Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Warrior Children ❯ Sacrafice ( Chapter 20 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Cousin D 
Sh'ten protects his family.
Anime/Manga: Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy / Drama / Angst / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 10.04.2003 | Updated On: 03.05.2006 | Pages: 6 | Words: 8.1K | Visits: 502 | Status: Completed
Sh'ten protects his family.
Anime/Manga: Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy / Drama / Angst / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 10.04.2003 | Updated On: 03.05.2006 | Pages: 6 | Words: 8.1K | Visits: 502 | Status: Completed
Chapter 19: Sacrifice
Nasty-
Nasty watched her brother and Zechs go, walking, for once. Usually, Trieze preferred to use one of his shiny cars to advertise who he was. Today, though, he was going to visit Noin, and for that, he preferred privacy. Nasty smiled. She liked Noin. Zechs, too. Normally, Nasty couldn't stand the people her brother had to associate with for his lifestyle, but Zechs and Noin were just wonderful.
The thought of Noin, naturally, led Nasty to think of Noin's brother, the pretty blonde Seiji. Thinking of Seiji and the party made Nasty look at Trieze's house as she walked toward where they were currently living. The grand mansion that had been in their family for generations was currently being rebuilt; at least half of it was, anyway. The ballroom had been nearly destroyed the night of the party and no one would tell her what was going on.
"We'll see about that, Trieze." Nasty mumbled under her breath. "Think that you can keep me away from a mystery, huh?" She turned from the crews of construction men and their heavy, bright yellow machinery and started walking back to where she and Trieze were currently living. The small guest house was modest to say the least and not what either of them was used to. It only had about four rooms and, as Trieze preferred his guests to stay in the main house, so this went unused.
Well, now they were thankful that their father had built the house a short distance from the main house. As she walked, Nasty's mind went over what she'd seen the night of the party. Of course, the roof exploding in a bizarre flare of black light was top most in her mind. Second, was the sounds of horrified screams and watching the guests swarm out of the ballroom.
Nasty had watched the whole spectacle from where she'd chosen to read, hidden slightly behind a grove of trees and waited patiently until the excitement had died down. When the guests had gone home, it wasn't Trieze who'd come out of the half-demolished ballroom, but a group of strangers and Noin. Two rather large, armored young men each carrying four unconscious boys. The four being carried must have been injured when the roof had collapsed, but there were two others, also. One boy with a very long braid and one that had seen Nasty were dressed normally, but still didn't seem to be quite in place.
She could still see his cold gaze when he'd spotted her sitting under one of the trees. The boy was younger than she was, but not by much, and his eyes had seen to much pain for such a young child. Nasty hated to think what happened must have happened to the poor kid to make him shut down.
But those armored men...Nasty just couldn't get her mind off them. Something about them was nagging at the back of her mind. Black lightening? It all seemed very familiar, like something she'd read long ago.
In the guest house, Nasty wandered around, thinking. She felt very silly doing this, but eventually she picked up the telephone and dialed the very familiar number.
"Grandfather?"
-Nasty Chan.- He sounded happy to hear from her. -I heard about what happened at Trieze's house, is everyone all right?-
"Yes, nobody was hurt, but Trieze won't tell me what's going on. Not even Zechs will tell me what happened, and he's my best friend! Grandfather, this is going to sound like a very strange request, and I'm sorry to bother you about this, but I'm looking for an old book I seem to remember seeing in your library."
-It's not strange at all.- Grandfather replied. -Do you remember what book you're looking for?-
"I think it was called 'Fairy Tales for the Future'." It was a strange title, but her grandfather had read her stories from that book every day when she was a child. Nasty knew practically all the stories by heart and she was sure that there was some clue in that book.
Grandfather Yagiyu was quite for a long time, so long that Nasty got worried. "Grandfather? Are you there?"
-I'm here.-
"Did I say something wrong? I can go see if I can find it at a library if you don't want to sent it."
-No, you won't find this book at any library. In fact, I doubt you'd find another book quite like this anywhere in the world. I will sent it by messenger and you'll have the book in two hours.-
Nasty's eyes grew wide. "Two hours? But, grandfather, you live on the other side of Japan! How can you possibly..."
-I have some useful connections. You WILL have the book in two hours. Tell me why you want to see it, Nasty.-
That was not a request and Nasty knew better than to argue with her grandfather when he used that tone. "I've just seen something unusual and I think the book may be able to help me solve a mystery."
-Does it have anything to do with the attack on Trieze's party?-
"Yes, but I don't want you to get involved, grandfather." Nasty hurriedly said. "I'm afraid this might be dangerous, so don't try to come up here to help, okay?" Nasty loved her grandfather very much and it would kill her if anything happened to him.
After Nasty and Trieze's parents died, Nasty was taken in by her mother's father and raised in his secluded mansion by the lake as the heir to the Yagiyu fortune. Nasty had even had her name changed from Kushranada to Yagiyu out of love and respect for her dear grandfather. Their father's side of the family, the Kushranada's, had taken Trieze and raised him as heir to their empire.
-I worry about you, Nasty. This is not just a fairy tale book, so be careful, there are things in this book that are more dangerous than they look.-
Dangerous? In a book? "I'll be careful." Nasty promised before saying goodbye and hanging up.
Only two hours later, as promised, Nasty was looking through the book her grandfather had sent her. Nasty had to admit that she was impressed with the delivery system that could get the book so far in such a short time.
The book was dusty and old, bound in cracking leather with no writing on the front, just as she remembered it from her childhood. Nasty was scanning the pages for something that might jog her memory about why the armor had seemed important when she came to the word, 'yoroi'. Nasty just stared at the word for a moment.
Yoroi: mystical armor.
Nasty swallowed hard, somehow knowing that this was a life changing moment, and then continued to read.
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Arago came to destroy the world and brought with him a great warrior named Hariel. This man, turned to evil by Arago, lived only to destroy and kill for his master.
One day, though, the sight of a beautiful, white haired maiden struck Hariel. He had been sent to kill her family, but her beauty stopped him and made him think. He watched her secretly for many days and nights as she went about daily chores, and he fell completely in love. Her voice was sweeter than honey and her kindness was without equal.
For love of this girl, Hariel betrayed Arago. He used the yoroi of Inferno, the most powerful thing Arago had ever created, to fight the armies Arago sent to the Ningen Sekai. It was Hariel, Arago's own champion, who defeated the demon and banished him to the Youja Kai.
Hariel, still bearing the yoroi, married the girl he'd fallen in love with and she gave birth to two strong sons before dying two days after their birth. Hariel was heartbroken, but loved his sons dearly. For the rest of Hariel's life, he loved his dead wife and never took another. His sons grew, but Hariel found that he'd stopped aging. When his sons reached adulthood, Hariel took his own life so he would be able to join his beloved.
A monk came the two sons only hours after the death of their father and asked to see the yoroi that had become so famous. The sons, not wanting anyone to try to steal the yoroi, refused. The monk tapped his staff on the floor of their home and a flash of light blinded them for a moment and when they could see again, the monk had gone. So had the yoroi.
Fortunately, their father's body had been left undisturbed, so the sons were not terribly upset. They searched briefly for the yoroi and the thieving monk, but they never found ant trace of the thief.
The monk hid the yoroi safely away so Arago's forces could not find it, in his own village, and waited.
***************************************
The story, Nasty noticed, was illustrated with pictures of the yoroi, incredibly white armor, and a man wielding two flaming swords. Different drawings of him fighting both men and then a demon encased in dull grey armor. One picture of Hariel without the yoroi and holding his two sons on his lap and the caption underneath read:
KURODA HARIEL WITH HIS SONS, PO-SIN AND JIROUGOROU.
Nasty carried the book over to her computer and turned the Internet on. This was just a story, a fairy tale that she dimly remembered, but Nasty couldn't get her mind off this. She typed 'Hariel' into the search engine and waited to see what turned up. Nasty wanted to laugh at herself, but it really did seem important. Finally she found a site entitled, HARIEL, JUST A STORY?
Intrigued, Nasty clicked on it and read the essay someone had posted.
***************************************
After the creation of the nine yoroi, the monk, Kaosu, hid them away to await those who would bear them. Records from the villagers who hid the nine yoroi tell us that not even three years after the death of Hariel, one yoroi, the yoroi of illusion, vanished. It was at the same time that Hariel's younger son, Jirougorou, vanished. Many believe that Jirougorou was chosen to follow in his father's footsteps and wear the yoroi, but Jirougorou was never seen again.
For many years, one-by-one, the yoroi slowly vanished from the resting-place the monk had sealed them in, until only five remained. These five still sleep, waiting for the warriors who will come to claim them.
