The next morning, Natsuki woke in a strange bed. Well, not exactly strange, just not her own. She certainly recognised it, however; recognised the soft satin sheets in deep, cherry pink, and the soft reddish décor of the entire bedroom from top to bottom. The familiar low table that sat beside the head of the bed, even, and the heavy hardwood door, painted to match the frame, with polished brass handle. She lay on her back, as was usual, in a rather suggestive pose with one hand laid across her forehead and one knee bent, leg cocked to the side in a most evocative manner. She had apparently kicked off the thin red sheets during her short sleep, as they lay bunched up on the floor in a messy heap, and now she was bare to the world as it were. A slight chill shivered through her as the softest of breezes played across her naked skin. All of a sudden, the door creaked slowly open and part of a head peeked through. Natsuki hurled a pillow at it, screeching sharply and grasping for some kind of cover. "Feeling a little shy this morning, love?" Shizuru's familiar mellow 'morning voice' murmured through the still-open door with a soft chuckle. When the door opened a second time, Natsuki failed to protest beyond merely turning her head in a gesture of disregard towards the tall older woman who entered and pulled the sheet that was still half on the floor tighter up against her chest in an attempt to cover her nudity. Shizuru was, unsurprisingly, almost as naked as she, clad only in a long and very thin pink robe with soft red puffs around the edges. It was as thin and light as to be almost translucent, silk no doubt, and it was deliberately left hanging open in front as to show off everything from the inner edges of those generously curved thighs, right up to the brown-haired woman's throat. Somehow, only the very edge of a nipple was readily visible peeking out from behind the material, even as she moved, though anything down below was boldly open to observation. Clasped in both hands and held up against her stomach, as if to emphasise her breasts just above even further, was a small silver tray arrayed with a simple clay tea set and two large, filled, steaming bowls. She smiled warmly and set the tray on that low table beside the bed before leaning right down to kiss Natsuki's cheek. Natsuki blushed deeply as the robe fell completely open right before her eyes, but said nothing. Her eyes slid down to her lap and stayed there as an expression of minor discomfort steadily coalesced upon her face. "Why didn't you tell me?" Shizuru stood up straight again, pointedly failing to fasten her robe which now fell to either side of her modestly large bust. "What do you mean?" she asked, a deep feeling of worry starting to build within her. "Tokiha Mai," said Natsuki with something of a hiss, though repressed. "Tokiha Mai is a Hime. And now she's sheltering that..." "Mikoto," Shizuru supplied when it became obvious the younger woman was not prepared to say the name herself. "And yes, you're right. I didn't tell you." She sighed deeply. "I knew, and I didn't tell you." Natsuki looked irritable, though her voice gave nothing away. "Why not? Can't you trust me?" Shizuru winced inwardly. "Mikoto was injured, severely. Her survival was my responsibility, as the department director. I have to have a confidential relationship with the patients, just like any doctor or nurse below me." She paused, looking down at the dark-haired girl hesitantly. "Wait...you tried to kill her, didn't you?" "No!" Natsuki barked, just a little sharper than she had intended, and Shizuru jumped back slightly. She bit her anger back down with a slow breath. "I did exactly as you said, I pursued her. I tried to get her to go back to Fuuka where she'd be safe." "And you might just possibly have caused her serious bodily injury in the process..." Natsuki bristled. "...I might have had a little trouble restraining myself during a fight. But I know it wasn't me who gave her that stomach wound." Shizuru smiled ruefully, shaking her head and holding her hands up in a gesture of defeat. "I guess you're just a feisty kind of girl, when it comes down to it. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, in the right context." Instead of blushing as usual, Natsuki turned her head and stared down at the bed-sheets so intensely that it might not have been so surprising had they burst into flames. Shizuru winced again, physically this time. "What's wrong, Natsuki?" "I shouldn't have," said Natsuki slowly. "I shouldn't have used it without your permission. I'm sorry." Shizuru shook her head with an indulgent giggle. "Nonsense. You know I don't mind...Natsuki?" "I should go," said the younger girl, shifting herself out of bed, away from Shizuru. A hand briefly rested on her shoulder but she shrugged it off. "Natsuki..." "I," interjected the dark-haired woman in a hushed tone. "I need to go. It was...nice meeting you again...Fujino-san." Shizuru let her arm fall by her side and watched that naked back as Natsuki plucked her riding suit from its resting place folded across the back of one of the wooden chairs, arranged neatly around the breakfast table. She watched, silently, while the lavender-haired girl stepped into the thick boots, sleek black material caressing its way leisurely up that toned young body until all from her throat downward was completely obscured. The gloves went on last and Natsuki stood there for a short while, seeming lost in thought over something. "I should probably investigate further," she retorted, in a subdued tone. Then she left, without another word, and all the older woman could do was to sigh wistfully as she watched her sliding out of the open doorway. Once her lover had disappeared, Shizuru poured herself a fresh cup of tea, sipped, and tried to make herself stop feeling so depressed. "It's just a phase, really," she said for the nth time to the empty bedroom. "I just did something that upset her, that's all. I'm sure I'll have it fixed again in no time." The small grey rectangle sitting on her bedside table started making an obnoxious bleeping noise at her. She sighed. "Duty calls once more." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mikoto rubbed her cheek into her pillow again and sighed contentedly, squeezing her arms round the pillow's generous mid-section. It was definitely her favourite pillow ever, this one; so warm and soft and spongy, it just cried out to have her head resting over it. Although, on occasion, if she left her head on it for too long it might misshape and she'd end up her head sandwiched between two thick mounds, which of course, wasn't all that bad barring the way her chin would then be resting on a much stiffer surface underneath. "Mikoto," Mai whined from somewhere above her, her voice resonating through Mikoto's head. "I have to go to work." The young girl squeezed tighter around Mai's waist and shook her head slowly, trying not to disturb her state of half-sleep. "Nuh...stay..." she remonstrated in a semi-conscious mumble. Mai groaned, trying to work the light red colouring out of her cheeks, which was much more difficult when a young girl was nuzzling into her chest like that. "If you don't let me up, I can't make breakfast." Mikoto narrowed her eyes thoughtfully and pouted. "But..." she began, then trailed off. Breakfast...pillow...some decisions should never have to be made. Mai interrupted her young roommate's train of thought by prying the clinging girl off herself, and wriggled her way lethargically out of bed. Mikoto kneeled up on the bed, still half-asleep by the look of her, and watched the older girl sliding the bedroom door open. Mai did indeed end up cooking breakfast yet again, sadly only two bowls of ramen, but let it not be said that Mai's ramen were not better than even the finest gourmet cuisine (according to some). Mikoto