Chapter 4

A dark haired woman was standing inside a very strange greenhouse, tending to a huge variety of weird and unusual looking plants. She started to hum a creepy yet nostalgic tune as she watered them, but was disturbed and stopped humming when two men in matching green jumpsuits ran up behind her and kneeled several feet away. "pardon the interruption milady…" the first one began, "but you asked us to notify you when we found target id number H-5" the woman immediately stopped what she was doing, setting down her watering can and turning around "where… is…. She?" She asked impatiently

The first man was about to respond to her but the second started first, "We've only narrowed the search area that the initial tests gave us, we still have a wide region to search" the woman narrowed her eyes threateningly at him "then you will search faster" He stood to object to her "but milady! We're alr…." He started but was cut short and went limp as he was pierced through his whole body by vines, poison dripping from the needles at the ends. She smirked and snapped her fingers, watching the man be dragged off into the greenery and hear him be ripped to shreds by a plant.

The woman shifted her gaze back to the first man, twitching her hand and another vine snaked out of the bush towards him as if under her command. The thorny tip moved up to his neck, moving about it dangerously, waiting for a sound from it's new found prey or it's master. The woman moved closer to him, making him tilt his head up so he was gazing into her eyes, "choose your next words carefully…" she said coldly "you are very replaceable" The man swallowed hard and nodded slowly, being wary of the vine.

"Umm.. our resources are low and we cannot be as thorough as we would like to be" he stuttered nervously, the thorn moving ever closer "but! But we are spreading our forces thinner to search as we speak milady, the target cannot hide for much longer." She stared at him for a few seconds, deciding if he was worth sparing, "very well" she said, motioning her hand, and the vine uncoiled and drew back over to it's plant, the man relaxed. "dismissed" she said, going back to watering her plants as the man stood and ran out of the greenhouse in a panic.

He didn't stop running till he got downstairs into a room that appeared to be a command station, he picked up a microphone and turned a dial till he got the right frequency. "Sir Mitchie please come in" he said, releasing the button and waiting. He stood there for a minute or two before hearing a male voice say, "Go ahead" on the other side. "It seems Lady Ekko has ordered us to thin our forces more to quicken the search for target H-5" The radio remained quiet for a bit then Mitchie responded "fine… But I'm not dropping a force anywhere under 5 men, got that?" "Yes sir, over and out" he said, setting down the microphone and getting back to work.

(Command blimp, just over Kyoto)

Mitchie slammed his fist down on a table hard and growled irritated, "thin my forces she says… meh… she didn't give me that many to begin with…" he said "this is ridiculous" he picked the microphone up and started redirecting his men, forming smaller groups, and sending them far apart to the cities around the search area. "Alright guys... listen up..." he ordered, "I want the target found yesterday, understand?" his order was met with a mass response "Sir yes sir!"

He was about to walk away when he glanced at his area map again, looking closer he put his finger on and tapped Tokyo many times, then checked who he sent there. He picked up the microphone again, "Grey come in" Grey responded seconds late "Yes my lord?" Mitchie growled a little, "first off" he said angrily, "don't call me that, I don't want Lady Ekko getting the wrong idea and killing me" "Yes sir, sorry sir! What was it you wanted to say a second ago sir?"

Mitchie shook his head and continued, "I want you and your men to do the most thorough search here than you've ever done, and I want to be updated, constantly on what's going on." Grey was silent for a minute, then said "Yes sir, and no disrespect intended but do you really believe the target is there?" Mitchie rolled his eyes "grey… don't ask stupid questions… got it?" Grey said "sorry sir, I won't anymore" they both got off the com channel and got back to the tasks at hand.

(Hundreds of miles away, a park near Gwen's house)

Kimi and Gwen were sitting on a bench next to each other, watching Kei and Ken boxing against each other. Kimi smirked a bit when Kei took a strong right hook to the jaw, she turned towards Gwen a bit and said, "Idiots aren't they?" Gwen nodded and continued to watch them go at it. Kei dropped his guard for a moment and looked at them, "you mean you tricked us into doing this?" he asked in disbelief. Ken took the opportunity, "Don't let your guard down!" he yelled as he grabbed Kei's shoulders, pulling him down and kneeing him in the crotch.

Kei fell to the ground, holding himself and groaning. Ken smirked, "Game, set match" he said cockily and sat by Kimi. The girls looked at him "so…" he continued, trying to be a bit sly, "what were we fighting about again?" Both Kimi and Gwen started laughing really hard knowing he was serious that they almost fell off the bench. After they calmed down some Gwen wiped some tears from her eyes and stood, "Heh… come on Kimi, it's getting late and my mom will be expecting us soon" Kimi nodded, pushing ken to the floor and stood.

They both walked off, leaving Kei and Ken sitting in the dirt watching them walk. Kei sat up and looked at Ken, "You know ken… I hate it when they have to go, but they just" he got interrupted by Ken, "Really? That cheesy line?" Kei nodded and continued "but they just look so damn good walkin away" Ken rolled his eye, but nodded in agreement, jumping at kei and once again swinging his fist into kei's crotch, jumping up and running from him. Kei was up in less than a second, chasing after him with no signs of pain.

Kimi sighed heavily and Gwen looked up at her, "what's wrong?" she asked her worriedly, kimi looked at her and smiled, "oh it's nothing, just can't believe all of what's happened with Desirae" Gwen nodded a bit, not sure if she believed what she said, and they kept walking. Kimi looked up at the setting sun and focused on that till they got home, Gwen opened the door and walked in, she yelled out "HEY MOM!! YOU HOME!?" she waited for a few seconds, getting no response, she shrugged "guess she's working late tonight" Kimi nodded, removing her shoes and setting down her bag "that's fine" she said, sounding kinda sleepy and headed upstairs.

Gwen followed up after her and sat in her usual spot, watching kimi till she went into her room. ~Wow… I can't believe its summer already… After Kimiko got here, it's like the year sped up, but I still gotta wonder, why here… why now? ~ She was still staring at the door to Kimi's room, she saw the light under the door go out and the noise from inside stop. Gwen sat there for a minute before shrugging and picking up a book, she sat there and read till she fell asleep.