DISCLAIMER: Once again, I don't own anything, anytime, anywhere.
A/N: Part two – Yes, it's short.
Japan
Switzerland
PRESENT
Chie stares at Shizuru, as the chestnut-haired woman stares out her window. Chie ponders Shizuru's last statement.
"Duty is just as powerful as love?" asks Chie. Shizuru turns to face Chie.
"Excuse me? Yes, duty is just as powerful as love," replies Shizuru.
"How so?" asks Chie, leaning slightly forward in her seat.
"Why did you join MI-6?" asks Shizuru.
Chie gives Shizuru an incredulous questioning look.
"Ms. Senoh is former MI-6, is she not?" states Shizuru, alluding to how she knows Chie is a former MI-6 operative.
"In order to help my county keep order and to do my…duty," answers Chie and gets Shizuru's point.
After Shizuru sees the realization in Chie's eyes, she turns and looks back out her window.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO
Everything happened so fast. Shizuru felt the blade slice into the side of her neck, heard the gunshot, and suddenly felt pressure on her neck wound. Shizuru looked up into Natsuki's eyes.
"Natsuki?" Shizuru whispered.
"Shizuru…lie still and be quiet," Natsuki said as she looked down into Shizuru's eyes.
"Nice to meet you," Shizuru smiled weakly and closed her eyes.
In C.O.D.E.'s state-of-the-art medical facility, Natsuki keeps vigil at Shizuru's side. Her sleep-deprived body is slumped forward in her chair and her upper body is draped over Shizuru's bed with her arms wrapped around the still unconscious woman.
"Please don't die. Please don't die," Natsuki softly pleaded repeatedly.
All the tubes coming out of Shizuru makes her look like a science experiment. The only sounds in the room are from the machines keeping Shizuru alive. The incessant beeping of the heart monitor irritates and comforts Natsuki. Her eyes are blood-shot from lack of sleep and crying, but she would never admit to the latter. Natsuki drifted in and out of sleep. Her memories haunted her mind.
As always, Natsuki's aim was deadly accurate. Her bullet ripped through Nao's forearm, causing the red-head to drop her knife, but not before she opened Shizuru's jugular vein enough to cause damage. The hit to Nao's forearm threw her arm backwards with such force, it spun Nao around and she slammed into the wall behind her, face first. She slumped against the wall. Natsuki rushed to Shizuru and immediately applied pressure to the open wound.
Natsuki reached in her pocket, took out her special communicator, slid it open, and called for C.O.D.E.'s emergency medical team. She closed it, returned it to her pocket, and looked back down at Shizuru, who had her eyes closed.
"Shizuru?" Natsuki touched Shizuru's cheek.
Shizuru's skin was cold and clammy, but she opened her eyes upon hearing Natsuki's voice.
"My, my you look like I feel, Natsuki," Shizuru teased softly and coughed.
"Quiet, help is on the way," Natsuki assured, leaned down close, and lightly kissed Shizuru's cold forehead.
For the first time in her life, Natsuki prayed to Kami. Natsuki knew Shizuru would die if help didn't arrive in five minutes. She felt dizzy and realized the wound in her side was bleeding freely again, so she pressed down on it. Natsuki continued to reassure Shizuru help was coming.
C.O.D.E.'s emergency medical team finally got to Natsuki, five minutes after her call. They found her cradling Shizuru in her arms, holding her hand tightly against the side of Shizuru's neck. The room was a bloodbath. One dead and two critically injured. Even though Natsuki had lost a lot of blood, she refused medical assistance until Shizuru was treated. Nao had succeeded in opening Shizuru's jugular vein, but Natsuki's swift action prevented Shizuru from bleeding out and dying. After getting Shizuru and Natsuki stabilized, they were flown to C.O.D.E.'s state-of-the-art medical facility.
Outside Shizuru's room, Yukino keeps her own vigil. Each passing day, through the plate glass window, she helplessly watched one of her best agents deteriorate and one fight for her life.
"Yukino, time to come home," Haruka said as she lovingly wrapped her arm around Yukino and led her away from Shizuru's room.
Yukino and Haruka were slowly walking down the hallway towards the parking lot. Haruka protectively held Yukino and whispered reassuring words to her most important partner. Suddenly, alarms began blaring. Medical staff started running past Yukino and Haruka. Haruka released Yukino and the two women ran behind the medical staff.
When Yukino and Haruka got to the room, they wisely chose to remain outside. Through the plate glass window of Shizuru's room, they watched the chaos inside. Natsuki stood near Shizuru's bed in shock. The noise from the alarms filled Natsuki's head and disoriented her. Medical staff roughly pushed on her trying to get to Shizuru and Natsuki pushed back. Just as Natsuki was about to draw her sidearm on the medical staff, she was roughly yanked out of the room.
"What the hell?" Natsuki yelled at the person who pulled her out of Shizuru's room.
"Kruger, get a grip!" Haruka growled in Natsuki's face.
"Get your paws off me!" Natsuki growled back and violently yanked her arm out of Haruka's grasp.
"Natsuki, please…," Yukino softly pleaded.
"Fuck off! Natsuki yelled at Yukino, not realizing who she addressed.