practically inhaled her bowlful, and Mai was once more baffled by the young girl's sheer appetite. "So," she began a little hesitantly. "...was it as good as the last one?" Mikoto nodded so hard that Mai thought the poor girl's head might fall off. "Mai's cooking is the best!" she announced with an enormous grin. "Well I'm going to work early today, so I can buy more food and cook more for you." She poked Mikoto's narrow mid-section with a finger, eliciting a yelp. "And on Tuesday, I have to go see someone about getting you into school." Mikoto whined loudly. "Why do I have to go to school?" "Because you're a young girl and you need an education if..." Mai paused. "Because shut up! You're going to school whether you like it or not!" "No! I wanna stay here with you!" "If you want to stay here with me, you'll have to work for money, so you need educating! So you're going to school!" Mai set her empty bowl firmly down on the table with a resolved nod. "And that's that." "Couldn't you just get a better job?" Both girls turned toward the doorway. Natsuki stood in the open apartment door, leaning casually against the wooden frame with her arms crossed over her chest, her leather gleaming in the morning sun. She looked frightfully alert and awake for such an early hour, vibrant almost, slivers of almost blue-ish purple flashing in her hair under the growing sunlight. Her dull blue-green eyes peered across the room at the redhead with contempt, amused contempt at that. Mai frowned at her. "You stay out of this!" Natsuki turned her nose up at the redhead. "I bet you failed all your qualifications, didn't you?" "Shut up!" bit back Mai. "I have my own reasons for what I do and I don't need to explain them to you." Mikoto made a most adorably pathetic face and pointed at herself inquisitively. Mai found her resolve crumbling against such onslaught faster than she had expected. "No, Mikoto, I won't tell her. But if you really want to know..." The young girl shook her head. "Mmm... Mai is Mai and that's good enough." Natsuki chuckled. That got her two dirty looks. Mai crossed her arms under her chest, because over would have been a little difficult given her stature, and assumed a 'disgruntled mother' sort of atmosphere. "And what are you laughing at?" "You two are both as bad as each other." "Funny," replied Mai, a mischievous smirk about her face. "I seem to recall saying the exact same thing about you two not so long ago." Natsuki didn't respond, but her smile persisted. "So...just why am I getting a visit from the sexual deviance fairy early in the morning?" Natsuki glared at her and blushed at the same time, which gave quite the interesting overall effect. "I came to check up on you." "Moi?" Mai held a hand to her chest demurely, failing to cover even half of her bust, which was mainly the point. "Both of you," corrected the dark-haired girl, pointedly not staring at where Mai's pale pink pyjamas were left unbuttoned and folded open over her cleavage, and fuming mentally. "I did say I'd be dropping by to make sure Mikoto's okay, didn't I?" Mikoto started pouting, but Mai interrupted with a joyful little squeal. "Hear that, Mikoto-chan? She was just so worried about you she had to come see you straight away." Natsuki groaned and buried her face in one palm. "Natsuki-papa wants her morning tea, hm?" Mai dashed off to the kitchen with a grin before anything else could be said to make more tea, leaving a very awkward silence in her wake. Mikoto and Natsuki stared at each other wide-eyed. Mai set the pot down on the table and patted the chair beside her, struggling between a rampant snicker and a look of disappointment. "Damn it, Kuga, you're no fun. Just come and sit down already." Natsuki took her place at the table, reluctantly, and bowed her head when her own cup was presented. She sipped, slowly, and again had to suppress the urge to smile. Mai was a shockingly good cook. "Thanks," said the redhead, as if reading her mind, she smiled broadly. "Takumi always said I was the chef of the family so I took a few classes in college." She looked over at the scrawny young ramen-snorting machine across the table and her expression turned a little fonder. "It's nice to have people around to appreciate it, at the least." Natsuki blushed ever so slightly. "Well...thank you. And you're welcome. I'd love to appreciate your cooking any time you need it." Mai blushed back at her awkwardly for a moment. "You're not the cold-hearted angry bitch you seem at first, are you Kuga-san?" "And you're certainly not the promiscuous lunatic I had you penned for, Tokiha-san," Natsuki shot back with a half-smirk. "Please, you can just call me Mai." Natsuki narrowed her eyes slightly. "Only if you never call me "papa" again." "Awww, but it's just so adorable!" Mikoto blinked confusedly and looked between the two as Natsuki rubbed her forehead and Mai giggled deviously. "I guess Midori-sensei taught you a sense of humour too..." For a second, Natsuki had the most overwhelming feeling of déjà vu. She shook the sensation from her head. "How would you know, tall dark and mysterious?" "I've been asking around," Natsuki lied smoothly. "Harada-san told me you were kind of a prude when you first met." "Chie would say that. I remember her and Aoi-chan having "cheesecake contests" all summer long." Two identical looks of bewilderment met her eyes. "See, they'd both wear swimsuits and just sort of lounge about by the swimming pool in the gym, and when a guy came by they'd both start making suggestive poses at him and judge who got the best reaction." "How...vulgar." Mai grinned a sinister grin. "They stopped when I started hitting on them both." Natsuki turned red. Mai punched her firmly in the arm. "Midori-chan gave me the confidence to say things like that for my own gain! She did not turn me into a lesbian!" "What's a lesbian?" Now Mai turned red, and Natsuki just buried her face in her hands again. "That's...a complicated question." Mikoto looked at her expectantly, curiously, like a cat faced with an unexplained new toy. "..." Mai's mouth hung open dumbly. "There's an Orphan roaming around," mumbled Natsuki, effectively shattering the awkward silence like a dropped brick. Mikoto bolted out of her seat at once, reaching for her sword where it rested against the wall behind her. Mai was on her feet seconds later, an excited expression written across her face. Her eyes lit up like fire and her body seemed at once more animated as she turned to where Natsuki still sat next to her. "Finally! I thought the damned thing would never show up!" "Wait..." Natsuki blinked up at her. "You knew?" "I knew there was an Orphan somewhere around this place, in this district. I've been waiting for it to show itself." Natsuki looked around for a moment at the apartment itself, a knowing expression crossing her features. "So...that's why you live like this, hm? Why you only have a part-time job and live in a place with such low rent..." Mai rubbed a hand against the back of her head awkwardly. "Midori-chan really hammered that stuff into my head. A Hime's job is to defend others, and to destroy the Orphans or anything else like that." "Midori-sensei really rubbed off on you, didn't she?" There was a moment of silence before Mai burst out laughing and Natsuki buried her face in her hands again, blushing furiously, in more ways than one. Mikoto looked baffled, shrugged, and went back to being a fifth wheel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It was a warm, sunny afternoon in Tokyo. The sky was somewhat overcast, but no rain threatened through the thick, fluffy white clouds gathered overhead. The bright summer sun beamed down through narrows gaps, inadvertently blinding one or two people who just happened to look up at the wrong moment. In one particular part of Tokyo, in a large park, in the middle of