* Haruko walks along for a bit and after the others are out of sight turns to 
Katie. "Want a hug? I normally wouldn't ask, but I figure you're still not so 
big on sudden movements."
* Katie blinks, then looks at Haruko. "A hug?" She sounds confused.
* Haruko seems to consider this adequate warning and hugs Katie.
* Katie oofs and pauses a moment before hugging back.
* Haruko lets go fairly quickly. "Thought you deserved one. And I will let you 
know what Chikako said to Kyon as soon as I can get ahold of him."
* Katie nods, still looking a bit puzzled. "Okay. Thanks?"
* Haruko grins somewhat sheepishly. "Thank me after I still have the strength to 
ask after being called to the carpet over my handling of yesterday." She then 
shrugs. "Hope Saki doesn't threaten to kill me this time, I really not feeling 
up to it."
* Katie smiles a little. "She wouldn't really." She goes back to walking.
* Haruko nods. "I know, it's just a bit off putting. Particularly when 
accompanied by physical actions."
<Katie> Yeah.
* Haruko is keeping pace fairly well, if a bit slow because she's injured. 
"Although to be honest I'm dreading the Kaede conversation more, but I should be 
able to manage. Was ready before he proposed we get moving."
* Katie snickers.
<Katie> You'll be fine.
<Haruko> We'll see.  At least he's being particularly agreeable of late.  
::Haruko's tone on that shows definate suspicion::
* Katie shakes her head in amusement.
<Haruko> Oh, and once we get to Kaede's shop, could you remind me to call 
Matthais?  I'd do it now, but not sure how long it's going to take.
<Katie> Yeah.  What for?
<Brett> [You get to the roof!]
<Haruko> Keep him posted.  Tell him the latest drug findings, keep up our end of 
the alliance.
* Haruko looks around.
* Katie does, too.
<Brett> ( Gimme sight rolls. )
<Brett> [Out on the roof is Eriko.  No sight of Ryuji.  Eriko is sitting up 
against the wall, smoking a cigarette.]
* Haruko looks up at Eriko. "'ey."
* Katie waves.
* Haruko looks slightly disappointed at the absence of Ryuji, but she hides it 
pretty well.
<Brett> [Eriko looks up and offers a small wave. "Hey."
* Katie takes a breath, then walks closer. "How are you?"
* Haruko tags along quietly.
<Brett> [She shrugs, and holds out the cigarette pack. "Want one?"]
* Katie shakes her head. "Nope. Thanks."
* Haruko leans against the wall and actively attempts to not cramp Katie's 
style.
<Katie> (*snicker* What style?)
* Katie takes a breath. "Saki hasn't been at school today. I figured you would 
want to know why."
* Haruko winces ever so slightly at that.
<Brett> [She shrugs. "Figured she was skippin'."  She blinks, then narrows her 
eyes at Katie. "Why?"]
* Katie holds her hands up, palms towards Eriko. "Two days ago, I was kidnapped. 
I don't even remember what happened at that time. But yesterday, Saki showed up 
and tried to save me."
* Katie looks into the distance. "She..." She shakes her head. "She was hurt, 
bad. But we got her out, and she's resting now. She'll be okay."
* Haruko cough slights and gives Katie a "mind if I speak" look.
* Katie nods.
<Brett> [Eriko gets to her feet. "How? Who?" She asks as she approaches Katie.  
She gets rather uncomfortably close.]
* Haruko stands up and looks to Eriko. "It was specifically my fault she was 
hurt. I went in and fell under Tenjirou's spell."
<Brett> [She glances at Haruko.  "... What happened?"]
<Katie> I'm... not really sure.  All I know is I woke up in this... place.  A 
basement, I think.  Tenjirou and Ryo were there.  The Chariot was who they were 
waiting for; they showed up later.
* Katie shakes her head, and her voice becomes quieter. "Twenty hours lost. 
Don't remember. Was drugged and chained."
* Haruko speaks with a fair amount of shame but keeps eye contact. "I tried to 
pull her off Tenjirou. He used to opportunity to shoot her."
* Eriko goes wide eyed. "Sh... shoot her?!"
* Haruko nods. "He had a gun. I was able to go against the control enough to try 
to protect her and call for help, but she took another hit or two because I 
didn't do well enough. I'm sorry, I failed her and you. She hasn't forgiven me 
for it."
* Katie rubs at her eyes. Hoo boy.
* Eriko stares at Haruko. "What the hell were you thinking?"
<Katie> She wasn't.  How much do you know about Tenjirou, Eriko?
<Eriko> I know he does that thing with women.  
