I've already posted part 2. I was thinking about not posting part 3 until
I finish part 4, but what the hell. Here goes... (MAYBE I'll have it
complete by the next part...)
* * * * *
There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Gotoh said, not looking up from
his paperwork.
Inspector Matsui entered the room, carrying two file folders with him.
"Hello, Captain Gotoh. I have a couple questions about those records you
sent down to me the other day."
Gotoh nodded, gesturing to Shinobu. "I'm sure that if either Captain
Nagumo or myself can help you, we will."
Matsui nodded. "Upon a thorough combing of these files, I found two
instances of labor revolvers being checked out and not checked back in. I
was wondering if you knew if these incidents were just neglect or if there
was a specific reason they weren't logged in as returned."
"Well, I'll take a look at the folders, and see if I can suggest anything,"
he said. Matsui handed Gotoh the files, and pointed out the two incidents
he was referring to. "Hmm... well, considering the date, I'm fairly
certain that both of these guns were involved in the incident between the
Griffin and the Peacemakers. I recall that the report said both revolvers
were believed to have both been tossed into the Tokyo Bay during the fight.
Only one was recovered, however- that one in unserviceable condition. The
other-"
"Wait," Shinobu interrupted. "Did you say BOTH were thought to have been
tossed into the bay?"
"Yeah, that's what the official report I read said. Both revolvers issued
to your Peacemakers were lost in the Tokyo Bay during the Griffin
Incident."
"But... only ONE was lost in the bay that time- the other one was dropped
on the sidewalk. I thought the maintenance squad recovered it!" Shinobu
said.
Gotoh frowned. "Hmm... curious. Inspector Matsui, perhaps we need to
investigate this little corruption angle a bit further back than I
suspected...."
* * * * *
"Um, Asuma," Noa said, returning to the main room. "I have some bad news."
Asuma, who was disposing of the trash produced from their dinner, looked up
at her. "Oh?"
"Uh huh. I just checked the rest of the house... um, apparently mom and
dad haven't been maintaining this place all that well lately. The only
room which we can actually afford to heat is the bathroom and this room-
their are holes in many of the windows, a partially collapsed cieling in
another room, and the back door is letting in a very bad draft."
Asuma sighed, putting the last empty beer can in the trash bag. "Great,"
he said. "Okay, I'll take the bathroom."
Noa looked at him guiltily. "I can't make you do that- I'll take the
bathroom."
"Oh, just let me take the bathroom. This is your house, after all."
"And you're my guest!" Noa countered. "I'll take the bathroom."
"I already feel bad enough with you making yourself a felon for me," Asuma
argued. "I'll take the bathroom."
"Fine! We'll BOTH take the bathroom!" Noa shouted.
Asuma blinked. "Um... Noa, think about that for a minute."
"Uh... okay, maybe we won't both take the bathroom," she said, embarrassed.
She thought about it for a second, blushed, and bit her lip nervously.
"Still... it might be best if we shared a room for the night... I mean, who
knows when we'll be getting more propane for the heater... we should
conserve what fuel we've got."
Asuma nodded slowly. "Um... well, I guess that makes sense. We should see
if we can repair some of the other rooms, though." He paused. "If you
promise not to hit me, I guess it would be all right. Show me where the
futons are and I'll help you drag a couple here."
"Heh heh..." Noa laughed nervously. "Um, that's the other piece of bad
news I've got."
Asuma looked at her in disbelief. "Don't tell me there's only one futon!"
"No, there's plenty of futons!" she exclaimed. "Um... sort of."
"Sort of?"
"Well... see, remember I said there was a partially collapsed roof in one
room? Well, see, some snow leaked through that roof onto the pile of
futons, and so..."
"They're all wet?"
"No! They've dried off- well, most of them have. It's just that many of
them are slightly rotted... or smell bad... or..."
Asuma sighed. "Never mind. Lead the way- let's see how bad off these
futons are, anyway."
* * * * *
Takeo sighed, waiting for the taxi to stop. She'd almost gotten through
the phone records she'd already obtained, and then Inspector Matsui called.
He'd found more people to check up on, and pushed the date back for the
records collection. So, off she was to the judge's office to get the
warrant, and now she was headed back to the phone company to pick up the
new files.
As the taxi entered the parking lot, she noticed a HELICOPTER parked up on
the roof of the building. At first, she feared that it was part of Shaft
Security Systems, but upon further inspection she was able to determine
that while it was the same make of helicopter as those used by the 3-S, it
was customized in a way that no 3-S person would ever allow (not to mention
there was no 3-S logo painted on the side).
"We're here, ma'am," the taxi driver said. "That'll be fourty-five hundred
yen."
Takeo pulled a wad of cash out of her purse and handed it to the taxi
driver. "Thank you. If you could return in a couple of hours to take me
back, I'd be grateful."
