Hey all! I'm trying not to reveal too much, but if you're MAJORLY confused then let me know. Sorry that I'm concentrating a lot on Azumi, it'll get better, promise! Still building up the background.
Disclaimer: I don't own POT and i'll bet you guys are glad of that or else all the drawings would be more stick-figure-ish haha
(Azumi POV)
I shifted by backpack and didn't meet any immediate pain.
Good sign. I decided.
Just to be sure I did a quick once-over of myself making sure that everything was intact as I walked into the immense castle.
Check, check, and check. Aside form a few minor cuts and bruises and oh...crap. I glanced down at my hands.
A large slash was evident on every one of my fingers, probably from when I jammed the piece of glass in between the seat and gas pedal. Normally I would have marveled at the intricately woven tapestries, the high vaulted gothic ceilings, and illuminated stained glass windows that marked the high craftsmanship of German castles. But, I was on the run, not to mention injured.
I smiled wryly at the irony. From an agent trained to hunt, to the scared prey straining to survive.
I walked briskly through the halls in search of a certain room near to the heart of the castle. My feet made no noise as I swiftly made my way to a small black door nearly imperceptible from the bleak stonewall. I opened the door praying the door was unlocked and had been oiled recently. It proved to be locked, just as I had suspected, however an examination of the hinges revealed a thin layer of oil. One for two; guess you can't win them all. I slipped two bobby pins out of my hair allowing my long black hair to fall down my back. I fiddled with the lock for a grand total of 3 seconds before the lock clicked, causing the door to swing open. Hey, I'm good okay? But it took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get there. And I do mean blood, sweat, and tears literally. Normally I could pick a lock in a much shorter time but he blood on my fingers and pain in my hands prevented me from moving my fingers with their normal dexterity.
Probably going to need stitches. I cursed under my breath. Not that there was anyone to hear me...
When I entered, I quickly stitched up my left hand with some supplies from my backpack and then glared at it.
I knew this would happen. You're so useless. I scolded my still stinging hand.
My left hand was quite unable to stitch anything as I was right-handed. Not only that but I had just applied stitches to it causing it to be in more pain and reducing the flexibility of the fingers. Ripping open stitches was neither a pleasant or desirable experience and i had no intention of trying to move my left hand all that much. My right hand as it stood now was still slashed open and hot blood ran from the wound.
Crud. I'm going to have to go to a place where I can get this stitched up.
I began to think. Not a hospital. Too many questions and especially not undercover. They'll keep a record of my visit. Hmm perhaps a specialty hospital. Out of the way. Just a place with doctors. I'll figure it out later.
I produced a bandage from my bag and wrapped it tightly around my right hand. I wiggled it experimentally which resulted in a sharp pain that lanced up my arm.
Oh well, I'd had worse.
I surveyed the room, searching. And I was not to be disappointed. It was a D-room. Fully stocked. Finally, some luck. This was always my favorite part of missions, picking the new Echizen Azumi. What would it be? Purple hair? Red eyes? And any name I chose as well. Now you're probably wondering 'where the crap did this room spring up from?' well the school/Japanese security agent training facility I attended was able to use the resources of all the Japanese security branches. And Japan had some kickass resources, like the D-rooms for example. There was one in a 10-mile radius of where ever an agent is in a city or relatively populated area. Sweet right? Agents would use them on the run from other governments or the the organizations they were trying to take down. Just run in and presto chango! No one bothered you anymore. The room could even create fake IDs, passports, visas, everything. Basically when an agent was in a bind, they ran to the nearest one. I was in a bind. And I was going to use the D-room against them.
I tried on wig after wig.
I liked to make celebrity comparisons as I rummaged through the pile.
Too much like little orphan Annie, ugh Hermoine hair, hmm nice! Maybe too green though, don't want to be the incredible hulk.
I ended up surrounded by a pile of wigs and an exasperated expression on my face. They all looked really wrong. Not natural. I then spied a brown short-haired wig. I placed it on my head and after some adjusting, tucking of my cumbersome tresses, and fluffing I examined the finished product in the mirror.
Perfect! I liked the doe brown. The cut was a bit too short for my liking though. It made me look too much like a boy.