One rumor has said that an Indian boy was granted one. He is one of the few in history who have been thought to have been created out of the pairing of human and a snake, a naga. The evidence of this is his larger than normal eyes and hair that started to turn green as he aged. By the time this boy was nine his unusual appearance was enough to have him driven from the village of his birth just after his mother's death.
Having nowhere else to go, the boy wandered the Earth until he came to Japan and took the Japanese name, Yamanouchi Naotoki. The boy was said to be skilled in poisons as well as healing until he, like Jirougorou, vanished without a trace.
*****************************************
Again, Nasty found a hand drawn picture of a very young man with wild green hair and bitter eyes with a very angry expression. True, he didn't look quite human, but Nasty couldn't help but to feel pity for those hurt filled eyes. Whoever had drawn the picture had truly had talent to capture such a look.
******************************************
The last story regards Sasaki Kujuurou. A loner who wandered from city to city, Kujuurou was rumored to have been a vampire.
******************************************
Nasty blinked and had to reread that last sentence. A vampire? Still, she was finding herself believing in a legend of magical armor, so why not vampires?
*******************************************
Kujuurou was accused of many mysterious deaths, nothing could be proved, however. Kujuurou did nothing to stop the rumors that he was a vampire and seemed to fuel them by only going out at night. Kujuurou was said to have disappeared in a ray of light that came from the night sky. Many people believe it was some god destroying the evil creature while others believe he was chosen to bear one of the yoroi.
The disappearance of each young man coincides with the disappearance of three of the yoroi, Gen, Yami, and Doku.
*********************************************
Nasty closed the book, that being the end of the section that interested her. How very, very odd. The blue haired one, the vampire Kujuurou was definitely the one she'd seen the other night. That was quite impossible. Nasty tried to convince herself that the green haired young man she'd seen was just a look alike or perhaps a descendant of Naotoki, but somehow it just didn't seem right.
The article on the Internet only mentioned where three of the yoroi went, but it also said a fourth had been taken. So where was the forth missing yoroi and what had happened to the other five?
A sudden thought struck Nasty. If she could find whoever had written the article, then maybe they would be able to help her unravel this mystery. After all, they seemed to know everything that was going on! Nasty quickly scrolled to the bottom of the page and stared in shock at the name at the bottom.
Professor Yagiyu.
What? Nasty frowned and wondered why her grandfather hadn't told her this before. Surely, he would have mentioned it at some time. Well, no better way to find out than to call him and ask.
Just as Nasty was walking to the phone she heard the doorbell ring. Nasty really wanted to call her grandfather and ask about this, but courtesy came first. She went to answer the door. At the door was a...well, a pretty young man. Chinese with his hair pulled back into a ponytail and one hand behind his back. He blinked, seeming surprised to see here.
"Hello, can I help you?" Nasty asked.
"I am looking for Trieze Kushranada. Is he home?" The young man asked in a cultured voice, speaking almost perfect Japanese.
Nasty shook her head, wondering if this was one of Trieze's former boyfriends. Naw, this guy was a bit young for Trieze's taste and, besides, Trieze had been rather preoccupied with Zechs for the past several years.
"No, I'm sorry." Nasty replied. "You just missed him. Would you care to come in and for some tea?"
Wufei-
Wufei rang the doorbell of the Kushranada home, his knife hidden well under the long coat he wore. This was where Trieze lived after some kind of attack, the construction workers had told Wufei when he'd asked them. Wufei rang again, impatient to get his hands around Trieze's throat and his knife in Trieze's belly.
"Hello, can I help you?" A soft voice asked when the door opened. She was very beautiful, the girl who answered the door. Her hair was long and she was wearing glasses, making her eyes look bigger.
"I am looking for Trieze Kushranada." Wufei replied. She must be one of the servants. Of course Trieze wouldn't answer his own door. "Is he home?"
The girl shook her head. "I'm sorry, you just missed him. Would you care to come in for some tea?" She smiled sweetly.
Her manner was so inviting that Wufei accepted. After all, it would be rude not to. Besides, it would be good to get an idea of the layout of the house, especially if he was going to have to sneak in later. Maybe he'd get lucky and Trieze would come back while he here.
They had tea in the garden and Wufei found myself almost enjoying Nasty's company. He didn't enjoy it. After all, his wife just died a few days ago, so Wufei wasn't about to go about enjoying the company of other women. That would be terribly disrespectful to sweet Meiran. Even if Nasty was quite charming, intelligent, and lovely.
'No! I am NOT going to think like that! I will be loyal to Meiran!'
Nasty was, Wufei found, a very interesting conversationalist. While having tea together, they wandered onto the topic of politics and she was very knowledgeable about what was going on and had very strong opinions on most ever subject. OZ, she informed Wufei, was quite a good ideal and with Trieze at the head, she was sure it would do nothing but good.
"You can't believe that." Wufei told her. "OZ is nothing but another army, how could it do any real good?" That brought back especially unpleasant memories. "Haven't you heard about the attack on the A0206? OZ attacked a virtually unarmed colony and very nearly destroyed it."
Nasty crossed her arms over her chest indignantly. "Trieze didn't do that."
"What?" Wufei asked in disbelief. "He's the commander-in-chief, they don't do anything without orders from him. How can you say he didn't do it?"
"Trieze would never do anything so monstrous, he's a very good man!"
"You are a fool if you honestly belief that." Wufei told her calmly. "Trieze is a charismatic politician and people, like yourself, want to believe in him. He is nothing but a murderer."
"Is that so?" She looked at Wufei coldly. "Perhaps you're the one who's fooling yourself." She gave me a shrewd look. "You came from A0206, didn't you? Or you at least had family there. Are you trying to find someone to blame for that tragedy? Is Trieze just a handy target?"
How could she tell? The weight of the knife, now safely tucked into the waistband of Wufei's trousers, suddenly felt rather unpleasant. Wufei knew he'd have to kill her if she realized why Wufei was here. Wufei set down his teacup and stood. "Perhaps I should leave." He really didn't want to have to hurt her. It's not her fault that she's smart and happens to work for Trieze.
Nasty stood with Wufei and was starting to walk him to the driveway of her house when she stopped and looked down at the soil. "What the...?"
Wufei stopped to see what she was looking at. Nasty was looking down at the ground at a set of footprints. "What's wrong?" Wufei asked.
Nasty was quiet for a moment before she looked up at Wufei, puzzled. "There was someone here, in the garden."
"So?" Wufei gestured at all the construction workers littering the grounds. "Perhaps it was one of them?"
Nasty shook her head and pointed to the footprints. "No. These are prints from military issue boots and we haven't any visits from anyone in OZ in ages."
Taken in by the mystery, Wufei looked around and found another set of footprints with a small, round impression right next to them. "Here's another." Wufei told her. "But they aren't the same prints, so you've had at least two visitors."
"Three." She said grimly. Next to a large tree was a third set of prints, again different from the first two. "Someone was in my backyard. I wonder who."
"Perhaps one of the workers saw something." Wufei suggested. "A witness could be very handy."
Nasty smiled. "I have a better witness."
"Oh?"
She pointed up, into the tree, and Wufei could only just see a small camera nestled among the branches. "Come on!" She grabbed Wufei's arm and dragged him into the house and to a computer. With a few taps on the keyboard, she had accessed the recordings.
This is what they saw:
It was dark, the previous night, according to the date and time showing in the lower right hand corner of the image. Everything was silent until a woman in an OZ uniform walked out of the left side of the scene and waited, her hands folded crisply behind her back. She stood quite still for a long time until another figure came out, leaning on a walking stick. "I got your message. What did you walk to talk about?" The man asked.
"How would you like a job? I have use for a person like you, Dr. J." The woman, with her hair tied into two sever buns on either side of her head, said with a not even a sign of a smile.
"What might you be referring to, miss?" The man, with one hand tightly clasped on the head of his walking stick, asked softly. He was cautious, not wanting to give anything away.
"I've heard enough about you to last a lifetime. I've received information about your project and the 'weapons' you and your colleges have been developing to defend the colonies. Dr. J, I am offering you, and your associates, a business partnership."
Dr. J raised a bushy eyebrow. "Business? What sort of things do you need me to help you with, Lady Une?" Finally, he admitted that he knew who she was.
"You? Nothing. You are completely useless except for one fact. You have the Gundam Pilots." Lady Une smiled sharply. "The finest warriors to have been created in many years and I want them."
"How would you know about them?" Dr. J suddenly became guarded, serious.
Une let herself grin slightly at Dr. J's sudden nervousness. "Don't worry. I don't expect that I'll turn you in. I could have told Trieze weeks ago, when I first discovered what you were trying to accomplish. I want to use your pilots and they are, from what I've heard, quite useless without their instructors to give them orders."
