Kumagami smiling politely and attempting to engage the other cop in chitchat. She turned back to Kelly, only to blanch away from the accusing stare. "That was fast work, Kanuka," Kelly said. "How long have you known each other?" Kanuka shook her head. "It's not like that Kelly – we're really just colleagues. I met her once before when I went back to Japan for a short time. She's my replacement at the Second Division." "Ah, another mech-head, then." Kelly's lips pulled back in a knowing smile. "Don't try to pull one over on me, Kanuka. I have the gift of truth and you know it." Kanuka sighed. One of the many drawbacks of life with Kelly – her conviction that she was blessed with some supernatural power to "see." "I'm not trying to do anything. We share an interest, that's all." She didn't state the obvious – that it Kelly had never shown any interest in Labors, or Kanuka's work with them. Kanuka took a deep breath. Tonight wasn't the night to… "You're leaving, aren't you?" It was more a statement than a question. Kelly's eyes were full of hurt disappointment, but her tone was resigned. "I've seen it coming for a while." Kanuka stared, her mouth open. How does one even answer something like that? She had never believed in Kelly's "sight," but… Kelly looked back over towards Kumagami then shot a dark look at Kanuka. "It's to be Japan, then?" Kanuka shut her mouth and cleared her throat. Keeping her voice low and even she said, "Now's not the time to talk about it." Kelly gave her a sad smile. "Later, then. You can tell me all about it." She reached out a hand and squeezed Kanuka's arm briefly. "Good night, Kanuka." The tall redhead turned away, pasting a bright smile on her face and rejoined her colleagues. Kanuka took a few breaths, trying to determine what Kelly had meant by it all, before she also joined the others. Kumagami held up a picture and waved it in Kanuka's direction. In English she said, "Look what Officer Jamison has given me." Kanuka reached out to take the photo as Kumagami continued. "He was in Tokyo last year for the International Labor show. He took this photograph." Kanuka glanced down as Jamison laughed. The picture showed two Labors – both Ingram type 98s. One was standing at the ready, and the other was dangling by the leg from a construction crane. On the ground in front of the Labors stood several people, whom Kanuka immediately recognized. Captain Goto stood smoking laconically, Asuma was shouting something at the labor – or perhaps the crane operator, Noa was visible inside Alphonse's cockpit and Kumagami stood next to a command vehicle. Ota's form was clearly dangling from the arm of his Labor, as he futilely attempted to detach it from the crane – an action that would have caused it to crash to the ground, probably killing him. Kanuka laughed suddenly. "What on earth?" Kumagami shrugged. "It's Otah. Who can ever understand the whys?" Jamison, a dark-skinned man of medium build, smiled broadly, "You can have it, Lt. Kumagami. I thought it was funny, but I expect you probably thought it was funnier – since you work with the man and all." Kumagami took the photo back and bowed towards Jamison. "Thank you, Officer Jamison. You are very kind," she said in lightly accented English. Kanuka thought that the words sounded very pretty the way Kumagami had said them. In a few minutes, Kanuka and Kumagami, with her new treasure tucked safely away in her purse, had recommenced their walk uptown. Kumagami asked questions about the neighborhoods through which they passed, but aside from a polite answer or two, Kanuka was silent. Kumagami stopped walking. Kanuka took a few steps, then turned with a slightly distracted look. As if suddenly aware of the other woman, Kanuka's face cleared, then filled with concern. "Oh! I just realized – your feet must be killing you. Would you prefer we get a taxi?" Kumagami studied Kanuka seriously, then shook her head. "I'm fine, thank you. It's just that…maybe it would be best, though, if you go home – you seem upset." Thoughts raced around Kanuka's mind. How much to tell this woman – this virtual stranger? What would be polite, appropriate? She was at a complete loss for words. Finally, she settled on, "I'm sorry – I have some things on my mind." "I can see that," Kumagami said mildly. "Would you prefer to go home? I don't wish to be a