothers all grown up. It sometimes made her want to cry- other times just pissed the hell out of her.
"Chang, I need you to remain perfectly still, I'm going to be putting in the snake." A young nameless man spoke to him calmly, as he lay close behind Wufei. Normally he hated close personal contact, but on this occasion he was more then willing to allow it.
"I know the procedure." He grunted, his eyes narrowing on the small black camera as it was slid slowly in to the space under the shelf. "Left, an inch." He reported and the man grunted, "I see it. Just hold up and Ah, There we go. Simmons what do you see on the screen."
"It looks like a pile of rose thorns."
Silence, no body made a sound as the man blinked at the screen, "Rose thorns?" Wufei uttered in disbelief. "Yeah, Rose thorns, it looks clean." A resounding sigh escaped everyone in the bomb unit as the camera was slowly pulled out of the shelf and the tech rolled away from Wufei. "Go on pull it out." He called as he push up on his knees.
Wufei slowly slid the object out from under the shelf, just as it came to the edge he felt a sharp tug and herd what sounded like trip line snapping and swinging around the room. "What the hell!" Wufei clutched the canister in his fist, destroying the small tin containor and keeping low tried to listen to where the sound ended.
In the maze that was the storage lock up he couldn't be sure if it was near the ceiling or on the floor, left or right. "Every one out!" Chao barked as men scrambled for the exit. It was then Wufei herd the beeping, it was distant, yet still close by. His head whipped around to see a flashing red light marking the death of anyone near it. "Drop!" He yelled above the chaos and covered his head.
The explosion hit with more force then he remembered a bomb could pack, sending the world in and everyone in it, in to a ringing white void.
Kekko and Duo pulled in to the back parking spot of Ishi na dojo, All eyes riveted to the front gate that had been closed and bolted. Kekko thanked all that was holy for the simple fact that the reporters had given up for the day, and left them be. She was the last person in the world, next to the owner of said dojo, who wanted to speak to a reporter.
"Looks like Takashi and Izumi managed to close the gate with out many problems." Duo chuckled, noting with some humor that a camera had been abandoned in the middle of the walk way that wouldn't be used for some time to come. "Apparently, but we may just as well see at six tonight." Kekko pulled off her safety belt and climbed from the car.
Duo followed suit only to hear the back door open and watch Takashi tug out a cigarette case and pull out a thin brown filtered death stick. "You really shouldn't be doing that." Duo piped up, and the man gave him the finger. "Shove it Maxwell, I have had enough of people's banter in my ear."
Duo shrugged, "Hey am I the one who has been calling the dojo off the hook?" He moved past the obviously upset sensei, "Though Who am I to tell you what to do with your perfectly good lungs right?" He added as Kekko opened and walked through the back door giving him no choice but to follow.
"Izumi, I told you we will be alright." Ayame's patient voice echoed to them, and Kekko couldn't help but find humor in the fact that Ayame was calm all the while out side her little world was chaos, or rather soon to be chaos. What ever had sent the original reporters to the dojo wouldn't just stay secret to one channel for very long. Especially so if Kekko's gut was right about the reason.
"Izumi, please, once Sensei makes up her mind she don't change it for no one. Trust me I've tried. Tons." Satomi's voice sounded distracted, and Kekko soon found out why as she and Duo walked around the corner finding Ayame, Satomi and Kana sitting cross-legged in the middle of the regular class mats in a small triangle, in the center of which stood Izumi, amongst a pile of Tournament Arrows. "Satomi. Doesn't not don't, Anyone not no one, and A lot, not tons. Your not an urchin so don't talk like one." Ayame uttered without looking up from the arrow she was binding Blue and Gold string to.
"Yes, sensei." Satomi sighed as she haphazardly tossed her arrow in to the pile beside Kana, who glared at her but otherwise said nothing. "But Sensei, Please re-consider, It's only for a few days! You know how they get, right now it's civil, but soon they will be trying to scale your walls!" Ayame's calm eyes looked up at Izumi. "I will not be chased out of my home and my life because some prattling Reporters believe it's in their rights to report news. Izumi do not believe me incapable of dealing with them. I was after all the one who introduced you to the art."
"But we don't even know what they wanted! What if they got your name from Saki's public record!" Ayame's impartial gaze narrowed on the woman, forcing her back a step. The crunching of the arrow under foot earned a low growl from Kana.
