Subject: [FFML] [fanfic][Patlabor] Patlabor: Personal Files, Episode 09
From: "David A. Tatum" <desaix@sysnet.net>
Date: 7/24/1999, 12:10 AM
To:

I didn't have many changes to make to this one, so I was able to make the
prereaders adjustments in the couple of minutes I had.  Actually, I've been
expecting comments from someone else, but thus far I've sent them the past
2 chapters without recieving response, and they were a new prereader.  So,
Jeane Hedge, have you been getting these?  Or am I sending them to the
wrong\old\etc. address?

Those of you who are interested, there really hasn't been any change in my
Grandmother for a while, now... which is actually a good thing.  She has a
SLIM chance of surviving IF she's able to last to the next scheduled
Chemotherapy treatment (which is still a couple of weeks away).  Here's
hoping...

Anyway, here's the episode...
Patlabor:  Personal Files
An Episodic Patlabor Fanfic by David A. Tatum
Disclaimer:  Insert legal junk here...

Episode 09:  The Curse of the Mechanics

January 14, 2000

Asuma stared up at the ceiling of his dorm room, his face twisted in
frustration.  For the past seven days, he'd tried to sleep on a wet bunk
with water dripping on his face.  Repeated calls to the maintenance squad
had gone unanswered, he could not move the bed because it was bolted down,
he discovered his bed was leaning in such a way to make it impossible for
him to sleep with his head at the other end of the bed, and there were no
more available dorm rooms.  He'd tried stapling some plastic to the
ceiling, but the night after he did that the plastic burst open and all the
water that had been dammed up splashed down and woke him up.  In fact, he'd
barely been able to get any rest over the whole week.  Thankfully, due in
part to a heavy snow storm on the eighth that had temporarily shut down
many of the construction projects that used labors, there hadn't been any
calls in that time.  That wouldn't last, however.

*beep* *beep* *beep* his alarm sounded.  Sighing, he reach over and slammed
it off.  Rolling out of the bunk, he rubbed his eyes tiredly.  Grumbling
inarticulately, he flipped on the light switch.  With a pop, one of the two
fluorescent bulbs that had still been working burned out.

"Dammit!" Asuma cried.  "Is EVERYTHING falling apart around here?"  He
closed his eyes, counted to ten, and opened up his closet to pull out a
uniform.  At least those were undamaged.

He quickly got dressed and left for the maintenance office.

"Ah, Shige, you're here," Asuma said.

Shige looked up from the papers on his desk.  "Oh, boy.  What was it this
time?  Another bulb burned out?"

Asuma nodded.  "And that leak over my bed STILL hasn't been fixed.

Shige frowned as he handed him a set of maintenance request forms.  "That's
weird- I sent out the order for it to be fixed a week ago.  If it hasn't
been repaired by tonight, let me know and I'll come over and fix everything
up personally.  I might do it anyway- it sounds like something's wrong with
the wiring in your room.  It's rare that seven bulbs burn out in a week."

"Thanks, Shige."  Asuma filled out the forms and went on to the office.

When he got there, only Noa was in the room.  She smiled at him and said,
"Good morning, Asuma."

"Morning," he grunted back moodily.

Noa frowned.  That didn't sound good.  "They STILL haven't fixed that leak
over your bunk?"

Asuma yawned, shaking his head.  "No.  And Captain Gotoh still hasn't found
anywhere else for me to sleep.  Shige promised me he'd fix it himself if it
wasn't repaired by tonight, but my bed is going to need to be cleaned and
dried before it'll be a comfortable place to sleep in again."

Noa thought about it for a second.  Looking down shyly, she suggested, "If
you want, we could trade rooms for a while.  You could get a good nights
sleep in my room while I see if I can get anything done about your room."

Asuma thought about it for a second.  He was tempted, but he knew that
would be a rather bad idea- labor pilots needed their sleep more than
command car operators did.  That wasn't why he hesitated, though.

No, he was hesitating because just seven days before, their relationship
had suddenly changed.  With no warning that he could see, either.  Now,
instead of just being really good friends, they were something... more. 
How much more, however, was rather confusing.  They were pretty much acting
towards each other just as they had before, though there was both a
nervousness and a giddiness they both experienced whenever they were
together.  But that was it- they weren't doing any more or any less than
they had before.  They hadn't even kissed yet.

Asuma, however, was thinking of suggesting something a bit more than
kissing.  At that moment, the idea of sharing a bed with Noa entered his
head.  Perhaps if he hadn't been so tired, he would have remembered that it
was a very silly thing to think about- after all, they were trying to keep
their relationship a secret, and it would be very hard to not be noticed as
sleeping in the same room.  Still, he thought about asking her to share a
bed.

And immediately discarded that thought.  It wasn't time yet- they'd just
started 'officially' dating (though as he and Noa had talked about it the
day after she'd confronted him with her desire to advance their
relationship, they'd started to realize they'd been UNofficially dating for
some time), and neither of them were going to be ready for that step for
some time.  Even just sharing a large hotel room alone would make her
uncomfortable, considering her past.  He remembered the time they'd had to
share a room together on an assignment, and how paranoid she'd been.  He
briefly wondered if it was because of that Ouki Hamaki person she'd told
him about.