pretty much nowhere beside a long, winding paved pathway, was a long wooden bench. It was hedged in from behind by a thick line of young trees and bushes, which often shaded it from the torturous summer midday sun. Sitting on the bench, one to either end, were two young men, or rather, two older schoolboys, neither one that far from adulthood by the looks of them. The one was a moderately tall and thin figure, short dirty-blonde hair and greenish eyes that were at that moment resting limply shut, his head dangling off the back of the bench. The other was the shorter of the two, but not by very much, and more muscular than his companion by a respectable margin. He sat hunched over a book that lay in his lap, chewing on the back end of a pencil, his thick, ragged-cut brown hair constantly shifting in the gentle breeze and irritating him no end. All of a sudden, the brown-eyed, brown-haired, book-toting youth sat up straight. "Hey, Kazuki?" he said, turning to the other boy. "Hm?" replied his friend in a non-committal sort of grunt. "Do you, er..." The first boy hesitated for a moment. "Do you...smell something?" The blonde-haired boy raised his head and sniffed at the air. "Hey, y'know..." He frowned and looked around quickly. "Smells kinda like fish." "Fishy, eh?" "Minoru!" The blonde, Kazuki, gave his darker-haired companion a good solid punch on the arm. "I'm serious, here!" "So am I! I mean..." The brown-haired boy gestured in a wide circle with one arm. "...do you see any fish vendors or anything like that around here?" Kazuki looked at him cautiously for a few moments before replying, "What if they're hiding?" Minoru slapped his forehead. "You're an idiot sometimes, Uwada-kun." "Besides, it smells more like a rat." Minoru gave his friend a confused look as Kazuki struck a pose, one foot up on the bench, hand rubbing his chin. "Yes, definitely! A giant rat! A giant, mutant rat!" Minoru chuckled cynically. "I smell a magical girl show!" proclaimed the blonde, pointing dramatically up into the sky and posing stylishly (he thought). "You really are-" Thump-thump. Both boys froze. There were now a most ornate pair of shoes, nay, boots even, balanced atop the back of the bench; a beautiful emerald-green they were, made of many interlocking plates, each one delicately edged with gold. They were thick-soled, thick all over in fact, and rather high up past their wearer's ankles. From the tops of those boots emerged a pair of slender, smooth-skinned feminine calves, toned to perfection. Atop them, about similarly flawless knee joints, were clasped a matching pair of green kneepads, borders etched out in gold just as with the boots. The most sumptuously sleek, muscular, milk-white thighs filled the gap from there up to a micro-length miniskirt so short it was simply indecent, in the same deep jade hue and gold highlights, only this time mostly fabric hanging from a narrow band of that armour-like plate. The top of the skirt dipped down between the wearer's broad, softly curved hips in a broad V-shape that pushed the suggestiveness of the outfit to its very limits. Gauntlet-clad hands, thick and padded, covered in the same narrow green-and-gold metallic plates as the rest, hung down beside those same hips. The rest of those magnificent arms were left bare right up to the shoulder, barring wrap-around pads on the elbows that matched the kneepads down below. The shoulders on that mysterious womanly figure were at once both slender and feminine, yet still powerfully muscular. Above the obscenely short skirt, an abdominal region to match, firmly rounded musculature only hinted at vaguely beneath smooth, taught female skin. Above there even was a sort of vest-like apparatus in the same green-on-gold armour plates that only just obscured view of quite the prodigious bulging of bust. A deep, wide V-cut left far more cleavage than was strictly necessary open to the eye, from above and from below, just a thin pinpoint of fabric holding the two sides of the garment together in front. There was a wide space between her shoulders where the top left most of her collar area and her upper chest naked to the world, bordered on each side by bulbous, rounded shoulder-pads. A narrow emerald-green fabric strip was tied about her delicate throat into a neat bow at the front, finished off with more of that painstakingly careful filigree work. Her head was held high, chin up, with a look of prideful wrath upon her feminine face. Violet eye shadow swept out in a narrow triangular swatch from the outside corner of each eye, making those soft purple eyes look somehow narrower, more focused and sinister, more dangerous. Full, warm red lips pouted together in a narrow kiss, both alluring and treacherous. Mustard-yellow hair flowed back from the crest of her forehead and down the back of her neck to her shoulder blades, billowing out into a thick, lazily billowing wave of luxurious softness wafting in the breeze. The nameless young woman clenched one glove-encased hand into a fist and rested it on her hip, while bringing the other hand up and out in front of her, pointing one finger decisively towards what appeared to be a completely empty patch of grass on the other side of the path. She took a deep breath inward, which action inadvertently caused her breasts to swell up against the inside of her top until it strained to contain them... ...instead of the woman spouting off dramatic monologue, something completely unexpected happened. A bright yellow flash of colour ignited the end of the armour-clad woman's outstretched forefinger and a thigh-thick beam of that same pale yellow light leapt forth at tremendous speed, striking some invisible barrier right about where that finger was pointing towards and bursting in a wide splash of yellow flame. There was a deafening noise, somewhere between a screech and a roar. The air where that beam had struck shimmered like a mirage, and out of the rippling, a gigantic serpentine creature gradually faded into view. It was almost ten metres from head to tail, though that huge snaking tail did take up a fair portion of that length, and its limbs were similarly slender and snake-like. Its head sat on the end of a long, sleek neck, a blunt wedge shape with a sharply pointed snout from whence protruded two long, curved fangs each the size of an entire forearm. Its eyes, its narrow snout, its limbs and tail and the strangely lavender fur that covered from end to end spoke of some kind of rodent origin. It turned its head to the armoured woman and shriek-hissed terribly, jaw wide open to show off rows of serrated fangs dripping saliva and a long, thin, pointed tongue. The woman ignored it. Instead, she leapt up into the air with a swoosh, the action cutting a rather deep gouge into the back of the bench with those heavy boots. Her finger came stabbing down towards the creature as she fell again, a second blazing yellow beam erupting from the tip of that finger and sending the strange rat-like monster sprawling as it slammed straight into its narrow chest area. At once, the huge tail was lashing round in a wide arc up towards the descending figure, the long spikes on its tip ready to rend through flesh and probably anything else that got in the way. Instead of being brutally impaled, the woman turned, in midair, and actually sidestepped the oncoming tail, as if the empty air beneath her feet were a cohesive surface. As that tremendous limb whisked mere inches from her nose, she was already turning to bring her other hand to bear on the creature, firing off a whole volley of successive yellow bursts, from all five fingers, this time as thick globular segments. Each one struck with a satisfyingly loud double-bang, and wailing screams followed as smoke billowed from the creature's back and obscured most of its features. Just when they thought the fight was all