"True, they are trained to only take orders only from us. But what use could they be to you? You are an OZ officer and, in case you didn't know, your boss, Kushranada, is one of our main targets. If I have my way, he'll be dead within the year."
Une responded, "If I have my way, he'll be dead in one month and three days."
Silence for a moment as each examined the other. "You seemed to have planned it carefully." Dr. J said slowly.
"Oh, I have."
"So, you're planning a coup. Kill Trieze and then what? May I presume that you are behind the attack on A0206 and not Trieze?" A man with goggles and a cybernetic arm asked. "To discredit him?"
The woman laughed. "That's part one. To make the colonies hate Trieze and Earth fear him. After the attack on the colony everyone will think he is a ruthless madman and they will not fight at all when another steps into his shoes. It's all right under his nose, too, and he has no clue that it was me who'd ordered the attack. Who else has access to all his personal information as well as all the proper codes?"
"You are truly evil, madam." The man shook his head in almost an admiring fashion. "Who would think the trusted aide and body guard of betraying Trieze, one of the most influential men on the planet? You'll have to kill Trieze soon, before he starts suspecting you. How are you dealing with him?"
Une smirked. "Poison, naturally. With all the assassins around I thought that was a little too risky to just hire someone. His bodyguards are quite good, and I should know, I trained most of them. So, just a touch of poison in his tea every night and he never suspects a thing. Poor man just keeps getting sicker and sicker as the days pass." She shook her head in mock sympathy.
The man with the cybernetic arm replied, with a laugh. "You make his tea? My, what a good aide, Une. Do you also make his bed in the morning and iron his shirts? What other services do you provide?" He asked in a lewd, insinuating voice.
Une stopped smiling at this point. "Are you suggesting that I sleep with him? Don't be insulting. I wouldn't serve that arrogant bastard if it weren't for the fact that I don't trust his servants enough to bribe them to do the dirty work. The thought of sleeping with that man is simply nauseating.
What about you and your colleges, how is your work going? My information says that four of you are busy training children for suicide missions, but the fifth is having a bit of trouble finding a suitable pilot for the Gundam."
Dr. J gave her a vile glare. "You are a little to well informed for my comfort. What are your plans, before I tell you anything?"
Une's smile widened. "I am going to take over the world and I think your Gundam Pilots would be useful in deterring any rebellion after my conquest."
Dr. J thought before saying slowly, "An most...interesting idea. What will be our payment, should my colleges and I chose to help you?"
"I only want the Earth. You and your associates may divide up the colonies as you see fit. As you are all of the colonies, they will follow you without question, after all, in their eyes anyone would be a better leader than that maniac, Trieze."
Dr. J smiled and considered the idea. "Well, all we want is freedom for the colonies, anyway. Your way will simply mean less work for us and I can't really see a down side. Since you asked, things are going fairly well with the pilots. Currently, I'm testing my perfect soldier's abilities by sending him to kill an escaped experiment."
"An experiment?"
"Just a failure. He was damaged when he was younger and no use as a pilot. I was planning to use him as a decoy if I needed to lure an enemy away from Heero. Otherwise I would have had him killed years ago."
Une scowled. "Isn't that a little dangerous? What if your experiment kills your perfect soldier? You would have no pilot."
"You have not seen Heero." Dr. J said, with a strange tone in his voice. "He is absolutely, utterly PERFECT! There is nothing that can stop him. He will kill the escaped one."
The sound of undisguised lust in Dr. J's voice that caused Une to grimace in disgust. Dr. J didn't even appear to be ashamed of it, either. "You don't mean...?"
"Why, my dear, what are you suggesting?" Dr. J said, not even trying to sound innocent.
"That you're a perverted ass hole. Honestly, he's only a child! That's just disgusting."
Dr. J shook his finger at her, almost mockingly. "This is no time for high morals, my dear. You're in rather deep to get all high and mighty, now."
"I am NOT your dear!" Une growled.
Dr. J continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "We still haven't found the right person to pilot Death Scythe. If we don't find someone soon, we're going to have to put it into storage. A Gundam's no good without a pilot."
"No matter." Lady Une continued. "By the time we need them, Trieze will be dead or close to death. The take over will be subtle, no dramatics. I don't want to upset Nasutei-sama without reason. She's going to come in useful after her brother's death." Une smiled, a wicked smile, "She's going to be the new leader of the Alliance, after all. It's only natural that she inherit everything."
"Trieze's sister? She's no soldier. Will the troops accept her as the commander-in-chief?"
"Oh, yes. She's a very sweet, pretty, gentle girl. She's a lady and the object of many men's adoration. The troops under Trieze will love her for her own sake as well as sentimentality for their dear, departed Trieze. I, of course, will make any real decisions for the Alliance. Nasutei will only be a figurehead, an ideal for the men to follow, but she will look to me for guidance. I will tell her what to say and what to do and she will be grateful. Left alone after the death of her dear brother, she will be thankful that I am there for her to lean on. There won't be anyone else for her to turn to."
"Why don't you don't just kill her, too?"
"I want Trieze's money, while I'm at it. No one in their right mind would believe a man like Trieze would leave his estate to his secretary instead of his beloved sister. Therefore, I will just have to guide Nasutei with the proper way to use her money and how to write her will and who should be named in her will. After that, she might just have a little accident, who knows, it might even be fatal. I will have the power of the Alliance and the fortunes of Kushranada and Yagiyu."
"Very, very clever, but how will you explain the poison that will show up in the autopsy that will be performed on Trieze's body. The girl will surely think to have that done, at least. From what I've heard, she's no idiot. Quite a bright girl, really."
Une put a hand on Dr. J's shoulder. "Well, I'll just have to call in a very good doctor that I know to handle all the details, won't I?"
"Point taken and a very good idea."
"Are you done explaining things?" Both Dr. J and Lady Une turned at the third voice that had spoken.
Lady Une introduced the new comer. "Mayers, this is Dr. J. He's the other one I told you about."
Mayers, a well-dressed man stepped only slightly out of the shadows and held a gun easily in his left hand. "Yeah, yeah. Let's get on with this. Are you in or not?"
Dr. J nodded. "Oh, yes. I think this will be a very interesting opportunity. It won't take very much to change the training of the pilots. They're very much like dogs, really. A little swat with a rolled up newspaper is all they need to get them headed in the right direction. In fact, they're not good for much else than obeying orders."
The three had a good laugh at that remark. "Mayers is my little private army." Lady Une explained. "I've hired out him and his men to do a little dirty work for me here and there." She gave Mayers a smile. "I approve of a man who can be bought. But where have you been? I expected you here before now."
"I've had a little private business to take care of. Nothing to do with any of this, I assure you. It'll all be over by the morning anyway, I expect."
"It's time to start phase two." Une told Dr. J as she pulled out a gun at her side. "Trieze has, besides his sister, only two real friends. They are the two he trusts more than anyone else and he looks to them both for guidance. In order for this plan to work, they'll both have to die, I'm afraid."
"You sound regretful."
"I am. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find good officers?"
That was the end of it and the computer screen went to static.
Nasty was shaking furiously.
Wufei looked over at her, shocked. Nasutei? Nasty? "You're Trieze's sister?" He asked faintly. Somehow, he hadn't guessed that.
She nodded wordlessly.
Wufei had to admit, he was feeling rather guilty. 'I guess Trieze isn't the one I should be blaming.' Trieze, Wufei was sure, had a role in this somewhere, he couldn't be completely innocent, but this Lady Une is the one who deserved Wufei's attention at this moment. She'd admitted that she was the one who ordered the attack.
"I'll kill her." Nasty mumbled.
"What?" Wufei asked, not sure if he'd heard right.
"She's Trieze's aide. He trusts her with everything. He's known her for fifteen years and will do almost anything she suggests." Nasty abruptly stood and glared hatefully at the computer. "I never imagined her..."
"How did she get passed all the security?" Wufei asked. "Surely, Trieze must have better security than to let anyone walk in."
"Lady Une designed and installed the security system." Nasty said bitterly. "Trieze knew if there was anyone we could trust with the job, it was her. Blast it! Here we thought she was the one person we could trust and she was poisoning him right under my nose! She made that bloody tea in MY kitchen!" Nasty stopped pacing in front of the window and stared out silence.
"If Lady Une designed the security system, why didn't she disable the camera before having her conversation right there? Is she that arrogant?"
"Oh, no." Nasty answered. "I put that camera there so I could see what kind of birds we had living around here."
Wufei turned slightly and couldn't help but smile. "You were bird watching?"
"Yes."
