Princess Mononoke Fan Fiction ❯ Speed Prodigy ❯ New Home ( Chapter 6 )

New Home

 

BACK OVER at the federal CIA station, Ashitaka and Sono hurried themselves into the elevator, where they knew that the Sector 10 had already taken in that girl under custody, and probably one of the assassins who tried to kill her. The elevator seemed to have whirred and levitated faster than before, perhaps it was due to the tension that held between the two soldiers that became a catalyst for speed.

They then reached to the top level, and rushed themselves to the interrogation room like the one where Chisato investigated on Uzami. Then Yuka hurried up to Ashitaka and Sono in her scarlet blazer and mid-long skirt and her fruity grape shoulder-length hair.

“Major! Sergeant! I didn't know what to do; Sector 10 insisted on—

“Intruding the clubhouse, yeah we were there.” Ashitaka finished her sentence.

“I'd also take it that they also caught the assassin who tried to kill Princess Mononoke.”
“ONE of the assassin's; I killed the other.” Sono explained further.

“Oh…”
“They were firing at open public, and an innocent citizen was murdered instead of the girl. Sono took out the other before carnage commenced.” The Major talked further.

“I still don't understand though, Chisato turned down your offer of joining in of the opposed task, and he just took his SWAT team and entered the building fully charged, yet he knew you two would be here.”
Ashitaka stopped at an instant when Yuka finished her last bit of her sentence, as the other two people stopped and stared at each other.

“He knew me and Sono would be at the nightclub?”
“That's what I overheard.” Silence overcrowded the space, when then Ashitaka stomped his way over to the confession room.

“Major, where are you going? Major!” But he just continued walking hastily to the room where the female hacker was kept in custody.

 

“NO YOU listen to me! I want you to answer MY question first! I want to know what happened tonight!” The short-haired 20 year-old girl was found stood up with her shoulders hunched and still a few dried stains of blood dehydrated on her neck and chest, but she wiped some of her face before she lashed out her cussing tongue towards Chisato.

“No I believe miss YOU should be answering MY questions first.”
“Oooh (!) About what?! The fact that I'm a net hacker?! Well don't you have other things to do?! Like the bastard who shot my friend in the head!” She leaned even further and thumped her forehead with her right forefinger before harshly placing herself back into her seat and crossed her arms hastily.

“Of course; my men will sort that problem out.”

“What will they do, bring him back to life? I'd love to see them try to refuel his brain with 200,000 nerve cells. Think you can do that?”
“Miss, now is not the time to act cynical towards a police captain. Right now, I'm more interested in your interaction with the Hustler.”
“God, I have no affiliation with him whatsoever! He offered me an invitation but I turned it down, and I haven't had any contact or information from him since.”

“Why were those men trying to kill you?”
“Kill me?! What the hell are you talking about?! Who's trying to kill me?!”
“The man who shot your friend.”

“Are you saying that he was killed my friend by mistake?!”
“That's not important right now.” The punk girl then slammed her fists upon the table and bared her gritting teeth at him.

“How dare you say that that is not fucking important right now?!”

“Please calm down or I will have to send restraints in!” She rose from her place and violently kicked her chair onto one side of the room; her temper had burst into a flower of red and rage as her feisty scent flourished out from her power. Until her ruby glow cooled down as she sighed heavily with her eyes drawn to the wall on hr left side.

Ashitaka was standing behind the mirror glass keeping a close eye on the girl; her movements made him peculiar of her whereabouts. His fingers began to rub again and his lips curbed with curiosity for the punk hacker's fiery haze; all of her anger that can be converted by lightning into something hotter than fire, but cool as ice. She then turned to the mirror, but tried to look deeper and more thorough than what other captives couldn't be bothered to do. He was staring. She was staring. The two of them were staring directly in each other's eyes, even though the girl could only see her reflection, she knew that there was someone else watching her in the shadows. He was spotted. She pulled an angry look upon her face and flicked her hair away from him and made her final statement.

“I do not know of the Hustler any further from the invitation he sent me. Nothing…more.”
Then Sono entered the room where Ashitaka withheld, rustling some papers were in his hands. He watched the Major look at him and then stared at the silent raging girl again.

“It's a waste of time, you know?”
“What is?”
“Well I seriously don't think that you're gonna get answers just staring at her.”
“No, I will get answers from the police officer from Sector 10 who evaded the objective. Chisato…I don't understand his behavior around me…he acts like a bureaucrat not a police officer.” They then stared back at the girl and Chisato as their investigation was closing in.

“I found some information on Princess Mononoke.”
“Real name?”
“Unknown.”
“Residence?”
&# 8220;Doesn't have one.” Ashitaka then turned his attention towards the information given to him.

“What?”
“That's right; she has no home, no phone number, and no file documents, no occupation except what she's being paid for hacking…and she has been orphaned for god knows how many years.” The Major then turned his head back towards the girl, and then felt a small sense of sympathy for her.

