"Thinking"
"Talking"
"Impactful word"
Location: SSV Normandy SR-1 – Second Deck
The sprays of hot water felt like heaven against her pale skin as they washed away unpleasant thoughts caused by today's events. The kunoichi stood alone in the shared showers, relishing the little moment of solitude to calm her weary mind.
At this time of the hour, she had noted this part of the ship to be fairly secluded, so she used what little lone time she could get for some much-needed privacy.
She relaxed to such an extent that she hadn't heard someone entering the over the sound of gushing water.
"Hey, kiddo!"
A voice that distinctly belonged to Chief Williams greeted her behind her back, swallowing down a frustrated groan as she rested her forehead to the cool surface of the wall, though in the back of her mind, she was surprised to hear Williams speaking to her without a trace of anger or hostility that she initially expected to be met with, either for hurting her pride by beating her during their sparring or with the distrust that still laid dormant since Eden Prime.
"Good evening to you as well, Ma'am," she greeted automatically, doing her best to hide her exhaustion from the hot-headed Chief. Now more concentrated, she heard Williams shedding her military attire to join Akane in the shower.
"So," she felt the promise of a long conversation as the Chief began in a friendly tone, "how was your first mission?"
"Terra Nova is safe, most of the research team on the asteroid were saved and the culprits were caught. The end result could not have been better."
"Say that to Simon and his dead comrades," she chastised herself inertly, even though she knew there was not much she could have done in this case. They had been long dead before they've arrived.
"Yeah, I hear you kicked some batarian ass! Thanks, by the way."
"Thanks for what, Ma'am?"
The shinobi didn't understand the reason behind the Chief's sudden display of gratefulness. She thought she hadn't done anything to warrant such praise, due to her not knowing the extent of influence past events had on nowadays society. Perhaps the Chief was implying on the Skyllian Blitz? She certainly remembered Balak holding quite the speech about it, not that it had done him any good.
"For settling humanity's score with the batarians."
Williams reached for some shampoo to rub it into her dark brown mane, her eyes tightly shut. The Uchiha hadn't known that it meant so much to the Chief, but considering the tense relations between the two species (and Ashley's apprehensiveness of them), it was to be expected that some continued to harbour ill-willed feelings towards the other.
The same mindset was what made up a large part of shinobi history. With the Sengoku Jidai followed by the Daiichiji Ninkai Taisen, Dainiji Ninkai Taisen, and lastly the Daisanji Ninkai Taisen.
"You're welcome," Akane responded, rinsing her own long strands of hair with her scarred hands, failing to find any other way to occupy them.
None of the two chose to resume their short talk, falling into a pleasant calm instead. Both dedicated their efforts to showering and there was nothing but the sound of water crashing against the smooth metallic surface to be heard around them, creating an almost tranquillizing ambience that left her dreamy.
Yet the kunoichi's curses were directed at herself, for this time, it was her being the one to disturb the peace, but she felt like she couldn't pass up the opportunity to clear something that weighed on her mind lately. Something that she might have gotten wrong.
"Forgive the intrusion, Ma'am, but are you not furious with me?" The Chief eyebrows went up, displaying confusion at the question, then before Akane had time to elaborate what she meant by it, the brunette broke out into a fit of laughter.
"You seriously thought I would bear a grudge for you beating me in a friendly spar?" Williams looked over to the smaller figure, wet black hair clinging to the curves of Akane's scarred body, seeing her shrug. The Chief let out a chuckle.
"Not gonna lie, it was frustrating at first." The brunette confessed, her voice adopting such softness Akane found it hard associating with the same person, "But after waking up in the med-bay, Alenko broke the news to me that even Shepard lost to you, so it was way easier accepting my shameful defeat."
"My dad would've had a field day! A trained marine losing to a mere kid, now that sounds fucking embarrassing. But thankfully not as embarrassing as in Shepard's case," she stated humorously, shooting a playful wink at the younger woman, to which the otherwise stoic shinobi couldn't help but react with a small smirk of her own.
"I can see the headlines already! NEWLY APPOINTED SPECTRE SUFFERS FIRST DEFEAT!" Williams bellowed in feign mockery as though trying to wake the whole deck, her fiery spirit bringing a warm feeling to Akane's heart. She couldn't recall a time she was this much at ease.
"But don't tell her I said that!" Akane nodded to her request.
Dammit!
The crew was already growing on her and she hadn't even been here for a week! She shouldn't get so close to them. After all, it was not a necessity for the mission they were on and certainly not something the Anbu could not live without.
She had survived two years of exile, not meaning that she hadn't been used to being alone even prior to that. There had been a cliff in her family since the death of her mother, and it only grew each passing day, not showing any kind of stopping until it had reached its climax – the Abenjāzu Downfall.
She looked at her hands, seeing them bloodied by the blood of her own - her friends, her love, her life. The water drops suddenly felt harsh and weighed her down like invisible chains she thought were gone after Shirone's death. Only to find it was self-delusionary. They were always present, no matter how desperately Akane wished to be freed of them.
The twinge in her chest reminded her of only a tiny fraction of pain reliving the memory would bring her.
Was she prepared to face another loss?