Wufei went back to Nasty's computer and replayed the conversation they'd just watched between the three people. "Do you know who the other two are?" He asked, focusing the image on Dr. J and Mayers. Wufei had to wonder whom Dr. J had trained. Wufei's own instructor mentioned other pilots, but he'd never been able to meet them. 'They're much like dogs, really.' Dr. J had said. 'Not good for anything but obeying orders.'
'So, that's what we are to them? Animals, mere weapons to be pointed and fired?' Wufei thought he was training to fight for the lives of the colonies. He'd thought they were fighting for the glory and honor of their families. That's what his instructor had told him. Now, for no reason but that Dr. J thought it would be amusing, they were going to change sides? 'They're going to sell us to OZ and the people who'd killed my whole world, my darling Meiran?'
Wufei really, really wanted to put his fist through the screen of Nasty's computer.
Nasty took a look over Wufei's shoulder at the two men, but shook her head. "I've never seen them before and I have a very good memory for faces. Excuse me." Nasty turned on her heel and walked swiftly out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Wufei asked, following.
"Where do you think? I'm going to warn my brother. Une said she was going to kill his two closed friends and I know he's visiting them today."
"Are you planning to walk there?" Wufei asked her, still following as she went out to the front hall and put her coat on.
"The car's being repaired and Noin doesn't live to far away." Nasty didn't even look at me she was so focused and continued with her eyes narrowed.
Wufei took her arm and pulled her to a stop, making Nasty focus on him. "Tell me where this Noin lives and I'll go for you."
"What?" Nasty shook her head. "Let go of me, Wufei. I am going to do this myself."
"Don't be a fool! I came here on my motorcycle, I can get there in minutes."
Nasty looked at where Wufei was pointing, and saw his old motorcycle. "Good, give me the keys." She held out her hand expectantly.
"No! You're a lady and you might get hurt!" Wufei really don't want her going to where these murderers could get at her. "Stay here and I'll save your brother for you."
"Why?"
The question brought Wufei up short. He really shouldn't tell her that he was feeling slightly guilty about trying to kill Trieze. She might get upset, after all. Finally, Wufei decided on telling her, "I just don't want you to get hurt."
"I'm not as fragile as I look, Wufei. Give my the keys or get out of my way."
Stupid woman! Why won't she use sense? "Your brother could be dead by the time you walk there! Why don't you just let me go in your place?"
Nasty sighed. "No offense, Wufei, but I just met you a few minutes ago. I've seen the small knife you keep in your waistband and I can tell that you've got a gun under your coat. You come to my home armed and ask to see my brother, yet when I ask why you want to see him, you avoid the question. You've given me no reason to trust you and for all I know, you could be working for Une. I have to do this and know that it gets done right."
How could Wufei deny that what she says makes sense? "Fine." Wufei said, somewhat defeated. "Get on." Wufei took the helmet off his motorcycle seat and handed it to her. "Give me directions as we go. I am NOT letting you go there alone."
Nasty took the helmet and strapped it on as if she'd done it before. Funny, it hadn't occurred to Wufei that maybe she'd ridden a motorcycle before. She just didn't seem like the type. "Thank you." She said simply and sat behind Wufei, putting her arms around his waist.
Off they went and Wufei tried real hard not to think about how nice her arms felt around him.
Youja Kai-
Sh'ten-
Sh'ten, still in full yoroi, bowed before Emperor Arago. "Wearing the yoroi before me is an affront to me, Sh'ten. You know this. Where are the others?"
Sh'ten, still hoping to pacify Arago, willed the yoroi off his body and into the small orb, holding it protectively in one hand. "We search for the yoroi, still, master." Sh'ten spoke as respectfully as he could. Though they mocked Arago easily when he couldn't hear them, they were still wary of his power. Arago's temper was not something to be taken lightly.
"Why does it take so long?" Arago's voice was dangerously soft, measured.
"The Ningen Sekai is vast, master. We split up in hopes of finding the other yoroi, also." Well, that much was true, anyway. Sh'ten had left Rajura and Anubis with the younger children, Ryo, Seiji, Heero, and Duo at the gates. They had gone in search of Kay while he came here as little more than a distraction.
"And you have recovered none, in all the time you have searched?"
"No, master."
A jolt of energy shot through Sh'ten, bringing him to his knees in pain. "Do not lie to me, Sh'ten. You are not skilled at it. I ask you again, have you recovered the yoroi?"
Sh'ten took a deep, shuttering breath, but stayed where he'd fallen. "No, master." He managed to gasp.
The second jolt of power didn't shot through him as the first had, but lifted him off his feet, leaving him hovering in midair for a moment, before he was thrown back, against one of the stone walls. Sh'ten cried out with pain, feeling several of his bones break. His skull cracked against the stones before Sh'ten slid limply to the floor.
Sh'ten bit his lip to keep himself from crying out again, holding his ribs as he tried to push himself up into a sitting up position. He was suddenly aware of another presence in the room and when he looked up, he saw the spirit, Badamon, hovering at Arago's side.
"Lord Badamon has informed me of your betrayal, Sh'ten. He knows that you have found the yoroi. He knows you are keeping them from me." Arago's voice was steadily rising with his anger. Badamon smirked mirthlessly down at Sh'ten. "You will tell me where they are. Where are your brothers?"
Sh'ten struggled to his feet. "Lord Badamon has made a mistake, my master. We have found no yoroi." It was a bald faced lie and was met by another jolt of agony. This time, Sh'ten managed to stay on his feet, but only just.
"You, who so enjoy the pain of others, should appreciate this. You, my Ma-Sho of Cruelty, are an insect. Sh'ten, you are an infant in power and experience, but I will show you. I will teach you suffering and pain." Arago continued.
Sh'ten felt a pressure, like a giant hand wrapping tightly around him, squeezing his entire body. His lungs and heart were squeezed tightly by breaking ribs.
"Where are the others, Sh'ten?" Arago's implacable voice asked, releasing the pressure so Sh'ten could answer.
Sh'ten gasped desperately for air, before saying, as clearly as he could, "I do not know, master."
Pain, like white-hot needles, lanced through Sh'ten's brain. Sh'ten couldn't help it this time and he crumbled to the floor, rolling to his side and whimpering like a child. Tears ran freely down his face and Sh'ten clamped his eyes tightly shut, concentrating on one thought. 'I will not betray them.'
"Give me the Oni Yoroi."
Sh'ten's head shot up at Arago's words. He started to shake his head. If Arago managed to get his hands on even one of the Yoroi, he could kill the others or, worse, gain access to their minds. It would be disaster, the demon getting into their minds. They would never again have free will or be able to even think their own thoughts without Arago with them. "No." Sh'ten clutched the orb as tightly as he could.
Badamon began to approach Sh'ten and Sh'ten knew he didn't have the power to fight. In desperation, Sh'ten's mind went to Kay. He could give her the yoroi and at least she would have some protection. When the others found her, they'd teach her how to use it.
Sh'ten threw the yoroi as hard as he could, willing it to go to Kay, though he still didn't remember who that was. Instead of going where it should have, the orb suddenly halted in midair and dangled there for a moment.
Badamon laughed. "Fool. Do you think we will let you give the yoroi to the child?" Lord Badamon went closer to the vulnerable orb and Sh'ten grew afraid, truly afraid for the first time in many years. They would kill the others. Rajura, Anubis, 'Za-Chan. Arago and Badamon would kill Sh'ten's family. The children, Ryo, Seiji, Shin, Xiu, Touma, Kay, and Duo would die. Everyone was going to die.
"No!" Sh'ten launched himself with his little remaining strength and managed to grab the orb before Badamon got to it. There was no place to hide and Sh'ten knew he was going to die here.
Closing his mind to his brothers, to spare them the full brunt of the pain, Sh'ten's decision became very easy. Sh'ten held the orb and willed it to vanish from sight. The orb vanished from Sh'ten's hand as he forced it into the one place Arago would never think to look for it. In his own heart.
Sh'ten instantly felt the searing pain ripping his heart apart. His eyes widened for a split second before he crashed to the stone floor.
The world went black.
Oblivion
Sh'ten died.
Arago-
Badamon checked the body of the traitor, but found no sign of the yoroi. Sh'ten had managed to kill himself, but the orb was gone. There is no mark on his body to show what has happened to him, how exactly he died, but Arago knew it must have something to do with the orb. It's gone, simply vanished.
"I will wait for my Ma-Sho to return." Arago told Badamon. "They have much to answer for. Sh'ten must have sent his orb to one of his brothers, somehow." Though, since the room was shielded against such a tactic, Arago had no idea how Sh'ten had done this. Still, it was the only answer.