over, the two awe-stricken boys threw themselves back away from the huge monster, back behind the bench for cover as a flurry of razor-sharp white spines exploded upwards like a geyser. A jet of high-speed knives flew up towards the floating armoured woman, and even then, the injured creature on the ground was rolling to one side and looking skyward, watching for the effects of its unexpected attack. The mustard-haired woman seemed unconcerned... Just as those flying blades were seconds from slicing her to pieces, several dozen tiny green-and-gold objects roughly conical in shape, no larger than a thumb each, appeared in a rough shell formation around her. They tracked on each and every incoming blade in less than the blink of an eye and, with a deafening series of rapid-fire cracks, wire-thin yellow beams lanced out and reduced the flying spikes to nothing more substantial than a small cloud of fine white dust. Kazuki was impressed. Minoru boggled openly, wide-mouthed and wide-eyed. Neither said anything, or even moved from their makeshift hiding place. The woman, thus protected from the deadly hail of spikes, flipped end-over-end so that she was facing headfirst down towards the beast below her and plummeted like a bullet, one arm stretched out in front of her, hand spread wide open and yellow sparks growing rapidly at the tip of each digit. When she collided with the monster, her hand exploded into a furious blinding yellow light-storm, accompanied by a thunderous triple-boom that shook the ground in the immediate vicinity like a minor earthquake. When the smoke cleared, there was no sign of the creature but for a wide circular area where the grass had been blasted away and the earth beneath was scorched black, a softly glowing ring around it. The mysterious woman stood triumphantly in the very centre, arms crossed over her large chest. She looked to the two boys who had witnessed the event and, finally, spoke. "Armitage has defeated her enemy once again!" she shouted inspirationally, her voice still as sweet and melodious as her appearance suggested, but also brazenly vigorous. "The innocent citizens of this city are safe!" With that, she leapt into the air and disappeared. "Kazuki," ventured the dark-haired boy after quite a while. "What the crap was that?" "Er..." replied the blonde, gesturing wildly with his hands. "That was...she was..." His hands subconsciously made a wide cupping gesture as he spoke. "She...was...really hot." "Nobody's gonna believe this, you know." For a short while, they stared at the softly steaming ground where the creature had been vanquished, and said nothing. Eventually, the blonde turned to his friend. "I gotta know...how did she stay in that top?" "Kazuki, I'm pretty sure most of what she did was scientifically impossible." "Yeah but..." The blonde made more of those cupping motions with his hands. "Priorities, man." Minoru sighed, but smiled. "You're intolerable." "On reflection, my second guess would have been far less confusing." "Huh?" said the blonde, but asked anyway, "What was your second guess?" "Giant mutant ninja tur-" "-You really need a girlfriend, Kazuki." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There was a knock at the door. Shizuru glared at it for a moment or two. "Come in," she sighed, dunking a small packet full of photographs into the top drawer of her desk. The key turned with a satisfying click. "Ma'am, I thought I should remind you that your schedule today is far too full to spend your lunch break staring at your ex-girlfriend." Shizuru blinked. "How did you..." "It's my job to know what my boss is doing, ma'am." Motoko almost, almost smirked. "I should stay on my toes around you if that's the way it is." Shizuru shoved back her chair and stood slowly, brushing down her skirt with one hand. "Next thing I know, you'll have cameras in the changing rooms and I'll be done for sexual harassment." "You should be done for sexual harassment anyway," muttered the younger woman under her breath. "Besides, where would I get the cameras?" "You could always borrow a few of mine," replied Shizuru all too cheerfully. Motoko simply frowned at her disapprovingly, which somehow was far more pleasing a result than anything else Shizuru had ever gotten. The blonde secretary disappeared back through the door again, leaving it wide open in the process. "I would be hurrying, if I were you, ma'am," she called back over her shoulder. "Your appointment with the head of staff is in one hour." The edge of Shizuru's mouth slowly turned up into a somewhat feline grin. "What's with the occasion, anyway?" "Eh?" Motoko turned as her superior came striding out of the office. The older woman stopped and gave her secretary a rather vague gesture. "You look so...fancy. Like you dressed up for something." Motoko looked down at herself, at the exact same black-and-white suit combination she almost invariably wore to work. She looked back up at Shizuru with a dubious expression. "Your tie! And your hair, too! You look so..." Shizuru blinked. "And are those your good shoes?" The short woman sighed deeply. She was indeed dressed up, as far so as Motoko ever did. The blouse was the same nameless, brand-less white short-sleeved blouse as every other she wore, but around her collar was a neat black tie to match the rest of the suit that disappeared down under her buttoned jacket, with a narrow diamond motif etched in thin gold lines on the front. Her shoes were usually the obligatory black flat-soles, but for this one particular occasion, she wore what were definitely high-heels in the same jet black, with thin straps and narrow toes, and a small diamond-based pattern on the front of each that matched her tie. Her thick blonde hair was pinned back on the wrong side, which created a strange asymmetrical illusion to her face, and the bun in the back was missing for once, which left all of that golden mess to fall down over her shoulders in a single uniform wave. She failed to blush when Shizuru leaned in closer. Instead, she coughed into her hand. "You should really get going, ma'am." "Just as soon as you tell me why you're looking so fresh today." "That doesn't concern you, ma'am. Now if you'll excuse me..." With that, she sidled past the taller woman and into the vacated office, shutting the door behind her. "I'll be back, Moko-chan! Just you don't get any finger marks on those photos!" Sufficiently amused at her assistant's personal expense, as always, Shizuru set off with a pleasant smile down the corridor towards whatever awaited her. As per non-the-usual, however, she didn't get very far before the rather abnormal recent events caught up to her once again. "You've got mail!" chirped the device in her bag in that obnoxiously jovial mechanical voice. She fished it out with a groan and checked the display... Natsuki's name flashed up. How intriguing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The small restaurant Cat's Paws was something a little different in the middle of a densely packed district of Tokyo. It sat between a hardware store to the left, with huge displays, blaring pictures and gaudy advertising, and a drab, square, grey-fronted building to the right that only few actually knew was a video store, sans any kind of façade. It was a rather small building itself, practically built into the buildings around it, only two storeys and barely enough space across the front for five whole panel windows. There was a sign that stood out front on the pavement that yelled out various "special offers" to passers-by, and a wide overhanging orange shade above the front wall with "Cat's Paws" in bright yellow. Inside was just as bright and, some might say, just as lurid. The restaurant walls were a bright golden-yellow shade, the ceiling plain white, and the floor was of polished wood. There was a narrow bar in the far