I began to take the wig off when I had a sudden thought and spun around to look around at my reflection in the mirror
Light bulb moment! I grabbed a wrap, some baggy clothes, and miscellaneous hair stick-ons. In a flurry I put on the ill fitting clothes, placed the little hairpieces around my nicely tweezed eyebrows to make them look more...not tweezed I guess. The remaining hair went to my underdeveloped sideburns. I'll let you guess what the wrap was for. I once again took a good look in the mirror.
Wow, that's awesome! Man these clothes are comfortable. Why don't girls wear these more? Boys are SO lucky. Hmm everything looks about right. Except for...
I turned my attention to another shelf with rows of contacts and color names under them.
I'm thinkin'...blue, or no, too noticeable. I'd stand out too much. Maybe a good normal brown…but I'm not really sure their opaque enough to cover up my eyes. If you mix green and brown what do you get? Ph yeah...puke brown. Hmm this is a toughie.
I looked back in the mirror, at the young boy with bright, jade green eyes.
My team will be looking for that, that is, if they even know I'm alive.
I closed my eyes, letting the wrenching feeling in my chest pass before it reached my heart, threatening to tear it apart. I grabbed my chest trying to keep the pieces together.
Flashback
I walked down the long hall to the "principal's" office, with consternation building within me. I heard my own footsteps echo off the walls in the clean white hall, completely devoid of any ornamentation that might add friendliness to the otherwise bland hall. The fading echoes emphasized how much I was alone, and in trouble no doubt.
Psychological terrorization. Typical. I'm SO scared.
Sarcasm often helped me to free some room for thinking room in an otherwise terror clouded mind. It seemed to be working as I was beginning to fell much more annoyed than afraid. Just in time too, I had reached the secretary's desk.
She glanced up with annoyance to match my own from her seat behind her desk.
"The principal will see you now." She said to me in a nasally, offended tone. It was as though she had a cat allergy and was talking to me as though I was the offending feline party.
I was about to make a snide remark when I saw her begin to shift herself into a more comfortable position and I noticed the imprint of a gun holster beneath her suit jacket. I closed my mouth and settled for a glare instead as I strode past her into the office. I wasn't surprised. Knowing the nature of the school I attended, it was a given that all of the faculty were agents just as the students were training to be. I heard that the janitor was a retired judo sensei, quite a good one too. That little tidbit made me think twice before sticking gum under any of the desks.
In the principal's office I was bidden to sit down which I stiffly obeyed, never taking my eyes off of the "principal" as he deigned to call himself.
"Your team, Azumi, is the highest in the class. Perhaps one even of its own." a tall, dark, and altogether impressive figure noted without much enthusiasm.
Normally I would have felt pride swell in my chest and did a little mental victory dance, but my relationship with the school administration had turned into a hate-hate relationship. They had presented a test I could not afford to pass. I tuned back into what he was saying.
"Consequently, I want to start streamlining it. We must eliminate the weakest link in the team. That is your assignment. You are dismissed."
The commanding voice was reinforced by just as a commanding face; black, short, crew haircut that reminded one of the military, small charcoal black eyes, and a build that rivaled a tank.
However, this did not faze me. Big deal. He was big and bad but not much of a wolf. I inwardly chuckled to myself. Okay so sometimes I was an ADD pun-lover but these little things helped me to stay relaxed and focused, just like my dry sarcasm. And I needed all the focus I could muster at the moment. I was adamant in my defiance and I made sure he could tell from the look in my eyes.
"Yada." I continued to glare fiercely back at the daunting figure. "I will not murder any of those who have served me and you well. What have they done worthy of death?" I emphasized certain words to let him know that I understood exactly what he meant, and phrased my words so he knew the despicable, morally corrupt, sick, sorry-excuse-for-a-principal I thought he was.
He seemed to be neither surprised nor amused by my response. His face remained commanding and authoritative, a stoic unreadable mask.
"I thought as much." he said and began to examine a coin that sat upon his desk. "You know, Azumi. There are a lot of definitions of weakness. Not being strong enough, not having enough courage, not being smart enough," he paused in his examination of the coin, closing his fingers around it. The next words came loaded with as many hidden implications and accusations that mine had.