Duo chuckled from behind Kekko drawing everyone's attention within the exception of Ayame who simply looked back down that the task in her hands. "Ah good, voices of reason!" Izumi walked carefully out of the small pow-wow to where Kekko stood arms crossed over her chest a smirk on her features. "Maybe you guys can have better luck with her." With that, Izumi stormed out of the room completely headed for the back door.
"So, how was your day?" Duo asked as he walked around Kekko placing his I know but I am pestering you for a rise smile on his face. "Fine, how was your drive?" Ayame answered flatly, with out looking up, "Alright, though I was driving so Kekko's answer is probably different, you know how it goes."
"Of course." Ayame looked up at Duo before glancing at Satomi and Kana, "Girls why don't you go with Duo upstairs and make something for lunch?" Kana opened her mouth to ask why, just as Duo and Satomi's stomachs growled impatiently. This had Kana giggling before she realized it, bringing her to forget her question.
"Lets go guys, I'm going to wither away!" Duo announced making a b-line towards the dojo/Apartments entrance leaving Kekko and Ayame alone in the center of the dojo training mats, divided by the arrows. "Do you know who leaked the information about Saki?" Ayame asked in all seriousness, the tone telling Kekko the woman was reaching the end of a very long nerve. A nerve she wasn't going to sever with the information that had come through her fax machine before they left.
"No and Chang wasn't answering, but we have our people on it." Kekko assured, "Preventers people or your people?" Ayame looked up at her, her eyes swimming with a multitude of emotion that Kekko couldn't begin to name. "They are one in the same." She sighed, "But specifically C.R. Since this incident could put Satomi and Kana in danger, even if it is accidental or unintentional."
"Good." Ayame returned her gaze once again to the arrows, yet didn't move her hands to reach for a new one. "I received a package yesterday." She whispered, so silently that Kekko almost didn't catch her words. "What kind of package?"
"One of a topic that should never be spoken aloud." Her voice was even quieter that time and Kekko moved towards the woman slowly, "What do you mean?"
"Oh little dragon can't you see, there is nothing you can do that will be rid of me..." Ayame quoted and Kekko reeled as if she had been punched in the face. "Ayame I need to see that package." At Kekko's words, Ayame's eyes snapped up, "Officially never."
"If there was a threat to you, that could prove harmful to the girls-" Ayame stood abruptly, rage filling her clear eyes, "No threat or action will ever reach those two girls." She hissed as if she had been burned. "I hate to say it Ayame, but you said the same of Saki-"
"That was of her own doing!" Ayame snapped, her entire being shaking with a barely controlled rage and sorrow, a dangerous combination if Kekko ever found one. "Even though the gun was Justice?" She asked, watching the emotions slip away from Ayame's features like rain on a window pane.
"Did you think I was so foolish not to recognize one of the five?" Kekko asked stepping forward, placing her hands tentatively on Ayame's shoulders, "Please Ayame, don't insult me. I may not be one of the five originals, but I am a dragon whether or not you want to admit it. My sister named me so as is the rights of any who trained under the winds."
"Why haven't you said anything to Preventer?" Ayame asked flatly, and Kekko sighed. "Because I wasn't sure it held any connection to the dragons, maybe fates cruel irony, or maybe just a simple coincidence. I am not sure, all I know is that if that package makes any mentions or utterances that could pertain to that case I need to know."
"Because your a Dragon or a Preventer?" Ayame watched Kekko's eyes in the unnerving way that made the latter want to shrink back in to the shadows, "That doesn't matter, you say you trust me, now you need to prove it."
"Not with this." Ayame turned away from Kekko her eyes traveling upward to a warn sword that hung above the Training equipment, the withered leather hilt proving it's age. "Ayame Where did you get that?" Kekko asked slowly after following the woman's gaze.
"A friend."
In the silence that over took the two women, they could hear the laughter of Satomi and Kana from the apartments above while Duo undoubtedly entertained them with his own child like antics. Kekko watched a lone, silent tear leak from Ayame's left eye, before the woman stubbornly turned away, "Never with this." She said simply as if the matter was ended. Kekko wouldn't contend her, nor would she agree, at the moment, she knew that Ayame needed to think of other matters before the one staring them all in the face.
He couldn't see, and felt like the world was suddenly pressing down against his entire being. High pitched screaming over took his hearing and his eyes didn't seem to want to open. Wufei felt as if every nerve in his body were set a blaze, screaming in protest to one thing or another. Yet, under it all, or above he couldn't quite tell, an insistent droned buzzing picked at his left ear.