corner of the room, no stools, where drinks of all kinds were apparently on sale. The intervening space, from wall to wall all the way from the door to a small gap at the back wall in front of the kitchen doors, was a semi-disorganised collection of identical circular tables. Only along the front wall, sidled right up next to the full-length panel windows was an entire row of booths, wooden walls on either side with block seats and square, wooden tables. To fit the design better, the paving on the outside had been dug up in a narrow strip and a wide assortment of plants provided a half-decent cover from about chest height down. The interior wasn't the only scenery, though. In typical commercial style, the restaurant had a full compliment of attractive young waitresses, all dressed in identical uniforms; narrow, strapless orange shoes, lace-trimmed ankle-socks, orange and white striped miniskirt, short-sleeved white button-up blouse, loud orange sleeveless jacket, and a rectangular nametag in both English and Japanese pinned on the left breast. Nobody knew for certain what colour the 'other' bits of the uniform really were, but there were plenty of rumours. Mai brushed the back of her skirt down again as it rode dangerously high while she bent over to pick up a coffee jar from one table. The young boy, far too young in Mai's opinion, in the seat behind her made a disappointed face and turned back to his brother/friend. Mai tried her best to ignore it. Her feet hurt. The shoes pinched terribly after several hours on the job and the three-inch-high heels knocked her centre of balance too far forward, which meant that when she had to bend over for anything she had to stick out her rear end in a most provocative manner. Well, at least it kept the skirt from riding too high...most of the time. Suddenly, the door chimed to signal the advent of yet another new customer, and Mai turned to greet him or her, or them, in her best cheerful waitress voice. "Good afternoon! How can..." She trailed off. For a moment or two, Mai was actually dumbstruck by the sight before her. By the look of it, so were several of the other customers. Many pairs of eyes all fell upon the figure in the open doorway. She was young, and vibrant, and she was utterly beautiful, and no one present could find the words to deny it however hard they tried. Her slender, dainty feet were trapped within narrow, pointed black high-heeled shoes and soft pink ankle-high socks. Her legs were the purest, milky white, smooth and almost unbelievably long, stretching on and on up to her skirt, generously muscular thighs disappearing under the not quite knee-length pleated brown garment. Above that, a plain white short-sleeved blouse covered her upper half, soft half-frills around each cuff and about her collar. The buttons down the front seemed to strain slightly as she took a deep breath in, her prodigious bust almost matching Mai's own for sheer mass. She was tall, or modestly so at least, and she was athletically built, her body smoothly muscled through gentle curves. Her bare arms looked just as firm and strong as the rest of her. Her face was slightly rounded, somewhere between triangular and ovoid in just the right way, with a dainty pointed nose and soft, narrow red lips that pouted out as she looked around her. Her eyes were wide and bright, a deep lavender colour much like Mai's own, but thin accents in violet eye shadow made them look narrower and more sultry somehow. Her hair flowed like a thick velvet curtain down behind her to her shoulders, though it was a most peculiar mustard-yellow velvet. Hovering immediately behind her was a second young woman, thought she looked far more mature than the first. Dark, attentive eyes looked almost greyish-black behind a pair of narrow silver-framed glasses. The mass of brownish red hair atop her head was short and thick, and reached only barely halfway down the back of her neck. It was mostly somewhat disorganised, as if she had simply shook her head and sprayed it in place, but she pulled it off stunningly. The rest of her slender, modestly-equipped body was tucked into a neat, dark brown business suit, conservatively cut in contrast to her far more revealing companion. For a half a second, Mai felt a creeping sensation of déjà vu. "Haruka-chan!" whined the brunette. Her face showed an anxious concern as she looked about the establishment. The mustard-haired woman's own features were a deviously self-amused sort of expression one might expect from a happily scheming young girl. "Nonsense, Yukino!" she said, nowhere near quietly, waving one hand in a dismissive manner. "We have plenty of time for lunch. And besides, I'm hungry!" "Haruka-chan, really. You have a meeting with-" "-Oh, Yukino, just for this once can't you trust me? I promised I'd be there and I will." The brunette sighed as she watched her partner walking, or more to the point, sauntering over towards the nearest waitress, which happened to be a certain orange-haired young twenty-something. "I just can't change Haruka-chan even if I tried," she conceded with the hint of a fond half-smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Good afternoon," said Mai firmly, bowing to the mustard-haired woman respectfully. "How can-" "-We'll take a table for two, thank you," the woman demanded presumptuously. Her companion appeared millimetres behind her and peered over her shoulder at Mai. "Just a quiet seat in the corner will do, if that's at all possible." "No problem at all, miss!" replied the redhead cheerfully, smiling hard in spite of the faintly bizarre situation. She turned and gestured with one hand toward a booth tucked into the far corner along the front wall of the restaurant, empty but for the obligatory stack of condiments and napkins. "You can sit here, if you like..." The brunette woman bowed, a tad nervously. "Thank you," she insisted, and then she said it a second time just for good measure. Mai laughed uncomfortably and waved her hand. "You're very welcome, miss, really. If there's anything else you need, just say so." "Haruka-chan, wait!" Haruka, of course, was already striding across to her table with a purposeful look upon her face, her heels clicking on the polished floor. As she moved, everyone turned to follow her. She ignored them with an air most professional, as that of someone used to having whole swarms of eyes watching her every move. Yukino was seconds behind her, hurrying along in a much more dainty and demure manner lugging the thick black shoulder-bag up to her side. Mai gave a slow shrug and then turned back to work. Haruka threw herself, literally, into her seat, in a most un-ladylike fashion, not that she seemed to care in the least. She leaned back slightly into the seat and watched with narrowed eyes as her brunette companion seated herself, much more lightly it had to be said. Yukino hefted the thick black shoulder-bag up onto the table and tore open the Velcro flap across the top. Out slid a smooth, sleek silver laptop not more than a foot across each side and almost impossibly thin. It folded out with a click and a soft whirr and the screen lit up with that familiar background, which immediately made Yukino blush and direct the thing away from the surrounding patrons. Haruka yawned. Yukino ignored her and started typing away as usual. Haruka leaned up over the table and rested her perfectly smooth chin in one palm, her forefinger twining a few strands of hair into a loose coil. Yukino still ignored her. Haruka sat back, sighed...and then very slowly, crossed one leg over the other. The hem of her already indecently short skirt pushed up that inch or two higher. Yukino coughed as her face turned bright red. Her eyes fixed intently to the screen before her as if her life depended on it. Haruka grinned deviously. "So, my faithful assistant," she spoke again