"Too much emotional attachment…to anything." He then looked at me sternly, as though he could see through me; I suppressed a shiver.
"You are dismissed." he said, once again distracted by the coin as I turned and walked out the door of the office of my "headmaster".
So be it. So he thinks I'm the weakest. I don't care what that sick b****** thinks anyway.
I glanced back from the doorway, and saw a smile upon his features. I call it a smile but it carried in it things no smile should ever convey, sinister, terrible things. He them looked at me, tauntingly and still smiling. He slowly opened his fingers as if to show me something. There in his hand was the coin, crushed to near dust.
I turned away slowly, trying to make sense of his expression. He obviously was planning something. Something not so hot for me. I thought over his words again.
"We must eliminate the weakest link in the team…there are a lot of definitions of weakness too much emotional attachment…to anything."
Oh no…
I had figured it out.
He's going to kill me. But how?
At that moment, from outside the room I heard him summoning Nishimura Takeo, my closest friend and teammate…my second in command. I closed my eyes, and concentrated, furrowing my brow while I strengthened my resolve. I turned, grim determination etched in my face.
And that's when I ran.
End flashback
I never thought my team would ever turn on me. And as much as it hurt having them hunt me down like a wild animal, I knew that the principal was training them to be emotionless killers, destroying their compassion, ability to trust, and friendships. Having their humanity stripped from them. That's what hurt the most.
•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•
(Regular POV)
Tezuka was sitting on his bed as his anxious mother flitted about his room, examining his packing job. He was working pretty hard to keep his expression impassive as annoyance dominated him. He was 17 for crying out loud, he didn't need help picking out his clothes. Now most people would disagree with Tezuka on that just because they had never seen him wear regular clothes other than that long purple button-down which looked nice, but does he seriously having nothing other than tennis clothes? Tezuka's mom seemed to be having the same thought.
"Kunimitsu," she said with an exasperated sigh "don't you have anything other than tennis clothes?"
"Hai." he said as he lifted the purple shirt from the suitcase.
His mother sighed again and shook her head as she continued to flit about the room. Tezuka let her do it. He knew that she was just trying to be a mom. It really seemed to hurt her when he appeared compotent without her, especially now that he was nearly heading off to college.
Two days until Germany. Maybe I'll get. Some peace and quiet there. Alchim Rehabilitation Center was nice when I went there last year. I look forward to it. He tried to convince himself.
How oh so wrong he was, he'd soon find out.
•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•
(Azumi POV)
I, now all boy-ified, continued to stare at the rows of contacts.
I'm just going to have to go with blue I think.
I reached over to the cases and unscrewed each lid before popping a blue disk into each eye. I blinked a couple of times before checking myself once again in the mirror.
Sweet! I was good to go.
I grabbed her backpack and emptied all of it except her first aid kit. I then grabbed some men's clothes, boxes of extra contacts, false documents made out to a 17-year old (fudging ages was fun too and quite practical as well) male named Jukodo Ryuu, and extra little hair stick-ons. I zipped the backpack back up, not bothering to clean up my mess. I left the room having spent only 15 minutes in the room. Whether my team checked the D-room or not, if they knew I was alive, they'd know that my first action would be to use one. Most renegade agents did and with good reason. You'd think that they finally would have put in cameras, or heavier locks that they hadn't taught students to crack.
•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•
(Regular POV)
Nishimura Takeo was driving in a red, rather conspicuous sports car with a group of teens his same age.
"Yes, her car went over the side of the cliff." pause.
"Affirmative." another pause.
"No we did not check the car." an angry voice could be heard from the small transmitter in Nishimura's ear.
"But sir-" he was cut off by more angry outbursts from the earpiece.
"Yes sir."
His next words were addressed to the passengers of the car.
"We have to go back and...check." he said wincing, spitting out the past word as though it disgusted him, which wasn't far from the truth. Not that he'd admit it though.
The passengers nodded their heads in acknowledgment, none wanting to point out the elephant in the car. The problem none of them wanted to address. No one wanted to see if their former friend, and team leader was dead. To see her body laying in the ruins of the car would make their already tentative decision to obey their headmaster over Azumi harder to justify.
