White Sakura Foundation Rendezvous - by Melissa Koh: safyre@jade-court.darkgod.net - - website: http://safyre.tsx.org - Part 1: White Sakura Foundation. It was a world where white sakura petals seemed to bloom throughout the year without withering. It was a world where the peak of a white marble tower stood prominently under the moon and the sun. Most of all, it was a world where psychos ran free: in short, an asylum with psychopaths in charge. Astraia stared at the stack of files expressionlessly, blanketing whatever ill thoughts she might have had at that crucial moment. It wasn't much, she had to admit, but it was sure as hell annoying. She looked up, and stared at the grinning dark-haired girl. "What's that?" asked Astraia, her voice deader than a corpse. Hypertia Tsuyu, Department Head of White Sakura Foundation, smiled benevolently. "New mission, Astraia. You're now on a recruiting spree." "Drop dead," said the silver-haired girl, wheeling around sharply and heading for the nearest exit. Hypertia scowled. "Come back here this instant, Astraia! You don't just walk away like that without _my_ express permission!" "I'm not going to be your recruiting agent, so forget it!" "What do you mean, forget it?! You do as I say or you're....you're..." Astraia halted at the doorway and turned around slowly. "Or what?" "I'll pair you up with Evangelina!" finished Hypertia with a spark of brilliance. Of course, that spark died when Astraia tossed off that suggestion without changing her expression in the least bit. "Be my guest. I don't mind, really. Just make sure she remembers how to serve tea, especially when _I_ want it." "Astraia!" yelled Hypertia. Astraia gave her a bored look. "What? It's true. I'm not going to be your talent agent. For your information, I'm a field agent of WSF; I _don't_ do recruiting. Send the Man or Ryuu or Ryuu-chan or anyone else but me. "Or else, just drop dead," she added reflectively. "You know, you might want to be nicer to Hypertia," whispered Jennifier, closing the half a room gap from Astraia with a fluid step. "If she gets mad, we are _all_ going to suffer." Astraia shrugged. "That's none of my business. I'm not going and that's final." Hypertia's eyes gleamed dangerously. "Not even if there's bishounen inside? Someone by the name of Breet Miller?" Astraia froze, then thawed. "I thought he was _your_ obsession," she said, gazing pointedly in Hypertia's direction. Hypertia snapped her fingers. "Precisely! Get his autograph and I'll mark off all your debts." Until next time, she added silently. It wouldn't be too long; it was a well-known fact that no agent had a clean record from the 'Damaged Property' record book, though Astraia was one of the rare cases with few debts. But even then, she still owed WSF enough to work away for the next couple of decades. Unlike a few others, who probably couldn't pay off their debts for the next ten lifetimes. Jennifier glared at her friend. "I didn't agree to that!" "Come on, Jenni, think of how wonderful Breet-sama's autograph would look beside the WSF plaque," wheedled Hypertia. "And a full length poster of him...blond hair...beautiful eyes..." Both Department Heads sighed simultaneously. Astraia rolled her eyes heavenwards, as if saying, "As if I'm not cursed enough. You _had_ to throw psychos in my face." "Dream on, Hypertia. I'm not going to fall for this. The last time _you_ made me go on a recruiting spree, I had to collect data on Evangelina. _You_ promised that you wouldn't recruit her even if your life depended on it. And what happens? I return from a mission and I see her romping in the foundation grounds, creating mass chaos and encouraging Gavin to destroy everything that comes his way. As if that isn't enough, they drag innocent bystanders into their fights and incur even bigger debts than before." Jennifier coughed uneasily as Hypertia sent dagger looks in her direction. Whistling innocently, she stared at a fascinating sakura petal that had entered the office through the open window at that precise moment. "It isn't my fault," whined Hypertia, "I didn't do anything!" "Yeah right. And I'm Goddess Supreme of the universe. Try harder but I'm not going," Astraia retorted dryly. "Brat," muttered Hypertia under her breath. "Like you aren't one yourself," said Jennifier helpfully. Hypertia ignored her. "Look, you were only conducting the rudimentary recruiting the previous time, you know, research, basic data collection, that kind. This time, it's different. You're going to bring them back to WSF for interviews so that we can shortlist them. We wouldn't want another incident like Evangelina again, right?" She placed extra emphasis on the