burden." "No," Kanuka said quickly, "you're not a burden and …and I'd prefer to have some company." The admission was not an easy one. Kanuka always projected a smoothly competent exterior. It was not easy to admit, to herself or to anyone else, that occasionally, she needed help. Kumagami stepped to the curb and lifted a hand, a piercing whistle falling from her lips. "We'll take a taxi." Chapter 5 Both women were silent for the duration of the cab ride. Kanuka spoke up only when Kumagami attempted to pay for the ride. "I'm the host here – I'll pay." Kumagami bowed. "Then, when you come back to Japan, it'll be my treat." Her mouth shut tightly, Kanuka didn't reply. In Kumagami's room, the Japanese woman was finally able to exchange shoes for slippers. With an exaggerated sigh she sank into a chair by the window. "At least allow me to pour," she said and filled two courtesy coffee mugs with sake'. She watched Kanuka closely as the American drank in silence. "You don't have to tell me, you know," Kumagami said. Kanuka looked up guiltily. "I'm sorry. I'm being rude. I just had a small shock back there. Kelly, Officer O'Toole is a friend and…" "And she broke up with you?" Kumagami's voice was guileless. "You're a hard woman to read, Kanuka-san, but I've been a cop a long time." Kanuka flushed. "Our relationship ended some time ago. It's just that," she inhaled, held it a minute, then exhaled. "I hadn't told her I was taking the job in Japan." "It seems like a strange place to tell one's ex-lover about a life change. The street I mean." "That's what I thought, but I've been thinking about it," Kanuka drank her sake'. "I think she wanted to tell me she already knew – and to tell me that she understood." Kumagami stood and walked across the room in response to a knock on the door. Room service entered with a tray. Kumagami signed the receipt and closed the door after the young man had left. She lifted the tray lid to reveal a selection of small, crustless sandwiches. "Please, help yourself," she gestured to the plate. "I hate to drink on an empty stomach. Kanuka took a sandwich, but did no more than nibble on it. "So," Kumagami said pleasantly, "if I may be allowed to indiscreetly recap. Your ex-lover used a public situation to say goodbye. Any ideas why?" "Yes," Kanuka answered automatically. "Kelly's, well, Kelly's a passionate person. When we were together it was really good...or really bad. I think she preferred this way of saying good-bye so that it wasn't either." "So," the Japanese woman wiped her mouth with a napkin, sipped more sake' and shot Kanuka a look. "Now you're free." "Yes." And then the realization of what the other woman had just said hit her. Kanuka looked up pointedly. Dark eyes met dark eyes evenly. "I'm completely free." Kanuka echoed. "To go wherever I want, do whatever I want…" Kumagami never took her eyes from Kanuka's as she said quietly, "Well, thank god for that." Tension built within Kanuka, but she couldn't be sure - what if she was completely misreading this? "I, uh," she began, then regrouped. "What do you mean?" Kumagami set her mug of sake' on the table and smiled apologetically. "I mean, I'm already feeling awkward about this – I don't want to have to feel guilty too." Kanuka gaped openly at the Japanese woman. "I'm sure you've taken psychology classes, as have I," Kumagami continued. "You and both know that love and hate, attraction and repulsion are just opposite sides of the same coin." She gazed at Kanuka frankly. "In the light of that knowledge, doesn't our previous encounter make more sense?" She stood, pushing the short hair back from her ears as she paced across the floor. "I snapped at you," Kumagami admitted, "when we first met because..." "I understand," Kanuka interrupted. "You don't have to continue." The Japanese woman leaned against the room door, arms folded across her chest. "Well, we're both intelligent women. What do we do next?" Kanuka stood. "It depends on how you define intelligence. If you define it as a good understand of strategic situations, knowing how to get in, find a target, accomplish the objective, then get out with the minimal amount of damage; then what we do is say good night, I go home to my apartment and we'll see each other tomorrow at the conference." She gave the other woman a little smile. "But...?" Kumagami asked with