>From The Ashes

Chapter 5

	Koume Sawaguchi came awake slowly in a haze of pain.  She was
uncomfortably warm and she could barely feel her legs.  She opened her
eyes, wincing at the pain that resulted from the effort and looked at her
surroundings.
	Flaming wreckage surrounded her as she levered herself into a sitting
position.  She tried to move her legs, but found them trapped under a heavy
piece of metal.  <What happened,> she asked herself.  <Oh yeah, I was
flying the helicopter back to the base after the meeting when there was a
dark blur and the helicopter spun out of control.>  She leaned forward to
look at the piece of debris that trapped her legs and sighed.  <There's no
way I can budge this on my own,> she thought.  <I wonder how long it's been
since the crash.  Someone should be noting my absence soon and sent people
out to look for me.>  She tried to lean back and make herself comfortable
for the wait, praying that the flames would find no fuel to bring
themselves closer to her.
		*			*			*			*
	Yaegashi stepped up into the van's driver's seat.  <It's strange, but I
don't think I've ever seen the chief drive himself somewhere,> he thought
as he slipped behind the wheel.  He turned the key in the ignition,
bringing the engine roaring to life.  He sighed as he remembered some of
the things that had happened to him in this van: the fight with the
butterfly Aragami as it tried to form a chrysalis around him and Momiji,
the dates he had gone on with Koume, their first kiss... Yaegashi shook his
head to clear that thought.  He needed to concentrate on his work now, he
couldn't let his mind wander over all the mistakes he had made.  He pulled
the van out of the parking garage and up to the front of the small office
building where Kunikida was waiting for him.
	Kunikida climbed in, setting a heavy briefcase in between the seats.  "We
need to head for the center of the Ginza district, there was a report of an
explosion there a few hours ago," Kunikida said as he settled himself in
the passenger seat.
	"Yes, sir," Yaegashi replied as he moved the van back out onto the street
and headed for the highway.
	"Yaegashi, we need to talk," Kunikida said softly.
	"About what, sir," Yaegashi asked.
	"I think you're well aware of what we need to discuss, Yaegashi," Kunikida
replied sternly.
	"You mean what happened between me and Koume," Yaegashi said softly after
a short silence.
	"Exactly," Kunikida replied.  "You've been in a sad state ever since the
two of you broke up.  You don't have to give me all the details, but we
need to discuss this.  It's been affecting your job performance.  You've
been hiding in your office all day, and I checked the security apes.
You've been at the office until late in the evening.  Sometimes you don't
even leave.  That isn't healthy.  I need you sound and stable right now.
It looks like something new is rearing its head, and your mind is your best
weapon.  We need it at its sharpest.  Now talk."
	"It's kind of complicated, sir." Yaegashi said, carefully keeping his eyes
on the road so as not to meet Kunikida's eyes.  "I guess you could say I
did something stupid that completely wrecked my life; I listened to my
mother."
	Kunikida sat there, silently listening to Yaegashi.  He didn't want to
force Yaegashi to share more than he was willing to about this, but
something had to be done.  Sawaguchi was avoiding all contact with all the
members of the TAC, which made it difficult to coordinate with the JSDF
since she was their liaison.  Kunikida thought that she was afraid of
encountering Yaegashi again.
	"My mother didn't approve of Koume in the least," Yaegashi said sadly.
"She pleaded with me to break up with her.  In a moment of weakness, I gave
in to her pleas and broke up with Koume.  Needless to say, Koume took it
badly.  I don't really blame her.  I hadn't thought about what she had come
to mean to me when I did it and I wound up hurting her badly.  Now that
she's gone, it's like there's a part of me that's missing."
	"So that's what happened," Kunikida murmured.  <Damn,> he thought.  <I
knew from Sawaguchi's psych profile that she had some severe relationship
problems when she joined the military.  I should have given Yaegashi some
warning about that.>
	"Yeah, and now there doesn't seem to be much left for me," Yaegashi said,
"except for my work.  That's why I'm there all the time.  I don't have
anywhere else to go.  I moved out of my mother's house shortly after the
breakup with Koume, but it's not home."
	"Have you ever tried to talk to Sawaguchi about what happened?" Kunikida
asked.
	"I called her apartment and the base several times a day for a while,"
Yaegashi replied.  "It seems that she moved out of her apartment and back
onto the base when she got promoted and my calls to the base were never
returned.  I don't really blame her though.  After hurting her like that, I
don't think she'll ever want to talk to me again."
	There was nothing Kunikida could say to that.  He'd never been very good
at handling relationships himself.  Takeuchi had taken the initiative in
theirs, showing her interest in him and bringing forth the feelings that he
had long suppressed.  The van became very silent then.
		*			*			*			*
	Momiji carefully wrung the water out of the cloth before laying it on Mrs.
Tanaka's forehead.  They had moved her away from the table when she had
passed out after hearing Kusanagi's revelation concerning his relationship
to her daughter-in-law.
	"Is she alright?" Kusanagi asked for the tenth time. 
	"She'll be fine, Mamoru," Momiji replied as she moved back over to the
table where he sat.  "She just fainted, that's all.  You gave her quite a
shock."
	"I guess so," he replied shifting uncomfortably as he looked over at her.
"After all, I've seen you faint dozens of times and you never seemed to
take any harm from it."
	Momiji blushed and started muttereing something unpleasant as she
remembered that he was right.  More often than not, she had been passed out