last word, at the same time, sent a sharp look at Jennifer, whose attention was rapt on the fascinating petal she believed was the same petal she saw two weeks ago on the ground where she last trampled. "Besides, you aren't the only one." Her back straightened. "Meaning?" asked Astraia softly. Hypertia grinned. "Mitsuru, Gavin, the Man and Eva-chan are coming along for the ride." Astraia stared. "Drop dead." "If Hypertia wanted to drop dead, she would have done so a long time ago," muttered Jennifier under her breath, throwing a not particularly friendly look at her friend. Hypertia smiled, one of those wide, innocent grins that set most people who knew her on red alert. No one knew what she was capable of better than Jennifier, and so far, the latter was proud to announce that Hypertia was healthy. As in insanely healthy. 'Healthy as a psycho' was a phrase used to describe many people in WSF, among which included both Department Heads. It was to be expected. After all, psychos _ruled_ White Sakura Foundation. "Now, now, I wouldn't really do that, Jenni, and I won't be the one dropping dead," Hypertia replied airily. Her smile quickly faded into a scowl as she turned to Astraia. "I don't care. You _are_ going." Astraia glared at her. "Over. Your. Dead. Body," she said through gritted teeth. Hypertia blinked. "Hey! I thought that was my line!" "Everything in this world is your line." Jennifier bent down and picked up the folders. All too wide eyes stared at her. "You mean they aren't?" "H.Y.P.E.R.T.I.A ~" "Excuse me, but if you intend to argue, then I'm going back to my apartment." mused Astraia, "You're going," insisted Hypertia. "Not." Jennifier threw the ultimatum. "As your superiors, we're _not_ asking you to go. We're _commanding_ you to go." "You don't have a choice," Hypertia added enthusiastically. "Can I plead medical?" "What medical? Astraia, dear, you're disgustingly healthy!" "Healthier than either of us, that's for sure." "How about trauma?" There was a long moment of silence. Astraia looked extremely glum. The Department Heads simply stared. Then, Hypertia broke into hysterical laughter. Jennifier winced. One of the things she had learnt over the years was never to send Hypertia into a laughing fit. It wasn't that it was uncontrollable; it was, actually, but that wasn't the worst of it. The thing was that _she_ had a nasty tendency to laugh at the wrong moments with a little too much humour. In short, she laughed too much to be considered normal. Of course, no one from WSF was normal in the first place. "Not _again_," groaned Jennifier, pressing a hand to her forehead. She could feel a headache coming on any moment, beating away like a steady beating drum. "Trauma...hahahahaha..." "Trauma," Hypertia repeated, gasping for air. "Trauma," she choked, doubling over. "Never mind," snapped Astraia, wondering just what she owed them in her previous lifetimes to deserve this. Hypertia hiccuped. "So you're going?" Astraia's hand was already on the doorknob. She threw back a glance. "Like I have any choice in this matter, right?" And left the room without another word. Hypertia grinned victoriously and raised her hand, forming a victory sign at Jennifier. "Gavin ~! You pervert! I, the most beautiful-angelic-wonderful- gracious-generous-righteous-and-infinitely-merciful-Evangelina, shall punish the most stubborn, obstinate, perverted you! I shall use my wisdom and strength to cleanse you of your sins!" "No, _Eva_, lay one finger on me and I won't regret what _I'll_ do to you." "How dare you threaten _me_!!! The ever likeable _me_! And don't call me Eva!" "The world doesn't revolve around you." "Take that! And that!" Distinctive sounds of a wooden mallet crashing against the marble floor of the lounge filled the hallway. "Bad aiming, Eva. You _do_ realise that it's coming out of _your_ paycheque, don't you?" "Everything is worth sacrificing as long as I cleanse you of your sins! I, the chosen messenger, the modern messiah, will deliver you from your evil!" More crashes filled the silence. It was another day in WSF. Citizens went about with their usual activities, creating the usual mess and getting the unchanging treatment from everyone else. Which, of course, meant that the crashes, ruined marble floor and splintered furniture were part of the daily entertainment. Gavin yawned hugely, ducking another off-the-mark aiming of his partner's mallet. He side-stepped her easily, and watched disinterestedly as her mallet dragged her unwilling feet to the other end of the lounge. Briefly, he wondered if he should cushion her fall. Then decided that it wasn't worth the effort. In fact, it would be a blessing if she