Badamon bowed. "Yes, my lord. What do you wish done with this?" Badamon looked down at Sh'ten's fallen corpse.
"Leave it. I have no use for the body and I will not waste time disposing of it. It will serve as a lesson for the Ma-Sho when they return to me. They will never betray me as Sh'ten did."
Continued...
Nasty-
Nasty watched her brother and Zechs go, walking, for once. Usually, Trieze preferred to use one of his shiny cars to advertise who he was. Today, though, he was going to visit Noin, and for that, he preferred privacy. Nasty smiled. She liked Noin. Zechs, too. Normally, Nasty couldn't stand the people her brother had to associate with for his lifestyle, but Zechs and Noin were just wonderful.
The thought of Noin, naturally, led Nasty to think of Noin's brother, the pretty blonde Seiji. Thinking of Seiji and the party made Nasty look at Trieze's house as she walked toward where they were currently living. The grand mansion that had been in their family for generations was currently being rebuilt; at least half of it was, anyway. The ballroom had been nearly destroyed the night of the party and no one would tell her what was going on.
"We'll see about that, Trieze." Nasty mumbled under her breath. "Think that you can keep me away from a mystery, huh?" She turned from the crews of construction men and their heavy, bright yellow machinery and started walking back to where she and Trieze were currently living. The small guest house was modest to say the least and not what either of them was used to. It only had about four rooms and, as Trieze preferred his guests to stay in the main house, so this went unused.
Well, now they were thankful that their father had built the house a short distance from the main house. As she walked, Nasty's mind went over what she'd seen the night of the party. Of course, the roof exploding in a bizarre flare of black light was top most in her mind. Second, was the sounds of horrified screams and watching the guests swarm out of the ballroom.
Nasty had watched the whole spectacle from where she'd chosen to read, hidden slightly behind a grove of trees and waited patiently until the excitement had died down. When the guests had gone home, it wasn't Trieze who'd come out of the half-demolished ballroom, but a group of strangers and Noin. Two rather large, armored young men each carrying four unconscious boys. The four being carried must have been injured when the roof had collapsed, but there were two others, also. One boy with a very long braid and one that had seen Nasty were dressed normally, but still didn't seem to be quite in place.
She could still see his cold gaze when he'd spotted her sitting under one of the trees. The boy was younger than she was, but not by much, and his eyes had seen to much pain for such a young child. Nasty hated to think what happened must have happened to the poor kid to make him shut down.
But those armored men...Nasty just couldn't get her mind off them. Something about them was nagging at the back of her mind. Black lightening? It all seemed very familiar, like something she'd read long ago.
In the guest house, Nasty wandered around, thinking. She felt very silly doing this, but eventually she picked up the telephone and dialed the very familiar number.
"Grandfather?"
-Nasty Chan.- He sounded happy to hear from her. -I heard about what happened at Trieze's house, is everyone all right?-
"Yes, nobody was hurt, but Trieze won't tell me what's going on. Not even Zechs will tell me what happened, and he's my best friend! Grandfather, this is going to sound like a very strange request, and I'm sorry to bother you about this, but I'm looking for an old book I seem to remember seeing in your library."
-It's not strange at all.- Grandfather replied. -Do you remember what book you're looking for?-
"I think it was called 'Fairy Tales for the Future'." It was a strange title, but her grandfather had read her stories from that book every day when she was a child. Nasty knew practically all the stories by heart and she was sure that there was some clue in that book.
Grandfather Yagiyu was quite for a long time, so long that Nasty got worried. "Grandfather? Are you there?"
-I'm here.-
"Did I say something wrong? I can go see if I can find it at a library if you don't want to sent it."
-No, you won't find this book at any library. In fact, I doubt you'd find another book quite like this anywhere in the world. I will sent it by messenger and you'll have the book in two hours.-
Nasty's eyes grew wide. "Two hours? But, grandfather, you live on the other side of Japan! How can you possibly..."
-I have some useful connections. You WILL have the book in two hours. Tell me why you want to see it, Nasty.-
That was not a request and Nasty knew better than to argue with her grandfather when he used that tone. "I've just seen something unusual and I think the book may be able to help me solve a mystery."
-Does it have anything to do with the attack on Trieze's party?-
"Yes, but I don't want you to get involved, grandfather." Nasty hurriedly said. "I'm afraid this might be dangerous, so don't try to come up here to help, okay?" Nasty loved her grandfather very much and it would kill her if anything happened to him.
After Nasty and Trieze's parents died, Nasty was taken in by her mother's father and raised in his secluded mansion by the lake as the heir to the Yagiyu fortune. Nasty had even had her name changed from Kushranada to Yagiyu out of love and respect for her dear grandfather. Their father's side of the family, the Kushranada's, had taken Trieze and raised him as heir to their empire.
-I worry about you, Nasty. This is not just a fairy tale book, so be careful, there are things in this book that are more dangerous than they look.-
Dangerous? In a book? "I'll be careful." Nasty promised before saying goodbye and hanging up.
Only two hours later, as promised, Nasty was looking through the book her grandfather had sent her. Nasty had to admit that she was impressed with the delivery system that could get the book so far in such a short time.
The book was dusty and old, bound in cracking leather with no writing on the front, just as she remembered it from her childhood. Nasty was scanning the pages for something that might jog her memory about why the armor had seemed important when she came to the word, 'yoroi'. Nasty just stared at the word for a moment.
Yoroi: mystical armor.
Nasty swallowed hard, somehow knowing that this was a life changing moment, and then continued to read.
************************************
Arago came to destroy the world and brought with him a great warrior named Hariel. This man, turned to evil by Arago, lived only to destroy and kill for his master.
One day, though, the sight of a beautiful, white haired maiden struck Hariel. He had been sent to kill her family, but her beauty stopped him and made him think. He watched her secretly for many days and nights as she went about daily chores, and he fell completely in love. Her voice was sweeter than honey and her kindness was without equal.
For love of this girl, Hariel betrayed Arago. He used the yoroi of Inferno, the most powerful thing Arago had ever created, to fight the armies Arago sent to the Ningen Sekai. It was Hariel, Arago's own champion, who defeated the demon and banished him to the Youja Kai.
Hariel, still bearing the yoroi, married the girl he'd fallen in love with and she gave birth to two strong sons before dying two days after their birth. Hariel was heartbroken, but loved his sons dearly. For the rest of Hariel's life, he loved his dead wife and never took another. His sons grew, but Hariel found that he'd stopped aging. When his sons reached adulthood, Hariel took his own life so he would be able to join his beloved.
A monk came the two sons only hours after the death of their father and asked to see the yoroi that had become so famous. The sons, not wanting anyone to try to steal the yoroi, refused. The monk tapped his staff on the floor of their home and a flash of light blinded them for a moment and when they could see again, the monk had gone. So had the yoroi.
Fortunately, their father's body had been left undisturbed, so the sons were not terribly upset. They searched briefly for the yoroi and the thieving monk, but they never found ant trace of the thief.
The monk hid the yoroi safely away so Arago's forces could not find it, in his own village, and waited.
***************************************
The story, Nasty noticed, was illustrated with pictures of the yoroi, incredibly white armor, and a man wielding two flaming swords. Different drawings of him fighting both men and then a demon encased in dull grey armor. One picture of Hariel without the yoroi and holding his two sons on his lap and the caption underneath read:
KURODA HARIEL WITH HIS SONS, PO-SIN AND JIROUGOROU.
Nasty carried the book over to her computer and turned the Internet on. This was just a story, a fairy tale that she dimly remembered, but Nasty couldn't get her mind off this. She typed 'Hariel' into the search engine and waited to see what turned up. Nasty wanted to laugh at herself, but it really did seem important. Finally she found a site entitled, HARIEL, JUST A STORY?
Intrigued, Nasty clicked on it and read the essay someone had posted.
***************************************
After the creation of the nine yoroi, the monk, Kaosu, hid them away to await those who would bear them. Records from the villagers who hid the nine yoroi tell us that not even three years after the death of Hariel, one yoroi, the yoroi of illusion, vanished. It was at the same time that Hariel's younger son, Jirougorou, vanished. Many believe that Jirougorou was chosen to follow in his father's footsteps and wear the yoroi, but Jirougorou was never seen again.
For many years, one-by-one, the yoroi slowly vanished from the resting-place the monk had sealed them in, until only five remained. These five still sleep, waiting for the warriors who will come to claim them.
One rumor has said that an Indian boy was granted one. He is one of the few in history who have been thought to have been created out of the pairing of human and a snake, a naga. The evidence of this is his larger than normal eyes and hair that started to turn green as he aged. By the time this boy was nine his unusual appearance was enough to have him driven from the village of his birth just after his mother's death.