“They're coming out.” They both then walked out of the darkened room and waited in the hall, where they would be expecting the captain and the suspect to come out from. Sono then saw her; Chisato tried to grab her arm, but she brashly grudged it out of the way with might; her irate on her face was shown distinctively. Ashitaka showed a quite firmed face towards Chisato, but the captain ignored that began his sentence.

“She'll be staying in one of the cells for tonight.”
“But the nearest one is over in Old Town; it'll take up the rest of the night.”
“I think I believe what's best here…Sergeant, as it is ME who holds her captive.”

“And as Major of this bureau, I command that you release her of charge and custody.” The girls eyes pricked open with a small gasp along with Chisato's face in a small distraught.

“What?!”
“She's not a suspect; she's a target. Why else would those men want to assassinate her? And what makes you so certain that the same group of people would try to kill her again? I think it's best that she stays here.” Then Sono pitched in.

“Ashitaka you can't do that.”
“Why not?”
“The Head won't allow it; because she was on the list, he'll take her as an enemy. And besides, since she's a hacker you can't really trust her.”
“Well where is she supposed to go?” Then a small silence stirred the air for a moment as Sono's eyes lingered towards Ashitaka's, which made the Major sigh in annoyance.
“I guess I can take care of her.” The girl jerked away a little.

“Hell no!”
“You have to, otherwise the chances of you getting killed again are most likely; the Major is a safe person to be with, an example could be of dodging your bullet.” Sono's little statement made the girl stare at Ashitaka a little deeper, and then tossed her head away like before.

“Fine!” She spat with reluctance.

“So be it.” Ashitaka made a final comment, as he heard Chisato grunt with distraught. “I'll talk to YOU in the morning.” He firmly spoke back at him, before turning away from him towards the elevator. The girl couldn't wait to get away from the captain and follow the Major in his footsteps.

THEY BOTH stayed silent on their way down to the ground level; Ashitaka stood in his usual position with his arms crossed and his back straight, but the punk girl's style seemed to be quite similar towards him; straight back, arms crossed, but with legs quite further apart than his were. They reached the ground as then the girl tried to hurry Ashitaka in order to go outside, and as they do, she door after she walked through the glass doors.

“Well that was one hell of a trip.” Ashitaka then slowly rotated his face towards her.

“Excuse me?”
“No offence but…I think I can make my own way home now.”
“Go then.”
“What?”
“Go on. Go home.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. You're free to go.” The girl stuttered and struggled for a moment to move, she knew she had no where to go; all of her other friends would be too scare-fucked out of their skulls that they won't set another foot outside again. She turned her head both ways, and then looked down at the floor. Ashitaka won that round.

“Just as I thought.” Ashitaka then carried on walking, and as she had no choice, so did the girl. They both reached over to his slick black Yamaha motorbike, when the Major took grasp of his helmet.

“You have a Yamaha?”
“Yes, for a little while now. Do you have one?”
“A silver Suzuki, but I bet that's trampled over now thanks to police captain jackass and his retarded posse.”

“Right…there's no need to call him by that.”
“Why not? I know that's how YOU feel towards him. I can see it in your eyes.”
“Me and the Captain are both fine.” He spoke in quite a stern tone towards her.

“Psch, whatever.” The Major then realized that he only had one helmet between the pair as the girl parked herself behind Ashitaka with her butt on the foam-filled leather seat, and leaned back a little as the Major nearly turned on the engines.

“You can use this.” He passed the helmet back behind him into the girl's palms. She grudgingly placed it on and forcefully wrapped her arms around Ashitaka's waist, as the engines revved and the wheels spurred into action.

 

20 MINUTES later, the Major unlocked the mechanism of his door, and opened it with the knob as he entered the house. But the girl didn't join him; she stood just outside on the rim of the entry, she stood ever so still her skin didn't twitch from the small rush of air escaping from the room. Ashitaka turned around and became a little confused by her stationary activity.

“You can come in you know.” The girl didn't reply and looked at the floor; she was a little chilly since she left her black jacket over at the nightclub. “What's wrong?”
“It's just…I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable; I would be intruding.”
“This is your new home now. I'm sure you'll be fine living with me, now come in.” The girl took in a small breath of air, and raised one foot over the rim, along with the other until she was hen officially in the Major's apartment. She looked up, and gave off a small sigh.

“Thank…you.”
“It's ok; you don't have to thank me.” Her sad melancholic expression that smeared across her face made her feel out of place a little. She never ever felt wanted by a stranger; her punk gang friends always made her sense the emotion of specialty that fitted her as a part of a missing jigsaw piece. But why him? Why a Major? He's the antithesis of what her purpose is; he wants discipline, she wants rebellion, two very different perspectives. She only wondered…what the reaction would be if she conflicted the two together.

She saw Ashitaka maneuver around the room to take off his bright cobalt jacket and gently threw it on the grey sheets of his bed. She could see his hard chest subtly showing through his navy blue tight t-shirt, and observed his quite large hands un-arming himself from the guns he always carried and positioned them in a drawer on one side of his bed. The lighting was warm and delicate with an orange-yellow haze from the light bulb that was fixed onto the ceiling. The Major then walked into his spare room with the punching bag inside; against the wall on where the door was placed, he began to unfold a black sofa into a small double sized bed, brushed away a few creases and padded away tiny amounts of dust.

