TMiL: "The Operative and the Schoolgirl"

DISCLAIMER: I didn't create the characters. They were created by 
the wonderful people at Pioneer/AIC.  

EDITOR's NOTE: This story takes place *DURING* Tenchi Muyo in Love,
but in a slightly different universe. There are some scenes from the
movie in this story as a result.

-CHAPTER 1-

	  He was cute.
	  That was the first thing Tanaka had thought when a young man
 with chestnut brown hair walked into the classroom for the first 
 time. His eyes were a pale shade of silver. A ray of sunlight had 
 come into the classroom and shone in his eyes, turning the surprisingly
 reflective pupils a soft shade of golden yellow. The effect was 
 breathtaking.
	  The bus stopped to pick up a few more students, but Tanaka took
 no notice of this, she was too busy contemplating the new student who
 had so intrigued her and had stolen her heart so easily.   
	  The other students had their own opinions of their new classmate.
	  "Spooky." Some said.
	  "Creepy." Others agreed.
	  "His eyes are weird." One elucidated. "His pupils are slitted."
	  "Like an animal's eyes." Another pointed out.
	  It was clear that the new student was feeling self-conscious 
 about all this talk. He had taken to keeping to himself, sitting quietly,
 not raising his hand in class, even taking lunch in solitude.
	  Tanaka could sense deep sadness in him, sadness he tried desparately
 to hide behind a facade of stoicism. Or perhaps he was in shock, she told
 herself.

	  But why? She wondered. People just didn't wander around in shock for
 no good reason, did they? So what had happened to him? She thought of 
 asking the teacher, but the regular teacher was out and the new substitute
 seemed to have been picked from the bottom of the barrel. She was fairly 
 good, but she got frazzled easily and seemed jittery in the way a bunny in
 a fox's den would be.

	  The sound of the bus coming to a stop pulled Tanaka's mind back to the
 present. She stepped off, cheerfully, and made her way into the crowd on 
 the school lawn. She could see the young boy in one of the nearby rows and 
 she smiled to herself.

	  The morning was pretty much the same as always at first, Then 
Tanaka remembered that she still had a magazine she had borrowed from 
her friend Achika.  Achika... her confidante, and one of the finest 
people she had ever known. And, who just happened, Tanaka smiled to 
herself, to be in the same homeroom as the young man she'd fallen in 
love with.

	   After asking politely to be excused, Tanaka rushed to get to the
 classroom where Achika and that wonderful boy were attending. She raced in
 and saw him leaning on the window. He was gazing, intently, at Achika, and
 for a moment Tanaka thought her heart would shatter. Was this young man in
   love with Achika? Then Tanaka realized that it wasn't love she saw in the
 young man's eyes, but fierce protectiveness, not the protectiveness of a
 lover, but of a self-appointed bodyguard. 
	"Achika," she called hoarsely. She was, after all, just recovering 
 from a sore throat.  She had only seen the new boy on the first day he'd 
 arrived.  "I'm...returning your magazine"

	"I haven't seen you for days, Tanaka." Achika replied, then smiled. 
 and asked, "How's your cold?"
	"I still have a sore throat, but I've got a test, too." Tanaka 
 explained. 
	Nobuyuki blushed as Achika paused by his desk and waved to him.
 Tanaka could see that he was in love with her and wished that the new boy 
 would love her just as much as they loved each other.  "Achika, are you 
 listening to me?"
	"Yes." Achika turned away from Nobuyuki for the moment and went 
 over to her friend. 
	The two discussed the articles Tanaka had read while the boy 
 Tanaka was so deeply infatuated with gazed over in their direction.
 Tanaka wished he was looking at her with love in his eyes, but she knew
 it was Achika he was looking at. He's being protective again, she told
 herself.
	She smiled to herself, then frowned. Why was he being so 
 protective of Achika? He wasn't in love with her, just protective. Tanaka
 wondered if he knew of some danger Achika was in. If so, why hadn't he
 told the teachers? Or hadn't he? He did seem a bit more mature than the
 other students. Maybe he really was a secret service man, or some kind of
 secret agent, she thought, maybe he's here to stop something awful from
 happening to Achika.
	That's when Tanaka noticed a girl with outragiously spiked blue 
 hair.  She was looking at the chestnut haired boy with a gaze of bitter 
 mistrust.  He noticed this and quickly turned to look out the window."
 Achika, who hadn't noticed that he was watching her, returned to her 
 seat while Tanaka blew the chestnut haired boy a kiss. He must have
 caught what she'd done out the corner of his eye, because Tanaka fancied
 she caught a hint of a blush on the boy's alabaster cheeks. She blushed a
 little, too, at her own forwardness, then rushed back to her own homeroom.