Having nowhere else to go, the boy wandered the Earth until he came to Japan and took the Japanese name, Yamanouchi Naotoki. The boy was said to be skilled in poisons as well as healing until he, like Jirougorou, vanished without a trace.
*****************************************
Again, Nasty found a hand drawn picture of a very young man with wild green hair and bitter eyes with a very angry expression. True, he didn't look quite human, but Nasty couldn't help but to feel pity for those hurt filled eyes. Whoever had drawn the picture had truly had talent to capture such a look.
******************************************
The last story regards Sasaki Kujuurou. A loner who wandered from city to city, Kujuurou was rumored to have been a vampire.
******************************************
Nasty blinked and had to reread that last sentence. A vampire? Still, she was finding herself believing in a legend of magical armor, so why not vampires?
*******************************************
Kujuurou was accused of many mysterious deaths, nothing could be proved, however. Kujuurou did nothing to stop the rumors that he was a vampire and seemed to fuel them by only going out at night. Kujuurou was said to have disappeared in a ray of light that came from the night sky. Many people believe it was some god destroying the evil creature while others believe he was chosen to bear one of the yoroi.
The disappearance of each young man coincides with the disappearance of three of the yoroi, Gen, Yami, and Doku.
*********************************************
Nasty closed the book, that being the end of the section that interested her. How very, very odd. The blue haired one, the vampire Kujuurou was definitely the one she'd seen the other night. That was quite impossible. Nasty tried to convince herself that the green haired young man she'd seen was just a look alike or perhaps a descendant of Naotoki, but somehow it just didn't seem right.
The article on the Internet only mentioned where three of the yoroi went, but it also said a fourth had been taken. So where was the forth missing yoroi and what had happened to the other five?
A sudden thought struck Nasty. If she could find whoever had written the article, then maybe they would be able to help her unravel this mystery. After all, they seemed to know everything that was going on! Nasty quickly scrolled to the bottom of the page and stared in shock at the name at the bottom.
Professor Yagiyu.
What? Nasty frowned and wondered why her grandfather hadn't told her this before. Surely, he would have mentioned it at some time. Well, no better way to find out than to call him and ask.
Just as Nasty was walking to the phone she heard the doorbell ring. Nasty really wanted to call her grandfather and ask about this, but courtesy came first. She went to answer the door. At the door was a...well, a pretty young man. Chinese with his hair pulled back into a ponytail and one hand behind his back. He blinked, seeming surprised to see here.
"Hello, can I help you?" Nasty asked.
"I am looking for Trieze Kushranada. Is he home?" The young man asked in a cultured voice, speaking almost perfect Japanese.
Nasty shook her head, wondering if this was one of Trieze's former boyfriends. Naw, this guy was a bit young for Trieze's taste and, besides, Trieze had been rather preoccupied with Zechs for the past several years.
"No, I'm sorry." Nasty replied. "You just missed him. Would you care to come in and for some tea?"
Wufei-
Wufei rang the doorbell of the Kushranada home, his knife hidden well under the long coat he wore. This was where Trieze lived after some kind of attack, the construction workers had told Wufei when he'd asked them. Wufei rang again, impatient to get his hands around Trieze's throat and his knife in Trieze's belly.
"Hello, can I help you?" A soft voice asked when the door opened. She was very beautiful, the girl who answered the door. Her hair was long and she was wearing glasses, making her eyes look bigger.
"I am looking for Trieze Kushranada." Wufei replied. She must be one of the servants. Of course Trieze wouldn't answer his own door. "Is he home?"
The girl shook her head. "I'm sorry, you just missed him. Would you care to come in for some tea?" She smiled sweetly.
Her manner was so inviting that Wufei accepted. After all, it would be rude not to. Besides, it would be good to get an idea of the layout of the house, especially if he was going to have to sneak in later. Maybe he'd get lucky and Trieze would come back while he here.
They had tea in the garden and Wufei found myself almost enjoying Nasty's company. He didn't enjoy it. After all, his wife just died a few days ago, so Wufei wasn't about to go about enjoying the company of other women. That would be terribly disrespectful to sweet Meiran. Even if Nasty was quite charming, intelligent, and lovely.
'No! I am NOT going to think like that! I will be loyal to Meiran!'
Nasty was, Wufei found, a very interesting conversationalist. While having tea together, they wandered onto the topic of politics and she was very knowledgeable about what was going on and had very strong opinions on most ever subject. OZ, she informed Wufei, was quite a good ideal and with Trieze at the head, she was sure it would do nothing but good.
"You can't believe that." Wufei told her. "OZ is nothing but another army, how could it do any real good?" That brought back especially unpleasant memories. "Haven't you heard about the attack on the A0206? OZ attacked a virtually unarmed colony and very nearly destroyed it."
Nasty crossed her arms over her chest indignantly. "Trieze didn't do that."
"What?" Wufei asked in disbelief. "He's the commander-in-chief, they don't do anything without orders from him. How can you say he didn't do it?"
"Trieze would never do anything so monstrous, he's a very good man!"
"You are a fool if you honestly belief that." Wufei told her calmly. "Trieze is a charismatic politician and people, like yourself, want to believe in him. He is nothing but a murderer."
"Is that so?" She looked at Wufei coldly. "Perhaps you're the one who's fooling yourself." She gave me a shrewd look. "You came from A0206, didn't you? Or you at least had family there. Are you trying to find someone to blame for that tragedy? Is Trieze just a handy target?"
How could she tell? The weight of the knife, now safely tucked into the waistband of Wufei's trousers, suddenly felt rather unpleasant. Wufei knew he'd have to kill her if she realized why Wufei was here. Wufei set down his teacup and stood. "Perhaps I should leave." He really didn't want to have to hurt her. It's not her fault that she's smart and happens to work for Trieze.
Nasty stood with Wufei and was starting to walk him to the driveway of her house when she stopped and looked down at the soil. "What the...?"
Wufei stopped to see what she was looking at. Nasty was looking down at the ground at a set of footprints. "What's wrong?" Wufei asked.
Nasty was quiet for a moment before she looked up at Wufei, puzzled. "There was someone here, in the garden."
"So?" Wufei gestured at all the construction workers littering the grounds. "Perhaps it was one of them?"
Nasty shook her head and pointed to the footprints. "No. These are prints from military issue boots and we haven't any visits from anyone in OZ in ages."
Taken in by the mystery, Wufei looked around and found another set of footprints with a small, round impression right next to them. "Here's another." Wufei told her. "But they aren't the same prints, so you've had at least two visitors."
"Three." She said grimly. Next to a large tree was a third set of prints, again different from the first two. "Someone was in my backyard. I wonder who."
"Perhaps one of the workers saw something." Wufei suggested. "A witness could be very handy."
Nasty smiled. "I have a better witness."
"Oh?"
She pointed up, into the tree, and Wufei could only just see a small camera nestled among the branches. "Come on!" She grabbed Wufei's arm and dragged him into the house and to a computer. With a few taps on the keyboard, she had accessed the recordings.
This is what they saw:
It was dark, the previous night, according to the date and time showing in the lower right hand corner of the image. Everything was silent until a woman in an OZ uniform walked out of the left side of the scene and waited, her hands folded crisply behind her back. She stood quite still for a long time until another figure came out, leaning on a walking stick. "I got your message. What did you walk to talk about?" The man asked.
"How would you like a job? I have use for a person like you, Dr. J." The woman, with her hair tied into two sever buns on either side of her head, said with a not even a sign of a smile.
"What might you be referring to, miss?" The man, with one hand tightly clasped on the head of his walking stick, asked softly. He was cautious, not wanting to give anything away.
"I've heard enough about you to last a lifetime. I've received information about your project and the 'weapons' you and your colleges have been developing to defend the colonies. Dr. J, I am offering you, and your associates, a business partnership."
Dr. J raised a bushy eyebrow. "Business? What sort of things do you need me to help you with, Lady Une?" Finally, he admitted that he knew who she was.
"You? Nothing. You are completely useless except for one fact. You have the Gundam Pilots." Lady Une smiled sharply. "The finest warriors to have been created in many years and I want them."
"How would you know about them?" Dr. J suddenly became guarded, serious.
Une let herself grin slightly at Dr. J's sudden nervousness. "Don't worry. I don't expect that I'll turn you in. I could have told Trieze weeks ago, when I first discovered what you were trying to accomplish. I want to use your pilots and they are, from what I've heard, quite useless without their instructors to give them orders."
"True, they are trained to only take orders only from us. But what use could they be to you? You are an OZ officer and, in case you didn't know, your boss, Kushranada, is one of our main targets. If I have my way, he'll be dead within the year."