were to knock herself out. It would only be the...he mentally calculated...29th time since the week began. Mitsuru peered into the lounge, just in time to witness Evangelina tripping over her own feet and falling flat on her face. The brunette convulsed on the floor a couple of seconds, then became still, her death-grip on the mallet slackening until it slipped from her fingers, crashing against the floor and cracking another 7-by-7 set of marble tiles. "Is she done yet?" asked Mitsuru, gazing pointedly at the unconscious girl. Stepping back, Gavin observed Evangelina's tousled hair critically. "Should be. I mean, she seems to be totally _out_." "Wouldn't be the first time," muttered the raven-haired girl as she crossed the room, carefully avoiding Evangelina's prone form, the mallet and the manholes grooved on the floor, and stood next to Gavin. "I'm impressed. She's destroyed more than three-quarters of the lounge." Gavin looked at her dryly. "Don't be. Two years ago, she would have destroyed the entire room, maybe even the entire building." Mitsuru shook her head in marvel. "She doesn't learn, does she?" "She's Evangelina. That should give you an idea." "Pretty vague, don't you think?" "But true." "You mean, how very, absolutely, unfortunately true." "Right." They stood side by side each other, indulging in a truce that came as often as a blue moon. Or perhaps even less. Mitsuru had spent the past few years alternately trying to kill Gavin and accusing him of things he was *almost* innocent of. When she wasn't trying any of that, it was usually thanks to the fact that she was off in some reality, being the Social Agent she was. Trying to heal emotional trauma and talking sense to psychos who had both powers and abilities to destroy the world and WSF along with it. She usually enjoyed handling such characters; the challenge itself was enough to spur her on, which was perhaps why she was one of the best agents of WSF, ever since Astraia and Ryuu no Fujin split up some years ago. "Erm...excuse me?" inquired a soft, but distinctly male voice. They looked up and saw the Man hovering at the doorway. He was the Department Heads' secretary and assistant, and a rather mysterious character. For one thing, no one, well, almost no one, knew his real name. If he had one, he most certainly had never revealed it, and neither did the Department Heads offer to divulge this little mystery. It didn't matter really; more than 99% of WSF called him Sir, and only the Department Heads, Astraia and Ryuu no Fujin called him the Man, or simply Andy. Of course, "Andy" wasn't his real name; sort of a pseudonym he had used not too long ago. Looking somewhat ill at ease, his dark, unfathomable eyes rested on the body on the floor, and slowly, travelled across the room, surveying the damage inflicted. His expression never changed, though Gavin could have sworn that the corners of his lips twitched. "Evangelina did it again, didn't she?" "What's new?" muttered Astraia sourly, stepping out of his shadow and balancing five thick folders in one hand. At least, attempted to. She tripped over the well-positioned _and_ well-used, mallet, sending the folders and documents fluttering into thin air, descending as softly as the white sakura petals within the foundation. Astraia would have fallen flat on her face, sprawled on the floor in a way that was unbecoming of a senior agent, especially one of her rank. Other than the Department Heads, who almost dominated the entire foundation, there was no one higher than Astraia, or an equal, save for Ryuu no Fujin. Which was perhaps one of the reasons why the Man reached out reflexively before she could fall into the marble's cold loving -- if somewhat painful -- embrace. "Thanks," said the silver-haired girl, gripping onto the Man's arm tightly as she steadied herself. She shot Evangelina a withering look, then bent down to reclaim her papers. White sheets filled with illegible black scrawlings [credited to Hypertia Tsuyu] covered Evangelina like a blanket of snow. Gavin found himself wondering whether it was some kind of omen. He wasn't the superstitious sort, but whenever Astraia had that glum expression, it usually meant that nothing good could possibly come out of the mission. Working together with her several years ago had been an "enlightening experience", and they had worked together a couple of other times even after his partnership with Evangelina. As much as he tried to ignore Astraia's existence, it was inevitable that he would notice something as obvious as that, even if it took him two years and eight months of self-reflection to figure out as much. It had never occurred to him that perhaps, it