No, not after Shirone. Her heart broke the day she killed the love of her life – Haruko - followed closely by everything her life was made of – Shirone. What was left of her being? A body without warmth and a soul without the capacity to feel anything besides numbness.
She could be as good as dead and it wouldn't make any difference.
Yet you're still here! With the doom and gloom instead of giving me some nephews!
She almost heard Shirone's voice ridiculing her about her negative thinking and it brought a faint chuckle to her tightened throat that the Chief didn't notice. No matter how many similarities they had shared, their personalities contrasted each other to their fullest.
Where Akane was dark, Shirone was white.
Where Akane was mature, Shirone was childish.
Where Akane was shouldering the fate of their people, Shirone was carefree.
And the list went on...
She adored her for it. Looking at Shirone was as if staring at her own reflection in the mirror, but seeing a separate person. Seeing herself in a different light.
That was how different they were from each other from the start, even if they shared the same face. Occasionally, it had caused trouble, but for all its worth, it was a great blessing. Some of her classmates used to complain about how their siblings were a nuisance and most of the time annoying when around. While the kunoichi slowly got on what they meant, she saw it from a different angle.
Shirone was in short - a blessing. Although it took her some time to see past the faults to realize that. It had been shortly before the beginning of the Reaper Invasion. Had she only realized it sooner...
"Akane, hey!" The Anbu hadn't noticed when she managed to close her eyes, but they sure snapped open at the Chief's request.
The brunette waited for her reply, but the teen just managed to lift her gaze. Ashley saw nothing in the vastness of her white eyes, but there, on her young face... was a crack. A tiny little cleft within her emotionless mask and pained her more than she thought possible, especially for someone she didn't know intimately.
The Chief even forgot what she wanted from Akane in the first place.
Needless to say, her initial objections were cast aside and replaced by respect for the girl's combat prowess, for she defeated Ashley fair and square even if she had yet to discover how. Not that it mattered, the Commander had had the final say in the end. If Shepard saw value in her, then it was not her place to dissent.
Always the proper soldier.
"Good night, Ma'am."
Williams felt herself being snapped out of her mussing as Akane bid her goodnight. Not noticing how quick the girl slipped out of her sight. The sneakiness the teen moved resembled that of an assassin, which would explain her expertise at hand-to-hand combat, yet still left many questions open.
"Bye." was all she managed to say, turning her back on the retreating form of the Uchiha. Fuck it! This was too much thinking for her brain. She seriously hoped there was some beer in the kitchen.
Location: SSV Normandy SR-1 – First Deck
Shepard POV
The redhead stood at the CIC pedestal for the CO at the back of the bridge of the Normandy. Her green orbs focused on the giant model of the galaxy map in front of her. Her back hurt slightly from keeping a straight posture because of the lengthy negotiations with the Alliance outpost on Scott - the capital of Terra Nova. It had demanded the group of batarian extremists be sentenced on Terra Nova since they've fiddled in their space of authorization.
Jane knew their reasons were valid but the Spectre thought it would be for the better if they didn't dump them on a Class-1 human colony. It needn't take a genius to see that couldn't take on a good turn of events. It wasn't her intention to accidentally encourage any anti-batarian movements or spread more hate between the two races than there already was.
The safest and most politically convenient option would be to put them on the Arcturus, under Admiral Hackett's watch in a best-case scenario. But that was left to decide for the Alliance Parliament.
"Joker, set course to Arcturus Station- didn't you grow up on the Arcturus?" Jane recalled from their last conversation.
"It's good to know I am not talking to myself during our conversations," Joker remarked dryly, earning a scowl from the Spectre.
"Joker..." Shepard put more edge on her tone since the helmsman didn't answer her question.
"Did you know I stole the Normandy once?"
"What?" Shepard let the smart change of topic slide this time, being more intrigued by his unexpected statement, "For real?"
"No, I just made that up out of nowhere!" Joker responded in feign hurt.
"Will you tell me about it?"
"If you come to the bridge."
"Oh? Carrying some dark secrets, Flight Lieutenant?" The Commander teased through the comm, hearing a few chuckles from some interested crew members.
"Nah, you've got me there Commander. Now my plans for galactic domination ruled by cripples have been spoiled." This set off a round of laughter on the command deck, even her XO Pressley seemed amused.
"Aw, come on, no need to be offended."
She was partly glad that the pilot couldn't see her mirth from behind his seat or else she feared he would never tell her about his past's mischiefs. The only reaction she got was the cold shoulder and so her feet carried her towards the bridge, in hopes she didn't piss her pilot off too much.
Words dictionary:
Sengoku Jidai 戦国時代 / Warring States Period - It was the long, violent era preceding the formation of the hidden villages.
Daiichiji Ninkai Taisen 第一次忍界大戦 / First Shinobi World War - It was the first of the great wars that involved the majority of shinobi villages and countries. There are few reliable surviving records of this war, but the experiences of this war led to the birth of the tactics that still form the cornerstone of warfare.
Dainiji Ninkai Taisen 第二次忍界大戦 / Second Shinobi World War - It was the second of four great wars involving the majority of the shinobi villages and countries.
Daisanji Ninkai Taisen 第三次忍界大戦 / Third Shinobi World War - It was the third of the four shinobi wars that involved the majority of the shinobi villages.