Une responded, "If I have my way, he'll be dead in one month and three days."
Silence for a moment as each examined the other. "You seemed to have planned it carefully." Dr. J said slowly.
"Oh, I have."
"So, you're planning a coup. Kill Trieze and then what? May I presume that you are behind the attack on A0206 and not Trieze?" A man with goggles and a cybernetic arm asked. "To discredit him?"
The woman laughed. "That's part one. To make the colonies hate Trieze and Earth fear him. After the attack on the colony everyone will think he is a ruthless madman and they will not fight at all when another steps into his shoes. It's all right under his nose, too, and he has no clue that it was me who'd ordered the attack. Who else has access to all his personal information as well as all the proper codes?"
"You are truly evil, madam." The man shook his head in almost an admiring fashion. "Who would think the trusted aide and body guard of betraying Trieze, one of the most influential men on the planet? You'll have to kill Trieze soon, before he starts suspecting you. How are you dealing with him?"
Une smirked. "Poison, naturally. With all the assassins around I thought that was a little too risky to just hire someone. His bodyguards are quite good, and I should know, I trained most of them. So, just a touch of poison in his tea every night and he never suspects a thing. Poor man just keeps getting sicker and sicker as the days pass." She shook her head in mock sympathy.
The man with the cybernetic arm replied, with a laugh. "You make his tea? My, what a good aide, Une. Do you also make his bed in the morning and iron his shirts? What other services do you provide?" He asked in a lewd, insinuating voice.
Une stopped smiling at this point. "Are you suggesting that I sleep with him? Don't be insulting. I wouldn't serve that arrogant bastard if it weren't for the fact that I don't trust his servants enough to bribe them to do the dirty work. The thought of sleeping with that man is simply nauseating.
What about you and your colleges, how is your work going? My information says that four of you are busy training children for suicide missions, but the fifth is having a bit of trouble finding a suitable pilot for the Gundam."
Dr. J gave her a vile glare. "You are a little to well informed for my comfort. What are your plans, before I tell you anything?"
Une's smile widened. "I am going to take over the world and I think your Gundam Pilots would be useful in deterring any rebellion after my conquest."
Dr. J thought before saying slowly, "An most...interesting idea. What will be our payment, should my colleges and I chose to help you?"
"I only want the Earth. You and your associates may divide up the colonies as you see fit. As you are all of the colonies, they will follow you without question, after all, in their eyes anyone would be a better leader than that maniac, Trieze."
Dr. J smiled and considered the idea. "Well, all we want is freedom for the colonies, anyway. Your way will simply mean less work for us and I can't really see a down side. Since you asked, things are going fairly well with the pilots. Currently, I'm testing my perfect soldier's abilities by sending him to kill an escaped experiment."
"An experiment?"
"Just a failure. He was damaged when he was younger and no use as a pilot. I was planning to use him as a decoy if I needed to lure an enemy away from Heero. Otherwise I would have had him killed years ago."
Une scowled. "Isn't that a little dangerous? What if your experiment kills your perfect soldier? You would have no pilot."
"You have not seen Heero." Dr. J said, with a strange tone in his voice. "He is absolutely, utterly PERFECT! There is nothing that can stop him. He will kill the escaped one."
The sound of undisguised lust in Dr. J's voice that caused Une to grimace in disgust. Dr. J didn't even appear to be ashamed of it, either. "You don't mean...?"
"Why, my dear, what are you suggesting?" Dr. J said, not even trying to sound innocent.
"That you're a perverted ass hole. Honestly, he's only a child! That's just disgusting."
Dr. J shook his finger at her, almost mockingly. "This is no time for high morals, my dear. You're in rather deep to get all high and mighty, now."
"I am NOT your dear!" Une growled.
Dr. J continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "We still haven't found the right person to pilot Death Scythe. If we don't find someone soon, we're going to have to put it into storage. A Gundam's no good without a pilot."
"No matter." Lady Une continued. "By the time we need them, Trieze will be dead or close to death. The take over will be subtle, no dramatics. I don't want to upset Nasutei-sama without reason. She's going to come in useful after her brother's death." Une smiled, a wicked smile, "She's going to be the new leader of the Alliance, after all. It's only natural that she inherit everything."
"Trieze's sister? She's no soldier. Will the troops accept her as the commander-in-chief?"
"Oh, yes. She's a very sweet, pretty, gentle girl. She's a lady and the object of many men's adoration. The troops under Trieze will love her for her own sake as well as sentimentality for their dear, departed Trieze. I, of course, will make any real decisions for the Alliance. Nasutei will only be a figurehead, an ideal for the men to follow, but she will look to me for guidance. I will tell her what to say and what to do and she will be grateful. Left alone after the death of her dear brother, she will be thankful that I am there for her to lean on. There won't be anyone else for her to turn to."
"Why don't you don't just kill her, too?"
"I want Trieze's money, while I'm at it. No one in their right mind would believe a man like Trieze would leave his estate to his secretary instead of his beloved sister. Therefore, I will just have to guide Nasutei with the proper way to use her money and how to write her will and who should be named in her will. After that, she might just have a little accident, who knows, it might even be fatal. I will have the power of the Alliance and the fortunes of Kushranada and Yagiyu."
"Very, very clever, but how will you explain the poison that will show up in the autopsy that will be performed on Trieze's body. The girl will surely think to have that done, at least. From what I've heard, she's no idiot. Quite a bright girl, really."
Une put a hand on Dr. J's shoulder. "Well, I'll just have to call in a very good doctor that I know to handle all the details, won't I?"
"Point taken and a very good idea."
"Are you done explaining things?" Both Dr. J and Lady Une turned at the third voice that had spoken.
Lady Une introduced the new comer. "Mayers, this is Dr. J. He's the other one I told you about."
Mayers, a well-dressed man stepped only slightly out of the shadows and held a gun easily in his left hand. "Yeah, yeah. Let's get on with this. Are you in or not?"
Dr. J nodded. "Oh, yes. I think this will be a very interesting opportunity. It won't take very much to change the training of the pilots. They're very much like dogs, really. A little swat with a rolled up newspaper is all they need to get them headed in the right direction. In fact, they're not good for much else than obeying orders."
The three had a good laugh at that remark. "Mayers is my little private army." Lady Une explained. "I've hired out him and his men to do a little dirty work for me here and there." She gave Mayers a smile. "I approve of a man who can be bought. But where have you been? I expected you here before now."
"I've had a little private business to take care of. Nothing to do with any of this, I assure you. It'll all be over by the morning anyway, I expect."
"It's time to start phase two." Une told Dr. J as she pulled out a gun at her side. "Trieze has, besides his sister, only two real friends. They are the two he trusts more than anyone else and he looks to them both for guidance. In order for this plan to work, they'll both have to die, I'm afraid."
"You sound regretful."
"I am. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find good officers?"
That was the end of it and the computer screen went to static.
Nasty was shaking furiously.
Wufei looked over at her, shocked. Nasutei? Nasty? "You're Trieze's sister?" He asked faintly. Somehow, he hadn't guessed that.
She nodded wordlessly.
Wufei had to admit, he was feeling rather guilty. 'I guess Trieze isn't the one I should be blaming.' Trieze, Wufei was sure, had a role in this somewhere, he couldn't be completely innocent, but this Lady Une is the one who deserved Wufei's attention at this moment. She'd admitted that she was the one who ordered the attack.
"I'll kill her." Nasty mumbled.
"What?" Wufei asked, not sure if he'd heard right.
"She's Trieze's aide. He trusts her with everything. He's known her for fifteen years and will do almost anything she suggests." Nasty abruptly stood and glared hatefully at the computer. "I never imagined her..."
"How did she get passed all the security?" Wufei asked. "Surely, Trieze must have better security than to let anyone walk in."
"Lady Une designed and installed the security system." Nasty said bitterly. "Trieze knew if there was anyone we could trust with the job, it was her. Blast it! Here we thought she was the one person we could trust and she was poisoning him right under my nose! She made that bloody tea in MY kitchen!" Nasty stopped pacing in front of the window and stared out silence.
"If Lady Une designed the security system, why didn't she disable the camera before having her conversation right there? Is she that arrogant?"
"Oh, no." Nasty answered. "I put that camera there so I could see what kind of birds we had living around here."
Wufei turned slightly and couldn't help but smile. "You were bird watching?"
"Yes."
Wufei went back to Nasty's computer and replayed the conversation they'd just watched between the three people. "Do you know who the other two are?" He asked, focusing the image on Dr. J and Mayers. Wufei had to wonder whom Dr. J had trained. Wufei's own instructor mentioned other pilots, but he'd never been able to meet them. 'They're much like dogs, really.' Dr. J had said. 'Not good for anything but obeying orders.'