The driver counted the yen, noticing it was fifteen hundred yen larger than
he'd asked for. Not much, true, but enough of a bribe to make him take
notice of her request. "Of course, Ma'am."
The taxi drove off as she made her way inside. After a few brief words
with the receptionist (who had been expecting her), she went over to the
same room for phone records retrieval she'd been at before.
She stepped up to the counter at the records department, looking in to see
who was there. Most of the staff was apparently missing, but there was one
man in a suit bending over a computer terminal. Takeo couldn't make much
out about him, but from what she could see she had the vaguely disturbing
feeling she'd seen him before- and not at the phone company. Shaking her
head furiously to clear it, she called over to the man.
"Excuse me, can you help me?"
The figure stiffened. In a nasal and strongly accented voice, he replied,
"I sorry- only here from India researching phone systems. Can no help
you."
Takeo's eyes widened. She recognized that voice, even as (badly) disguised
as it was. Leaping over the counter, she ran up to the man and turned him
around by the shoulder. "Richard!" she cried.
Richard Wong faced her with some of his usual smile, but it looked a little
more nervous than usual. "Hello, Takeo. I should have known that little
trick wouldn't work on you," he said.
They just stared at each other for a few moments, niether one knowing what
to say. Finally, Takeo's eyes turned cold. "You're under arrest for
illegally infiltrating the private records kept by the phone company."
Wong held out his hands, still smiling. "If you insist- and I won't trick
you this time, either. But you'll be making a big mistake if you do."
Takeo snorted. "And why would that be? I can't believe you're helping
these people cover up who REALLY killed Asuma's father. I know you've done
some pretty despicable things, but that's low, even for you!"
That caused Wong's face- and hands- to drop. "I thought you knew me better
than that. I'm not covering up any of the murderers."
Takeo sighed. "I thought I knew you better than that, as well! But if
that ISN'T what you're doing, then why ARE you here?"
Wong's smile returned. "Why, I'm trying to do the exact same thing you
are- get Asuma Shinohara off the hook." His smile grew. "After all, is
Shinohara Heavy Industries collapses because their owners are in prison,
then I'm out of the job."
Takeo's eyes widened. There was a ring of truth to what he was saying.
Still... "We can conduct our OWN investigation, thank you," she said,
pulling out a pair of handcuffs.
Wong nodded, holding out his hands again. "Oh, I believe you. I remember
just how much attention you pay to detail. You're a great detective- I
have no question that you'll eventually crack the case!" He paused.
"However, since Asuma and Noa are under my care, they might find themselves
in a little bit of trouble if I'm not there to help them."
That stopped Takeo before she could put the cuffs on him. "What do you
mean, 'under your care?'"
"The two of them found this nice littly cozy hideaway they could stay at,"
he answered. "However, they have no money and only limited supplies. I
found them there, and offered to make certain they were well stocked during
their visit to that establishment. They did NOT want to trust me, but they
didn't have much other choice." He sighed, putting on an unhappy look.
"Sadly, it looks like their mistrust will be well founded, as I will be in
prison and unable to provide the help I promised them."
"Where are they?" she asked anxiously.
Wong laughed. "Now, Takeo, you know I'm not going to tell you that. You
can't arrest me while I have that information, and I'm certainly going to
do what I can to keep you from arresting me." He paused. "Besides, I'm
certainly not going to give their position away to the police!"
Takeo remembered what Matsui had told her. "I won't give there position
away, either." She paused, hesitating before she continued. "And I promise
not to arrest you if you do. Perhaps... perhaps we could work together on
this investigation, and I could help you work on getting Asuma and Noa
to... relax... around you."
Wong's face dropped- not in sadness, nor in anger, but in shock. That was
an offer he certainly had not been expecting. "Are you... serious?"
"Only for the duration of this investigation!" Takeo declared. "Consider
it a temporary pardon- but once this is finished, the best you can expect
from me is a running start."
He relaxed into his smile again. "Of course," he said. "Well, I'm very
willing to work with you on this. Let's get those phone records you came
for, and then we'll start looking through them, okay?"
* * * * *
Asuma strugged to get comfortable. He stared across at Noa, who was
relaxed comfortably on her futon- the ONLY futon in the house which hadn't
been ruined by the weather.
In order to make a bed for himself, he'd grabbed the two next-best looking
futons they could find and doubled them up. It was still very lumpy,
however, and smelly, and parts of both futons he was using had rotted. The
blankets were much the same way- enough undamaged covers for one, really,
so he had to make do with multiple ruined covers. It still left him cold-
sure, they'd warmed up the room before going to bed, but it was dangerous
to leave a propane tank burning overnight and they'd had to turn the heater
off before going to sleep. There were no holes in the walls, so it wasn't
cooling down too quickly, but the disrepair of the blankets he was forced
to use didn't offer the protection needed to keep him warm. It didn't help
that he was sleeping in his underwear- niether he nor Noa had a change of
clothes on them, and so they'd been forced to make do with their underwear
and some bathrobes as pajamas. None of the bathrobes fit Asuma, however,
so he wound up using them as an extra blanket.
