Re: Tokyo Tower

**Kir** Thu Apr 26, 2012 2:00 am

Bourbon smiled. We need to be careful not to let her remember anything, but she needs to be clear enough to fight. He glanced at his watch. "Oops, we'd better get you back to the apartment before Vermouth has my head."

"Can't I stay? I like it here," Sera pleaded. "It feels good to fight."

"We'll come back." He came over to her and squeezed her shoulder in a brotherly way. "I promise. But it's lunch time, and I know that Vermouth was going to make you a great meal."

She sighed and nodded, then walked toward the door. "She made me watch a movie last night. I didn't like it."

"Why not?" Bourbon followed her.

"It was fuzzy and gave me a headache. And she said it was her favorite, but she didn't watch it at all. Why?"

"Vermouth likes to listen to her favorite movies instead of watching them because she multitasks," Bourbon lied. Vermouth must have shown her a brainwashing video. He took Sera back to her apartment where the tall, blond-haired woman was stirring a pot of curry on the stove.

"So how was the training?" Vermouth asked brightly.

"It was great. It was like my body moved on its own," Sera replied enthusiastically.

Vermouth, always the great actress. Bourbon hid a cynical smile.

**Sera Masumi** Thu Apr 26, 2012 2:58 am

When Sera was eating the meal Vemouth had made, Bourbon nodded the woman to come closer.
"What's up?"
"Don't show her any movies like that anymore." The man said with a low voice.
"May I ask why?"
"There is no need for that and what I have noticed -and probably you, too-... a head ache gives her a reason to become suspicious about the things around her and might lead the return of her memory. One movie is enough I think."
"I see. How did she do at trainings?"
"She is great. I guess we can teach soon how to shoot."
"For some reason I think she has handled a gun before."
"Maybe... One can never know. After all she is the sister of Akai Shuichi." Bourbon smirked.

**Kir** Thu Apr 26, 2012 3:16 am

Jodie opened the passenger door and sat down next to Okiya, her arms folded. "I'm sorry that you had to find out suddenly that way about the girl," she said finally. "I didn't know she meant that much to you."

He didn't say anything for a few minutes; he just wrapped his hand.

"I got Black to give me the photograph that he was holding. He didn't want a lot of people knowing about it." She reached into her coat and held out the photo of Sera's body. "It was on Kir when we rescued her from a couple of B.O. members."

After a moment, he took the photo and stared at it. Then he tossed it back to her, a smile spreading across his face. "Thank you, Jodie-san," he said.

She blinked; the way he said her name was familiar.

He reached around her and opened the passenger door. "Good-bye."

Taking the hint, she got out of the car and leaned down. "You'll tell me anything you figure out, right?"

"Maybe." Okiya turned on the ignition and drove away.

**Sera Masumi** Thu Apr 26, 2012 4:38 am

((Gah, I'm out of ideas. Should we jump forward a bit? The time Sera is training her skills... Besides Mizunashi should get better...))

**Kir** Thu Apr 26, 2012 12:09 pm

((Good idea))

Kir finished eating her meal and pushed back the tray with a sigh. After all these weeks, there was still no sign of Masumi-san. Kir had been trying to remember where they had been taken, but the B.O. had done a good job disguising their location. It must have been one that they didn't tell me about. Of course, concrete interrogation rooms all look the same.

There had been four different areas in Tokyo that had construction being done on them around the time of the second kidnapping, but Kir had no way of knowing which location was correct. And there had been no word of Masumi-san . . .

The door opened and Camel entered. "How was the food?" he asked.

Kir smiled a little despite her worry; the FBI agent was a nice guy despite his resemblance to a gorilla. "It was good, thanks."

**Sera Masumi** Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:33 am

Sera got hit and gave a death glare to the attacker. The man winced, dropped the wooden baseball bat on the ground and hid behind his friends. There were no one else at that little shadowy side street.

What the hell is with these gangs? They think they can beat me up easily. They are wrong... Sera straightened up: the hit had caused her to fell on her knees. "Okay, which one of you was it? Who did dare to hit me?"

Nobody answered. A shadow appeared behind the gang. "My, my... you made Secco angry... she'll beat you up in a minute." A voice whispered to them.
"Bourbon, what the hell are you doing here? I thought the job was only for me. Or don't you trust in me?" Sera glared at the man behind the group.
"Well, that was your first job. Someone had to check you are doing fine. I congrats you succeeded perfectly until these guys appeared..."

The street gang didn't like being ignored. They attacked to the two organization members.
"Leave this to me." Sera mumbled.
"'Kay!"

Two minutes later all the gang members were lying on the ground. Sera and Bourbon were walking away.
"Oh my, you are so scary girl." The man smirked.
"Shut up." Sera mumbled but smiled back.