* Haruko keeps eye contact. "I always managed to resist before, this time I 
failed. But as to why we went in at all, if Saki were in danger, there were no 
fields involved, but the cards told you to leave it to someone else, would you?"
* Eriko stares at Haruko. "If it was Saki?"
* Haruko nods. "Yeah, if it was her."
* Eriko clenches her fist. "Of course I would."
* Haruko nods. "So that's why we tried to save Katie. That's why we went in, I 
was scouting because we wanted to see if Saki needed our help or if we should 
stay out. But I wasn't good enough." Haruko's voice drops but she keeps eye 
contact. "So there's no real why, I just wasn't good enough. I'm sorry, I know 
you sometimes have to count on us to look after her, and I failed you."
* Katie lets out a sigh. She stays where she is and watches Eriko for her 
reaction.
* Eriko clenches her fist tighter. She shoots Haruko a glare, but turns her 
attention to Katie. "Take me to her."
* Katie nods. "Okay." She looks to Haruko. "Do you want to grab the paper and 
meet the others, then?"
* Haruko nods. "Will do."
* Katie smiles a little. "Okay. Thanks."
* Katie heads down. Down the stairs!
* Haruko looks sheepish. "Least I can do." She then heads off, walking slowly a 
bit to let Katie get ahead.
<Haruko> (So you want to just say Haruko can get a paper without talking to 
Chikako and then send her to the shop?)
<Brett> ( K )
<Brett> [So! Some time later, Katie and Eriko arrive at Katie's home!]
* Katie hasn't said much on the way there. Preseumably, Eriko hasn't wanted to 
talk. She heads over to her house and unlocks the front door.
* Katie opens it and waves Eriko in.
* Eriko steps in. "Where is she?"
* Katie shuts the door after her and doesn't bother taking off her shoes. "This 
way." She heads to her room.
* Eriko follows! She doesn't either.
<Brett> [Inside Katie's room, Saki is sitting on the bed.  She's apparently just 
changed her bandages; Katie's wastebasket is filled with the bloody ones. She 
also notices Saki hasn't done a great job wrapping the new ones; they're far too 
loose.]
* Katie doesn't skip a beat. She sets her satchel down near the doorway and goes 
over to Saki. "You need to tighten those."
<Brett> Saki looks up at that. "Yeah. I figured.  Little hard with a hole in my 
arm."
<Katie> Let me.
<Brett> She looks past Katie to Eriko. "Yo."
* Katie kneels, getting a good look, and starts fixing the patch job.
* Eriko doesn't say anything. She stands in the doorway.
* Katie lets the silence prevail a bit as she works, but she eventually asks, 
"How are you feeling?"
<Brett> [She laughs a bit. "I can walk.  Kind of."]
* Katie snickers. "That's better." She nudges Saki's arm. "Move that a bit. 
Eriko wanted to see you."
<Brett> Saki blinks once and turns her gaze to Eriko.
* Eriko takes a step back. "Uh, no! That's ... I mean, yes! kind of... I 
mean..."
* Katie shakes her head at Eriko's confusion. Just a little. She moves Saki's 
arm herself and fixes the bandages there.
<Brett> Saki shrugs. But only with one shoulder.  The uninjured one.
* Eriko sighs. "I'm glad you're alright, Saki." To which Saki replies, "Yeah, me 
too."
* Katie murmurs to herself, "<Not so bad.>" She finishes and stands, looking to 
Saki, then Eriko. "I'm going to get out of this uniform." She gives Eriko a 
small grin. "I'll trust you not to knock anything over?"
<Eriko> Uh... No.
<Eriko> Go ahead.
* Katie goes about grabbing some good old-fashioned normal clothes and scrams to 
the bathroom to change.
<Katie> (And if they say anything, I can hear it!  Mwaha!  Ahem.)
<Brett> ( Hearing check! )
<Katie> (Okay, so yeah.)
<Brett> ( Yeah @_@ )
<Brett> [Katie can heard Saki and Eriko! In particular, Eriko is breathing kind 
of heavily.  "Hey-" she begins, but Saki cuts her off. "Damn, what happened to 
my bike? I better find it."]
<Brett> Eriko: "Oh... I'll find it for you tonight."
<Brett> Saki: "Great. Gonna need it soon as I can walk further than a few steps 
before falling over.  Figure on tomorrow."
<Brett> Eriko: "... It was that bad?"
<Brett> Saki: "Bullet nearly hit a lung.  I almost died.  Sure, I heal fast, but 
I couldn't have recovered from an injury like that.  So, yeah, it was that bad."
<Eriko> [Eriko stops breathing for a sec. "I... I see."]