	'Naoki' had noticed that the blue haired girl was not the only one who
 had been watching him in the classroom. Achika hadn't noticed him watching
 her, or perhaps she'd thought that he was simply a shy boy who thought she
 was pretty, which, he had to admit to himself, she was, but couldn't bring
 himself to tell her or was trying to gather up the courage to do so.
	'Naoki' laughed in his mind. Him trying to gather up courage was like a
 cherry blossom trying to gather up beauty. He didn't need any more. In 
 fact, the people he'd lived with before he'd come here felt quite the 
 opposite was true. They called him reckless, foolhardy, daring. Bravery
 was on adjective which described the boy very well. But here, in this place,
 people thought of him with only two adjectives... quiet and shy.
	If those he'd lived with had heard him described those ways, they would
 have been amazed. But then he had come her unprepared, torn from his home,
 and from those he'd called his family. His heart ached as he thought of
 them, the nightmare vision he'd seen forever etched upon his soul. That
 nightmare had a name. A name he hated with the very essence of his being. 
 The name belonged to a creature that those he'd cared about had, in their
 own arrogance, thought they could contain forever in their devices. And,
 for a hundred years, they had. But now it was free, and its first act of
 freedom had been to slaughter those around him, as it fled. Not all of them
 were massacred by the evil that had escaped their strongest prison. But he
 knew that those who had been there had perished. He had seen it happen, the
 demon's energy slamming through the station, electrocuting and executing
 all in its path. And while it had attacked, the creature had been building
 up another energy wave, the one that would take it back to 1970 where it 
 would destroy, once and for all, the only people who could stand against
 it. And then, the creature had made a mistake. One that had saved the boy's
 life. When it had reached out with energy to destroy him as it had those
 around him, it had lashed out the *wrong* energy at him, transporting him
 in an instant back to 1970. At first, he'd been dazed, unable recall who
 he was or where he was from. Then something in his mind, which he later
 realized was a memory recall device in his internal computer, switched on
 and he remembered who he was. He also remembered the nightmare he'd seen,
 and he remembered its name.  It's name was Kain.

	
	He was sitting alone at lunch, as he always did, and Tanaka almost
 sat with him. Almost. As she reached his table, she could have sworn she
 heard him growl at her, or maybe he was arguing with a tough bit of meat.
 He didn't have the best table manners in the world, she'd noticed, but a
 boy as cute as he was could afford to be impolite now and again. After 
 all, she told herself, everyone was entitled to one or two faults. He
 had brought his own meal, not that anyone blamed him, school lunches are
 notorious for tasting horrible, which consisted of spareribs and some 
 teriyaki steak, it was a lot of meat for a Japanese meal, but he was an 
 exchange student... and was tearing at them, growling with each bite, like 
 some wild animal enjoying its meal and warning off scavengers. The growl 
 was frightening and Tanaka told herself he was obvious not in the mood for 
 company, so she sat at a nearby table, keeping her eye on him. When he was
 finished, he licked the teriyaki sauce from his hands and then lickgroomed
 his face to clean off any teriyaki sauce that might have got there. He
 quickly finished and took a sip of his milk. A moment later, he crushed
 the small carton in his hand as if he'd suddenly realized what he'd done
 and was angry at himself for such a major slip-up. He got up and walked 
 over to the door with an amazing amount of dignity considering how he'd 
 been acting during lunch, slipping a hand into a pocket so he appeared
 almost regal, then tossed his milk carton into the trash as he left the
 room.