Nishimura did a quick U-turn and headed back in the direction of the accident. Silent, uncomfortable tension reigned in the car with only the near imperceptible purr of the engine cutting through the silence.
They came to the spot of the crash a half hour later. No one on the car moved. They all sat stone still, none daring to get out, stealing glances at each other. Nishimura sighed, knowing that they were all waiting for him to make the first move. He was the new team leader after all, it was his duty. Steeling his nerves, he got out of the car. No one followed. He continued nevertheless towards the edge of the cliff.
"Well? Aren't you coming?" Nishimura demanded from the edge of the cliff. He wanted to sound like he was trying to make his team do their job but really he was scared to go down the cliff side and face whatever lay or didn't lay in the car...alone.
The passengers of the car seemed to feel the same way and exchanged glances before vigorously shaking their heads back and forth.
Nishimura glared back at them. This wouldn't have happened under Azumi. She always knew what to do.
What would she do in this situation? He pondered.
He then snapped his head around, angry but he wasn't quite sure with whom. He had just stupidly remembered that she was in this situation, only she wasn't the one on a cliff top deciding whether to brand her memory with her heinous acts or not.
He turned back to look at his team in the car, "Cowards" he muttered under his breath. He then began his descent down the cliff face.
(Meanwhile in the car)
"Well?" Mochizuki Arata asked, breaking the silence.
"Well what?" Koga Nabuko said, crossing her arms.
"Isn't anyone going to follow Nishimura-senpai?" Mochizuki explained.
"Why don't you if you're going to lecture the rest of us about it." Tokaji Hotaka huffed.
That shut Mochizuki up. Everyone shifted uncomfortably. They were all thinking that this was so wrong, but no one wanted to admit it. Mochizuki, however, being a bit more brash finally voiced the concern. This caused more shifting from the other team members. Finally Koga spoke up.
"Echizen betrayed us." Koga tried to state mattor-of-factly, but her face betrayed the uncertainty she really felt.
"She killed Ieyasu-chan." Tokaji said trying to sound irritated at such a trivial question. He succeeded.
"But we don't really know that." Koga jumped in.
"The headmaster said so." Tokaji said even more irritatedly. "Are you questioning the headmaster's word?"
Koga, annoyed at being threatened by a 2nd year retorted, "Do you mistrust Echizen so much? I'm just saying that we don't actually know. During that training session we were ahead of them so much we didn't see what actually went down when she went back for him."
Tokaji stuck up his nose, "We're not supposed to go back for team mates. She shouldn't have gone back to help him anyways."
"He was really hurt though…" she argued though she accepted Tokaji's words. Then her eyes glinted as she glared at Tokaji. "How are you so insensitive?"
"Sensitive? Since when does that have to do with anything? Is that what we're really arguing about?"
"Yes! We are being trained to protect those that can't be protected. Going back for your teammate is exactly that. It's part of being human."
"If human means being weak and weepy all the time, I don't want anything to do with it."
"I'll say, you sure don't look like one…"
"Hey! Let's find out what Asai-san thinks!" Mochizuki quickly intervened before the two could get violent.
"As if. Asai-san never says much of anything…" Tokaji growled even more disgruntled than before.
"Now that's not fair Tokaji." Said Koga.
Mochizuki placed himself between them frantically waving his arms, trying to keep them from fighting when he suddenly spotted Nishimura's head appear over the cliff top.
"Hey look! Nishimura's coming back!"
That abruptly stopped all the fighting in the car as everyone froze and watched as Nishimura walked towards them. The walk to the car seemed to take an eternity. Finally he opened up the driver's side and sat down. He didn't look too happy. No one wanted to ask but they were all dying to know. Mochizuki was about to ask when he accessed the voice activation feature on the car's computer. Being agents and all, it was pretty standard issue.
"Access castle D-room camera, Germany 1 hour ago." Nishimura commanded.
On the GPS system they all saw Azumi enter, and about 4 jaws dropped. Nishimura however, hit the steering wheel.
"We're not done here yet."
So there you go! Hope you liked it! And I also hope you're not too confused haha. Please leave a review about how you're liking or disliking it so far!