Slowly, he tried to open his eyes, finding everything dark, dismal, only lit by deep crimson lights. 'The emergency system, why was that activated?' He wondered trying to keep his sight from blurring, People, or what he could make out where people shifted about, some quickly- choppy like some horror movie ghost, while others where far to slow to be anything more then just stunned spectators.
'What the hell happened?' He lifted his hand and pressed it to his forehead, it felt as if it weighed forty pounds. He noticed then that he couldn't see out of his left eye, and that startled him greatly. His hand slid down his face, reviling to him that it didn't peel off, and his hair had fallen out of his tightly strung pony-tale- for it tangled amongst his fingers.
He turned his head, shifting slightly, surprised that the movement didn't send him in to a screaming torment, it in fact did exactly the opposite. His vision sharpened, and he didn't feel so numb. He tried to test his foot, and found it jumping at his command, sending hot little pokers of numbness to scuttle up his leg and in to his back. At least he could feel it. Though why that was a good thing was lost to him, for some odd reason. He could feel his left hand was still clenched in a fist, and something was digging in to the callused palm.
Slowly he forced his hand to open, and the scent of roses and black powder assaulted his nose, bringing everything back in a flash. He bolted up from the shock, his eyes wide and wild searching for the damage and the dead. A strong, yet gentle hand pressed down against his shoulder drawing his anxious gaze upwards. "Chang, are you alright?" The man's voice was still a drone, but he could make out the words well enough to nod in response.
"Can you hear me properly?" At his shaking head the man must have chuckled by the way his chest moved in quick jerking motions. "Everything else still in one piece?" Wufei forced himself to do a part by part analysis of his body, feeling for any ache, sprains, breaks or lacerations. A practice he had acquired and honed during his time as a gundam pilot.
Trying, and mostly failing to keep his voice level under control he responded, "Nothing, major. A few bruises, a cut that may need a stitch, other wise. FINE." The man nodded sharply, "Can you stand?" Wufei hadn't thought of that, why the thought hadn't come to him was more then a bit perplexing. Slowly, almost like he was swimming through soup he managed to push himself to a kneeling position.
The hand on his shoulder disappeared, and was hovering before his face. Grateful for the assistance, he gripped the man's hand and pulled himself to his wobbly feet. "Ain't equal Librium a bitch?" the man laughed in his ear, as he pulled Wufei's arm over his shoulders and helped him pick his way through the rubble towards the exit, noting that the entire outer hall was swarming with Paramedics, and Captains alike. Despite his eyesight not being one-hundred-percent, he could still spot Anna Une standing in the center of the hall way, and feel her brown eyes boring in to his soul.
She was not a happy administrative personal, which meant he was going to be one busy Preventer- assuming his current condition was of the temporary kind.
She watched from the cafe across the street, as Paramedics pulled up to the Preventer's building right on time. Her eyes flicked to her watch just to double check. 'She should be here soon.' She uttered under her breath, watching the street from the window. She didn't know when, or how she had gotten past her line of sight, but a woman sat down on the opposing side of the table. Her bright fire hair was swept back in a simple fashion, allowing the majority of the locks to tumble down her back. Bright Green eyes smiled at her amused.
"Do you like what you see dear sister?" She questioned, her voice rough and husky, almost like she at one point tried to eat fire, yet it also held an incredibly sexy tone to it that she would bet was put to great use. "It's of a mild interest. I am more interested in how you have been doing sister."
"I have been doing wonderfully, I even delivered a package yesterday. It's relaxing to finally be able to get back in to the saddle openly- well to an extent of course." She nodded, turning her head slightly towards the near empty cafe, "Would you like a coffee before we get too deep in our conversation?"
"Of course I would, after all I didn't come here for idle chatter, this is the best coffee house in the city. Conveniently located where we can watch the days excitement." She couldn't help but agree with her guest, though of course, if she knew the woman, the excitement for her had only just begun.
Wufei sat in the office prepared for the None-critically injured, an EMS worker looked him over, paying extra attention to his ears. Even after an hour and a half of simply sitting and waiting, he still couldn't hear very well. It told him only one thing, that he was getting soft. Before, while he was still fighting the war, and even after the rebellion he was able to handle explosions twice the size, with little to no effect. Now, well, that was another matter entirely as proven by his remaining in the Medical quarantine.
"Your going to have to take the rest of the day off. No driving, or operating any kind of machinery or weapons until you get a medical release forum. You can check in with the on-call medical staff here on site, or you can go to your own family doctor, but no sooner then tomorrow. Rest, drink lots of fluids, and don't strain your ears too much." The man in the white coat informed in and by the way the rest of the patients where reacting, he was yelling at Wufei.