<Eriko> [The bed creaks as Saki shifts her position on it. "Oh well.  Not the 
worst thing that's happened to me."]
<Eriko> Eriko: "...I guess not."
* Katie finishes getting dressed and straightens her hair in the mirror. She 
picks up her dirty laundry and shoes and opens the door, going about her 
business quietly and trying to stay out of their way.
<Eriko> [There's a brief silence.  Then Saki says, "Looks like things are about 
to get a lot more dangerous."  Eriko's about to respond, but that's when Katie 
comes in.]
<Katie> Sorry.
* Katie tosses her dirty clothes in the hamper and goes to put her shoes away. 
Yay, leaving them alone again!
<Brett> [There's silence after Katie leaves, before Eriko asks. "So how long you 
gonna be here?"]
* Katie stays busy, fixing a snack for herself (and probably Eriko) and a meal 
for Saki, who probably couldn't have reached the kitchen. It's nice, giving 
people an illusion of privacy.
<Brett> Saki: "No longer than I have to.  Hopefully I can get home tomorrow.  
Longer I stay here, the more dangerous it is for her."
<Brett> Eriko: "Katie?"
* Katie lets out a very faint snort. That's funny. Okay, back to food.
<Brett> Saki: "Yeah."
<Brett> Eriko: "You mean you don't want to rely on her help."
<Brett> [There's an awkward silence.]
<Brett> Eriko: "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"
<Brett> Saki: "Nah.  It's fine. Whatever."
<Brett> Saki: "Where's Ryuji, anyhow?"
<Brett> Eriko: "That one student of his asked him if he could help her work on 
her kendo forms again.  You know, that shy girl with no personality."
<Brett> Saki chuckles: "Oh yeah. What's her name.  You ought to mention to her 
that Ryuji's not interested."
<Brett> Eriko: "Me?"
<Brett> Saki: "Yeah.  Hell, you're the one he likes. Who better to do it? You 
know Ryuji's not gonna."
<Brett> Eriko: "Yeah.  Yeah, I know."
<Brett> [More silence!]
* Katie lets the microwave beep, loads stuff on the tray, and comes walking 
back. "Is it safe to come in?" she asks, half-joking.
<Brett> [Saki says!: "... You want them to get together, don't you?"  Eriko 
doesn't reply, because Katie comes just then.  Saki nods. "Yeah, come on."]
* Katie steps in. "I figured you couldn't make lunch, so... grilled cheese 
and... uh, how do you say them in Japanese? <Taquitos> okay?"
<Brett> Saki blinks. "Y'know... I speak English, and I still don't know what the 
hell you just said."
* Katie shrugs easily, somehow not spilling things all over. "Probably because 
it's Mexican." She removes one plate from the tray to her desk - this is piled 
with chicken taquitos - and hands the tray to Saki: there's a glass of Coke with 
the promised sandwich and taquitos.
<Brett> Saki looks at it for a minute, then shrugs and eats it. "Hm... It ain't 
bad."
<Katie> Yeah.  I'm a genius with a microwave.
* Katie picks up the plate and offers taquitos to Eriko. "Want some?"
* Eriko nods. "Sure." She takes one.
* Katie has a seat at her desk and munches on one herself. She chews, swallows, 
and looks curiously to Saki. "You know English?"
<Brett> Saki: "Yeah. Had a brief stay in the States for a bit."
* Katie blinks. "Huh. <Then you understand this.>"
<Brett> "<Yeah.>"
<Brett> "<When you live for seventy years, you learn a few things.>"
* Katie nods. "<Cool. I just didn't figure you'd leave Japan.>" Again, a switch, 
and she keeps up with the polite conversation. "Where'd you go?"
<Brett> "Travelled a bit in Nevada. A bit in.... that one with the desert in 
it... but mostly California."
* Katie nods, twirling the taquito in her fingers. She finishes this off and 
picks out another, giving it the same treatment. "I've been to California once. 
My parents took me to Disneyland."
<Brett> "Yeah, I remember that.  My old boyfriend took me there.  Got me 
thinking... What the hell is Goofy? He can't be a dog, because Pluto's a dog..."
<Katie> I think he was supposed to be a dog, but then Pluto came in and-  That's 
a good question.  Maybe he doesn't have an animal.  That's why he's Goofy.
* Katie looks to Eriko. Very serious. "What do you think?"
<Eriko> "Wha? Uhh..."
* Eriko looks completely puzzled. "I guess... A different kind of dog?"
<Katie> Yeah, maybe.
* Katie pulls a piece of paper from her desk and a pencil, and starts sketching. 
"Or maybe a dog crossed with a beaver. I don't know. Should just send them an e-
mail and ask."