in that not-very-quiet voice of hers. "What would you like to eat, while we're here?" Yukino shook her head ever so slightly. "I'll be okay, Haruka-chan." The mustard-haired beauty shook a finger at her companion and drew up a most displeased face. "That won't do, Yukino. You need to eat and stay well and be healthy!" She leaned forward, until she knew the other woman could see down the narrow gap where the top two buttons of her blouse were left unfastened. Her features shifted from deviously sinister to sinister and sultry, mostly sultry. "After all," she continued in a decidedly sensuous tone of voice that set Yukino fidgeting at once, "what would I do without me dear Yukino to take care of me, hm?" "Haruka-chan..." whined the brunette. She gasped, for reasons undisclosed, and blushed a whole new shade of red. Haruka's grin grew ever wider. "You're frustrated," she eventually managed to say. "Something didn't go the way you...planned." The pause was punctuated nicely with a barely-audible squeak from the brunette woman and another violent blush. Haruka pouted, angrily, which looked just fantastic on her, as did most of her moods. "It got away, damn it," she cursed in an uncharacteristically subdued voice. "I can't believe I lost to such a simple opponent." Yukino gave her an affectionate look. "You didn't lose, Haruka-chan. It got away. There's a huge difference there." "Oh yeah?" "It ran away from you. Look at it that way, hm?" Haruka blinked. "When you say it like that, I do feel much better about it." She grinned triumphantly and made a fist with one hand. "That cowardly beast ran away from the great Ar-" "-Haruka-chan, NOT here!" Yukino waved her hands in a flurry. "You know you should be more careful about that in public." Haruka uncrossed, and then re-crossed those endlessly long legs, just as slowly as before. "You're so cautious, Yukino." She smiled. "But then, I suppose it balances out, doesn't it?" Yukino looked up, a tad puzzled all of a sudden. Her expression shifted to something much more contemplative when she noticed Haruka gazing fondly at the narrow golden ring about her middle finger, fidgeting it about restlessly. "I thought we agreed you don't have to wear that all the time if you don't want to..." Haruka gave her a very forceful look. "I want to." "People will only get the wrong impression." "Then I'll have to hurry up and find another ring, won't I?" Yukino blushed darkly and stuffed her nose down against the computer screen. She couldn't hope to keep the smile from her face though. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ That little black cat was back again. It was sitting on the railing on the balcony just outside her front door, waiting for her. As she climbed the stairs up to her apartment, the cat peered intently down at her from its makeshift lookout post, as if assessing her on sight. She glared right back at it. "And what do you think you're doing here?" she demanded of it. "Meow," said the cat in a contemptuous tone and promptly ignored her. It curled round in a crescent shape atop the black railing and went to sleep, or whatever it was that cats did that was somewhere between awake and asleep. Mai frowned at it and turned to her apartment door instead "I'm home, Mikoto!" Mai froze, stunned momentarily. Before her was not the drab interior of the small one-bedroom apartment she had so dutifully searched to find, but a room all too familiar. It was long and narrow, with warm yellow walls all around and polished wood furnishings, what little there were. To her immediate left was a door that she also recognised, and past that, a rather diminutive kitchen area, with table and chairs to the right along the opposite wall. Further along, two beds sat side-by-side against the left wall, half hidden behind the kitchen wall. The remainder of the room space was empty, bar for only one thing. At the far end of the room, in front of the single wide panel window, stood a silhouetted figure of roughly average height, thought apparently quite young, and a slender build. She, for it was most definitely female, blocked out a thick patch of the warm orange sunlight streaming in through the gaps between the horizontal grey blinds across the window, outlining her in a deep shadow. As Mai stepped forward into the room, her eyes adjusted. She could make out grey and black and crimson on that silhouette, a flowing mass of deep purple-black hair. The figure turned to her and smiled, affectionately. "Mai!" Mai blinked. "Huh?" Mikoto stared up at her longingly. "You're home. I'm hungry..." The redhead chuckled weakly and shook her head. "You're just helpless without me, aren't you?" "Nuh!" argued Mikoto. "Mai's cooking is the best!" She grabbed the taller girl by her wrist and practically dragged Mai inside, fidgeting excitedly as she went. "Alright! I'll cook you dinner right away," Mai relented at last, shrugging out of her thin red jacket and hanging it up neatly by the front door. Mikoto pranced about happily, sending her gathered feline friends dashing for cover under the breakfast table. "What will Mai cook today?" she asked with a wondrous expression, eyes wide, peering up at the taller girl. Or more specifically, at the spatula Mai now held in her hand. "I'm bored. And I bet you've never eaten anything fancier than ramen, so I thought I'd experiment!" Mikoto looked a bit puzzled as Mai raided through the refrigerator and laid out a strange selection of vegetables on the counter. "You should go sit down and wait, and keep your friends occupied. Wouldn't want anyone getting curious and ending up with burnt fur." The young girl shook her head emphatically and made some sort of affirmative noise. With that, she turned and dove under the table, plucking felines one by one out from their precious hiding place and placing them in a line across the table-top in order of height. The little black one was missing, again, but that really wasn't all too surprising. He did tend to sunbathe on the balcony quite often. "Now then," said Mikoto, pointing her finger at the first cat and slowly moving along the ranks. "Mai says you have to stay out of the kitchen, because it's not safe in there." "Meow," said one cat. The rest agreed. Mikoto crossed her arms and pouted, much like Mai, though she would never admit it so readily. "Either you all behave, or you can't come here any more." The horde conferred among themselves for a moment or two before eventually settling the issue. One at a time, they each clambered down off the table and wandered off to find their own separate lounging spots around the apartment, noticeably away from the kitchen area. Only the skinny grey tabby stayed, slinking down into a half-curl on one of the unused chairs. Mikoto nodded triumphantly. "Good." "Mikoto-chan, what are you doing over there?" "Just sorting everyone out! We're all done now so there's no problem." Mai had already fired up the gas stove and was chopping vegetables, a pot full of rice bubbling softly beside her. "That's...wonderful," she replied, quite deeply confused. Kami help if she ever started actually understanding that strange, eccentric wild girl. Mikoto sniffed deeply. The effect was immediate, as her face lit up like a floodlight and her features melted into anticipatory ecstasy. "Smells so gooooood," she half-moaned. "Mai's cooking smells so wonderful." "You're just easy to please," chuckled the redhead, waving at her with the end of the knife. "I bet you're used to living on bento and ramen." Mikoto didn't answer. She was too busy looking around curiously and sniffing. Mai cocked her head. "Er...what are you doing?" "Do you smell that?" Mai sniffed. "What, the garlic? If you don't like garlic, I can just..." "No," interrupted the young girl. "I smell something..." Her head span towards the window so fast Mai thought her neck might