He nodded swiftly, and pulled his change of uniform off the table. He waited for the minor disorientation to subside, before shuffling slowly to the mens bathroom, preparing to change. "CHANG." Anna's voice hollered at him from the mens room doorway. "Read the sign." He barked, not caring about tone or volume.
"See me before you leave." She returned, and he grunted, knowing full well that she would have simply left the doorway, hell bent on finishing some task. He sat on the bench in the center of the room, and tugged off his shirt, finding it made his sense of direction disappear entirely. With a short sigh, and keeping himself from looking at the dark bruising marring his flesh, he tugged on a new shirt, and proceeded to take off his boots, and undo his belt.
His mind was reeling with the ideas of what else could have happened? What if he had of just pulled the tin out from under the shelf? What if someone else had done the same. The timer on the bomb hadn't given them much time to move out of range, so the intent to maim or kill was in the explosive, yet the punch it delt was only enough to destroy the evidence they may have missed in the evidence lock up. It didn't penetrate the next room from what little information he had gathered. Nor had it caused more then one serious injury.
Where they simply trying to cover their exploites through out the file? He wondered pulling a new pair of cargo's over his legs. If that was the case, why did they leave the bodies on the fence? A scare tactic? Maybe that wasn't the extent of the bombs perpouse at all. What if it was ment to kill and leave just one more little side bar as to just how dangerous they are? Was that maybe their calling card? Wufei's mind remembered the tin, and the small Rose thorn that had still been nestled within as his hand clenched down around the tiny piece of evidence, the small clue as to who or what was going on around him. He held no doubt in his mind that it was connected to justice, to his Nataku but he couldn't prove it.
His mind kept reeling in circles, and so he forced himself to stop, and simply concentrate on doing up his belt and pulling his jacket over sore stiff shoulders. Once the jacket was done up, He stood, and shuffled his way out of the bathroom. Anna stood beside a side table, once used for Civilian presence to stop and be able to have a flat surface to write on. It now served as a place of removing Preventers from active duty. He hated that table.
"Gun and badge Chang." Anna spoke loudly, her hand extended towards a bin. He dropped the items within and went to turn away. "Oh no, Your getting a ride. I called Yuy, he'll be here momentarily." Wufei cast the woman a hate filled glare, and she simply pointed to a seat, once used to house waiting civilians and civil-servants alike. Squaring his shoulders, yet silently grateful towards the forethought to his safety. Wufei Moved towards the seats, and sat. It seemed like an eternity passed until he looked up and saw Heero looking down at him. His expression one of concern, reminding him that he may have changed cloths, but he hadn't washed the soot off his face yet.
Wufei stood up, looked to Anna who simply nodded, and walked out following Heero's lead. Knowing all the while, that if his other brothers weren't charging the station, that Heero hadn't said a word to the others. For that he was most grateful for.
Duo tapped his fingers against his thigh to the music playing from the radio. He liked the older rock tunes, but the one that was playing was interesting to say the least. "So what spurred the impromptu visit to Aya-chan?" He questioned when Kekko turned down the radio as the song ended. "I remembered that we haven't done our monthly visit yet,technicly, and I figured it would be nice to spend some time there to see how both she and the girls are handling with Saki being gone. Granted the tip-off call you got this afternoon was the straw that tipped the scale in our favor." Duo smirked, " And the idea of a free meal didn't spur your train of thought?"
Kekko smirked right back at him, "Unlike you, my life isn't dragged along by the pit of my stomach." she chuckled, "But the dinner was a nice gesture on Ayame's part. I think she wants company but is too damn stubborn to ask for it." Her passenger nodded in agreement, "I can only imagine how lonely it gets in that dojo, even her employees are more like her students over her friends. She isn't exactly the easiest person to get along with if you disagree with her points of view either."
"As much as I want to disagree, your right. However you have to keep in mind she has damn good reasons for her point of view, just like anyone who fought in the war. I could even say that she has tendencies of the like Captain Chang hold." Duo blinked at her comment, but mulled it over in his mind as they came to a stop at the lights.
"Maybe, but I guess it's their standoffish natures. That 'I work alone, and I can handle all the life throws at me with out help' attitude is something I find a lot of soldiers have gathered since the war. It's irritating and more then a little annoying."