"No, I don't think that would be a good idea...."  Glancing around to make
sure no-one else was around, he wrapped his arms around her gently and gave
her a very brief squeeze.  "Thanks anyway."

A clicking announced someone turning the doorknob, and suddenly Asuma was
on the other side of the room, sitting at his desk and looking as if he'd
been going over his morning paperwork for several minutes.  Noa, in the
meantime, stood right where she'd been, frozen and blushing slightly when
she realized they'd already almost been caught.

Gotoh stepped in and looked around.  Smirking slightly at Noa's expression,
he turned to Asuma.

"Shinohara!  You've been bugging me for a week for some temporary quarters.
 You still want them?" he asked.

"Are you kidding?" Asuma asked.  "I haven't been able to get a good nights
sleep in a long time!  Of course I do...."

Gotoh nodded.  "Good.  I have an assignment you and Noa can volunteer for,
if you want.  It'll be rather boring, I expect, and I'd usually give this
sort of thing to Takeo, since she's a Lieutenant, but then again we haven't
been doing much around here for the past week anyway and you need somewhere
new to sleep...."

Asuma looked at his captain suspiciously.  "And I assume that the temporary
quarters go along with the assignment.  What is it?"

"Well, our mechanics have been invited to perform a demonstration of labor
maintenance in Yokohama.  We were thinking of sending a team of mechanics,
a labor pilot, a command car operator, and labor 3.  I was thinking with
your bunking problems, you might be willing to go..."

Asuma thought about it for a second.  Getting out of his room for a while
would be... delightful.  But should he answer for Noa, as well, in this
case?  After all, if their relationship was... more than it was before,
should he be speaking for her all the time, like before?  He needed to buy
some time to think about this...

"Is there some reason we're not using Alphonse for this?" he asked.

"Well, Labor 3 is already in pieces- if we were to bring Alphonse along,
the mechanics would have to disassemble him first."

Asuma saw Noa flinch.  "Well, okay.  I agree taking Alphonse apart would be
a bad idea.  Um...."  He looked around for inspiration.  His eyes finally
rested on Noa, who nodded at him.  Did that mean she wouldn't mind going,
or that she'd do whatever he wanted, or what?  Well, he usually made the
decisions for both of them- why would it be any different now?  "How long
would we be gone?"

Gotoh shrugged.  "The conference is three days long.  You'd leave tonight. 
You'd stay through the conference, put the labor through some
high-performance tests after the mechanics are done reassembling it, and
come back the morning of the 18th.  A basic milk-run."

Asuma glanced once more at Noa to make sure he wasn't doing anything she
didn't want done, and nodded.  "Okay, one trip to Yokohama it is.  But make
sure Shige fixes that leak above my bunk, and for Noa... get someone to
keep Alphonse nice and polished while we're gone."  He looked at her. 
"Okay with you?"

Noa did a quick doubletake.  Asuma was asking if it was okay with her?  She
couldn't remember a time he'd ever actually asked her that before.  In
fact, she couldn't remember a time he'd ever let her make ANY decision
before- not even what to eat.  Perhaps he was being more considerate
because they were now more than just friends, and perhaps THAT meant he was
going to really try to take their relationship ser-

"Why are you blushing, Izumi?" Gotoh asked.

"Uh, um... no reason, sir.  I don't usually like leaving Alphonse, but if
someone makes sure to polish him every day, I won't mind."

Gotoh nodded.  "Good.  Head to Chief Sakaki's office- he'll give you
details about where it is and who you need to take.  Hiromi will also
likely be coming along, but I still have to talk to him."

"Yes, sir!" they both said, saluting, before nearly bolting out the door.

Gotoh's face cracked into a sly smile after they left.  "Oh, so THAT'S what
they talked about..."

*	*	*	*	*

Noa reached out and touched the small cloud of mist formed from her breath.
 "Cold here in the command car."  Usually, she rode with Hiromi in the
labor transport, but since there was no actual labor she might need to get
into this time, she didn't need to be up in it and could choose whether to
take the car or the truck.  Obviously, she chose the car- Hiromi was nice
and all, but she'd much rather spend her time with Asuma- at least until
she saw if this relationship would work out.  Right now, though, she was
wondering if it was worth it.  "Does it usually take this long to heat up?"

Asuma shook his head.  "I think I got some sort of curse or something. 
First, everything starts going wrong in my dorm room.  Now, the heater is
malfunctioning in my car.  What next?"

Noa hesitantly reached up and squeezed his shoulder.  "Relax- everything
will be fine by the time we get back.  It's just a coincidence."

Asuma spared a second to smile at her reassuringly.  "I'm okay, but this is
starting to get ridiculous.  I just hope it isn't some sort of divine
punishment for falling for you."  Suddenly, he realized what he said.  "Er,
I didn't mean that."

Noa tensed for a moment.  It sort of made sense- all the incidents started
after she'd told him she wanted a deeper relationship, and they'd both seen
enough weird things to believe that there might not be some sort of divine
being out there.  Still, what was so wrong with their maybe feeling
something for each other?  Surely it couldn't be that... still, she felt it
important to reassure him.

"Didn't mean what?" she said.  "That you fell for me?  Or that this
situation with your equipment failing is getting ridiculous?"