'So, that's what we are to them? Animals, mere weapons to be pointed and fired?' Wufei thought he was training to fight for the lives of the colonies. He'd thought they were fighting for the glory and honor of their families. That's what his instructor had told him. Now, for no reason but that Dr. J thought it would be amusing, they were going to change sides? 'They're going to sell us to OZ and the people who'd killed my whole world, my darling Meiran?'
Wufei really, really wanted to put his fist through the screen of Nasty's computer.
Nasty took a look over Wufei's shoulder at the two men, but shook her head. "I've never seen them before and I have a very good memory for faces. Excuse me." Nasty turned on her heel and walked swiftly out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Wufei asked, following.
"Where do you think? I'm going to warn my brother. Une said she was going to kill his two closed friends and I know he's visiting them today."
"Are you planning to walk there?" Wufei asked her, still following as she went out to the front hall and put her coat on.
"The car's being repaired and Noin doesn't live to far away." Nasty didn't even look at me she was so focused and continued with her eyes narrowed.
Wufei took her arm and pulled her to a stop, making Nasty focus on him. "Tell me where this Noin lives and I'll go for you."
"What?" Nasty shook her head. "Let go of me, Wufei. I am going to do this myself."
"Don't be a fool! I came here on my motorcycle, I can get there in minutes."
Nasty looked at where Wufei was pointing, and saw his old motorcycle. "Good, give me the keys." She held out her hand expectantly.
"No! You're a lady and you might get hurt!" Wufei really don't want her going to where these murderers could get at her. "Stay here and I'll save your brother for you."
"Why?"
The question brought Wufei up short. He really shouldn't tell her that he was feeling slightly guilty about trying to kill Trieze. She might get upset, after all. Finally, Wufei decided on telling her, "I just don't want you to get hurt."
"I'm not as fragile as I look, Wufei. Give my the keys or get out of my way."
Stupid woman! Why won't she use sense? "Your brother could be dead by the time you walk there! Why don't you just let me go in your place?"
Nasty sighed. "No offense, Wufei, but I just met you a few minutes ago. I've seen the small knife you keep in your waistband and I can tell that you've got a gun under your coat. You come to my home armed and ask to see my brother, yet when I ask why you want to see him, you avoid the question. You've given me no reason to trust you and for all I know, you could be working for Une. I have to do this and know that it gets done right."
How could Wufei deny that what she says makes sense? "Fine." Wufei said, somewhat defeated. "Get on." Wufei took the helmet off his motorcycle seat and handed it to her. "Give me directions as we go. I am NOT letting you go there alone."
Nasty took the helmet and strapped it on as if she'd done it before. Funny, it hadn't occurred to Wufei that maybe she'd ridden a motorcycle before. She just didn't seem like the type. "Thank you." She said simply and sat behind Wufei, putting her arms around his waist.
Off they went and Wufei tried real hard not to think about how nice her arms felt around him.
Youja Kai-
Sh'ten-
Sh'ten, still in full yoroi, bowed before Emperor Arago. "Wearing the yoroi before me is an affront to me, Sh'ten. You know this. Where are the others?"
Sh'ten, still hoping to pacify Arago, willed the yoroi off his body and into the small orb, holding it protectively in one hand. "We search for the yoroi, still, master." Sh'ten spoke as respectfully as he could. Though they mocked Arago easily when he couldn't hear them, they were still wary of his power. Arago's temper was not something to be taken lightly.
"Why does it take so long?" Arago's voice was dangerously soft, measured.
"The Ningen Sekai is vast, master. We split up in hopes of finding the other yoroi, also." Well, that much was true, anyway. Sh'ten had left Rajura and Anubis with the younger children, Ryo, Seiji, Heero, and Duo at the gates. They had gone in search of Kay while he came here as little more than a distraction.
"And you have recovered none, in all the time you have searched?"
"No, master."
A jolt of energy shot through Sh'ten, bringing him to his knees in pain. "Do not lie to me, Sh'ten. You are not skilled at it. I ask you again, have you recovered the yoroi?"
Sh'ten took a deep, shuttering breath, but stayed where he'd fallen. "No, master." He managed to gasp.
The second jolt of power didn't shot through him as the first had, but lifted him off his feet, leaving him hovering in midair for a moment, before he was thrown back, against one of the stone walls. Sh'ten cried out with pain, feeling several of his bones break. His skull cracked against the stones before Sh'ten slid limply to the floor.
Sh'ten bit his lip to keep himself from crying out again, holding his ribs as he tried to push himself up into a sitting up position. He was suddenly aware of another presence in the room and when he looked up, he saw the spirit, Badamon, hovering at Arago's side.
"Lord Badamon has informed me of your betrayal, Sh'ten. He knows that you have found the yoroi. He knows you are keeping them from me." Arago's voice was steadily rising with his anger. Badamon smirked mirthlessly down at Sh'ten. "You will tell me where they are. Where are your brothers?"
Sh'ten struggled to his feet. "Lord Badamon has made a mistake, my master. We have found no yoroi." It was a bald faced lie and was met by another jolt of agony. This time, Sh'ten managed to stay on his feet, but only just.
"You, who so enjoy the pain of others, should appreciate this. You, my Ma-Sho of Cruelty, are an insect. Sh'ten, you are an infant in power and experience, but I will show you. I will teach you suffering and pain." Arago continued.
Sh'ten felt a pressure, like a giant hand wrapping tightly around him, squeezing his entire body. His lungs and heart were squeezed tightly by breaking ribs.
"Where are the others, Sh'ten?" Arago's implacable voice asked, releasing the pressure so Sh'ten could answer.
Sh'ten gasped desperately for air, before saying, as clearly as he could, "I do not know, master."
Pain, like white-hot needles, lanced through Sh'ten's brain. Sh'ten couldn't help it this time and he crumbled to the floor, rolling to his side and whimpering like a child. Tears ran freely down his face and Sh'ten clamped his eyes tightly shut, concentrating on one thought. 'I will not betray them.'
"Give me the Oni Yoroi."
Sh'ten's head shot up at Arago's words. He started to shake his head. If Arago managed to get his hands on even one of the Yoroi, he could kill the others or, worse, gain access to their minds. It would be disaster, the demon getting into their minds. They would never again have free will or be able to even think their own thoughts without Arago with them. "No." Sh'ten clutched the orb as tightly as he could.
Badamon began to approach Sh'ten and Sh'ten knew he didn't have the power to fight. In desperation, Sh'ten's mind went to Kay. He could give her the yoroi and at least she would have some protection. When the others found her, they'd teach her how to use it.
Sh'ten threw the yoroi as hard as he could, willing it to go to Kay, though he still didn't remember who that was. Instead of going where it should have, the orb suddenly halted in midair and dangled there for a moment.
Badamon laughed. "Fool. Do you think we will let you give the yoroi to the child?" Lord Badamon went closer to the vulnerable orb and Sh'ten grew afraid, truly afraid for the first time in many years. They would kill the others. Rajura, Anubis, 'Za-Chan. Arago and Badamon would kill Sh'ten's family. The children, Ryo, Seiji, Shin, Xiu, Touma, Kay, and Duo would die. Everyone was going to die.
"No!" Sh'ten launched himself with his little remaining strength and managed to grab the orb before Badamon got to it. There was no place to hide and Sh'ten knew he was going to die here.
Closing his mind to his brothers, to spare them the full brunt of the pain, Sh'ten's decision became very easy. Sh'ten held the orb and willed it to vanish from sight. The orb vanished from Sh'ten's hand as he forced it into the one place Arago would never think to look for it. In his own heart.
Sh'ten instantly felt the searing pain ripping his heart apart. His eyes widened for a split second before he crashed to the stone floor.
The world went black.
Oblivion
Sh'ten died.
Arago-
Badamon checked the body of the traitor, but found no sign of the yoroi. Sh'ten had managed to kill himself, but the orb was gone. There is no mark on his body to show what has happened to him, how exactly he died, but Arago knew it must have something to do with the orb. It's gone, simply vanished.
"I will wait for my Ma-Sho to return." Arago told Badamon. "They have much to answer for. Sh'ten must have sent his orb to one of his brothers, somehow." Though, since the room was shielded against such a tactic, Arago had no idea how Sh'ten had done this. Still, it was the only answer.
Badamon bowed. "Yes, my lord. What do you wish done with this?" Badamon looked down at Sh'ten's fallen corpse.
"Leave it. I have no use for the body and I will not waste time disposing of it. It will serve as a lesson for the Ma-Sho when they return to me. They will never betray me as Sh'ten did."
Continued...