As he studied Noa's apparently sleeping form, he sighed. It looked like
she was very comfortable. 'Tomorrow,' he thought to himself, 'I'm getting
on that snowmobile and heading over to the ski lodge to see if I can pick
up a futon and some blankets from that contact of Wong's. And maybe a
change of clothes or two, as well.' He paused. "And anything else that
might be of use in making this place livable," he accidentally muttered
aloud.
"I'm sorry, Asuma," Noa said from her futon.
"Noa? You're awake?"
"I can't sleep- I keep wondering what we're getting ourselves into," she
said. "I mean, we're working with the BLACK LABOR here- and we're working
AGAINST all of our friends."
"I know," Asuma agreed. "Do you regret helping me?"
Noa turned her head to smile at him. "No. I'd have had an even harder
time sleeping if I hadn't." She noticed him shivering slightly. "You
cold?"
"A little," he admitted. Unfortunately, his teeth chattered slightly when
he said it.
"Sounds like you're more than just 'a little' cold," Noa accused.
"Well... yeah, okay, I'm cold," he said. "Not much I can do about it."
Noa looked guilty. "I got the good futon... maybe I could give you the
good blankets in trade?"
"And have both of us uncomfortable?" he said. "No... keep the blanket."
"But I'm the host- it's my job to make the guest feel comfortable."
"And I'm the guest," he replied. "Do we have to go throught this again?"
"Let's just skip to the end- why don't we share?" she joked.
Asuma, however, missed the humor in her voice. "You can't be serious!" he
exclaimed.
For some reason, Noa took offense at that. "Oh? If I was, what would you
do?"
"I... I don't know," he said. "I mean, I've had to share rooms- and
sometimes futons- with the others in our unit, but..."
"But?"
"But you aren't just one of the other guys," he said.
"Well, yeah- I'm a girl!"
Asuma propped himself up on an elbow, turning to face her. "It isn't just
that you're a girl, though."
That surprised Noa. "What do you mean? If it isn't just that I'm a girl,
what is it?"
"I... I'm not sure how to explain it," he answered. "It's just... well, I
wouldn't be really... comfortable... sleeping next to you."
"Well, gee, thanks," she said.
"I didn't mean it like that!" he exclaimed.
Noa looked at him closely. "Then how DID you mean it?"
He lay back down, closing his eyes so that he wouldn't see her face when he
said what he was about to say. "I couldn't ALLOW myself to get comfortable
because I would be afraid of getting... too comfortable... with you."
The implications of that set in, and for the first time Noa wondered about
their relationship. She thought about the times they'd spent together, the
times they'd gone into battle together, and the emotional memories they'd
shared. "Asuma?" she said. Her voice was cracking slightly.
"Yeah, Noa?"
Noa paused. She wasn't sure she wanted to ask this, but once she'd made
her decision she figured she might as well not back out of it. "Do you
want to share the futon?"
Asuma sat up like he'd been shot out of a cannon. "Are you sure you want
to take the risk?" he asked.
"Asuma," she said sternly. "I don't care about the risk. You've told me
more about yourself than I've seen you tell anyone else- I'VE told you more
about MYSELF than I've ever told anyone else. When the Griffin hurt you
and I didn't know if you were alive or dead, I was more terrified than I'd
been at any other point in my life. When we had our first real fight-
about you making up with your father- I was afraid we'd never make up, and
didn't know how I'd handle that. Whenever my life was on the line, I cried
your name, desperately hoping I could see you just one more time. Asuma...
like you always say, backup and forward should have one heart and one mind.
I think we've got the one heart already. I let you be my mind sometimes.
If we DID... get too comfortable, all that would happen to us would be that
we'd add one more thing to share- one body."
Asuma couldn't move, or speak, or even think- was Noa offering what he
thought she was offering?
"Noa, do you know what you're saying?"
Noa nodded furiously. "Yes. Now get over here!"
"Yes, ma'am!" he said, jumping out of the futon. "Wait... don't I usually
boss YOU around?"
Noa chuckled. "Tell you what- you can boss me around in the morning.
Tonight, it's my turn."
* * * * *
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
desaix@sysnet.net
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872/fanfics.htm
David A. Tatum's Used Anime Trading Post
http://www2.sysnet.net/~desaix/shop.htm
Want money for surfing the web?
Go to http://www.alladvantage.com
(and use my ref. id number: GJV-454)