crack. "Orphan!" "Oh crap," said Mai's subconscious. She dropped the chopping knife anyway and had the foresight to turn the rice right down before she dashed round the counter to get a better view out of her apartment window. "Where?" "I don't know...but it's close. I can smell it even better now." Mai cursed, repeatedly. "Has to be right when I'm making dinner, doesn't it? The bastard. I bet he timed it this way." Mikoto tugged the loose trousers that Mai had bought down off her skinny waist and dashed back into the bedroom, forgoing sliding the door shut behind her in her haste. Mai peeked in, not that she was peeking exactly, and was a little puzzled to see the young Hime wriggling her way into the expansive green sweater that was far too large for her. "What's that for?" Mikoto turned and dashed back out straight past her, towards the rack by the apartment door where all their combined armada of about five pairs of shoes were stored, along with various other bizarre odds and ends. "I always wear this when I fight," replied the half-naked girl as she plucked her sword from its resting place and swung it up dangerously high over her head, to rest behind her back where she could hold it in place with just the one hand. Mai blinked. "Fight?" She shook her head slowly. "You mean you're coming with me?" Mikoto looked at her as if she had just said the stupidest thing ever. "There's an Orphan out there. I have to get rid of it." "Is there any way I can talk you out of it? It's kinda dangerous, you know..." Mikoto shook her head petulantly. "Fine," Mai sighed. "I'm coming with you. We can find this thing and then we'll kill it. And hopefully, get back before the rice catches fire." Mikoto was already peeling back the blinds and sliding the window open. She leapt out without a second thought and Mai felt the most unnerving sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. A loud girlish yelp from outside quelled that. "Come on, Mai!" yelled the dark-haired girl. "Hurry up! It's getting away!" Mai wriggled her fingers impatiently as the thick, multi-coloured beads materialised about her ankles and wrists in wide orbiting ring configurations. At once, that strange feeling of energy flashed through her, and she had to suppress a slight shiver. "Well, like Midori-chan said... it'll always catch up to me in the end." She looked out of the window, at the rapidly darkening sky and the almost deserted street below, and grinned. "Then I better be ready for it, hadn't I?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ On a moderately busy street in Tokyo's 12th District, there sat an electronics hardware store, of modest size and sandwiched between two other similarly sized establishments, a fast-food restaurant on one side and a bookshop on the other. Its entire front was taken up by huge panel windows that extended the full length from the pavement right up to the ledge that signalled where the ground level ceiling would be, and all the way out to either side edge. Filling most of the grand window-space were rows upon rows of television sets in all sizes and styles and colours, from widescreens to flat monitors thinner than a book, to strange designs in all sorts of abstract images. On every screen, at that very moment, was a deep blue background behind a curving hardwood-topped desk, behind which sat a rather fetching young blonde woman holding a thick stack of papers in a traditional reading position as she looked cheerfully into the camera and spoke with such speed and coherence that only newscasters seem capable of simultaneously. A small logo in the bottom left corner signified that this was a Tokyo News Network Live broadcast. At that time in particular, the small digital display in the bottom corner of the picture was reading 20:04 and the ticker just above was scrolling past summarised events from the headlines, a second just above repeating the same words in English. A small crowd of people lingered in front of the shop, some of them just pausing and looking at the hardware on display, a few actually watching the news with intent before passing on, ever more new passers-by to take their place so that the crowd never seemed to really grow or shrink. "In other news today," announced the slowly scrolling bilingual yellow subtitles that crawled lazily from the top left corner down to the bottom while the announcer spoke, her voice muted through the glass, "the J.S.D.F. have just received a large shipment of foreign weaponry. The first of these brand-new missile protection systems is scheduled to be installed in the J.S.D.F. base just outside Tokyo Central within the next few months." The screen shifted to show the usual seemingly random images of Japanese Self-Defence troops doing various mundane tasks, an airbase, tanks, and so on. "The Japanese Defence Cabinet issued the contract for new ground-based anti-missile systems early in 2003 after local companies presented many concepts for guidance and targeting computers to the J.S.D.F., but then proved unable to supply appropriate weaponry. In a last-minute bid against American contractor Lockheed Martin that has become almost synonymous with the company's business image, the UK-based arms manufacturing firm..." "Can you believe that?" said a rather tall middle-aged-looking man standing in front of the window, watching with a cynical look on his face. He nudged the person next to him with an elbow. "We sign up all that paperwork to get rid of the army and now our government goes and builds a new one without us." "It's a state military," replied the smartly dressed young businessman next to him, trying to look apologetic. "It exists to protect the public. Not much use if all our hardware is obsolete. Besides..." He nodded back at the screen again. "...It's just anti-missile junk mainly." The older man looked down at him sceptically. "Seems to me like you know a lot about this stuff, eh?" "I pay attention to the financial world. Most wouldn't know, but B.A.E. has had more and more financial influence in the Japanese market over the past few decades, ever since that trade agreement." His elder gave him a rueful half-grin. "I'd be worried about foreigners invading, but I know from my own son that they've put money into Hokkaido for years." "Your son works for them?" The younger man then held up a hand and bowed his head apologetically. "Excuse me, it's not my place to intrude on your familial affairs." The older man snorted. "You're too damned polite, too. I was thinking you'd be one of those punk teenagers, but you're more like my father." They each laughed, and then went their separate ways, leaving the crowd to fill back in against the window. "...Samsung Motors have denied involvement in the incident," continued the newscaster on another topic entirely, "claiming that their only reason for contributing to the recovery team efforts was to inspect the vehicle itself for faults." A picture of one of Tokyo's many parks filled the screen, centred about a large maintenance vehicle that lay on its side, gutted and steaming on the grass next to a wide paved pathway. The ground beneath it was burnt in a strangely uniform circular formation. "This follows similar appearances of Samsung teams at the site of other accidents involving municipal vehicles, that Samsung Motors claim are part of their new corporate objective; to assess vehicle design flaws which have proven to cause serious problems and thereby wipe them out from their own products. Thankfully, no one was actually hurt in the incident, though police have made a statement to Tokyo News concerning two young adult males who were found nearby the site of the accident, apparently delirious. The two men are apparently being held overnight for questioning..." "Mikoto, slow down already!" The crowd scattered away from the window in disarray as something short and