C&C appreciated.  At least tell me if I should give up and go home or to
keep shoveling this out!

Chapter Five
Naotaki�s Rebirth

	Washu sat at her computer desk, typing away making various
calculations.  Her minuscule form was a deception, her small, red-haired
body contained a woman of power and intelligence, if not seriousness. 
Her delicate form, wrapped in green and beige clothing, reminiscent of
an earlier time period and an earlier life, were simply wrappings. She
did not need them, any more than she needed the minuscule body her mind
and soul were incased in.  She simply chose to have them.
	One link after another was completed, coalescing into a familiar
looking pale skinned boy on the computer screen.  The computer
simulation brightened, showing the image accompanied by some small
words, almost illegible.  Washu smiled in satisfaction at the completed
programming.  
	�It�s ready!� she said to herself, smiling.
	Washu got up off of her floating cushion and walked over to a small,
chrome tinted cylindrical machine placed in a corner of the gigantic
inter-dimensional lab she was situated in.  She pressed a button on the
machine and a door slid open, releasing a steam of cold air, so frigid
that it could be seen.  Washu�s own breath frosted at the mere vicinity
to the cylinder.
	A small round petri dish emerged from the machine about 4 inches in
diameter.  Washu grabbed the petri dish and nuzzled it with her left
check, neglecting to notice the frigidness of it, like a mother would a
child.  She carried the object over to another, larger machine with a
clear glass tube that predominated the device connected to it.  
	She inserted the object into a side of the electronic portion of the
machine and tapped a few keys.  The petri dish opened causing the cells
inside to be expulsed into the tube, which was filled with some sort of
clear liquid.  The liquid bubbled, darkening to an opaque white,
blocking out the cells.  
	It would be finished soon...