was his negative thinking that affected the efficiency he would have otherwise produced. "Has Ryuu-chan briefed all of you yet?" Everyone shook their heads. "Andy?" Astraia eyed the Man questioningly. He gave her a helpless shrug. "Hypertia-san informed me only an hour ago." "Mitsuru?" Mitsuru was playing with an ofuda, namely, a piece of yellow rice paper with religious symbols written on it to ward off evil spirits as well as to paralyse dangerous...things. "What do _you_ think?" asked Mitsuru evenly. Astraia shook her head. "I don't believe this. Hypertia said that she had informed all of you." Gavin coughed. "She said that you'll be briefing us." "Ah. I _see_. And none of you bothered to ask why." The Man looked confused. "Were we supposed to?" "You _could_ have. It would have saved me a lot of trouble. And will someone wake _her_ up?!" Everyone stared impassively at Evangelina's prone form, then at Astraia, and shuddered. The look on her face had said, "I'm going to throttle someone _very_ soon..." They didn't know which was worse; waking Evangelina up or facing Astraia's wrath. "Do we have to?" White Sakura Foundation was a basis reality. It was a reality where you could open doors to infinite realities, provided that you knew the codes and where the master controller was. It wasn't all that hard in the first place; the master controller was right beside each door, installed and embedded into the marble wall. Directories on the codes to realities were easily purchased, as long as you knew where the accessories shop was in WSF. But first, before you entered a reality, there was a precaution: you had to _know_ which Level of doors to use. Each Level had five floors of doors to call its own, five long hallways that seemed to stretch on for eternity. They seemed to, primarily for the reason that no agent could find the end of the hallway despite countless attempts, and the tower was only so big. It was also noted that the higher the Level, the more WSF agents learnt to dread. It was a common fact that as the Level ascended, the mission could suddenly sprout metaphoric claws. Most agents learnt to be contented with the 1st Level; it was by far the safest and least harmful to _their_ health. "Wait, so you're saying that we're not on a mission..." "No, I mean that we're just going to find the potential cadets..." "So we're _not_ on a mission..." "But wouldn't stepping into a reality count as one?" "Theoretically, yes, but no." "Andy, shut up. And Mitsuru, don't bug me." "...As---" "You too, Gavin, or I'll personally see to it that you die in the most unimaginable way. And I won't guarantee the possible." A sigh. "Hai, sen---Astraia." They were on the 2nd Level, 10th floor and three out of the four agents were feeling unsettled. It was an unexplained simple reflex action to unseen and unknown dangers that lurked in the shadows of the hallway, but probably just as justified. Danger, in WSF, didn't come in as just psychos with bad sense of humour; it came in thousands of other ways, like unwanted visitors entering the doors in pursuit of certain agents. Which of course, usually resulted in using the agent in question as bait, capturing the "visitor", knocking him out before deporting him back into his own reality. And often, it wasn't in _that_ order. Gavin glanced down the corridor he left behind longingly, as if each step he took led him further away from his sanctuary. Considering where he was currently, it was a thought that could possibly have a little more than just a touch of truth to it. Sighing again, he turned his head and stared straight ahead, noting that Evangelina was already at the three doors assigned to them, studiously bent over her copy of the directory codes, keying the numbers in the master controller as how a professional would. Even though Gavin had never seen one at work, unless he counted the senior agents. But Astraia wouldn't fit into the category since she relied on her juniors to do the job. According to her, it was the simplest job a senior agent could give to a newbie and expect it done without any mishaps. It was quite true; all that it required was a good head for numbers and knowing exactly which key to press. Even Gavin felt that it was a job that even Evangelina could not botch. What he didn't know was that, while Evangelina was studiously bent over the codes, she never once looked up to keep track of the keys she had depressed, and there were a number of times when she unintentionally missed her target. Only after they were sent tumbling into their respective realities did they realise what the youngest agent did. But by then, it was too late. Astraia knew that something was