The young woman entered the dimly lit room and crossed to a row of 
divided cubicles similar to those seen in professional sports locker 
rooms.  Dropping wearily into a cushioned chair in the second cubicle 
from the left, she rested a moment, head back, eyes closed.  After 
several moments she stood and slowly began to remove her clothing, a 
one-piece bodysuit with pink legs that resembled a dark-colored leotard 
and tights.  Turning, she exited the room through a doorway to the left, 
tossing her clothing into a hamper as she passed.

	She took a leisurely shower, allowing the warm spray to wash away 
the sweat, pound away the aches and pains from the activity of the past 
few hours.  Images of the night flashed through her mind: her friends 
arguing, the interminable time spent in hiding and then chasing the 
target through the alleyways of the city, the look of pain on his face 
melting into one of arrogance.  She shuddered slightly to herself as her 
final image of him came into her thoughts.  What had she been thinking?

	Shower finished, she wrapped one towel around her shoulder-length 
red hair, and dried herself with another.  Wrapping a third towel about 
herself, she returned to the locker room and donned street clothes, then 
rode the elevator to the building's penthouse.

	"Hello, Nene."

	Nene Romanova jumped slightly as a woman's voice came from the 
dark living room of the penthouse apartment.  *Idiot,* she chided 
herself mentally as she realized who it was and stepped into the room.  
"Hi, Sylia.  Mind if I turn the lights up a bit?"

	"No, I've got it.  Come in."  Sylia Stingray touched a small 
control panel set into the wall near where she stood gazing out at the 
MegaTokyo skyline.  Nene sat on one end of the sofa as the lights 
brightened slightly to a dim glow, and closed her eyes.  She felt spent, 
physically and emotionally.

	"How's Linna?" Nene asked sleepily.  The last she'd seen of her 
Knight Sabers' teammate, Linna had a massive headache from being shot in 
the head.  While the round had deflected off her helmet's visor, there 
had been enough force from the impact to knock her from her feet.

	"She's in the guest room.  She should be all right, but I felt 
better keeping her here tonight.  Priss is watching her."

	"Umm... good idea," came Nene's drowsy reply, then it struck 
her and she came to her feet.  "What's Priss doing here?"

	"She was sitting in the suit room when we returned.  I didn't ask 
how she got away from her 'keepers', and she didn't volunteer anything."

	Nene crossed the room to join Sylia, and the two Knight Sabers 
stood side by side in companionable silence for several minutes.  "Did 
everything go all right?"

	"Huh?  Oh, yeah.  Everything's fine."  The final look of surprise 
and terror on his face came to Nene's mind's eye once again.  "We won�t 
have to worry about Kusanagi Rei any more."



==================



                             COMING SOON[1], 

             a SEQUEL to the MOST POPULAR and BEST RECEIVED
                Bubblegum Crisis fanfic of ALL TIME![2]


Yes, it's 


                     "<this fic has no name yet>",
                      a sequel to "TRUE LOVE"[3]!



Follow the further adventures of 

                              PRISS ASAGIRI
  ("Damn police, totally useless, couldn�t even keep an old lady in the
                         bath if they tried."),

                             LINNA YAMAZAKI
 ("Since when does Nene Romanova refuse an excuse to hack records?  It
        wouldn�t even be hacking, just look up a police file."),

and

                             SYLIA STINGRAY
   (Sylia came to the sickening realization that there was absolutely
 nothing she could possibly say or do that would not make her look like
                         a complete hypocrite.)

as they try to find out just what's going on inside the head of 

                              NENE ROMANOVA
                         ("I got mad, I guess.")



                      "<this fic has no name yet>",
                 COMING SOON to a net board near you!!!

            "It was wrong, I know.  It just sort of happened."


==========
[1] hopefully in the next couple months, but definitely some time in 1999
[2] that I've written, anyway
[3] available at numerous locations, including the RAAC story archive and
at http://jhedge.simplenet.com/story/anime/truelove.htm






Jeanne Hedge

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