	'Naoki' studied his face in the bathroom mirror. A little pale compared
 to most of the other students there, but quite handsome otherwise. It
 was his eyes that troubled everyone. He'd had a pair of contact lenses
 that would've helped matters considerably, but they'd been lost along 
 time ago. He recalled vividly the events surrounding the loss. He'd been
 attending an medal-giving ceremony at which the being who had saved his
 life when he was a child, a being whom he was later reunited with as a
 youth when he'd first arrived after graduating at the Academy, was being
 honored. When he had returned to his cabin, down the hall from the one 
 belonging to his rescuer and friend, he had discovered, to his amazement,
 that he'd been robbed! Several items had been taken from him, including
 his contact lenses and, to his embarrassment, his diary. 

	Of course the thief had never mentioned any of the entries in his diary.
 'Naoki' had never spoken of these facts to anyone and talking of them would
 have given the thief away, and so his private life had remained at least
 mostly private, known only to himself and the thief. He'd never recovered
 his lost property, but in the years that followed, his work had earned him
 more than enough money to replace the items he'd lost. He never, however,
 started another diary, and he also failed, entirely, to replace the contact
 lenses. He hadn't really thought they'd be neccessary. He'd only gone to 
 Earth once before, and then no one had ever looked him in the eye. Not even
 just once. 

	"You know," a student observed, walking into bathroom and lighting up a
 cigarette, "you're never going to win her over with this shy routine. If I
 were you, I'd stop moping about and go after her."
	"And if I were you, I'd put that damned thing out before I shove it 
 down your throat." His enhanced senses had their drawbacks and one of them
 was the smell of cigarette smoke. He had nothing against smokers, or their
 habit, and to be fair he had spent more than his share of time in the
 proverbial smoke-filled room, that was inevitable in his line of work. But
 today, he wasn't in a very accomodating mood. Already he'd had managed to
 embarrass himself at lunch, and he was sure he'd been recognized by that
 damned blue-haired girl. Why couldn't she keep her mind on what she was
 doing and just leave him alone. She was going to blow it, he knew, and it
 irritated him. And now this mere boy was presuming to try to give *him*
 advice like he was an idiot.
	Within a few seconds of the boy's rather expected comeback of "I'd like
 to see you try it.", 'Naoki' was on his way back to class while the other boy
 was lying sprawled out on the floor of the boys' room.
	