**Kir** Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:11 am

After Camel left, Kir slowly swung herself out of bed, grabbing a crutch with her good arm; the other arm was still in a sling due to the broken collarbone and her shoulder wound. She hobbled out to look at the parking lot outside. It was so peaceful.

Agent Starling had given her several print-outs of e-mails that Ei-chan had sent to her via a secure computer. Kir pulled them out of her pocket and smoothed them out. He was doing fine according to the e-mails. He'd joined a martial arts club, although he was really clumsy. He missed Japan, his friends, and her. Hadn't found a girl like Ran Mouri yet. Kir smiled.

Another printed e-mail caught her eye and she frowned. Her CIA handler was demanding to know why she'd been compromised, and she hadn't replied to him yet. I'll be sent to Antarctica if I tell him it was because I grew soft and didn't kill the sister of an FBI agent. Sighing, she clumsily folded the paper back up and put them away.

I can't leave. Not until I cleaned up this mess with Masumi-san . . .

**Sera Masumi** Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:58 am

Sera leaned back. She was tired but also happy about succeeding with her first mission. It had been an easy job. Just delivering a packet to an accomplishment. Everything had went fine until she had met up with that gang that had cowardly attacked from behind. Luckily the packet had been in a safe place already...

"Secco, do you wanna come to train a bit?" Bourbon asked.
"Maybe tomorrow. I'm tired..." She replied.

**Kir** Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:08 am

Vermouth entered the room, pulling off the wig and mask of an older woman and draping it over her arm. "So I hear that you succeeded in your first mission. Congratulations," she said, smiling at the girl. This was turning out better than even she had planned.

Sera smiled happily. "Thanks, Vermouth."

Vermouth stretched and sat down next to Sera. "Once you work your way up, you'll be doing missions like me, disguising yourself and blending in among the sheep, as Gin likes to say." She chuckled softly.

Disguise . . . there was something about that word that bothered her. Sera frowned and got a flashback of a man wearing glasses. Then it was gone before she could process it.

"Secco? What's wrong?" Vermouth's eyes watched her carefully.

"Nothing. Just a slight headache," Sera said truthfully. It did make her head ache trying to figure out why she sometimes got those images.

"I'll get you some painkiller for that." Bourbon stood up and walked toward the kitchen.

"Thanks." Sera took the pill and water that he offered and swallowed the medicine down.

**Sera Masumi** Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:50 am

"Well, it seems she is doing fine." Vermouth stated. She was giving her report to Gin in another room. "But I'm also a bit worried. Almost everything can cause her to remember something so we can never know when she'll regain her memory."
"..."
"But it's also possible she'll stay in the state like that forever..." The woman shrugged. "She learns fast new things and likes her time here. I guess she won't even try to remember anything."
"But if she does..."
"If she does and succeeds with that we don't have any choices... Bullet throught her head, this time for real."

**Kir** Fri Apr 27, 2012 4:11 am

"And any word on Kir?" Gin asked.

"Nothing. However, she's probably at a hospital; the beating was severe enough." Vermouth sipped fine wine and then studied the red liquid in her glass. "Don't worry, Gin. My agents will find her."

"They better. I don't like leaving loose ends." He lit up a cigarette. "Keep a close eye on the girl, Vermouth. I don't like having Akai-san's sister here. She could become a loose cannon."

"Don't worry." She reached over and rubbed his shoulder, feeling the Kevalar vest underneath. "Don't you ever take this thing off?"

He didn't reply, except to suck on his cigarette.

She laughed, finished off the wine and got up. "If you're not busy tonight, my room's available." She left before he could reply.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kir took a short walk around the hospital floor accompanied by Jodie. She felt exhausted by the time they got back. "I used to spring back a lot faster after getting beaten like that," Kir murmured, easing herself back into bed.

"Well it was a pretty bad beating you took," Jodie said stiffly, getting up. "I'll be outside if you need me."

**Sera Masumi** Fri Apr 27, 2012 8:56 am

Sera laid on the bed of a room the organization had given her. About five minutes ago she had eavesdropped the conversation between Vermouth and Gin.

What an earth is going on? Why I'm such a big threat? And that 'Akai'...

She remembered that Kir had mentioned it was her brother's name but that was all she knew. Tears appeared in her eyes.

I wanna remember but if I remember what will happen to me... Am I an enemy?

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. Sera wiped the tears away and sat up. "Come in."
Vermouth stepped in. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Just..."
"'Just'?"
"Nothing."
"Okay..." The woman left. Before the door was shut Sera saw a worry on the woman's face.

They are keeping an eye on me in the case I remember... And if I remember they'll kill me for sure...

**Kir** Fri Apr 27, 2012 8:05 pm

"Starling-san?" Kir said as the woman headed for the door.

Jodie turned around, her face unreadable. "Yes?" she asked shortly.

"I'm sorry about Akai-san. I didn't know how much he meant to you." Kir knew she had to keep up the pretense of Akai's death.