by the time he had arrived to rescue her from the various Aragami that had
attacked her.  "Well, you've passed out a couple of times yourself, baka,"
she replied, turning away from him a little angrily.
	Kusanagi hesitantly put his arm around Momiji's shoulder, not wanting her
to be mad at him.  "You're right," he admitted.  "I've passed out from
wounds I've taken before and for other, less identifiable reasons before.
It's just that this is so awkward for me.  I finally come here to meet my
family, only to find out that my sister has mysteriously disappeared and
the only person who can tell me anything about her passed out when I told
her about my relationship to Keiko."
	"I know it's hard, Mamoru," Momiji said, leaning into him and savoring the
warm feeling of his arm around her.  <I've wanted him to hold me like this
for so long,> Momiji thought.  <I really could have used him around when I
found out that my mother and grandmother had died in the fight.>  Momiji
felt a wave of sadness wash over her.  Even though she had come to terms
with her family's death, it still saddened her to know that she would never
see them again.  <I know what Mamoru's going through right now, and I'm
glad he's finally willing to let me help him, instead of making some stupid
comment about my bust size or how childish my panties are.>  "Don't worry,
I'm sure that we'll be able to find your sister.  After all, the TAC and
the Japanese people owe you a lot for your help.  I'll make sure that
everything possible is done to find her."
	Kusanagi looked down at Momiji's fierce expression and felt oddly
comforted.  He knew that she would do everything she could, just as he
would if she needed his help.  <Is this what it's like to be in love?> he
asked himself.  <To be willing to do anything for the person you want to be
with?>  Kusanagi sighed and tightened his arm around Momiji as he waited
for his sister's mother- in-law to wake up.
		*			*			*			*
	The trees rustled nervously as the wind fluttered among their leaves.  The
sense of wrongness was growing closer and the caller had done nothing as
yet.  His power called out to them and they stood ready to help him, but he
seemed unconscious of what he was doing.  The trees were patient, however.
They could wait as long as they needed to for the caller to awaken and ask
for their aid.  It must happen soon though.  The corruption, the wrongness
was closer than it had ever been, as if it sensed the power of the caller
and sought to eliminate it.  The trees hoped that the caller would realize
his danger soon and take action, time was running out.
		*			*			*			*
	"What's that!" Yaegashi yelled as he swerved around a corner to avoid some
rubble.  He pulled to a stop and looked out his window.
	"Looks like there was an explosion here recently," Kunikida replied.  He
threw open his door and climbed out of the van and moved towards the
flaming wreckage.  Yaegashi climbed out and joined him.
	"What could have happened?" Yaegashi asked as he stepped over some of the
rubble that was scattered around.  "I thought this area had already been
checked over for gas leaks and the such.  There shouldn't have been an
explosion here."
	"Wait a minute...what's that?" Kunikida asked, spotting something near the
flaming debris.  He pulled something out of a pile of concrete.  It was a
piece of metal bearing the markings of a JSDF aircraft.  "There's only one
aircraft that would have been going through this area on its way back to
the base.
	Yaegashi's face blanched as he realized what Kunikida was talking about.
Panic flashed through him as he scrambled across the debris and into the
flames, shouting, "Koume!  Koume!  Where are you?!"
	Kunikida rushed after him, mindful of the flames as he saw Yaegashi
rushing about yelling out for Koume.  Kunikida pulled out his cell phone
and dialed up the emergency services and ordered them to send out a fire
truck and an ambulance.  Hopefully, Koume and her pilot had survived.
	Yaegashi pulled the wreckage out of his way as he searched through it
frantically.  Over and over he was telling himself that she was alive and
that she was alright, if he didn't he thought he would break down into
tears right then and there.  Finally he saw a flash of white in the haze of
the fire and moved towards it.  As he cleared the smoke from the burning
fuel, Yaegashi saw her.  She was lying with half her body trapped under a
section of the skin from the helicopter and she seemed to be unconscious
and very pale.
	<Please, Kami-sama, let her be alright,> Yaegashi prayed.  <I don't think
I could go on if something happened before I had the chance to make up with
her.>  He levered at the sheet of metal pinning her legs, feeling it shift
slightly, but otherwise not moving much.  "Sir, I found her!" he called
out.  "Please hurry, she's trapped!"  Kunikida hurried over and threw his
weight against the debris alongside Yaegashi.  Slowly, the chunk of metal
began to move, until they managed to flip it off Sawaguchi.  Yaegashi knelt
by her side and gathered her carefully into his arms, tears streaming down
his face.  
	Once they were clear of the wreckage, Kunikida forced Yaegashi to set
Koume down.  Yaegashi did so reluctantly, making sure that her head was
still lying in his lap as Kunikida checked for a pulse.  He smiled as he
looked over at Yaegashi and said, "Well, she's alive.  She's hurt, but alive."
	"Thank god," Yaegashi said, slumping forward and caressing Koume's cheek
while he waited for the ambulance.

End of Ch.5

Next Time:
A trip to the hospital
Mrs. Tanaka wakes up
Maybe I'll even have a fight


Author Notes:
Well, thanks for reading another section.  I had a couple comments on
Momiji acting a little OOC from the way she was presented in the series.
Well, I set this series more off the OVAs and the assumption that going
through the traumas that she did in the series would force Momiji to grow
up some.  Yes, she'll still act silly sometimes, but she's much more
serious and focused.
C&C  Welcome
Tim Walsh
Walshtt@muohio.edu