	In her next class, Tanaka found herself seated next to the boy who 
 she had been daydreaming of all day. With him so close, she found it
 difficult to concentrate on her studies. He was very handsome, she
 reasoned, that's why she couldn't keep her mind on her schoolwork, and
 she was falling in love with him. She blushed at the thought, knowing
 that he would've blushed, too, if he could've read it. 
	 Something, perhaps the latent maternal instinct in all women,
 told her that he had clearly faced more than his share of traumas. 
 Despite this, she was sure that he was as pure as she was.
	"That might be a problem on our wedding night." she remarked,
 not realizing at first that she'd spoken aloud.
	He looked over at her with a bewildered expression on his face and
 his head cocked to one side in puzzlement. 
	Tanaka realized she'd spoken out and blushed, deeply, turning red
 all over. 
 She looked totally flustered. "Oh my!" she gasped, in a state
 of near-panic. "Oh dear..." The boy put a hand onto hers, meaning to
 soothe her and ease her mind. Instead, the act had just the opposite
 effect. Her heart leaped up into her throat and the butterflies that
 were in her stomach began to dance the minute waltz. Then he looked at
 her and she saw the twin slits of his pupils up close for the first
 time. Those eyes, entrancing, exotic... They held her spellbound for a 
 moment and she gazed back up into them, Her own eyes shone with love
 and admiration, and perhaps just a twinge of fear. He leaned forward and
 she wondered if he was going to kiss her. The butterflies gave up the 
 minute waltz in favor of mimicking the combat of her favorite anime
 series' mecha and she thought she would faint.
	Just then, the schoolbell rang.
		"Damn," she though to herself, though she was too polite to say
 the word aloud.
	The boy pulled away and started off for the next class on his
 schedule and Tanaka did likewise. As it happened, they were down the
 hall from each other, a fact that Tanaka made note of as they entered
 their classrooms. She wondered if she could get herself transfered into
 his class. But what reason would she give the teachers? She surely could
 not tell them she wanted to attend the class because she was in love 
 with this student.
	She politely asked to be excused, lying about having to use the
 facilities, and quietly made her way down the hall. She knew it was wrong
 but she could not get his hypnotic eyes out of her mind. She had to see
 him again. She stopped at the door of his classroom and peeked through
 the small window atop the door, she was a little too short to do it on 
 her own and needed to stand on a chair.
	The new janitress joined her and she stumbled back in surprise,
 falling off the chair. The woman caught her with surprising ease and 
 Tanaka thought she must be a Martial Arts student, a brown belt at the
 very least, probably in Judo.
	"Is this what they mean by falling in love?" the janitress
 kidded her.
	Tanaka blushed, deeply. Was it really that obvious? She tried 
 to make a witty comeback, but it died in her throat. She had fallen
 in love. There was no denying it. But who was he? She realized she
 had no idea of this and it took her by surprise. She'd heard a few
 rumors in the locker room. One of these suggested that his parents had 
 abandonned him at birth because of his strange eyes. Another rymor said
 that they were both dead, A third combined the first two, saying they'd
 killed themselves because they'd believed they'd brought a demon or 
 monster into the world. The first and third of these made Tanaka very 
 angry. She could not believe anyone could abandon a boy as handsome as
 he was. She wanted to marry him, to give him a family and perhaps let 
 him take her last name if he didn't have one of his own. If this boy 
 had spent his entire life unloved, she wanted to be the one to give him 
 all the love he'd missed, to make sure he was never without it again.
	"Don't worry," the janitress smiled, "your secret's safe with me.
 So, which one do you like?"
	"The chestnut haired boy." Tanaka whispered back.
	"'Naoki'?" the janitress asked.
	"'Naoki'." Tanaka whispered, mostly to herself, saying the name with
 the love and reverence people usually reserved for the supreme being of
 their choice. "Is it true that he was abandonned because of his eyes?"
 she asked.
	"His eyes?" the janitress asked. She looked at the boy in question
 and soon saw what Tanaka was referring to. Eyes of pale silver, turning 
 pale gold when the light hit them just right, pupils slitted like those
 of an animal. She'd seen those eyes before, she realized, but in a much
 different face. If only she could remember...  "I see what you mean." she
 said aloud. "I think he's an orphan." she said, getting it right but not
 realizing it. "My name's Kiyone."
	"Tanaka." Tanaka replied.
	"I'm pleased to meet you, Tanaka."
	Tanaka turned her gaze back to the boy in the classroom and 
 Kiyone returned to her janitorial duties, wondering where she'd seen eyes
 like that before.
	The schoolbell rang and Tanaka barely made it off the chair and
 out of the way before a horde of students ran out of the door she'd 
 been standing in front of. She stood there panting as they rushed by, 
 then a horrible realization took her. She'd missed her entire third
 period class, staring at a boy she knew nothing about. The teacher would
 be livid when she saw her the next day! Tanaka hurried to her next class
 and took her seat. As it happened, 'Naoki' was in this class with her,
 too, and again she was seated next to him.