He didn't say anything for a second.  "No, I was saying that I didn't mean
I was being punished by god for seeing you.  But even if I was, I wouldn't
let it stop me."

"Asuma!" Noa gasped happily.

He shifted uncomfortably.  None of what he was saying felt natural.  He
meant it, but it didn't feel natural- it wasn't the sort of thing he would
say.  He might grow into it after a while, but he still didn't feel
comfortable saying any of it.  He wasn't one to show his deeper feelings
through his words, but rather through his actions.

Noa trembled slightly from the cold, and Asuma noticed.  Once they reached
a stoplight, he removed his jacket and, without word, handed it to her.

"Take it," he said.  "As tired as I am, it's probably better for me that
it's cold, since I'm driving."

Noa looked at him gratefully, and snugged the jacket on.  Asuma smiled
slightly.

'Now THAT'S more my style,' he thought to himself.

*	*	*	*	*

Shige flipped on the switch for the light in Asuma's room.  The fluorescent
light came on- and then immediately burned out.

"Huh... looks like a really BAD electrical problem.  Odd that it's centered
on this one room, though....  I should probably go and turn off the fuse,
and then grab a flashlight to check it out."  Flipping off the switch, he
turned and ran back to his room to get some electrical gloves.

A fellow engineer intercepted him on the way.

"Shige," he said.  "Come quick!  Officer Ohta was training to get used to
the Type 96's, and the labor he was in malfunctioned and froze up on him. 
We've gotta get it started again so he can get the door open!"

Shige sighed.  "This can wait... at least Asuma's not gonna be needing that
room for a couple of days."  With that, he ran off to help Ohta.

*	*	*	*	*

"Do you want rollaway beds or futons?" the hotel clerk asked.  It was a
western-style hotel, and a rather elegant one at that.  Most of the
mechanics from the SV2 were impressed- it was the best hotel many of them
had ever stayed in.  As a matter of fact, it was the only hotel in the area
that was equipped to handle a convention of the size of the one they were
attending.

Asuma blinked.  "Excuse me?"

"Well, you have three rooms for eleven people.  We only have two beds in
each room, so five of your party's people are going to need to sleep on
either rollaways or futons."

Asuma looked behind him to Noa, Hiromi, and the gathered mechanics.  All of
them shrugged.  "Um, I guess we'll take futons."

The hotel clerk nodded, and typed a few things into her computer.  "Very
good, sir.  Here are your room keys- two for each room.  Rooms 516 and 517
are connected, room 526 is across the hall from them."

Asuma took the six plastic cards that were shoved into his hand, and turned
around.

"Um... okay, I guess you guys will take the two connected rooms," he
proposed to the mechanics, handing them four of the keys.  "Noa, Hiromi and
I will take room 526."

"Uh, right," one of the mechanics said.  "Good plan!  Come on, guys, let's
go find our rooms!"  With that, they ran off towards the nearest elevator,
leaving Asuma, Noa, and Hiromi in their dust.

"They seemed to really like those rooming arrangements," Hiromi pondered,
grabbing all of his bags and some of Noa's.

Asuma thought about it for a second.  "Probably need to use the bathroom
badly," he suggested crassly.  "So what are we supposed to do here while
we're waiting for them to need us?"

"I think we're not supposed to do anything tonight.  The convention isn't
supposed to start until tomorrow," Noa said, picking up some of her bags.

Asuma sighed, put his own bag around his shoulder, and started leading them
towards the elevator.  "Yeah, okay... but what are we supposed to do
tomorrow, while the convention is underway?"

"Well, we could try and see what the convention has to offer," Noa offered.
 "Chief Sakaki allowed me to learn a few of the basics about mechanics, and
you always seem to know the details of the latest advances in labor
design..."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?  I don't seem to be having the best of
luck with the sorts of things this convention deals with lately."

Noa giggled happily and hugged Asuma's free arm to her.  He stiffened- not
only were they in public, but Hiromi, one of their fellow officers with the
SV2, was watching.  Didn't she realize that they might get caught if she
were to do something like that?

"Ah, are you afraid of the big nasty tools and motors?" she cooed.  "Don't
worry, I'll protect you."

"Gah!" Asuma cried, retreating from her grasp.  "No, I'm not afraid of the
tools.  Sheesh!"  She pouted up at him.  "Okay, okay," he relented.  "We'll
look around the show tomorrow- but we might as well do something else while
we're here, too.  We basically have the day off- we could go to the movies
or something."

That time, it was Noa who stiffened.  She hadn't even thought of the
possibility of going out on a date- their first 'real' date, even.  "Um...
YEAH!  Let's go to a movie tomorrow night.  Any suggestions?"

Asuma thought about it for a second.  Noa usually liked mecha movies- she'd
gone ga-ga over the Nadesico movie they'd seen a while back- however, he
couldn't think of any movies of that sort that they hadn't seen before.  He
considered the options.

They could go see a horror movie.  Horror movies were generally considered
good date movies because, at scary moments, girls would (in theory) grab
hold of their date to 'protect' them.  He didn't particularly like horror
movies, himself, however- he'd seen enough horror in his life- and he
doubted Noa would like them, either.

They could go see a romance movie.  He didn't know about Noa, but most
women loved those mushy stories about a boy and a girl falling for each
other.  The problem with that was that he would probably fall asleep before
the end, and that probably wouldn't be a good thing.