wrong the moment she laid eyes on Mitsuru. She knew that something had gone drastically wrong the moment she realised that she wasn't in China. Far from it, in fact. The first thing she did was to pull out a basic white mobile phone, property of WSF, and dialled a very familiar number almost instinctively. "Good afternoon. You have just dialled into White Sakura Foundation hotline. How may I help you?" "Ryuu-chan, don't bother. It's just me." "Astraia?! Have you completed your mission already?" There was a tone of delight mixed with disbelief in Ryuu no Fujin's voice. Astraia frowned inconspicuously, then prodded the unconscious Mitsuru with a foot. Mitsuru remained still, seemingly intent on clinging to her dream world with a desperation that vaguely resembled how one would cling on to a life buoy, especially if that someone didn't know how to swim. "No, and I'm not in China either. Do me a favour and check the records again...just what code did Evangelina key in and where the hell am I?!" "Fine, fine, there's no need to throw a temper," said Ryuu no Fujin hurriedly. Astraia barely repressed the urge to snap a retort, but succeeded, if somewhat painfully. She could taste the metallic tinge of blood on her tongue as her lower lip bled. The funny thing was that it didn't hurt, at least, not as much as she had expected. Sounds of rapid typing filled the ear piece for a while, then stopped. "Well?" demanded Astraia impatiently. "...You have to promise me that you won't do anything drastic first." Astraia rolled her eyes. "Ryuu-chan, even if I were to do anything drastic, you won't be here to see it, much less bear the brunt of it." "True, but I won't get to see you kill Evangelina then." There was a significant pause. "Evangelina's not here with me." Another long moment of a very significant pause. "Oh, drat it," mumbled Ryuu no Fujin almost inaudibly, "anyway, Eva keyed in the wrong codes and you're stuck somewhere in New York." Astraia raised an eyebrow. "So what else is new?" "Gavin and the Man are now in Japan, Mitsuru _should_ be with you, and Eva is in...is there a tribe in China that devours human flesh, anyway?" asked Ryuu no Fujin casually. Astraia frowned. "No. You'd have to send her to one of Japan's off-shore islands. Preferably the one where Kaguya-hime resides. I heard that there are wild animals there that enjoy flesh like hers." Ryuu no Fujin was silent for a thoughtful moment. "I thought they only devour flesh of bishounen." Astraia shrugged and prodded Mitsuru again in boredom. Mitsuru stirred slightly, then opened an eye before closing it again. The silver-haired girl, for some unknown reason, repeated the experiment. The same reaction occurred; the emerald-green eye remained unfocused, unseeing, before closing. "I really wouldn't know," said Astraia, smiling a smile that agents of WSF usually ran away from. "You know, I think we've just missed a stop," said the Man conversationally, picking himself up. He felt that fortune had been smiling brightly at him in particular that day; he was in a far better position than Gavin, who seemed to have some sort of karma with a lamp- post. He was dangling off the peak of the lamp-post, hanging upside-down like a possum and swinging to-and-fro like a pendulum. And apparently, knocked out for good. The Man was silent for a long moment as his eyes followed the silver-haired youth backwards, forwards, until his eyes became as spiralled as Gavin's. Sighing, the Man closed his eyes for a brief moment, then stared helplessly all around him. Several people were giving them strange looks, trying to point at them without being overtly conspicuous, in which they were failing miserably. Even the Department Heads had better acting skills than that. When they wanted to. The Man thought of his nice, comfortable and less heart- palpitating position in the foundation and sighed mournfully. Damn, an hour had yet to pass and he was already mourning for home sweet home. "Evangelina's going to DIE if it's the last thing I do!" spat Mitsuru. "You'll have to join the queue. I get top priority though," replied Astraia, wrinkling her nose. She stared at her mobile phone blankly, and thought for a long, long moment. Then she turned to the scowling raven-haired girl, who at the same time, seemed to be admiring her own reflection in the glass. Truth to be told, Mitsuru was actually rather attractive. Crystal- like eyes of the purest emerald green shade and hair as black as ebony had that effect on anyone. And not to mention her fair skin that appeared to glow in extreme darkness. It had never been put to the test, but where she walked, she glowed. It was also to be duly noted that