<Brett> Saki shrugs. "Nah, I don't care that much, really."
<Katie> Well, I care.  The world should know.  Chikako could write-
* Katie stops midsentence, then shakes her head. "Never mind."
* Eriko backs out the door. "I'm going to go. I've got stuff to take care of."
* Katie looks up to Eriko. "Okay. Take care of yourself."
* Eriko nods. Saki waves. "See ya."
* Eriko wanders off!
* Katie is silent for a bit after the door closes with Eriko leaving, then she 
speaks, still not turning her attention from her sketch. "She's not looking for 
your bike, is she?"
<Saki> Huh? Eriko? Beats me.  I'll get it myself if she doesn't; no big deal.
* Katie nods. "Okay. Was going to say it's probably a bad idea if she goes by 
herself." She finishes the sketch and writes something beneath it.
* Saki shrugs. "Doubt it. Those people would be idiots to go back to that place 
now."
* Katie rolls her eyes and switches languages. "<Tenjirou's an idiot. He's done 
this three or four times now- I don't know. But I'm sick of it.>"
* Saki nods. "<That'll happen if people piss you off enough.>"
<Katie> <It's more than that, though.  He- they know where I live now.  At 
*least* one person knows where I live, and however they do it, they can get me 
out of here and make sure I don't remember the hows or whys or any of that.  
When do you think it'll happen again?  And would it happen only to me?>
* Katie shoves the paper aside, lets out a breath, and picks up one of her 
unfinished carvings: what will become a mocking bird perching on a branch. She 
selects a knife carefully and sets into it with determination.
* Saki waits a minute before responding. "<Yeah. That can happen. When you build 
a reputation with people, there's always a chance they might attack you when 
you're not expecting it.>"
* Katie lets a vaguely puzzled look cross her face. "<A reputation?>"
* Saki nods. "<You've got one. That's pretty obvious.>"
<Katie> <Wait, wait.  I have one.  Me?  Not the others, just me?>
* Katie thinks about that, then laughs faintly. "<Yeah, I guess, if it's for 
being the weakest link and the one everyone likes to think is Judgement.>" She 
blinks. "<Why'd anyone want to make me Judgement, anyway?>"
<Saki> <Maybe they do, too.  I dunno. I only keep track of myself.>
* Katie keeps carving. "<Oh, yeah. The tough biker chick that'll beat the crap 
out of drug dealers rep.>"
<Saki> <As for the weakest link... If that's how you feel, you should do 
something about it.>
<Katie> <Well...>
* Katie pauses for a moment, then continues, "<It's hard. I feel like I should 
learn how to fight, but there's just so much to take care of.>" She sighs. 
"<That and I wanted to avoid it in the first place. Hoped it wasn't necessary.>"
* Katie eyes her work critically, then keeps at it. "<On the bright side, I can 
make a mean carving.>"
* Saki shrugs. "<Eriko's always complaining about not having any powers. But 
that doesn't stop her from trying to improve herself. And unless you're gonna 
rely on others, you should learn to fight. Otherwise people will just take 
advantage of you.>"
<Katie> <Yeah, I know.  I brought it up with->
* Katie winces and sets the knife down, rubbing at her forehead. "<I brought it 
up with Kyon. Only he *wasn't* Kyon. Damn it.>"
<Saki> <More of that clone stuff. That's getting annoying.>
<Katie> <Yeah.  About the only way I figure we can tell- unless they let you 
know or they slip up- is Kyon's clone has gray eyes.>
* Katie shrugs. "<That and we at least know who he is. No idea about mine. But 
gray eyes or colored contacts.>"
* Saki nods
* Katie takes her hand from her face and slams it onto the desk. "<But God, they 
fucked me up good.>" She blinks, then shakes her head, gently setting the 
carving back in its place. "<You probably don't want to hear about it.>" She 
grabs the plate and tray with remnants of Saki's meal. "<I'll let you rest, 
okay?>"
<Saki> <Eh, hell, tell me about it.>
* Katie offers a vague smile. "<I'm not even sure how much you know.>"
* Saki wobbles a bit. "<Er... not. Damn, I think I'm gonna collapse.>"
* Katie nods. "<It's okay. If you're really curious, ask me some other time, and 
I will.>"
<Saki> Gotcha.
<Katie> <I'm going to need you out of here by tomorrow afternoon, or at least 
moved to another place.  My parents are going to come home and ask questions, so 
I've gotta clean up.>
* Saki chuckles. "<I'm being evicted?>"
* Katie grins. "<You haven't been paying the rent. Saving my life is only good 
for a two night stay.>" She winks and gets moving.
<Brett> [End!]