As written above, this is NOT yaoi.  It's a story written from a mother's
point of view.  What kind of mother?  Certainly not any ordinary mother,
it's a bit dark.  Constructive C & C is welcome.  Have fun reading.

Shuichi Minamino
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A MATTER OF TIME


	"Mom!!  Look at me!  Look!!!"

	I look up from my book upon hearing that voice, the voice of my youngest
child.  He's smiling, his eyes sparkling with excitement as I walk toward him.  

	"Mom, look!  Don't I look like one of those cool people in the shows?
Huh??" He points something at the wall before him, I recognize what it is
and snatch it away from him.  His innocent green eyes look at me with a
puzzled expression as I do so.  And before I can stop myself, I've slapped
him hard across the face.

	"Don't you dare!!" I find myself screaming at him. "Don't you fucking dare
playing with a gun again!!  You hear me?"

	For a moment he just stares at me, tears in his eyes.  Then with a whisper,
he apologizes, "I'm sorry mom...I'm sorry."

	When I do not answer, he excuses himself and goes to his room.  I look at
the gun, turning it about in my hands as I try to sort out my feelings.  Ten
years already.  Eleven years since I've had my first child; twelve years
since my escape from those people; two years since my husband's death.
Funny how time flies when everything is so peaceful.  My eldest daughter is
now eleven, my second son is nine while my youngest...my favorite, is
already eight.

	My youngest child is the one I worry about the most.  He's the type they'll
want.  He's bright, way smarter than many other children his age, a fast
learner, and curious about mechanical things.  Those are what they look for
in a future assassin.  I know that, because I was once like my child.

	He's like me, in many ways.  He has my hair, my eyes, and my smile; but not
my personality.  I can kill anyone without remorse, I can be cruel and
ruthless, and I can be as cold and hard as steel.  Sometimes, I wonder if I
really have any kind of feeling toward my children as a mother should have.

	The sound of a car door slamming catches my attention suddenly.  It's the
sound that it makes that alerts me.  It doesn't sound right, it sounded as
if someone's trying to slam the car door casually but yet failed to do so.
Then there's the footstep...it's not right.  An alarm goes off in my head as
I hear a click.  It's them!

	"Ellie! Derik!!" I call them in a low voice, I place my finger on my lips
to tell them to be quiet.  "I want you two to go down to the basement
quietly and don't talk!  No matter what, don't talk and don't make any
noise.  Got it?"

	"But what about..." Derik starts to talk but I give him such a glare that
he immediately shuts up.

	"Go to the basement right now," I order them.  I close the door behind them
and slide the cupboard to hide the door, and that's when I realize that my
youngest son is still upstairs.  I curse myself for being so careless, what
kind of a mother would forget something this important?  But I know that I'm
not fit to be a mother, I'm an assassin who had escaped from her supervisors
and who had selfishly decided to have children and thus bringing her whole
family into danger.  I bite my lips as I take out my gun.  It's too late to
call my son down now.  I just hope that my son doesn't come downstairs in
the next ten minutes.

	I keep my eyes fix on the door as I wait quietly.  Then suddenly, I am
flung backward into the wall as an explosion on my right blow a hole through
the wall.  I roll onto my side, gasping and feeling the blood trickling from
the side of my head, staining my blond hair with trickles of red.  Fuck!
Those bastards have caught me off guard again.  My skills definitely need
some brushing up.

	The intruder says nothing as he approaches me.  He doesn't know where I am
but he knows I'm here.  Bad choice for him to come alone.  It is then I feel
someone looming over me.  Shit!  There are two of them!  I see his gun and
he fires before I can move away.  The bullet hit me on my side, I gasp in
pain as I feel it piercing through my left shoulder.  I can feel my warm
blood flowing out from the open wound, staining my white blouse and the
white tile floor.  

	I return fire on my first attacker and turn around in time to fire at the
second one.  One of them has been hit but is still alive.  Usually it's no
trouble for me to take down several of them at once, but with this bullet
wound on my side, I'm moving slower than than I should be.  I kick at one of
the men and he drops his gun in the process.  I hit him hard across the jaw
and kick him again in the stomach. The man drops to the ground in pain as I
do so.  I give him a good kick on the side of the head to daze him before
grabbing his hair and yank his head up.