	'Naoki' sighed and slumped over his desk. His posture usually varied 
 between two favorite poses, slumped over, or rigidly upright with his 
 arms folded in front of him. On occasion he wore an expression of fierce 
 rage, as if a bitter memory had surfaced, but most times his face looked 
 like all the sorrow in the universe had decided that his soul was a nice 
 place to live. He'd never smiled in all the time Tanaka had seen him, his 
 lips always either noncommittally straight or set in a frown.
 He put his face in his hands and Tanaka thought he was going to cry. She
 hadn't seen him do this yet, but given his general mood, she was sure 
 tears weren't far away. Tanaka reached over and patted his head, kindly.
 "Don't worry," she told him, her voice kind, "it'll be all right."
	He grunted derisively, as if to say "nothing will ever be all right 
 again." and didn't look up at her.
	She knew it was early to say this, but she thought it might cheer him 
 up a bit, so she told him: "I think I love you."
	"And I know that you don't." he replied, bitterly, with an edge
 to his voice that would've cut diamonds.
	Tanaka was rather taken aback by this and blinked away tears.
 He's just acting this way because he's upset, she told herself. Out loud
 she said, "No, you don't know that."
	"Yes, I do." He snapped. "And if you do love me, you'd be better off if 
 you didn't."
	"I find that hard to believe." Tanaka told him. "And if you're trying to 
 stop me from loving you, I don't think you'll be able to."
	"Suit yourself." The boy told her. "If you want to throw your life away, 
 that's fine with me."
	That remark confused Tanaka? What did loving him have to do with 
 throwing her life away? She asked and got a startling answer;
	"Everyone I ever love dies." He warned. "I loved my parents and they 
 died. I loved the people who took me in when I was orphanned and now 
 they're dead, too. Now, please, stop loving me. Your life depends on it."
	That shook her pretty badly, but wasn't enough to deter her.
	"I'll die eventually anyhow without loving you." She told him, "So I 
 might as well love you while I can."
	"Have it your way." He snorted at her. But within him, his heart
 ached more than ever. True love was, at last, in his grasp, but he dared
 not reach out for it. He was right about the ones he loved dying. He'd 
 seen it on a far off world, when a madman had killed his parents and his
 people, and again in a distant place where an escaped supercriminal had
 murdered his friends and colleagues. Now that supercriminal was on its
 way to this planet and he was the planet's... the universe's... only 
 hope. He had watched the others, and he knew they had enough power to 
 stop Kain if they knew how to harness it, but Ryoko and Ayeka were always
 fighting and he was sure that they didn't have the discipline or the
 ability to work together that would be needed to do the job. No, he told
 himself, it's up to me. I have to stop him, even if it means I myself must
 die.

	The teacher ahemed loudly and Tanaka returned her attention to the
 front of the classroom. The teacher ahemed, again, this one meant for
 'Naoki'. In his mind, 'Naoki' considered ignoring the teacher. It didn't 
 matter whether he passed or failed this class, after all he was only 
 there to bide time until he confronted his foe. When his enemy had been 
 vanquished, he'd return to his own ... he remembered, then, that he had 
 no place to return to and he sank even deeper into a state of depression. 
 Anger boiled in him and rage came, once again, into his eyes. Well, he
 reasoned to himself, in a few days his enemy would be dead, and chances
 were so would he. He didn't care about that, however. All that he cared
 about was destroying the vile demon and avenging the brave men and women
 it had slain.

-Chapter 2-    

	The ride to Tokyo had not been uneventful. During the trip there had
 been a malfunction on one of the cars. At least, that's what the students
 had been told. However, the truth of the matter was, 'Naoki' knew full well, 
 that his classmates Ryoko and Ayeka had gotten into a fight and that the
 resulting power surge had shorted out the train. He had toyed with the idea
 of teleporting to Tokyo, but Tanaka had seated herself next to him and would
 not take her eyes off of him, and so it had been impossible to teleport 
 without being seen. He had tried to distract her many times with ploys such
 as "Those flowers over there look very nice" but she would simply reply "Not
 as nice as you." and continue looking at him. Then she had rested her head
 on his shoulder and had fallen asleep. He'd been about to teleport when two
 things happened in rapid succession. Tanaka, jostled when he moved his arm,
 woke up, and the train started moving again. He gave up on the idea of using
 his teleport and pretended to go to sleep. To his chagrin, he felt Tanaka
 snuggle up to him, place her head on his shoulder again, and fall back to 
 sleep herself.

	'Naoki' had still been sleeping when Tanaka had woke. He was far from at
 peace, however. His hands were gripping the arms of the seat and his head
 was lolling from side to side. Oddly, there was none of the sweat usually
 associated with nightmares on his brow. His head turned so that he was 
 facing her and then moaned, fitfully, in his sleep.

	Tanaka shook him, gently, trying to rouse him, but he took her wrist 
 suddenly, still locked in his nightmare, and his grip was as strong as that
 of a steel claw.
	"'Naoki'! WAKE UP!" she screamed in pain. 
	'Naoki''s exotic eyes flew open and he released her wrist, spinning his 
 face away from the glaring sunlight that was pouring through the train's
 window, signaling the morning.
	"'Naoki'?" Tanaka asked, concerned.
	"My eyes." 'Naoki' explained, sounding less closed-off than before. "The
 sun hurts them."
	"Because of the shape of your pupils." Tanaka realized.
	"Yes." 'Naoki' admitted. He took her hand, gently this time, and studied
 the deepening bruise on her wrist. "I'm sorry." he told her. 
	"It's okay." She reassured him for the second time. This time she took 
 him in her arms and rocked him. And in the arms of this student, 'Naoki' found
 at last the tenderness and compassion his life had lacked.
	
	They spent the following day together, visitting the many museums which
 dotted Ueno Park and enjoying a quiet lunch together. 'Naoki''s manners were
 impeccable, this time, and Tanaka realized that he must've had other things
 on his mind, or maybe he was only that way when he ate tough meats. Whatever
 the case, Tanaka's love for 'Naoki' grew tenfold over the course of the day.
	"When we were in school, I told you I loved you." Tanaka told him as they
 strolled along the path leading to one of the art museums. "Now, I'm sure of
 it."
	'Naoki' stopped and turned Tanaka toward him. His eyes were full of deep
 sorrow and pain. He gazed into her eyes and spoke, softly.
	"I know," he told her genty, "and I think if the circumstances had been
 different that I would have loved you, too. I thank you for your kindness,
 but I cannot return it, nor can I return your love."
	"Your lips deny a love that your eyes are screaming." Tanaka replied as
 she pressed her own lips to them. 'Naoki''s own lips remained still, and 
 seemed cold, almost lifeless. For a moment, Tanaka wondered if he might be
 a vampire, with his cold lips, alabaster skin, and exotic animal eyes, but
 then she decided that such a thing was silly. There was no such thing as
 vampires or monsters from outer space. This was just a boy with a few odd
 quirks about his appearance. No doubt his skin was easily sunburned, and he
 had explained that the light hurt his eyes. So, he rarely went out into the
 sunlight and its warm never penetrated his skin, that's why it was a little
 cooler than usual. 
	A disapproving cough caught Tanaka by surprise and she turned to find
 one of the teachers standing there, looking sternly at her and tapping her
 foot. "I think we need to have a little talk, young lady." the elderly 
 Japanese woman said, strictly, as she lead Tanaka away.
	"I love you, 'Naoki'." Tanaka called back to him as she was lead away.
	'Naoki' watched her go. "I love you, too." he replied, too softly for her
 to hear. "I always will."

-Chapter 3-    

	'Naoki' tossed a few breadcrumbs to a flock of doves that surrounded him.
 He gazed down at them, serenely, watching their beauty as they dined on 
 the meal he'd given them. The birds seemed to be a family and he found
 himself longing for a family of his own. Not the makeshift family he'd had
 for years with his friends and colleagues, but a real family with a wife
 and children of his own.
	He smiled to himself as he thought of Tanaka, the pretty young student
 who had fallen in love with him.
	'Tomorrow,' he told himself, 'after my enemy has been vanquished, I 
 shall ask her to marry me. I know she'll say yes. I just know it!' He 
 looked at the doves who were still pecking at the remaining breadcrumbs,
 then sensed that he was being watched. He looked up, his eyes glistening
 with happiness, hoping to spot Tanaka. Instead, across the field, he saw
 the blue haired girl glaring at him.
	"He's a spy!!" She shouted, as she suddenly sped toward him, floating
 slightly off the ground and moving at high speed in his direction. The
 bench split in two as she passed through it.
	"Exceeding the speed limit, destruction of property, interfering with
 a criminal investigation, assaulting a police officer" he thought to 
 himself, running off a list of charges he could pin on the meddlesome 
 demoness as he sped down the path. He managed to outrun her, which surprised
 even him since he'd heard she was incredibly fast, but it had all but worn
 him out and eventually he'd resorted to using a cloaking field to hide 
 himself from her.

	'Naoki' and Tanaka were out together that evening, when 'Naoki' turned to
 Tanaka. "Tanaka," he told her, "would you do the honor of becoming my wife?"
	Tanaka gazed at him, her eyes full of delight, and nodded. "Yes." 
	'Naoki''s heart leaped with joy. "Wait here," he told her. "I'll be 
 right back." He leaned forward and kissed the tip of Tanaka's nose, then
 walked off. He strolled through the crowd toward the young couple he had
 been keeping watch over all week. He had to warn Achika of the impending
 danger, get her out of there before any harm could come to her. But then,
 when he finally reached her, he realized that he had no idea what to say.
 The truth would be simply too unbelievable. But he simply could not lie to
 Lady Achika. That would, in his heart, be unforgivable. 
	"Um..." he started to say, but nothing else emerged from his lips. He
 looked over and saw Ryoko, he had checked on her identity earlier and now
 he knew who she was, heading over to them. Annoyed at her interference, he
 wandered off again.
	
	He made his way through the crowds, toward the beach. He slipped into
 the shadows and hid, but he knew he would not be able to confront his foe
 until he dealt with this obstacle called Ryoko. As she stood there, 
 turning her head this way and that, 'Naoki' stepped up behind her and 
 pressed the tips of his fingers against the small of her back.
	"Don't move," he warned her. "Place your hands behind your head nice
 and slow."
	Ryoko moved her hands into the requested position and asked him what
 the heck he was doing there.
	"The space pirate Ryoko, case #80812029 I believe?"
	Ryoko was astonished. This wasn't Kain after all, but a member of...
	"The Galaxy Police!" She gasped. "So, are you working with Kiyone and
 Mihoshi?"
	"Gimme a break." He sighed, in exasperation. "I must admit Kiyone's not
 half bad, but Mihoshi... puh-lease!"
	"So, what's the deal then?" 
	"I'm a special operative assigned to cases involving the most serious of
 the criminals that the Galaxy Police are hired to deal with." He explained.
	"They sent you after Kain?" Ryoko asked.
	"No." He replied. "Actually, Kain tried to kill me, but lashed out at 
 me with a temporal energy blast by mistake."
	"Wow!" Ryoko was amazed. "I've never met anyone who time-travelled by
 accident before."
	"Now, let me ask you something," he scratched her spine, gently, to
 remind her that his hand was still pressed against her back. She laughed,
 ticklishly, and squirmed a little. "What are you doing here?"
	"We've also come to get Kain away from Achika." Ryoko told him. "Hey,
 why don't we team up? We could really use someone with your skill."
	"I work alone."  He replied.
	"Against Kain?"
	"Especially against Kain." He told her. "I've seen too many good people
 die by Kain's hand and I will not risk another person's life."
	"But you'll risk your own?"
	"I can take him."
	"Oh, right! And just who do you think you are anyhow?"
	The boy reached up and pulled off the mask he had been wearing. Beneath
 was the bat-like face of a member of a species that was all but extinct. 
 Known throughout the Galaxy, except on this primitive world, for their 
 speed, stamina, and highly evolved senses, the Draalthi had been a benign
 race, not despite their highly attuned senses, but because of them. The
 whistle of artillery fire hurt their ears and their eyes were hypersensitive
 to the flashes that came with laser-fire or explosions. Hunters by nature,
 they were highly adept at hunting down prey of any kind. 
	And then there was Lt. Trakal, a Draalthi who's senses had been 
 heightened even further than most by implants given to him by the Galaxy
 Police. But the implants and training he'd recieved had eliminated the 
 usual negative reaction to high noises and bright lights. A Draalthi who,
 rumor had it, was half-Juraian. Who had, in fact, been the very Draalthi
 Kagato had been seeking when he'd destroyed Ratala IV and decimated his
 race.
	It was a crime that Trakal had never forgiven. That he would never
 forgive. He'd tracked Kagato for months, and had been the only survivor
 from Whiterock's attack fleet nearly a year before Kain had escaped. He
 had been kept in the hospital for weeks that time, for physical injuries, 
 and had been greatly annoyed when he was finally released to learn that
 many of his colleagues had been spreading rumors to the affect that he'd 
 been in so long for psychological evaluations. Some of the particularly
 nasty rumors said he'd been committed and that he'd been overcome by grief
 and guilt over the death of Fleet Commander Whiterock. 
	Some of the people who'd said that had been speaking in high registers
 and limping a lot the day after Trakal was finally released from the 
 infirmiry. 
	And it was this Trakal that Ryoko was now face to face with. Looking
 at the markings on his face, she did have to admit to herself that he could
 have been part-Juraian at that. 
	"Trakal!"
	Trakal nodded.
	"Wait! Don't go!"
	"I have to face Kain and make him pay for what he did."
	"Then face him with us. Even you can't take him on alone."
	"What if you die?"
	"An acceptable loss."
	"It won't be an acceptable loss to Tanaka." Ryoko pointed out. 
	Trakal blinked. Ryoko was right, he had to admit. But he had to make 
 Kain pay. He couldn't just dismiss it.
	"If you team up with us, we can take him out."
	"And what do you propose we do? Stick him in the elevator with Mihoshi?"
	Ryoko laughed and soon Trakal had joined in. "Hardly." Ryoko finally
 said. "Come on. I'm supposed to meet the others back at the hotel. You may
 want to put your mask back on. I think you're cute without it, but..."
	Trakal slumped in despair. Ryoko was right, Tanaka wouldn't love his 
 true face. He was handsome enough as far as his species was concerned, but
 Tanaka would think him hideous, a disgusting freak. He'd have to spend his
 entire life hidden behind a mask.
	"Hey, cheer up!" Ryoko told him. "It can't be all that bad."
	"Can't it?" Trakal asked. "My family's dead. My friends are dead. The
 girl I love only loves me because she thinks I'm someone else..."
	"Okay, so it is that bad. But look at it this way. That means it can
 only get better, right?"
	Trakal shrugged, still gazing out at the ocean in despair.
	"We need you, Lieutenant." Ryoko told him. "Please?"
	Trakal thought about it. Kain was violent, and very dangerous. But was
 the risk great enough to justify teaming up with a criminal such as Ryoko?
 Did Trakal want to risk his reputation? Then Trakal realized that his
 reputation wasn't really that great anyhow.