They could go to an action movie- both of them would probably like that. 
However, action movies weren't exactly date movies.  If they were going to
think of this as a date, they should try something else.

Which only left comedies.  A comedy might be good- getting a girl laughing
would be a good thing on a date, provided the girl is not laughing AT her
date.  They'd both be able to enjoy it, at least.

"We should check the movie listings tonight to see what's playing
tomorrow," he suggested, "But how about we try and find a comedy to go to? 
And maybe go out to dinner before that?"

Noa smiled.  "That sounds like a good idea- lets go dump this stuff we're
carrying in our room and go see if we can find a newspaper!"

Hiromi, quietly following them, smiled slightly.  Everyone seemed to forget
about him when he wasn't needed- which was fine with him.  It allowed him
to get insights into his friends that he otherwise wouldn't get.  It had
actually surprised him when Shinohara seemed to be concerned about his
presence when Izumi had hugged his arm.

Right now, he felt a little like a proud father- Izumi and Shinohara had
worked out their differences (thanks, in part, to his advice- he thought),
and it now sounded like they were going out on another date.  Considering
what he'd overheard them talking about last week, this was probably a REAL
date for them.  He sincerely hoped nothing would go wrong.

*	*	*	*	*

A council of mechanics had gathered together in room 516, and started
discussing their plans.

"Are you certain we haven't done enough?" one of them said.

"NO!" the other seven growled.  "Asuma must pay for having yelled at the
beautiful and cute Natsume Kawai, and being cruel to all women everywhere! 
So have we vowed!"

"Well, of course he does," the first one said, trying to sound reasonable. 
"But, well, we've already made it nearly impossible to sleep for a week, we
thrust him into darkness, and we have taken away the creature comforts of
the command car."

"That's not enough!" a different mechanic said.  "We must make him suffer
more!"

"Yes, more!" another one agreed.  "He's escaped his punishment by coming
with us to his convention, so we must add on to them!  Double the load we
had originally intended!"

"No, triple it!"

"Make his life a living hell!"

"And we do it all for the beloved Natsume Kawai!" they all, including the
one dissenter (caught up in the moment), chorused.

"So, let's get down to making plans..."

*	*	*	*	*

January 15, 2000

"See?" Noa said as they approached their room.  She was following Asuma,
who held a bag full of papers, pens, pins, business cards, and other sample
items collected from the convention tables.  "I told you that it wouldn't
be that bad.  You haven't been dripped on, frozen, or sent into the dark
all day, have you?"

He smiled slightly, digging through his pockets for their keycard.  "No, I
guess I haven't.  Let's drop this stuff off and freshen up before we head
out- do you want to use the bathroom first or should I?"

"You use it first- I need a couple of minutes to pick something to wear."

Asuma sighed slightly as he pulled out the key.  They were dressed fine-
neither of them were in uniform, and he was dressed up pretty decently. 
She'd look good in anything, but that blouse and pants set fit her very
well.  Why did women always have to spend so much time trying to decide
what to-

"Aagh!" he screamed immediately after grabbing the door handle, stumbling
backwards.

"Asuma!" Noa cried, reaching out to steady him.  "What's wrong?!"

Asuma shook his head, trying to clear it.  "I got shocked- and not just
like a static spark, either- it felt like I was caught by Alphonse's
electromagnetic baton."

Across the hall, a door opened up.  A group of the SV2's mechanics ran out
the door.

"We heard a shout," one of them said.  "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah," Asuma said.  "Something's wrong with my door handle- it nearly
electrocuted me when I tried to open it."

"Really?" another mechanic, this one an electronics expert, said.  "Let me
take a look at it- maybe I can figure out what's wrong with it."

"Be my guest," Asuma offered, gesturing to the offending door latch.

"My tools," the electrician said.  Immediately, a toolbox was placed in his
hands.  Donning some rubber gloves, he pulled out a screw driver and neatly
popped the case off the electronic lock.  "Looks like a short in the
electronic lock that's being conducted through the metal of the door knob
somehow- I'll be able to fix it in a couple of hours."

"Hours?" Noa cried.

"'Fraid so."

"Then can Asuma and I use your bathroom to freshen up?  We were planning to
go out tonight, and I'm not letting this stop us!" she cried, determination
written in her face.

"Uh..."  The engineers looked at each other as if to ask a question of
everyone.  Finally, one of them spoke up.  "I don't think there's a problem
with that, no."

One engineer led them into the room while the other four that were gathered
huddled around outside.

"I didn't know they were planning on a date tonight!" one of them said in a
hushed tone.  "I certainly didn't mean to inconvenience Noa."

"I say it's all right to inconvenience her a little, this time.  We have to
get her out of the grasp of the dreaded Shinohara!  She has such a fine
appreciation of labor mechanics that she deserves someone better than him."

"What are you suggesting?" the others whispered.

"Isn't it obvious?" he said.  "We must ruin this date- make it go so badly
that they'll break up with each other, and she'll finally be free of him!"

"I don't know..." one of them, the dissenter from the previous night, said
hesitantly.  "I mean, if we do that, it might hurt Noa, and then would we
be any better than Asuma?"

"We aren't trying to hurt her- it's tough love!"