an answering smile on her face. "But," Kanuka said, "not everyone defines "intelligent" the same way." She took a few steps into the center of the room. "Some people might say that an intelligent person is one who, when faced with an emotionally charged situation will seek to defuse it." She took another step forward, watching Kumagami carefully. "And of course, then there's native intelligence. That kind of intelligence responds to certain situations with a intuitive understanding of the broader issues between the parties – with common sense, as they say." Kanuka stepped forward again. "In all honesty, Takeo-san, I'm at a loss." Kumagami pushed off from the door. "Me too," she said. "Look at us, two intelligent women and we can't figure out a thing that would be obvious to the most uneducated person." She took two steps into the room and within touching distance of Kanuka. Neither moved nor spoke and the tension, which had been building slowly, had now become a palpable presence in the room. Kanuka stared openly at Kumagami, noting the dark eyes, the thick, straight, black hair – all things she had seen stare back at her from her mirror, but so rarely in the face of her peers. Even more, Kanuka saw in Kumagami a genuine dedication to the job. This was a woman who, more than anything else, wanted to excel as a police officer. Someone whose interests and desires mirrored her own – in many ways. Kanuka found one hand poised, not quite touching the other woman's cheek. With an iron effort of will, Kanuka breached the final inch and stroked the back of her hand softly along Takeo's jaw. She moved closer to the other woman as her hand reached Takeo's hairline, and her fingers brushed gently against the short strands. Kanuka could feel the heat in her face, and the tingling throughout her body and she prayed fervently that she wasn't being made a fool of. Takeo's eyes had never left Kanuka's. The Japanese officer took Kanuka's shoulders in her hands and leaned forward, her lips parted just slightly, her eyes closed. Kanuka met the kiss and felt a wave of intense relief, adrenaline and excitement wash over her, leaving her almost too weak to stand. They touched each other tenderly, almost delicately, as if each woman was afraid the other might break or, more accurately, break and run. What part of Kanuka's mind was not filled with skin, and tongue and lips was afraid, terribly afraid. She was not a promiscuous woman, her lovers had been few, and none of them had made her feel quite this terrified. Kanuka broke away, panting, and stared at Takeo. "Part of me can't stop screaming that this is a terrible idea. You're leaving to return to Tokyo in two days." "That leaves us two days," Takeo said, with irritating rationality. She buried one hand in Kanuka's hair and pulled them together. Her mouth was cool, tasting of sake'. Kanuka found her arms around Takeo's body, digging into the lithe, muscular form. When she could no longer breathe, Kanuka pulled away slightly, but found herself held fast by Takeo's grip. The other woman was looking at her, a slight smile quirking the corner of her lips. "What are you afraid of?" she asked. "This is as much my idea as yours..." her eyes grew wide. "Will it make you feel better to know that you aren't the first women I've been with?" She put her hands on Kanuka's cheeks. "Or do you need more sake' before you'll relax?" Kanuka felt some of the concern drain from her body, replaced immediately by a different kind of tension. She threw caution to the wind, pressing her mouth hard against Takeo's, taking possession of the other woman. Takeo responded, predictably, by seizing Kanuka physically and attempting to assert her authority. Clothes were literally flung off their bodies, as each struggled to gain control. Kanuka found herself, for a brief moment, pinned by the surprisingly strong Japanese woman, but slipped out of Takeo's grasp a moment later. With looks of pure concentration, they wrestled for a moment, each seeking to dominate the other, until the Japanese woman gave a little half laugh and gave in. "I'm trying to be less competitive," she breathed, as Kanuka buried her face in Takeo's neck. The American woman moaned loudly. She had never felt like this with anyone before – never wanted to be so much a part of someone else's life.... With this thought, Kanuka