Kekko agreed, "Yes it is, but that is how a lot of people cope, because that is how they where raised and trained. It's essentially the only way they know how to live. You can't blame them for acting in the way they know how. This aside we can only be the support they don't realize they have until they need it."
Duo snorted, "Like the children in CR care. Go figure. I always said Wu-man was a big baby, but now that just makes it better." Kekko sent Duo a look that shut him up for all of two point five seconds. "So, What was with the whole idea of Saki's Case being tossed out like that, Ayame must be pissed." Duo stretched out his legs as far as the passengers side would allow. "She doesn't know about that yet." Kekko responded flatly, and Duo's brow rose accusingly. "You haven't told her because?"
Kekko signaled a turn and checked her blind spots before following through and answering. "Because she has to make the arrangements for the funeral and a business to run and two girls in her care currently. I don't want to test that woman's patience nor her stress management. She is one person I would never want to see go over the edge... kinda like you Duo only..."
Duo shuddered, "Yeah I know what you mean. Good thing I never brought it up at the dojo, granted, Satomi and Kana kinda kept me busy after lunch. What did you and Ayame talk about while being stuck with the dishes?" Kekko rolled her eyes, "Duo, sometimes your too nosy."
" That's why Anna hired me, and why you wanted me in the CR department." He retorted smugly dropping his seat back to relax. Kekko wanted to slap him, simply because he was right- but she would never admit that aloud.
He smelt something familiar, something he hadn't smelt for a long time... 'Dragons blood' incense, as he walked down the corridor to where his rooms lay waiting for him. He had been away from home too long, and yet not long enough.
Boarding school was alright, but he couldn't help but wonder what the tutors did after they were done terrorizing their charges. Not that he ever minded, really, if it isn't done right then a teacher is supposed to correct their student. After all, that was the point of going to school in the first place.
"Master Chang, Your wanted in the main hall." A woman, who's face he couldn't see, and body he didn't recognize, said from ahead of him. He realized as the woman walked away, that he was still wearing his reading glasses from the ride home.
As he removed them, he walked in to the main hall- slowly it seemed four people shifted in to the shadows trying to be kept out of his sight. One held long hair, to the left was one with short spiked hair, and the other two had mid length hair. He couldn't tell colours of hair, but somehow he knew these people and had the impression that they shouldn't have been there, they had already said good bye.
A whimper resounded from the center of the room, and as he looked they where no longer on the family estate, instead they where in an open field within the colony. The ground shaking around them and warning sires exploded in his ear. Meilan looked up at him with her bright once vibrant black eyes and closed them once, looking at him. He was drawn in to their depths. Darkness surrounded him.
Out of nowhere the scene changed once more and strong arms held him firmly in place, and he felt a sudden stabbing pain in his chest. His vision was blurred with unknown tears, as he looked out what appeared to be a window from a shuttle. He felt the shock wave of an explosion and forced himself to focus.
"You condemned them to hell... I merely granted your wish." A husky female's voice chuckled, as he finally saw what exploded.
A0206, and he screamed...
Wufei sat up, his head instantly regretting the action. He was disoriented and couldn't figure out what had happened to him since Yuy had picked him up from Preventer earlier in the afternoon. Cautiously looking around where he lay, he found himself to be in his room, covered with his blankets, in his pajamas. Slowly he shoved his blankets away from him, and walked towards his door.
From the hall he could see the light reflecting from his television that Duo had insisted he get, right along with cable he rarely used. One glance at his clock told him it was just past ten in the evening, and he blinked. I slept eight hours? His disbelief brought him to move out of his room and walk down the hallway with one hand supporting him. His sense of balance was off, and he greatly disliked the disadvantage he found himself in. Pathetic. He growled inwardly.
As he came to the junction of his hallway that ran directly in to his open concept Living room kitchen, he saw that Heero was still sitting in his apartment sleeping in his chair. It shouldn't have surprised him, but it did. The fact that Heero Yuy was willing to remain to ensure that he was alright, was shocking, considering he had tried to kill him before.
Wufei decided it would be best to simply fetch a drink of water before heading back to bed, Maybe take something for this headache. He amended silently so as not to wake Heero, who was a light enough sleeper as it was. Wufei moved to walk back down the hallway to the bathroom, only to notice that Heero held no blanket over his sleeping forum and fought back a sigh. Opening a storage closet, he pulled out one of his spar blankets and moved towards the man.