green dashed straight through the lot of them, dragging some enormous black lump behind it. It darted down the street a short way along an ugly grey metal railing that lined the front of some old abandoned industrial building, then turned and bolted through a gap where one of the bars had come loose, disappearing from sight. Right behind it was a second, much larger something, fairly tall and orange-haired, dressed in dark brown slacks and a light grey t-shirt, yelling after the first blur whilst also attempting to apologize to everyone for barging through the crowd. She reached the fence, sighed heavily and then squeezed herself through the gap too. Mikoto leapt up and over the six-foot high wall surrounding the run-down old factory building as if it wasn't even there, flying through the air in a wide arc that sent her sword streaming out behind her, barely clipping the top edge of the concrete wall and throwing up a gasp of orange sparks. She dove into a half-roll on the other side and continued in the same direction, bare feet slapping against the cold paved ground and the edge of her sword bouncing against the pavement, setting off a thin trail of sparks behind as she ran. The thick pale-green sweater draped over her body flapped out behind her as she ran, thankfully never rising higher than about mid-thigh. "Mikoto!" yelled Mai, again. The dark-haired young girl seemed completely unprepared to listen to reason, however, and was only getting further and further ahead as they sped towards their unseen common enemy. Mai felt the nagging temptation to summon up her Element and just fly the rest of the way, but Midori-sensei's voice crept into the back of her head, "A Hime can't be a Hime if she's locked in prison, or being dissected!" "Stupid Orphan," Mai hissed, and then she cursed the creature quite loudly and inventively, mostly just for existing in the first place. "Mai, hurry up!" yelled back an excited young voice from far ahead of her as she rounded a corner and plunged headlong down a dark, narrow alleyway sandwiched between the brick-like multi-storey main building standing in the centre of the complex, and a small metal shed with several rather large and brightly painted warning signs on the door. Mikoto was nowhere to be found. "Up here!" Mai looked up, and was slightly taken aback by the sight of Mikoto's lower half as she wriggled her way in through a narrow window some ten feet up the side of the building. "What the...how'd you get up there? And what do you think you're doing! This is private property! We can't be here..." "Hurry up, Mai!" the young girl shouted back down at her. "It'll get away!" With that, her feet disappeared through the window. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The beast roared deafeningly, as if that was supposed to be scary or something. Mikoto hurled herself headfirst towards the noisy brute and hefted her blade round in a wide, rolling arc that took one thick blue arm apart at the elbow, accompanied by a screaming bellow of pain and a thick gout of green blood. That huge whip-like appendage on its head lashed out at her and cleaved through a concrete pillar not seconds behind her, reminding the young girl why she had been avoiding direct assault up until that point. She promptly dove down its front, right past its blind spot, and ducked beneath the underside of that huge floating wormlike body, dashing for cover on the other side. Three enormous curved blades sank into the concrete floor behind her, so close she felt the wind on the soles of her feet. Before it could turn to follow her, a fireball the size of a small car slammed into it broadside and burst open like a water balloon, splashing out flames all over the creature's side. They died quickly, but they left smouldering black marks on its skin all across its left side. "Mikoto, get back!" Another fireball leapt out of the darkness and engulfed both left arms, forcing the creature to flail about wildly in an attempt to put out the fire spreading across its flesh, bellowing angrily as it did so. All seven huge green eyes rolled around its head like liquid, gathering in a cluster towards the source of the flame. Mai fixed it with the nastiest look she could muster, which was pretty awful given her years of practice, and held her hands out towards it. "Stupid thing," she yelled at it angrily, "interrupting my cooking! I spent all morning buying those ingredients and now they'll go to waste! You'll pay for this, damn it." The creature screamed at her and tried to blot her out of existence with one of its remaining arms. The attempt failed dismally when that huge scythe-like blade glanced off an invisible curved barrier with a deafening metallic clang. "Mai! The eyes!" A flaming orange stream lanced out from the redhead's hands and struck the creature dead centre in the middle of that ugly dome-shaped head, puncturing straight through one huge eye. The eye gaped wide like an open mouth, showing thick rows of fangs and a writhing mass of fleshy tendrils. Unhesitating, Mai struck again, sending a white-hot wad of fire straight down that open maw like a ball through a hoop. The creature stuttered in its non-existent tracks, tail thrashing madly inches above the floor, clawing at the ground with all three remaining arms. Its other "eyes" burst open in turn, belching out steam. While it writhed in agony, Mikoto launched herself at the thing from behind and brought her sword up in front of her, thrusting with her entire body weight. The tip of the blade glowed darkly as it swept through the air. The blade sank through the monster's mid-section as if it were butter. The agonised wailing and roaring ceased abruptly and the creature's body slowly evaporated into nothing. Mai growled. "They're getting worse," she said half to herself as Mikoto hopped back down to the floor and hefted her blade to rest over one shoulder. "It's like they're more and more intent on killing me each one I meet." "They don't stand a chance," said Mikoto triumphantly, grinning up at the taller woman. Mai smiled back down at her. "Between the two of us, we're more than strong enough." "I hope you're right, or else there'll be problems. For starters, what'll happen if you get hurt and can't attend school next week?" Mikoto stabbed her sword into the floor and pouted. "No way! I'm not going to some stupid school! I spent all this time getting away from one..." Mai chuckled and rubbed her hand playfully through the young girl's hair. "I'd better find you a job, too! I bet you could pass off as sixteen, so we could get you working part-time like me." She slid an arm around the girl's shoulders and half-dragged her back out of the room, leaving the darkness and a faint smell of ash behind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Outside, the fence was still quite the obstacle, especially for Mai who happened to be not quite as lean as her young companion. By the time she got through the gap, her jacket was more than a little torn across the chest. As the pair straightened themselves up and Mai made sure that no one had seen them sneaking out of the place so suspiciously, they both failed to notice a darkened car standing across the street, lights off, silent and seemingly unoccupied. The figure therein, obscured from view by only the darkness and the thick black coat about him, or her, reached into one pocket and drew out a small cylindrical object about the size of a normal pen. A thumb pressed one small button on the side of the device and then the figure held it up at face level. "Reporting op nine," said a very low, soft voice in a mild German accent. "Unit alpha, unit beta, initial combat test status..." The figure grinned ominously. "...all is going as predicted."
Back to Mai HiMACE Index - Back to Mai HiME Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction