Inside a well-organized office, a well dressed woman was behind her desk scribbling and signing some things on paper. While in the process of finishing her work, a small buzzing noise came from a com link installed into her desk.

"Yes", the woman asked in a sort of annoying tone.

"General Avianna, there are some people here requesting to speak to you", said a young male assistant's voice.

"Tell them I'm out on the barracks", she ordered.

The assistant inputted, The wan't to know about Keitaro Urashima and his involvement with ERT ma'am."

Avianna thought about this for a moment.

"Send 'em in", the woman finally answered.

There wasn't much time to pass as the door soon opened. From the entrance came Naru, Kanako, Shinobu, Motoko, Kitsune, Mutsumi, Sara, and Su. Being in an office was nothing new to any of them, being in a military office was something else very different. It didn't look like much. It had books, a desk, some furniture, pictures, all of that. However, the older woman behind the desk giving them a death glare was some what intimidating.

"So I heard that you know about Keitaro and my program", she said in a frosty tone.

Everyone was hesitant to speak up. Maybe being that it was her brother who was on the line, Kanako was the first to respond.

"We-we need some information about Keitaro Urashima."

"And why would you want information about my soldier? More importantly, why should I tell you anything?"

"We're his friends", Kitsune added, "And we're worried that he might be in some kinda trouble."

"Really", the woman said as she stood up from her chair, "Cause I was under the impression that his only friends were the other soldiers on this base."

"That's not true! We're his friends from Hinata Sou", Su said.

"Hinata Sou huh", the woman questioned as she opened up a folder. "Well, here's some information about Keitaro. Apparently when mentioning about subject's past living arrangements, he refused to answer with hints of depression. Subject also shows signs of anxiety at the mentioning of close friends, girlfriends, and anyone of intimate relations."

Avianna put down the folder on her desk as she examined each and every one of them.

"You know what this is", the sergeant asked, "This is a guilt trip.

"What", Motoko confusingly questioned.

"Yeah, you're all here because you're guilty of pushing Keitaro away, aren't you? So tell me, who was the lucky girl, huh? I doubt, it was you two?

Avianna pointed to Su and Sara. Su still wasn't sure of where Avianna was getting at, but Sara got pretty huffy by the older woman's statement.

"Enough of this", Naru said, "Look we don't want any trouble, we only want to help Keitaro."

The woman chuckled to herself as she went around her desk.

"Little girl, you're a looong way from the truth. Keitaro doesn't need you. In fact he doesn't need any of you."

"What are you saying", Naru said needing an answer.

"If you're concerned for him, don't be. He can take care of himself. I gave him the tools to do so. I built him from shattered glass, which I'm sure one of you turned him into. If you think he needs a friend, I AM HIS FRIEND! I'm the closest friend he's got on this planet. I've made him sweat and bleed, and he would still be willing to polish my boots and call it fun!"

Naru had her teeth clenched, and her fist balled. Not just her, the majority of the girls in the room felt the same way. The only one with a smirk on her face was General Avianna. Before any of the tension could be unleashed, a small knocking at the door interrupted them all.

"Enter", Avianna shouted loud enough for whoever was at the door to hear.

As the door opened, a young man entered carrying an open folder while read the contents out loud. He hadn't noticed who else was in the room, but they sure knew who he was, Keitaro Urashima.

"Kietaro", Mutsumi said to get his attention.

Sure enough, removed his mind from the folder contents. His mind was better off in the folder, for now it was a jumble as he met who else was in the room. By this time, Keitaro didn't care that he dropped the documents on the floor.

"M-Mutsumi", the boy shouted in shock.

His blood pressure sky rocketed as he took in his surroundings. A military base was enough pressure on someone, now the people who were considered a health hazard to him were in the office of his commander.

"What are you all doing here" Keitaro asked in exclamation.

"WE HAVE QUEST IN THE OFFICE SOLDIER, BE AT ATTENTION!"

Responding to Avianna's commands like a well oiled machine, Keitaro stood in place like a trained cadet. The girls were surprised by this, it could compete with the responsive training at the Oni-Zakura Dojo. Avianna circled Keitaro, waving her hands in front of his face.

"Not bad huh", she asked while getting no reaction from Keitaro. "See, this is how good of a friend someone should be. URASHIMA, DROP DOWN AND GIVE ME TEN!"

"YES MA'AM!"

With one swift move, Keitaro was on the floor doing his set of push-ups. While the loyalty and ability was impressive, it still didn't sit right with the girls. It wasn't like asking someone to clean the kitchen and they do it, this was different. No one should have to be treated like a trained dog. No one else was more upset than Naru as Avianna stood on Kietaro's back while he did his push-ups.

"As I was saying", Avianna continued. "Thetre really is not need to be concerned about Keitaro."

Avianna stooped her speech when Keitaro was finished with his push-ups.

"Eeeh, give me ten more", she requested.

"YES MA'AM!"

Keitaro continued on. Avianna was really pushing Naru's buttons this time.

"That woman" Naru thought in her head. "Is she purposely trying to upset us?! Is she trying to test us?

Avianna jumped off the Urashima when he was finished with his small exercise. As expected from his general, the boy was back at attention in a split second.

"What kind of training are you putting him through" Naru asked in a louder voice. "You can't ask him to do something he doesn't want to do. It's against his rights as a human being."

"What rights am I violating" the woman asked nonchalantly. "If he didn't want to be here, he could pack his things and leave. It's not like I ask him to do anything undignified. KEITARO, THERE'S A SPOT ON THE WOMAN'S SHOE, AND I DON'T WANT IT IN MY OFFICE! BE A GOOD BOY AND CLEAN IT FOR HER WILL YA!"

In a responsive action, Keitaro pulled out a small rag from his back pocket. As he leaned down to wipe the small smudge on Naru's foot, she moved away.

"Keitaro no", Naru said to her old manager.

"Naru don't..." he started to say before she cut back in.

"You don't have to do this Keitaro! You don't have to listen to her", Naru said in a weak voice.

"Naru...please...just...just let me do my job".

He looked back up to her with a sad look of defeat. She didn't object any further as Keitaro cleaned the little amount of dirt on her shoe. The boy didn't look up back at her. When his task was finished, Keitaro stood back at attention, a little slower than before.

"You can't treat him like this."

The other girls looked back at Kanako. She had small tears in her eyes.

"You can't treat my brother like this! What gives you the right to be like this to him!?"

Perhaps you have it mistaken", Avianna said as she circled Keitaro. "You see, I'm not all that bad to him."

Keitaro shuddered as Avianna raked her finger nails along his neck. She let her index finger trace up his neck, across his cheek, and multiple times around his ear lobe.

"I can be gentle when I want to be. Or..."

Removing her hand away, Avianna lifted her boot, and slammed it down as hard as she could on Keitaro's foot.

"...I can be brutal when I need to be!"

She continued to grind her boot on Keitaro shoe. He was obviously in pain, but he didn't flinch a muscle. It could have been his intense training, his pride as a man to not be weak i front of a woman, or because he had endured pain much worse than this. As the others watched, they could almost feel the impact of the shoe on their own feet.

"STOP IT", Naru shouted, "CAN'T YOU SEE YOU'RE HURTING HIM?!"

"Hurting him" Avianna asked while removing her shoe. "I'm not hurting him any worse than the way you hurt him."

Naru back paced a little bit and turned her head. The deep sadness on her face and in her heart was just what Avianna was searching for.

"Ha, so I was right! It was you who pushed Keitaro away, I was righ! Damn, I should have bet money! High Five me somebody!"

The general held her hand out for their response, but no one reacted.

"No, anyone? Alright then, URASHIMA HIGH FIVE ME!"

Keitaro looked at Avianna's hand confused. He took a look at the sad expressions of the other tenants, especially Naru. Then, he turned his gaze back to his commander.

"That's an order Urashima" she plainly stated.

Keitaro looked to the floor in a sad surrender, as his hand clapped hers.

"See, that wasn't so hard", Avianna stated. "Now if you don't mind. Urashima was about to give me a full report on his last mission.

The higher authority took a seat as she put her legs up on the desk. She made a scooting motion with her hand for the others to leave.

"If you don't mind Urashima, show them out the door."

With nothing more to say, Keitaro place the folder on the desk and opened the door for the other girls. One by one the passed him by. Mutsumi was kind enough to give him a quick pat on his chest. Kanako gave him a sad look saying, "It's okay, you don't have to be ashamed." When everyone was out of the room, Keitaro watched them go through the hallway. Before she turned around the corner, Naru looked back. Her face was sorrowful, and so was his. The almost read "I'm sorry", through one another's' eyes. When she turned around the corner of the hallway, Keitaro closed the door to give his report.

Back in the city, the girls sat on the steps to a museum. There was an event for people under thirteen to get in for free, but no one wanted to go in. For now they just wanted to drown out their sorrows. Su and Sara weren't all that said, they were easily brought to happiness when Mutsumi bought them a hotdog and soda from one of the carts. It was going to take everyone else a lot more than food to cheer them up.

"After we left the dojo", Shinobu spoke on, "I thought we were going to get the answers we were looking for. Instead we got nothing."

"Seeing my brother like that", it hurt" Kanako said. "I nevr wanted to see my brother so submissive, especially not to someone like her."

"It doesn't surprise me", Motoko said.

"WHAT" Kanako said a little angry.

"Urashima was never one to stand up for himself. Why would he be any different from before?"

"SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUT UP!"

Before anyone could react, Kanako tackled Motoko. Both black haired girls rolled down the stone stairs, still trying to obtain dominance in the squabble. Before anything could get out of hand, the others pulled the fighting girls apart. As Kanako and Motoko tried to get their bearings back together, Kanako's list fell out of her pocket. The pen rolled a bit as the paper fluttered to the ground. She hadn't marked Military base yet; neither did she scratch out the mysterious address in Keitaro's wallet. For a few lasting moments, Kanako looked down at the small paper. Gathering a more determined thought in her mind, she took the paper in one hand and the pen in the other.

"Keitaro was very submissive to that women, I can never forgive her for that."

Kanako furiously scribbled out "Military base" from the list, and circle the address on her paper.

"But I could never forgive myself if I didn't do whatever I could to help my brother out. I don't care what she said about Keitaro, I'm a better friend than she'll ever be for him!"

"Me too! I...I want to be a better friend for Keitaro too", Shinobu repeated.

"We can all be a better friend for Keitaro", Kanako added. "If we can't help Keitaro because he doesn't need us around, then we'll be better friends so he'll want us around.

"Yeah", Sara shouted with a high jump.

Despite their hardships with the new secrets revealed, the girls of Hinata Sou pressed forward. Afterall, how much worse could thing get for them?

A little extra time for another chapter. I was going to combine this chapter and the next chapter together, but I wanted to keep you all in suspense. I know, I'm evil. I had some reviews saying how they wanted Motoko punished. Well, compared to Avianna how do you like her now? Don't worry, the craziness of Hinata Sou is still progressing. Keep watching!