	Kiyone rushed into the cargo bay of the Yagami.  She ran over to a
large humanoid shaped machine.  She examined it proudly, the model 03
�Hostile Defense� battle suit (Which Mihoshi affectionately and
idiotically renamed �Bluebird�).  This was the best of the Yagami�s
anti-personnel weaponry.  The yellow and blue striped suit gleamed with
a brand new quality sheen.  Kiyone made sure to keep her prided weapon
clean and free of defects and nicks.  But today it would not go into
battle as usual.  It would be used to fight someone Kiyone once thought
to be a friend.  She would not be easy to fight but Kiyone would not
lose this time.  She would win!
	Clamoring up onto a cannon mounted on the machine�s right arm, Kiyone
climbed into a compartment built into the back of the machine, touching
a few simple controls as she entered it.  The entryway hatch closed and
shut, sealing the detective inside it.
	Kiyone settled into the machine�s cockpit and strapped herself in.  She
tapped a few more keys relating to cargo bay controls; the entry door to
the cargo bay closed and the room reflexively vacuumed all the air out.
	Water from the lake gushed into the bay as the main cargo door opened
at Kiyone�s commands.  She maneuvered the large metallic unit to the
opening which was now filled with water. She activated the air fans and
maneuvered through the water with skillful ease.  After a minute of
stretching her mecha's hydraulics, Kiyone manuvered the monstrosity
tworad the surface.
		The large hunk of mechanized destruction climbed out of the last four
feet of water, stamping gaping pools of water into the already softened
clay of the dirt as she went.  Once Kiyone's Mech reached dry land, she
flipped open a plastic cover and turned on a switch.  A burst of pure
fire spat out of the red monster's back, scorching the ground behind
it.  Kiyone adjusted the flame's width and with a jerk, shot off into
the sky.  
	The Mecha�s altitude continuted to rise until Kiyone leveled it off to
efficeint scanning range.  Her Mech's sophisticated radar picked up five
lifeforms in the surrounding area but none of them barred the energy
signature of the Blue haired girl.  She searched the house but Washu�s
useage of a space-time dimensional pocket and her scientific equipment
blocked Kiyone�s simplistic radar.  It appeared she would have to search
by land.
	Kiyone manuvered the Mech to the ground creating a strange and almost
familiar loking circle in the surrounding vegitation due to her Mech�s
gravitation disrupters.  The Mecha's giant feet buried themselves into
the soft grass and soil, ripping up a path of destruction as the
detective hunted her enemy.  
	She finnaly found her target.  The Blue haired girl was wearing yet
another skimpy outfit and was teasing the young boy of the house, Tenchi
Masaki, like she always did.
	[Good,] Kiyone thought, her mind and soul filled with confusion, anger,
fear, sorrow, and even a little pity, [I'll catch the little bitch off
guard!]
	Kiyone manuvered the main controls and stomped toward the two, causing
them to lift their heads and look at her in surprise.  Tenchi�s eyes
widened and pupils shrank to dots as his entire body became stiff from
fear.  Ryoko's form became jagged, as if glass had shattered in front of
her, and then she was gone.
	�Damn it!  Where�d she go to?� Kiyone thought, scanning around her in
all directions to find Ryoko.
	Ryoko had not gone far, she reappeared on top of the mecha and pried at
the hatch lid.  �Mihoshi, stop messing with these stupid suits.  You
know you�ll never get them to work right,� Ryoko shouted.
	[She thinks I'm Mihoshi!] Kiyone thought to herself angrily, [Well not
for too much longer I can guarantee!  She will know who beat her!]
	Kiyone quickly maneuvered her mech's cannon at an angle that would hit
Ryoko but miss any vital Mecha components.  The cannon fired a strong
blast, spewing wave after wave of energy at Ryoko.  The blue-haired
woman just dodged off to the side, landing on the ground to the right of
the Mecha.
	Kiyone continued to fire, maneuvering the cannon without stopping. 
Ryoko just dodged again.  The blasts struck the ground, ripping the soil
and grass up as if it were tissue paper.
	Ryoko maneuvered into range and fired a blast of her own at the blue
tinted mecha.  Kiyone activated the security shield, causing the blasts
to just ricochet off and be 	Once again in the air, Kiyone fired off a
volley of strange looking missles with wierd snubs and a radar dish. 
Ryoko ported away just as the missiles came within inches of her and she
thought she was safe.  But the missiles did the same, porting to the
same place Ryoko was.  They exploded, knocking the blue-haired woman out
of the air.  
	Kiyone dropped to the ground, stomping over to the fallen woman. 
Tenchi ran at the mecha, trying to stop it without any weapons.  Kiyone
turned and raised the mecha�s right arm to swat away the boy...  
	But...  As she looked at him, she couldn�t attack.  She couldn�t force
herself to hurt this boy.  She turned away suddenly and walked right up
to Ryoko.  Her mecha�s left grapplers asserted themselves around the
demon girl�s neck lightly.  Kiyone manipulated the mecha�s controls
allowing her to gently lift Ryoko into the air.  Kiyone readied her
plasma cannon and aimed it at Ryoko�s head.
	But... just as Kiyone was about to fire, a volley of blasts struck the
back of her mecha.  She turned, infuriated at the distraction, her left
grappler released Ryoko, who slumped back to the shredded ground, still
unconscious.  
	�Who had fired at her?� Kiyone thought, �The boy?!  No he was unarmed
and couldn�t get a plasma cannon so quickly, let alone know how to use
one.  So who was it?�
	She looked behind her and found an unfamiliar boy staring straight back
at her, even through the opaque visor plate.  His skin was as pale as a
corpse, yet his face beamed of life.  His eyes were a bright yellow,
with dark black slitted pupils.  His nose sharply curved, over a plain,
solid mouth, filled with hatred, yet kindness in his voice.  His hair
was long and scraggly, draped over his shoulders like a red-dyed mop. 
In his hands he held a plasma cannon, Mark 12.  He gripped it tightly
and prepared to shoot another volley at her if she should move towards
Ryoko again.
	Kiyone turned the mecha completely around.  She reached the mecha�s
right hand out to the boy, but received a second volley of blasts in
response.  The mecha�s hand exploded into shrapnel, splattering oil and
electronics across the viewplate of the fearsome machine.  She prepared
to respond with a volley of missiles but... Washu appeared between them.
	Kiyone shifted her target to the young red-headed scientist and fired,
the missiles evaporated from the silos they were in, no smoke, no
explosion, they just vanished.  Washu clicked her fingers and the mecha
crumpled to the ground, every inch of welding having vanished.
	Kiyone struggled out of the fragments of metal that made up what used
to be her mecha.  She staggered over to Washu and spoke:  �Why did you
do that, Washu?  And who is he?� she asked, and then fainted.

	When Kiyone awoke, two hours later, she found herself lying in a
hospital bed, she jerked up and scanned the room for a nurse.  She found
a strange looking nurse, short with long red hair that barely reached
the floor.  The nurse turned to Kiyone and smiled.  It was Washu.
	�This isn�t a hospital.  Washu, what happened and who was that boy?� 
Kiyone asked, seriously confused at the events occurring around her.
	�Who, Naotaki.  Of course, you never met him.  He was the operative who
went after KAIN solo,� Washu explained.
	�I thought he was dead,� Kiyone said, dazedly.
	�No, no.  Well, yes.  He was dead.  But I just reconstructed his body
and revived his lifeless form with one of my inventions.  Quite easy for
a genius like myself!�
	�Why did he attack me.  I had perfect reason to want to kill Ryoko.�
	�So, you think I�d let you kill my daughter, huh, Kiyone?  No, I
reprogrammed Naotaki�s mind on an organic level.  He doesn�t remember
KAIN or his death.  I also implanted an undying love and responsibility
toward Ryoko.  He would easily sacrifice his life for her.�
	�Why did you do that?�
	�I was in a good mood.�
	�Oh, that explains everything,� Kiyone said, woozily, and fell back to
the bed, unconscious again.

-- 
	Thranx,
		Washyuu's Apprentice:  Truzenzuzex
-Member of #WASHU#-
"It's range is only 200 meters.  It doesn't work like it would in a
cartoon!"
-Washu Hakubi