Natsuki slid several feet down the hallway on her backside, reeling from Haruka's punch. After she stopped sliding, Natsuki shook her head to clear it, got up, and stormed back to Haruka.
"You big ape!" Natsuki yelled in Haruka's face.
"Don't talk to 'L' in that tone," Haruka growled through clenched teeth, her eyes bored through the back of Natsuki's head.
The two women stood eye-to-eye, toe-to-toe, poised to attack when a loud noise brought them back. The loud monotone sound of death resonated clear and loud. Shizuru was flat-lining. Natsuki pressed her palms against the plate glass window and helplessly watched the medical staff's life saving attempts. After several minutes, the medical staff turned off the heart monitor and covered Shizuru with a sheet.
"NOOOOOOOO!" Natsuki cried out as she slid down the plate glass window, pooling on the floor.
Several months and numerous meetings later, Yukino finally settled matters with Naicho. They were none too pleased to lose two of their top investigators, but after being presented with C.O.D.E.'s nearly year's worth of evidence collected on Tomoe, Naicho found they didn't have much of a leg to stand on.
A few days later, Shizuru was laid to rest with full honors and received commendation for dying in the line of duty. Yukino and Haruka attended the service. Natsuki was on an assignment and unable to attend. Yukino was deeply worried about Natsuki. After completing her mandatory counseling sessions, Natsuki immediately returned to active duty and requested a special assignment to find Nao. Yukino refused to authorize Natsuki's request for nearly a year.
Natsuki sat frustrated, her head in her hands, in front of the table covered with every single bit of information collected during C.O.D.E.'s investigation of Naicho special investigators. It was a daunting assignment that ended with Natsuki losing Nao; her close friend, occasional lover, and now prime target. Natsuki desperately needed to find Nao. She had questions only Nao could answer and Natsuki needed answers, now more than ever. Natsuki peered through her fingers at the piles of evidence on the table before her. A sharp pain tore through her chest as she looked at the folder directly in front of her: VIOLA, SHIZURU. Natsuki roughly wiped her eyes, picked up the folder, and opened it. Smiling up at her was a photo of Shizuru.
"DAMMIT!" Natsuki yelled and slammed the folder shut.
Natsuki stood up and walked into the kitchen. She squeezed mayo into her mouth as she stood in front of the opened refrigerator.
'Mainlining mayo again?' Natsuki recalled Nao's constant tease.
A few minutes later, Natsuki returned to the table with a cup of coffee, feeling a little better. She picked up the folder, opened it, and began reading. As she read, her thoughts ran amok.
'Oh Shizuru…if you knew how much I already knew about you before I approached you, you probably wouldn't have given me the time of day. I was captivated from the first time I saw your photo. The more I discovered about you, the more I fell for you. I'm not even sure when I fell in love with you. It must have been shortly before I approached you at the Baccarat game. After spending the night with you, my feelings were affirmed.'
While Natsuki's ego hated to admit it, her common sense told her this assignment was too much for her to handle alone. She pulled out the special communicator, slid it open, and called for help. A few minutes later, help arrived.
"Thanks for coming at this late hour," Natsuki said as she greeted her guest.
"Hey, no problem. I'm between assignments," Chie said as she entered Natsuki's apartment, handing her a bag.
"What's this?" Natsuki asked as she took the bag.
"Energy food," Chie grinned.
Natsuki opened the bag and looked inside. A huge grin formed on her lips as she saw a bottle of Kewpie mayo, packs of ramen, and a bag of Natsuki's favorite coffee.
"We have to find The Red Spider," Natsuki said as she closed her front door.
"Where do we start?" Chie asked as she removed her jacket and took a seat at the table.
"After going over everything," Natsuki gestured to the pile on the table, "I feel she went home to China. She's former ILD, so she has contacts through them."
"Just the two of us to cover China?" Chie asked incredulous.
Natsuki chuckled, "I don't want to still be chasing Nao when I'm old, so I called in some more help. They should be here soon."
Natsuki sat beside Chie and handed her a folder. She began to fill Chie in on the assignment details when the doorbell rang. Natsuki left Chie with the folder and went to answer the door.
"The Merciless Ghost and The Golden Angel," Natsuki greeted her new guests.
When Chie saw the two women standing in the doorway, she stood and approached them.
"The Blue Rose," Miyu said through a pasted on smile.
"Merciless," Chie replied casually.
"Blue Rose," Alyssa purred as she took Chie's arm and started to lead her to Natsuki's couch.
Miyu grabbed Alyssa by the collar and growled, "Angel."
Chie looked at Miyu and shrugged her shoulders.
"Please have a seat," Natsuki yelled from the kitchen.
Natsuki brought out a tray with cups of coffee for her guests.
"I figured we're going to need this," Natsuki joked as she set the tray down and sat.
Everyone picked up a cup and Natsuki began briefing them on their new special assignment. It was already the next morning by the time the meeting ended. Natsuki offered Chie her bed, but Chie opted for the couch. Miyu and Alyssa chose to return home.
Late that night, Natsuki, Chie, Miyu, and Alyssa left for China on CODE's private plane.