Chapter 16: True Feelings

Sector 27: MRPA Interrogation

Arisa was panicking as Kimaru’s head laid in a pile of ever growing foam. What do I do, what do I do?!? I can’t let him die!! I’ll never get off suspension if I don’t save him!!! What am I going to do?!

In a panic, Arisa tried to pull Kimaru up from his seat but quickly buckled under his weight and sent him crashing to the ground, “No, no, no, no!!!” Now even more frantic she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him up with all of her strength, “Ok here we go,” she bent her knee and started to stand up with him, but his body slipped out of her grasp and his groin slammed down into her bent knee with all of his weight. Out of sheer reflex, Kimaru’s poisoned body vomited out all of his stomach contents, all over Arisa, before falling on his side.

“00!!!!” Keiko slammed open the door in a panic only be stunned motionless at the scene, “What happened?” she asked horrified.

Arisa was pouting, tears already streaming through the goop on her face. Her body was fixed in that position, her arms holding something invisible while she was on one knee. Her eyes stared at Keiko with such fear that Keiko quickly turned around, “We need a medic!!!!”

Aku’s hand covered her own mouth. She held back the laughter threatening to erupt from her at the sight, poor Arisa.

Red’s Office

“What happened?” Red asked, confused, from behind his screen.

“00 saved Kimaru’s life,” Aku spoke up first, “He was trying to poison himself but she saved him,”

Keiko sighed, “She made him throw up while he was unconscious,”

Red hummed for a moment, “And he is fine?”

“He is in the infirmary, but the Head Nurse said that he would live thanks to 00,” Aku grinned slightly.

“And where is Agent 00 now?”

“She was pretty traumatized….so we sent her home,”

The Apartment: Sector 3

Arisa hummed to herself happily as she dried her hair. She had been hosed down at MRPA HQ and she just finished an hour long shower. Now that she finally felt clean she could relax. She looked at her reflection and sighed softly at the face she had come to know as her own- not that she knew what she was supposed to look like. Her only home and family has been MRPA. She never met her parents but she always just assumed they were dead. Her mother was definitely dead as all mothers of mutants die one way or another. But she had idea, no stories, no pictures. She had started shifting when she was just a baby- maybe while in the womb. She would never know if this face was her face, or if she would always wear a mask.

She shook her head softly and let her hair hang down, “Hmmm Kei and Aku won’t be home for awhile…I should have some snacks out for them when they get back,” she happily bounced into the kitchen and started to make some sandwiches when something caught her eye. Kyoushirou’s jacket!

The day had been so exciting she had forgotten all about it; but there it was, neatly laying on the couch. She picked it up hesitantly and couldn’t help but grin, “Kawamiya Kyoushirou,” she ran her finger across his name tag fondly, “the top agent at STAM,” she knew she shouldn’t be praising him, but it was an impressive feat to be the best, “the solo container,” deep inside herself she hoped that he might have a soft spot for mutants. That maybe he didn’t want to hurt them or hate them.

She looked around the apartment, just to make sure it was empty, and slowly slipped the jacket on. It was much too big for her but it felt so right. Her mind started to wander to when he gave it to her, “Arisa please, I can’t let you go without something to remember me with,” she day dreamt he might have said that to her.

She turned her head dramatically, “But Kyoushirou, this is your jacket, I couldn’t possibly-”

She turned again as if she were Kyoushirou, “I insist, take it,”

Arisa felt her face turn bright red, and let herself fall on the couch. Reality started to sink in, “He is a STAM agent…if he knew who I was….he would kill me….he wouldn’t like me…he likes ‘her’ Kuma Arisa the Human…..he could never like me….the shapeshifter….the black agent of MRPA,” she felt tears well in her eyes and quickly jumped up and smack herself on the cheeks, “Come on Arisa! You don’t need to bog yourself down with the bad stuff,” she quickly took off the jacket and tossed it on the couch before continuing to make the sandwiches. It was only seconds before she picked the jacket back up and hung it on a hanger in her room, maybe…just maybe….

“Arisa? Aku and I are back!” Keiko called from the front room.

“I’m coming!!!” she turned to leave, but took one last look at the jacket hanging, and grinned.

Sector 1: STAM HQ

Kyou closed the door to Blue’s office behind him and leaned against the door with a sigh. His mind was heavy and the aching in his head only weighed him further down. He thought about Arisa, about the mutant he had protected today. What would his team do if they knew? He imagine Hiro with his whip around her throat, Shou’s gun against her head, Seiji’s knife against her throat, Ryu’s hands burning her wrists, but worst of all he imagine Kenji’s spear pointed at her and the sick grin across his face.

Kyou shook his head of the images, “Don’t think about it...don’t think about it...”

He walked into the elevator and rode it back to his floor, where Kenji had been waiting for him.

“Heeeey partner!” he grinned and wrapped his arm around Kyou’s shoulders, “Were’ve you been? I’ve been lookin everywhere!”

Kyou slid out from Kenji’s grasp and gave him a hard gaze, “What do you want?”

Kenji flared his nostrils and put on a bright smile, “I brought you some pudding,” he held up the small white bag, “you like green pudding right?”

Kyou turned to his room, “I’m good,” and closed the door behind him.

Kenji let his arm drop and the smile fell from his face, “Sooo it’s a secret that you meet with Blue huh? Interesting….”