“Come here.” The girl stuttered for a moment, but then quite bravely entered the room where Ashitaka was, and looked at the made bed.

“You can sleep here. Do you need anything else?”
“No. I'm fine. Thank you.” Her staccato style of speech still made her feel unwary towards the Major.
“If you need the bathroom, it's on the other side. I can make you a bath if you like.”
“Are you saying that I stink?”
“No, I'm saying you should relax. I'm not going to harm you in anyway. I offered to protect so you have nothing to worry about. Now do you want a bath or not?”

“Fine, I'll have one.”
“Ok then…” The small blank was supposed to be the part where the girl said her name but…

“I still don't trust you.”
“That's fine. Should I just call you Princess Mononoke then?”
“That would suffice…for now.”
“Right.” Ashitaka then walked out of the room to start the bath for Princess Mononoke. Right after he left, she collapsed her body onto the bed and sighed loudly as she stared at the ceiling.
“What am I doing? Why am I staying with a total stranger? Should I be worried? He said that I shouldn't have to be anxious, but I bet any man would say that. I might need to pick up my gun tomorrow, which is IF the man lets me out of his apartment. I mean, c'mon! I can protect myself…on the other hand…he did save my life, and I could show some gratitude to him. That girl's right; I DO have morals, even for a hacker. God…if only people knew WHY I do it…” She thought to herself as she nearly dozed off, but the rushing sound of hot running water electrocuted her doze and shot her eyes open again.

 

THE SEARING steam lingered on the tiled walls and the mirror as condensation dripped from the surface, with a semi-circular bathtub half filled with sweltering bathing water. Ashitaka wiped down some droplets of wetness away from his skin as the girl's bath was ready. He walked back over to the other room after he neatly folded some white towels beside the bathtub.

“Your bath's ready.” The girl leaned herself up and swept her tight purple top a little, before she walked pass Ashitaka and brushed one of her bangs out from her face, revealing her triangle tattoos on her façade. The Major looked at them so closely, wondered the beauty behind those bohemian marks. But then, and electric spark shot through his brain like a painless bullet rushing through his veins, only instead of a bullet were anonymous images back in ancient Japan.

A girl?
“Go away.”
“I'm not afraid to die…”
“I should kill you for saving her!” She drew out his sword and thrust it between his throat and the air. What will she do? The Major took in a small gasp and rubbed his forehead with his fingers.

“Hm? What's wrong?” The girl wondered out of plain curiosity, but then Ashitaka grudged himself straight and rubbed his forehead with his fingers/

“Oh…nothing. If you want me, I'll be in my bed, ok?”

“Ok…” She drifted off a little and then slowly brought herself over to the bathroom, whilst Ashitaka panted a little from the small brainstorm he just had.

 

SHE QUIETLY locked the door; she looked around and stared softly at the white, blurry tiled walls surrounding the room.

“He can't get in.” she thought to herself, as she then started to tenderly remover every piece of clothing she wore that veiled her naked body; her tight purple top and her leather-fit trousers were peeled away from her skin, as then the black-lacy lingerie drooped away from her thighs and bust. She tingled slightly as the humidity of the water touched her skin tenderly; starting with her left foot, she then dipped her whole body into the pure whiteness of a bath. Her breath sighed out as the thick density puffed out a fair mist into the atmosphere. She then slowly leaned her head back onto the rim of the bath top and stared at the pale teal ceiling.

“What am I doing here? Taking a bath in a stranger's house? Why am I repeating the question? God, my head's in a mess right now. Why did that boy have to die? I loved him to bits; he was like my only brother. Why was he taken from me…?”
Her eyes began to tremble with tears that she tried to stifle, but then they broadened with fury and her teeth gritted as she clenched her fists.

“If only that bastard didn't come along. If only he never came. He could have been fine; we could have been fine, if he didn't show his rotten face there. I'll get my gun tomorrow…and he'll see; he'll see how he will go through hell when I'm done with me. That's right, let's see how he feels with a speeding bullet through HIS brain. I'll kill him. I kill him like a little girl stifled by the neck!”

 

Ashitaka was found in his bed with the light off. His shirt was neatly placed to one-side of his bed, along with the sheets covering his lower abs and his chest shown bare. His hair was waved and his eyes were quite wary, whilst he turned to his side and looked at the gasping skylines and neon colors of Tokyo. He was silent; just staring at the nocturnal view.

“What happened back then?”
But the bathroom door swung open quite abruptly, as he then turned stationary whilst he waited for the girl to get into the other room. He could feel the steam lurking out from the tiled bathroom as then the girl slowly strolled her way into the other room. She slowed down a little to look at the Majors lean and spotless back, but out of conflict she turned her head away and hurried herself back into the bedroom. Closing the door silently, Ashitaka unhurriedly opened his eyes again to look at the mystic digital night before his vision dozed away, for another…strange dream.