Jodie left without replying.

Leaning back, Kir closed her eyes and allowed her exhaustion to overcome her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vermouth walked down the hall, frowning. I wonder if the girl heard anything . . . We will need to distract her. Pulling out her phone, she dialed a number and waited until Bourbon picked up. "We need to keep Masumi-san as busy as possible. She may be starting to remember."

**Sera Masumi** Sat Apr 28, 2012 3:02 am

Bourbon looked at the girl who was sitting opposite him. Her gaze was glassy again but she was frowning slightly. An outsider would have thought she was thinking the boardgame they were playing but she wasn't. Actually even Bourbon wasn't sure what she was thinking.

"It's your turn."
"...Yeah." Sera moved one of the shôgi pieces on the board without thinking.
"Is something bothering you?"
Just a nod.
"Would you like to tell me about it?" He kept in mind Vermouth's words about the possibility Sera would remember.
"I... happened to hear a conversation. Between Vermouth and Gin. They were talking about me."
"And?"
"Am I an enemy? What I understood from their speech my brother... -who I don't remember at all- was somekind of enemy and if I remember things I have forgotten... I'll be killed."

Bourbon didn't say anything. What he should have said?
"So that's true? That I shouldn't be here?"
"No, that's... You can be here. Every human is an individual. Your brother was one kind of person and you are another kind. You two can't be compared."
"I know but... After hearing that conversation I became curious about my background... I wanna remember everything so badly that it hurts but at the same time I wanna keep all those things locked away."
"I fully understand you. Come, I guess I know what can cheer you up."
"What?"
"A new mission. This time I'll be with you as a participant."

**Kir** Sat Apr 28, 2012 3:25 am

Kir continued to get better; she started to take longer walks around the hospital hallways with her crutch and FBI agent. Fortunately, because of the injuries to her face, no one paid attention to her. A few glanced at her curiously, but then dismissed the idea that Mizunashi Rena was staying in the hospital. The newscaster wouldn't have a broken collarbone, fading black eyes, and a healing split lip.

Shinichi Kudo visited her; this time the FBI agents made sure that he was the real one. "I heard what happened," he said after they searched him and his schoolbag before allowing him into her room. "Any word on Masumi-san?"

"I was hoping you had something about her," Kir replied, shifting in her bed.

"The FBI agents are more wary of me since that B.O. agent disguised himself as me. That guy was rather clever in the way he undermined my reputation." Kudo settled down in a chair next to him.

**Sera Masumi** Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:30 am

((gah, how this is possible? I'm totally lacked of ideas... gotta take a walk and do something useful... sorry))

**Kir** Sun Apr 29, 2012 12:35 am

((It's okay; I have a 10 page paper due at midnight, so I'll have to reply later when I have time. DX ))

**Kir** Wed May 02, 2012 12:58 am

((It's probably going to be 2 weeks before I can really role-play again . . . Finals and graduation are this week, and I'm also going on a trip afterwards.))

Over the next few weeks, Sera continued to do more and more missions for the Black Organization, much to Bourbon and Vermouth's satisfaction. They kept her busy so that she didn't have time to think about those memories that she had started to remember.

On one of her missions, however, she spotted a brown-haired man with glasses walking along the street.

**Sera Masumi** Mon May 07, 2012 2:59 am

Sera gasped and hid into the shadows.
That man... Why he... Who is he... She frowned so deep that it made her head hurt. "Ouch..."

The man turned around.
Did he hear me??? Sera pressed her back against the wall. After a minute the man continued his way and this time Sera followed him, keeping a long distance.

When Sera was walking through a sidestreet she noticed the man had gone. What the...?
She couldn't finish her though when someone grabbed her from behind.
"A-! Let go!" She yelled and tried to get her gun.
"Masumi, calm down!" That person grabbed her wrist and forced her turn around. It was the man she had followed. Sera looked at him and the man watched back.
"How do you know my name?" She asked. The question surprised the man enough to loosen his grip. Sera fled.

**Kir** Mon May 07, 2012 7:52 pm

When she got back to the headquarters, Bourbon looked concerned. "Are you all right? You look pale."

"There . . . there was a man with brown hair and glasses . . . He was following me," Sera gasped out. "He called me 'Masumi.'"

Bourbon and Vermouth exchanged worried looks. "What's wrong?" Sera demanded.

"It's a good thing you ran away, Secco," Bourbon said finally. "That man is possibly a terrorist."

A terrorist? Sera frowned as she remembered the man's face. "He didn't look like a terrorist."

"What did he look like, then, Secco?" Vermouth asked gently. "Can you give us a description?"

**Sera Masumi** Tue May 08, 2012 1:27 am

Sera thought for a moment for her answer.

"No... I think it's not necessary. He might have mistook me with someone else..."
"Someone else with same face and name?" Bourbon sneered.
"Who knows..." Sera mumbled. She turned around and walked to her room.