stiffened and pulled away. That was why she felt fear where she never had before. Takeo looked up at her from half-closed eyes. "Why did you stop?" Kanuka pushed her hair back from her face and shook her head. Takeo sat up and faced the other woman. "Why?" she asked simply. Kanuka lowered her head slightly, then looked hard at Takeo, her dark eyes smoldering. "Because I could lose myself in you. I've never wanted that – I've worked hard at not losing myself in anyone. To want that as much as I do right now..." Takeo lifted a hand and stroked Kanuka's hair, following it down its length onto Kanuka's shoulder. She continued to stroke along the other woman's arm, until her hand met Kanuka's on the bedspread. "I could say, 'I'm already lost,' " Takeo said quietly. "Or, 'we'll get lost together,' but both wouldn't be true." "Takeo," Kanuka said, "I don't do one or two-night stands." "Neither do I." "But you leave in two days." Takeo leaned forward, one strap of her camisole slipping off her shoulder as she moved. "And you'll come home to Japan soon." Kanuka stared as the other woman's mouth moved along her shoulder towards her neck. Her eyes closed as Takeo's lips met her own and she sighed, "I'm going home." Her fear slipped away in sensations of warm skin and hands caressing her, and she smiled as she embraced Takeo strongly. Sliding her mouth down to Takeo's, Kanuka muttered, with a distinctly amused tone, "I'm home already." Kanuka's thoughts ranged wildly as she stroked and kissed Takeo. It *was* as if they had always known each other – each reaching unerringly for the most sensitive areas of the other's body. As Kanuka rained tiny kisses on the other woman's ear, she knew, almost instinctively, that slipping her tongue into the corner of that ear would drive the other woman mad. Takeo writhed in Kanuka's arms, gasping with the intensity of the sensation. Kanuka smiled at the other woman's tormented moans and turned her attention to Takeo's neck. Something about the skin underneath her ear made Kanuka want to sink her teeth into that neck. Takeo's breath was coming faster and faster and her hands gripped Kanuka's arms so tightly that the American was sure she would have dark bruises for days. Takeo's voice came in broken gasps, pleading Kanuka for more, to never stop and Kanuka obliged. With a series of whimpers and shudders, Takeo managed to convey a sense of urgency that Kanuka could not ignore. Never removing one hand from a firm nipple, or her mouth from Takeo's neck, she slipped her other hand lightly under the edge of soft panties, only to encounter even softer hair and skin. With a growl, Kanuka filled Takeo, biting down on the skin beneath her. As Takeo shook in her arms, thrashing strongly, Kanuka flicked one finger across the nipple, and heard, tasted and felt Takeo surrender to her. Takeo relaxed her grip on Kanuka's arms, going limp in the other woman's embrace, and sighing heavily. "Mmmmm," she moaned, as she leaned her head against the American's shoulder. "That was nice." Kanuka said nothing, but leaned down and kissed the other woman's forehead lightly. The first kiss was followed by a second, on Takeo's nose, which was followed by the lightest possible pressure on her lips. Takeo's eyes opened and she slid her arms around Kanuka's neck, her mouth opening. Kanuka kissed the corners of the other woman's lips, then teased them with the lightest touch of tongue. With a sigh, Takeo captured Kanuka's mouth and drew her in. Takeo sat up abruptly as they kissed and leaned heavily on Kanuka until the other woman was forced to fall backwards onto the bed. Pinning Kanuka's arms lightly above her head, Takeo set out to trace every curve of her body with her lips. Kanuka murmured something as Takeo brushed her cheek across the skin of her belly. "What?" Takeo asked, her mouth tasting the skin under one of Kanuka's breasts. "Touch me," Kanuka answered, her words becoming a moan, as the lips slipped around the curve of the breast, passing over the nipple. Takeo removed her hands from the other woman's arms, sliding down the sides of her torso, onto the slight curve of her hips. She sat back, stroking her hands softly along the muscles in the other woman's thighs, down past exquisite knees, and along the muscular calves. Each foot was held, caressed and released. Takeo looked