"But-"

"Look, if it bothers you that much, than stay here- but the rest of us are
going to be working on ridding the world of that enemy to women
everywhere!"

The dissenter stared at him, wide-eyed.  'Ridding the world?  How far does
this guy plan on taking all of this?'

*	*	*	*	*

Shige studied the pipes over Asuma's bed in shock.  Sure, it was weird that
all of the fluorescent bulbs in the room were incompatible with the slots
they were put in, causing them to burn out quickly, but that might have
been a mistake made on the requisitioning forms.  This, however, was
obvious vandalism.

There was a very small hole drilled into the plumbing, and around that hole
a piece of towel had been fastened.  The result was a very slow leak onto
Asuma's bed, with no apparent loss of water pressure.

But why would someone want to do THAT?  Confused, Shige proceeded to patch
the hole.  He'd have to ask someone about that later, but the first
priority was to stop the leak before it got worse...

*	*	*	*	*

Noa frowned at Asuma.  He didn't seem to be paying attention to her, and
had seemed awfully listless when he was ordering his food.  She wondered if
he was distracted by something or just bored.  If he was distracted by
something, though, it was her job to find out what and see if she could
help, and if he was just bored... well, it was STILL her job to try and
help.  That was what a girlfriend did, right?

"Asuma, what's wrong?" she asked, biting back the fear that she just wasn't
interesting enough for him.

"Huh?  Oh, sorry- I was just thinking about that short in the door, and all
these other things that have been happening to me."

Noa sighed- that was his 'I'm coming up with a plan' voice.  The last time
she'd heard him use it, he wound up leaving her stranded at a pizza place-
after having left behind the pizza.  True, that WAS a pretty serious
situation- the virus in the Hyper Operating System could easily have caused
an army of labors to wipe out Tokyo.  Still, she'd been rather annoyed at
that.

As she was watching, however, he visibly dropped that mindset.  "I'm sorry-
I shouldn't be thinking about things like that right now, should I?  I
should be thinking about you."

It still seemed obviously strained, however.  "Are you sure you want to?"
Noa asked.  "It sounds like you'd rather think about your problems than
me."

"Huh?"

"I can hear it in your voice.  And not just now- every time you say
something nice to me, it sounds so forced, and you shied away when I tried
to hug you by the elevators yesterday..."  Small tears started to form in
Noa's eyes.  This wasn't at all how she pictured it- she'd thought Asuma
liked her and cared about her, and so trying to build their relationship
would make him happy, but instead it seemed as if he was treating it all as
some unwelcome obligation.  "Maybe... maybe this just isn't going to work
out, and we should go back to being 'just friends' before we carry things
too far... I mean, this is just our first real date, so we shouldn't have
too much trouble forgetting I ever said anything about us..."

Asuma panicked.  He wanted this new relationship to work out- it was
perhaps the best thing he had going for him- but because he felt awkward
trying to talk to Noa about it, he was about to lose it.  He had to say
something.

"Noa, I..." He hesitated.  How could he repair the damage done?  How could
they start over?  Suddenly, those two words clicked in his head- start
over.  "I'm going to say some things- they might hurt, but I hope when I'm
done saying them you and I will feel better, because right now I think
we're BOTH pretty miserable."

Noa sniffed.  This was it- he was going to tell her once and for all it was
impossible, and break up with her.  Such a silly thing, thinking she might
actually have been able to get someone she cared about like Asuma to ever
feel anything for her...

"Maybe you're partly right.  Maybe this relationship isn't going to work
out," Asuma said.

Noa gasped.  This was it.  Her worst nightmare, coming true...

"But I don't think we can go back to being 'just friends.'"

No, it was WORSE than her worst nightmare.  She was even going to lose his
friendship.

"See, Noa, I've sort of liked you 'that way' for quite some time- almost
ever since I saw you when you were trying to find the Labor Aptitude Test
nearly a year ago, now- and now that I've found out that you maybe share a
little bit of that feeling too, I don't want to just set it aside and stamp
it down, any more."

Eh?  What was that?

"But, see, the problem is I don't know how to treat you now that I know you
like me.  I don't know how to give you compliments, even if I feel you
deserve them and believe them.  I really think that you are more worth
thinking about and talking about than any stupid problems I'm having, but I
just have so much trouble actually SAYING something like that it feels
forced."

"Asuma," Noa marveled.  He wasn't breaking up with her... but what WAS he
doing?

"I've been trying to make you happy, even if it means saying things that I
feel real uncomfortable saying.  But... I'm not going to do that any more."
 He looked at Noa.  "I may insult or tease you a bit, and not treat you
right, but that's just who I am.  If you can take that and still want to be
my... well, I guess girlfriend is the best word- if you can take that, then
maybe this relationship will work out."

Noa thought about that.  Well, she really hadn't seen THAT much change in
him the past week, outside of his being nervous.  And more polite.  And
he'd been asking for her input on certain decisions that affected them
which he'd usually just make on his own.  Okay, maybe he had been trying to
change.

But she didn't ask him to make any of those changes.  She kind of liked it
when he was bossy at times- it almost felt like a game, and she never was
one to ask for compliments to be showered down upon her.  The changes were
things he'd decided to do himself.  While they might have been a pleasant
surprise, she didn't really need them- so, of course, there was no decision
to make.