	"All right fucker," I hiss at him. "did they send you?  What do those sons
of bitches want of me?!  Speak you bastard!"  I glance at the direction of
the second man and to my dismay, he has disappeared.  I turn around,
dragging the wounded man with me to use him as a shield but still find no
sight of the other.

	"What a surprise," says a voice on my right.  "Quicksilver is actually a
woman.  A mother for that matter."  I turn my head and sees the other man
but to my horror, he has my youngest son with him.  

	"Let him go," I say coldly.  "it's me you wanted, isn't it?  Let him go or
your partner here is gonna get his sorry brains blown out."

	"I don't care about him," the man replies as he points the gun toward his
partner.  I shove the wounded man toward him, as he fires.  The first bullet
has killed the wounded man while I feel the second bullet whizzing past me
and the third grazing my shoulder.  I return fire at the man, knowing quite
well that a flinch or a miss on my part can cost my son's life.

	The man seems stunned for a moment, as if he can't quite believe that I've
hit my mark.  Then he with a hoarse scream, he collapses.  I drop my gun and
stay in my spot, trying to catch my breath as I stare at my son.  His big
green eyes are full of fear as he stares back at me, as if unable to
understand what has just happened.  Then with a cry he runs toward me and
flings his arms around my waist.  I look down and stroke his hair, ignoring
the pain from my bullet wounds.

	"I'm fine.  Let's get Ellie and Derik," I say softly to him as I move
toward the cupboard and starts to move it out of the way.  The cupboard
seems heavier than I last remembered as I push against it, unaware of the
fact that there is someone near me.  I turn my head in alarm when I hear a
click and see that one of the men is still alive.  He has his gun pointed at
me at point blank range.  Shit!  I curse myself again for being so careless.
What's the matter with me?  Domestication has made me careless.  I hated
myself then, I can't die now.  What will my children do without me?  That
man will take them away and turn them into killers like him and me.  I can't
let it happen!

	I glare at him as he points the gun at me, his eyes mad.  I'm so angry but
yet so helpless.  Any move I make will cause him to fire, and I know that
this time he's going straight for the heart.

	"You were so famous among us, Quicksilver," he says.  "I'm so honored that
I'll be the one to kill you finally.  Have you told your children who you
are?  Have you told them how you've killed others, others like them, others
like-"  But before he can finish, I hear a gunshot.  I can see the man's
surprised look as he stumbles on to the ground, dead.  There behind him,
stands my eight-year-old son, the gun in his hand.  He's trembling.

	"Mom...I'm sorry...I'm... so...sorry..." he sobs as he drops the gun. "I
know...you told me not to...but...but I..."

	"It's okay, you did what you have to," I hug him tight and whisper to him,
trying to calm him down.  "Don't cry now.  Help me to push the cupboard
away, will you?"

	My son nods and we push the cupboard away from the door.  Ellie and Derik
watch me with surprise and fear as I lead them to my car.  I laugh at myself
as I look down at my clothes.  I must really look like shit.  

	"Let's get out of here," I say to them as I turn on my car and step on the
gas pedal.  

	I know that I must not give in and that I can't afford to die; for I have
my children to protect and I won't let them suffer the same fate as I have
suffered.  But I know they're going to come for me again.  They won't give
up until they've either terminated me or forced me to rejoin them and start
killing again.  I'll fight until the end, even if it costs me my life...and
I know, deep in my heart, that it is only a matter of time.  A matter of
time until the end.

-----------------A MATTER OF TIME (END)---------

	      --Shuuichi Minamino
	      ~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~` 
	    *      Shuuichi Minamino / Silver Fox / Youko Kurama       *
	    * The Proud Maintainer of the Yaoi/Slash Info Mailing List *
	    *  Firm Supporter of the YYH Dynamic Duo: Kurama X Hiei    *
	    *       A Thousand-Year-Old Fox Spirit As Human            *
	    *   Innocent Student At Large in Northwestern University   *     
            *              http://www.kurama.ranma.com                 *  
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