He wouldn't dare put the blanket on Heero, that could prove fatal to anyone, including him at his peak condition, instead he opted to set it on the coffee table and leave the man. He dragged his feet to keep balance as he moved in to his small yet tidy bathroom. His ears still rung, but the ringing wasn't high pitched, more so a dull droning annoyance.
Slowly closing the door, hoping that it didn't bang loudly against the frame, he flicked on the light and looked at himself in the mirror. He was a mess, but mostly because his skin was too pale. He remembered then that he hadn't eaten all day which was a minor problem compared to the fact that he was almost blown up because of his own stupidity.
Opening his cabinet ridding himself of having to look at his ashen face, he pulled out a small container holding a packets of Pain medication. He rarely approved of using such means of ridding one of pain, however when it came to headaches, he was the first to jump to that resort.
Turning on the facet, allowing the water to cool, Wufei stood braced against the sink, his thoughts drawing inward from where they had last left off.
I am missing something, it's important. Hard to believe that three incidences occur at Preventer within a week. They have to be connected somehow. Even if the first one isn't connected there is still the fact that that bomb was placed in a very strategic way, meant for maximum impact, yet minimal fatalities. Once the bodies where found, again for maximum impact, shock factor. This person, or persons are one for theatrics, and for bringing about surprise, yet making it hard to read what ever message they are giving.
It still worries me that the weapon is gone again, justice was a big piece to my last case. If that's the reason for the gun to be missing, then that would lead me to assume that someone who knew about the guns existence knew it would be here. That would also imply they gave the gun to Saki Taylor. So even if the girl was more then willing to take her own life, someone wanted that gun back. Why go though all the trouble of giving her the gun unless it was meant to send a message to someone, someone who knew about it's origins and what it symbolizes? Wufei slid the glass on the back of the sink under the running water as he slid the pain pills on to his tongue. His mind whispering Ayame Taylor? Wufei knew that the woman was withholding something. She knew more about the gun then she was letting on, but he couldn't bring it back up again because she was in no way connected to the recent events except for the gun. No judge would sign off on a search of her apartments with out evidence to support his theory, no matter how paper thin it may be.
He needed to get in to Ayame Taylor's apartments, he needed to get to know the woman better. He also needed a reason to see just what she was hiding about the dragons, because currently the only person to hold motive for the killings in Preventer was Ayame Taylor, the only person other then fellow Preventers who knew about the gun was Ayame Taylor, and the only person to have any sort of connection with all three incidences was Ayame Taylor.
His thoughts interrupted by the sour taste of pain medication on his tongue, he gulped down the water and turned off the tap. Turning and reaching for the door knob he noticed light spilling in from the living room that was much brighter then just the television. Opening the door he found Heero standing in the kitchenette making what appeared to be two cups of his green tea. So much for not disturbing him Wufei thought inwardly as he sighed flicking off the light in the bathroom.
The moon rose so silently in to the night. Yet the silence brought a restlessness to resound throughout her very being. Something wasn't right, she couldn't put her finger on it, but Ayame knew she had missed something about Saki's death that was important. She very-rarely forgot anything, especially when it was important enough to bother her so greatly.
Perhaps it was merely the fact that a child of hers could resort to such a degrading and despicable act that had her so riled inside. Maybe it was the fact that she couldn't figure out how in gods name Saki had gotten hold of that weapon in particular. At least I found out one thing I didn't know a week ago; Kekko didn't know the whereabouts of that weapon after the A0-206 incident. Ayame couldn't help but think that was just as well. Kekko was more then welcome to dig all she wanted about the gun, but, Ayame already know how the Weapon had made it to earth.
What ever keeps her busy elsewhere and out of direct trouble. She hummed propping her chin on her hand, her eye's watching the clouds as they passed over the moon. There is only one person that I know for a fact could hold the skill to get in to this room, and take the weapon unnoticed, but she has been dead for a decade now. One of the replacement pilots may have been able to, but none of them held any notion of the weapons existence. Ayame's eyes narrowed, Except that Preventer Chang, he seemed to have some kind of idea as to the guns relevance... Could he know about the dragons? She wondered before shaking her head, The doctors of destruction wouldn't be so foolish. If any of their replacements has found out about the dragons, they would have gone looking long before now. Maybe it's nothing more then the illusive law-enforcement Gut instinct.
The crying of a child erupted from an open window to one of the buildings apartments across the alley way behind the Dojo, and the sound instantly flicked on a switch in Ayame's brain. The youth care internship... Big sisters... Ayame's eyes widened only to narrow as she whipped around and walked in to the dojo, her voice calling out to the two girls within.