"Asuma, I asked if we could try this out knowing that you've been a jerk to
me in the past, and I fully expect you to be one to me sometimes even
though we go out on real dates and things.  So of course I can accept it,"
she said.  Asuma looked relieved, until a teasingly devilish smile appeared
on Noa's face- a smile which he hadn't seen very often before.  Well, he
had, but it was when she was teasing him about HIS toothaches after all the
teasing he had done over hers, and so he really hadn't bothered to memorize
it.  "So, if you liked me all this time, why haven't you done anything
about it until now?"

Asuma blinked.  "You know, my father asked me the same thing- if I liked
you, why weren't we going out.  I couldn't really get an answer for him,
except for the stupid laws about people in the same police division not
dating."  He chuckled.  "He said he didn't think I'd let that stop me- and
it didn't."

Now Noa really was curious- she'd just been teasing before.  "Well, what
DID stop you?"

'Just don't mention Alphonse,' a tiny part of his brain warned.  "I don't
really know," he said.  "Maybe because-"

Thankfully, he didn't have to come up with an answer as their waiter came
up to them in that moment.

"I'm terribly sorry, sir," the waiter said.  "But we can't fill your order
today.  For some reason, the gas has been turned off and so we are unable
to cook any food until the gas company has sent someone to check it out. 
We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience, and any drinks you have
ordered are complimentary."

Asuma's eye twitched.  "The gas is out?"  The waiter nodded.  "Figures. 
Okay, thank you."  The waiter turned and left.

Noa pouted.  "Now what are we going to do about dinner?"

Asuma checked his watch and sighed.  "Well, we don't have time to go
anywhere else- we'll just finish our drinks and see if we can find
somewhere to eat after the movie."

Noa smiled slightly.  "Sounds good.  Oh, and Asuma?"

"Yeah, Noa?"

"You aren't the only person who doesn't know why they waited this long..."

*	*	*	*	*

Chief Sakaki inspected the pipes as Shige babbled on about the stuff he
could see for himself.  Someone in the SV2 was a saboteur- and, in this
case, it looked like a practical joker going too far.  After shutting down
the water to the pipe, he inspected the holes put into it.

Precision drilling with top-of-the-line tools, measured out perfectly to
keep the water from flowing too fast yet let it flow enough to cause a
steady drip.  Centered directly over Asuma's pillow- obviously, the person
who did this was a mechanic.  One of HIS mechanics.

"Shige," he said, interrupting his apprentice.  "Tell me- do you know if
Asuma has done anything that anyone might have taken offense at, lately?"

Shige frowned.  "Well, last week he snapped at Ms. Kawai, but he later
apologized to her and she told me she totally understood what was wrong
after he'd talked to Noa.  It couldn't be her."

Sakaki nodded.  Of course it wouldn't be Kawai- he already knew it was a
mechanic.  But if one of the mechanics thought it would put them in her
good graces...

"Hmm... let everyone know I want to see them one at a time in my office for
questioning.  I'm going to go talk to Gotoh about something."

*	*	*	*	*

Noa laughed along with the audience at a particularly funny moment in the
movie.

"This movie was a good idea- it helps balance out all the seriousness at
the restaurant," she whispered to Asuma, leaning up against him.

Asuma stuck a hand behind her head, giving her a gentle one-armed hug. 
"Well, it wasn't exactly PLANNED that way, but you're right- it does."

Noa looked at his hand wrapped around her.  "Hmm... you sure you aren't
pushing yourself right now?"

Asuma shook his head.  "Nah- it feels too natural."

Any further conversation, however, was ruined when the sprinkler system
went off, causing cries of outrage and panic to sound out from around the
theater.

"Aagh!"

"What's going on?!"

"I knew I shouldn't have worn this white blouse!"

Many people started scrambling for the doorways while the water continued
to rain down on the theater.

Noa, with Asuma bent over her and using his body to help shield her from
the downpour, sighed.  "I guess your problem is getting worse.  Maybe I
shouldn't have tried to get you to think of me when we were at the
restaurant, and just let you figure out what's wrong."

"Oh, I have a few ideas... but let's not worry about that right now.  Let's
concentrate on getting out of here."  He sighed.  "Sorry our date got
ruined."

Noa thought about it.  They'd gotten over some issues they had to deal
with, she'd had a fun time with the part of the movie she'd seen (and it
was silly enough she didn't care about missing the end of it), and now here
she was, with Asuma holding her while trying to protect her from the fire
sprinklers.

"Actually, Asuma," she said, "It might not have gone perfectly, but it
wasn't that bad."

*	*	*	*	*

January 16, 2000

Things had gone rather uneventfully since the end of the date.  Dinner, of
course, was out of the question- there clothes had been soaked through, and
by the time they got into their room and changed all the restaurants had
been closed.

As had happened on the night they had arrived, Hiromi spent the night of
the 15th in the same room as Noa and Asuma, and most of his waking time
with them as they went through some parts of the convention they had missed
before, as well.  The 16th was much the same... At least, he did until
getting a phone call at about noon- after that phone call, he started
hanging around the engineers all the time.