down at Kanuka, who seemed oddly complacent, her eyes closed, and breathing deeply and slowly. The Japanese woman laid her hand once again on Kanuka's thigh. She slid her hand along the junction of leg and thigh, running her manicured nails through the thick curls of hair. Leaning forward to whisper in Kanuka's ear, Takeo ran her fingers lightly between Kanuka's legs, watching her face closely. "Here?" she blew the words into Kanuka's ear, as her finger just barely stroked over Kanuka's clit. The American's eyes rolled in her head. "Yes," she pleaded, as fingers slid into her, playing with her. Kanuka began to whimper slightly, as Takeo bent over her, fingers playing across lips and clit. A sound ripped from Kanuka's throat as Takeo's tongue slid between her fingers. The Japanese woman laughed, as Kanuka's hands gripped her head, fingers entangling themselves in her short hair. She lowered her mouth to Kanuka's center, conscious of the sensitive body beneath her. It wasn't long before she was aware of a building tension in Kanuka's muscles. Takeo entered Kanuka, never taking her mouth from the other woman. Kanuka's hips lifted, and with muffled scream, came, while Takeo stroked her with hands and lips. Long after Kanuka had relaxed, one hand playing with Takeo's hair, the Japanese woman lay on Kanuka's stomach, tracing the other woman's ribs. Kanuka shifted and stretched beneath Takeo. Time and the silence stretched, but neither woman seemed to want to be the first to speak. Kanuka drifted in and out of sleep, aware only of the warm body on her stomach, and of the feeling – a feeling she hadn’t known in a long time – of pleasant comfort, happiness without reserve. Her eyes opened as Takeo shifted, moving to lie by her side. "When are you leaving?" Kanuka asked quietly, surprised at how little concern she felt, how little tension filled her voice. "I was supposed to leave Monday, but seeing as there is an international task force liaison here in New York – and seeing as the task force is meant o be working on Second Division's turf, I'm applying for an extension of my trip. I think that the contacts I make here will be invaluable for the Patlabor unit." Kanuka nodded. "That makes sense. And seeing as my colleague from Japan has traveled all this way to learn about Labors as anti-terrorist forces, it only makes sense if I ask for some leave to work with her on the topic." "Mmm. Sounds like important work." "Very. Could make a big difference in almost all the major cities diplomatic arrangements. It will probably lead to major protocol changes...and training, very probably all over the world." "How exciting!" Takeo rolled over and smiled. "When will you come back to Japan?" She leaned over to brush her lips across Kanuka's. "I was supposed to leave in two months, but seeing as my Japanese colleague is already here, I might be able to move it up a month." It was Kanuka's turn to kiss Takeo. "Can you make a move that quickly?" Takeo asked. "I mean, I have a large apartment, you can...you'd better stay with me, but, what about your place?" Kanuka shrugged. "I'll explain rent control to you later." She smiled, a genuine, happy, unreserved smile. "Right now I have some very serious business that only you can help me with." She held out an arm and to her immense delight, pulled a pliable and cooperative Takeo into her arms. They might only have a week together now, but weeks turn into months and months into years. Kanuka looked into Takeo's eyes, noticing the firmness, the uncompromising standards, the dedication and she nodded. It wasn't without it's challenges, but like being a cop...in the end, it was always worth it. "It's a lot of work," Takeo said, as if reading her mind, "Labor units, love, life..." She kissed Kanuka deeply. "But that's what makes it worth doing." Kanuka didn’t bother answering with words. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: In Japan, no matter how long you, as a gaijin, live there, you will always be "returning" (kaeru) to your country of ethnic origin...even if you were born in Japan. For Kumagami to express that Kanuka was "coming home" to Japan, was to emphasize that she is a true Japanese...although, in fact, she is not. It was, in effect, a complement. An empty one, as Kanuka notes, rather wryly.
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