He definitely knew me... But who the hell is he? I have to find out more... Sera's head hurt again. I hate this... Everyone else know more than I...

**Kir** Fri May 11, 2012 3:01 am

Vermouth frowned as she watched Sera walk away. "I don't like this, Bourbon," she said softly. "What if she remembers?"

Bourbon's eyes narrowed. "Then we'll have to kill her. She knows too much. I'll put a couple of guys on her when she goes out in case that guy tries to contact her again."

"Make sure the agents tailing her are the best. She'll spot incompetent ones easily," Vermouth warned.

"Don't worry." Bourbon walked away.

**Sera Masumi** Thu May 15, 2014 2:14 pm

((Hey, still alive? Very Happy

)

Sera sat on her bed and pressed her head against her hands. The headache didn't seem to be willing to go away this time though.

"Don't... I don't want to remember... It's too dangerous... I must not..." She muttered. Flashes appeared inside her closed eyelids...

She was five and laughing while playing with her brother. Everything was fine. Brother would always protect her.

"No..."

They were living in America now. She didn't know why. Brother wasn't with her. She was honing her skills in Jeet Kune Do. When she'd meet brother again, she'd show him how good she was.

"Stop it..."

She returned to Japan and got new friends. They met in Tokyo Tower.

"...I don't want to." Tears appeared in Sera's eyes and she slid on the floor to sit, curling into herself in process.

There was a chaos in the Tower. People clad in black. Guy named Vodka. That one woman called Kir pointing gun at her but sparing her life later.
Meeting with that woman later.
FBI.
The boy. 'Package'.

"No..."

Kidnapped. Beaten. Vermouth. Gin.

"Why...?"

Brother. Alive after all. She and Kir were saved.

Sera looked up at the full body mirror almost opposite her. She looked so tiny and scared in the reflection.

Kidnapped again. Bourbon. Slipping into darkness.

She got on her feet.

Indifference.

The mirror image flashed to show Akai instead of Sera for a second. She snapped.

"Leave me alone! I don't want to remember!" She punched the mirror broken before fainting on the floor among the glass fragments.

**Kir** Tue May 20, 2014 10:49 pm

((Yeah.. Dang, almost exactly 2 years ago. I almost forgot this existed))

"What happened?" Vermouth stood outside the building's infirmary, watching nurses tend to an unconscious Sera.

"Judging by the security footage, she was sitting on her bed, then looked at herself in the mirror," the guard on duty replied, offering a small tablet and headphones.

Taking the thin computer, Vermouth watched the footage, pressing the earpieces against her head. This isn't good. She's starting to remember.

"Thank you," she said crisply, returning the devices to the guard. "Now leave me. I'll watch her." She waited until the guard retreated before pulling out her cell phone and texted Bourbon. They would need to come up with a plan, quickly.

**Sera Masumi** Wed May 21, 2014 2:06 pm

((heh, I also almost forgot this one. But then I happened to read this all again and I thought: 'damn, this is better than I remembered. why did I stop?'))
---

Sera blinked slowly as she returned to the world of the awake. Her surroundings were unfamiliar. She looked left and right without turning her head to either direction. She was in some sort of infarmary by the looks of the room. How she had ended up there? And why?

A stinging pain in her right palm made Sera frown a bit and she lifted her hand from beneath the covers and found a bandage wrapped tightly around it.

"My better hand..." Was her only thought before she realized that she couldn't recall what possibly could have caused it.

"So you are awake now." Vermouth stated from the door. "You were out for a good while."

"Hnh..." Sera glanced at her direction. "What happened?"

"It was a mere accident. You were pretty tired and happened to knock down a vase in your room. You were lucky you didn't injure yourself any worse on the fragments." The woman lied smoothly, not that Sera noticed it at the moment.

"I see..." The girl let her arm fall on her chest and clentched her hand into a fist experimentally. Her fingers worked just fine.

"Rest now. I'll come to see you again tomorrow." Adn the woman left without waiting for a reply.
-- --

"Well?" Bourbon asked while taking a sip from his coffee.

"She doesn't recall what just happened. I suppose her mind... did an emergency shutdown. Her state resembles slightly what we decided to use on our advantage." Vermouth replied. "She is very tired but for now the danger has been avoided."
-- --

Sera glanced at the closed door once again before sitting up. She did it carefully so she wouldn't feel dizzy once again. For some reason she felt a bit wary of Vermouth now. But she couldn't explain it to herself why. And another feeling lingered too. And instinct telling her to get away from that place and find someone else to get answers from. A face of man with strawberry blonde hair and glasses flashed somewhere deep in Sera's conscious. The man who had called her with her name. Maybe he knew something.

"But not yet... I need to rest. And I bet they are going to keep an eye on me... For some reason..."

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