And that lead to the current situation.  He hadn't returned for the night-
in fact, he'd left a note saying that he wasn't going to be back until the
next morning.  And that meant that Noa and Asuma would have to sleep alone
together in the same room that night, without the comforting presence of
Hiromi to chaperone them.

It was, to say the least, a fairly uncomfortable situation.

"Well... it's not like we haven't done this before," Noa said hopefully,
trying to stretch her sleeping robe to cover more of her.  "I mean,
remember the time we spend the night at that little inn in Sakata?"

Asuma glared at her.  "Yeah- you hit me."

"Hey!  You were trying to steal Captain Gotoh's hatahata!"

"I just wanted a midnight snack!  I would  have replaced what I ate!"

"Well, I was nervous!"

Asuma sighed.  "And are you nervous now?"

"Well... a little.  But I trust you more, now- I don't think I'll be
hitting you this time unless you do something weird."

"Well, that's comforting," Asuma said, peeling back the covers of his bed.

Noa chuckled.  He looked kinda cute when he was annoyed like that.  In
fact, it reminded her of something.

"Say, Asuma, there's something I want to do before we go to bed, and I'll
need your help for it," Noa said, getting one of her determined looked on
her face.

Asuma look up.  "Yeah?  Ulmph!"

Reaching up, Noa grabbed him, pulled him down, and gave him a rather deep
kiss full on the lips, her hands running into his hair.  After a few
seconds, Asuma's arms came around her, and he started returning the kiss.

Shortly after that, Noa released him and the kiss.  "About time- I've been
waiting for a chance to try that," she said.  "This was the first time
we've been alone and haven't had to worry about someone bursting in on us
in a while.  So, how did you like our first kiss?"

"Wow.  Um, I... uh... just-"

Asuma stopped when Noa put a finger over his lips.  "Shh- don't try and
force anything.  I can tell how you feel now."

With that, she just smiled at him and then crawled into her bed. 
"Goodnight, Asuma."  She flipped off the light switch.

It was several more minutes before Asuma moved again.

*	*	*	*	*

January 18, 2000

The mechanic's demonstration on the 17th had gone off without a hitch, and
Noa's performance was flawless.  Hiromi once again left Asuma and Noa
alone, but after having gone through it once they didn't have a problem
with it anymore.  And Noa once again was able to kiss Asuma goodnight
again.  This time, however, she wasn't able to surprise him with it.

The biggest surprise was that Asuma hadn't had any problems since that date
night.  Now, however, it was time to go home, and he knew he'd have to deal
with a particular problem that hadn't been fixed.

"Hey, Noa?" he called, packing the trunk of the command car with their
bags.

"Yeah, Asuma?" she said, coming up from having piloted the third labor into
the carrier.

"Why don't you ride back with Hiromi?  The heater is still busted, and
there's no reason we should both suffer..."

"You sure you don't want me in there with you?" she said.

Asuma chuckled.  "Of course I do, but you should just go with Hiromi, so I
won't have to worry about you...."

"Worry about me?"

"Well, if I think you're going to get cold, I'll feel too guilty and have
to give you my jacket or something else which will make ME get cold.  So,
it's better for both of us if you go with Hiromi."

Noa sighed.  "Oh, well.  I'll see you when we get back home."

Asuma chuckled and ruffled Noa's hair playfully.  "Hey, we aren't really
going to be separated by that much, and we're just driving back to work,
anyway.  Don't act like we're going on separate vacations or something."

Noa shrugged.  "It's just that this weekend was so nice since we didn't
have to hide so much, and it feels like we're going to be... trapped... for
quite a while, so I just... I don't know, I just feel like I'm not going to
be really seeing you for a while."

"Okay, if that's how you feel..." He reached over, grabbed her, and not
caring if anyone saw him gave her a quick but intense kiss.  "We have to
hide it when we're on the base, but that doesn't mean we can't still act
how we feel occasionally.  We just have to be careful about it.  To prove
it to you, I promise to give you one of those within a day of getting
back."

Noa staggered back a little.  That was their first kiss that was even
remotely close to being public (though it was highly unlikely anyone saw
it), and it affected her a little.  Perhaps the thrill of avoiding capture
would add something to it, instead of just making it more difficult to
relax...

"Well, then, we'd better start hurrying back, huh?"  With that, she darted
back to the labor transport and hopped on board.

Shaking his head, a smile on his face, he stepped into his car.  'Oh,
well... hopefully, the mechanics haven't done anything ELSE to the car
while we were here.  I guess Sakaki found out and they got Hiromi to keep
an eye on them the past few days, but one might have slipped by him... ah,
well.  We'll see.'

*	*	*	*	*

Asuma had been driving for about a half hour, but had only just gotten out
of Yokohama.  Once he did, however, the road in front of him was finally
clear.  Once he reached a long, straight piece of road- a bridge- he
accelerated.

The labor carrier wasn't too far behind him, and the van carrying the
members of the maintenance squad wasn't very far behind that.  He wasn't
exactly trying to lose them, but he wanted to get back to SV2 Headquarters
before Noa did so he could find somewhere 'private' where they could be
together without fear, if they wanted.  He had a few ideas, but he had to
make sure they were, well, clean enough for her before he could bring her
to them.

Suddenly, the back of his seat gave out.  Too startled to think about what
he was doing, his hands left the wheel and his legs came kicking up-
knocking the wheel to the right.

In the labor transport behind him, Noa saw Asuma's car swerve off the
bridge.

"Noooooo!  Asuma!"

The command car teetered off the bridge, but didn't fall.  However, it was
hanging delicately from the side, and there was no way it could stay there
for long.

"Oh, no..." Noa said.  "Asuma..."  Her face took on that determined look. 
"Hiromi!  Help me get the labor ready!"

*	*	*	*	*

"Asuma, are you all right?!  Asuma!"

"Noa?" Asuma muttered.  He was lying in his car, strapped into his broken
seat.  A part of the instrument panel had become dislodged and smashed into
his head, but now it was lying on the dashboard in front of him.  He could
see a little blood on the corner that had hit him.

Noa's voice was now ringing in his ears.  "Asuma?  Can you hear me?"

Shaking his head to try and get the cobwebs out, he turned on the
transmitter for his headset.  "I read you... what the hell happened?"

"You went over a bridge wall... I'm in the labor, but I can't pull you up-
your car is caught on something down there.  Right now, though, I'm at
least able to keep you from falling over the edge.  Hiromi's arranging a
way to get you unhooked..."

Asuma frowned.  "Where are the mechanics?"

"Um, well, see..."

*	*	*	*	*

5 Minutes Earlier

The van with the mechanics drove up just as the labor had reached and
started lifting the command car.  Hiromi, wearing a headset in order to
keep in touch with Noa, was standing there watching.  The van stopped, and
everyone in it got out.

"What's going on?" one of the mechanics said.

"We don't know how it happened," Hiromi said, keeping his eyes on Noa's
work.  "But for some reason his car suddenly spun out of control and nearly
plunged off the bridge.  Noa's trying to pull it up, but it appears to be
caught on something."

Another mechanic glared at the first one.  "I told you that you were going
too far!  But no, you said UMPH!"

Three other mechanics pounced on him.  "What are you doing, man?!  You WANT
to get us all thrown out?"

They wrestled for a few seconds until one of them looked over at the
wreckage.  Asuma's car was now securely held with no danger of falling the
rest of the way into the water below, but the labor holding it was staring
at the group of mechanics in such a way that the observer was wondering if
he and the others had added enough enhancements into it to allow it to
display the pilot's emotions, as well.  At any rate, he definitely felt the
labor glaring at them angrily.

Hiromi had also frozen.  It wasn't until he had turned around, and an anger
that no-one had ever seen on that face before was plainly visible.

"Um... what, exactly, did you do to Asuma?" he said through gritted teeth.

That's right.  The gentle giant was REALLY mad.

"Um... well, it was just supposed to be a little joke, that's all..."

Hiromi's hands visibly clenched up into fists, and that was all that was
needed.  In a matter of seconds, the entire story came out- how Asuma
insulting Natsume had lead to the mechanics declaring war on him, and how
this was the latest of a number of tricks they were trying to pull on him.

"It was just supposed to make it uncomfortable for him to sit, not cause an
accident!" the panicked leader was saying.

"Well," Hiromi said menacingly.  "You people are going to do something
about it- like put together a winch to help us safely get the car off of
whatever's caught it.  And next time, before taking vengeance on someone
for saying something stupid, you should find out WHY he said it- as it
happens, Asuma was going to deal with some serious family problems, and he
apologized to Ms. Kawai later.  But did you bother to find any of that out?
 No- and another thing, damaging the pipes at SV2 Headquarters is serious-
now, the maintenance dorms aren't going to be getting hot water for several
days while the pipes in Asuma's room get replaced, and..."

*	*	*	*	*

Back in the present...

"...and he went on like that, listing everything that had happened- they
even tried to ruin our date because they thought you were going to mistreat
me!"

By this point in her story, they had already recovered the car, and were in
an ambulance on the way to the hospital so they could get his head injury
looked at.  There had been several interruptions, of course, as the winches
were put to use and the ambulance arrived, but finally she had reached the
end of the story.

"Huh," Asuma said.  "I figured it was probably the mechanics- or at least A
mechanic- but I didn't know why.  I don't even remember what I did to
Natsume, too..."

Noa sighed, dabbing at his cut with a wet cloth as she'd been instructed to
by the paramedics.  "It certainly wasn't enough to justify this."

Asuma chuckled.  "Don't let it change how you feel about the maintenance
squad- everyone there treats us pretty good.  They just over-react to some
things, and sometimes take things too far.  It's part of who they are..." 
Shaking his head, he continued, "I can't even imagine what Chief Sakaki's
going to do when he finds out..."

*	*	*	*	*

The mechanic who had been the one dissenter in the group swam over to their
former leader.

"I told you we'd taken things far enough- if it weren't for you overdoing
it, no-one would have found out."

"Ya know," the former leader said absently, totally ignoring the comment. 
"I never really realized that he was serious when he said he would throw us
into the sea... I guess I was wrong."

-------------------------
Next Episode:  With a period of unseasonable warmth, two mighty forces
decide to do battle on the field of softball.  Will Ohta stop throwing
fastballs?  Will Gotoh actually take an at-bat?  Will the game EVER end? 
Find out in Episode 10...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
                     desaix@sysnet.net
    http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872
                           fanfics available at 
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