Mitsuru had the benefit of being the descendent of a rather powerful family, who seemed to have a knack of having perfect descendants. She might have been a black sheep; she might not. Not even the seemingly permanent scowl could mar the fragile, doll-like features of hers. Of course, no one ever told her that, not if they wanted to see the sun rise from the east and set in the west again. As far as Mitsuru was concerned, how she looked was no one's business except her own. And God bless anyone who thought otherwise. And she was most certainly not admiring her reflection. "I think we've just forgotten something," she announced quite abruptly, before Astraia could open her mouth. "We've forgotten to pack." Astraia blinked, and waited. Mitsuru stared at her expectantly, as if expecting the senior agent to suddenly conjure their suitcases with a snap of her fingers. Astraia couldn't; even if someone were to aim a gun-point at her, it would be a complete waste of time. Besides, unless that someone happened to be a complete idiot, he would know better than to try that on the silver-haired girl, especially after witnessing the look on her face. It was one of those looks that vaguely resembled the Department Heads' when they were in one of their strange moods. Most people in WSF learnt the hard way to run as far as their legs could possibly carry them at the first sign. It was probably for the best; no one knew what they would do, since none of them usually stayed around to see what happened next. Common sense told them it wouldn't be too pleasant for either party. Especially not for _them_. "So?" "Just how long will we be _here_?" demanded Mitsuru, glaring at her. Astraia shrugged nonchalantly, and continued to stare blankly at the mobile phone. She began wondering what she had wanted to do in the first place. For all that she was worth, she just could not remember...all she could recall was that it had something to do with telephone numbers and runaway brain cells. "Long enough," mumbled Astraia, only half aware of her surroundings. She distinctly remembered that she wanted to ask Mitsuru something, but the thought flitted off at a speed that rivalled light. Somehow, it didn't comfort her. Mitsuru's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Your meaning?" Astraia sighed exasperatedly. "Oh for pete's sake, Mitsuru, shut up for a moment or two, will you? I'm trying to think here!" Mitsuru pouted. "It's not like you told me to be quiet in the first place!" she said indignantly. "Well, now I'm telling you. Shut. Up." "Fine! Have it your way!" huffed Mitsuru, folding her arms across her chest resolutely and turning away. Astraia barely noticed, entranced by the sakura patterns on the mobile phone. She wondered why she had never noticed them until that particular moment. There was something about the way light shone on it that drew attention to it as a sugar lump would draw ants, as Ryuu would draw unwanted female attention, as would girls draw Gavin's attention... Gavin. GAVIN. G.A.V.I.N. The word resounded in her head like a struck bell, echo-like and infinitely annoying. Astraia could have sworn that her blood pressure rose at the thought of the taller, older, nevertheless, junior of hers. Aside from that, the very name reminded her just what she was supposed to do. Her juniors. Her pathetic and lost juniors. She had to call them. Find them. Kill them. Which ever came first. It didn't matter, not to her. Because she wasn't going to be the one who would be six feet under and still moaning like a restless spirit. She smiled, as brittle as hard candy, and looked up. Oh, what a wonderful thought. Next to her, Mitsuru shuddered as a cold feeling crept up her spine. "I think it's best you give Astraia a ring first. You know her as well as I do; she might not take it very well if she has to make the first move," advised Ryuu no Fujin. The Man could hear blending sounds in the background and guessed the his fellow administrator was in the kitchen again, either mixing batter for a new batch of cheesecakes, or trying out her new receipes. He crossed his fingers, all of them, and hoped it was the former. "I realise that, but..." He trailed off as Gavin stirred, shifting to a more comfortable position on the mattress. Earlier, the Man had found a hotel and after considerable effort, managed to get Gavin down from the lamp-post and drag him into a hotel. Maybe it was luck, or maybe it was some unnatural force of nature, but they managed to book a suite, even if they had to share. It wasn't first-class service, he had to admit, but it would have to do until they returned to WSF. Or meet up with the others. It would depend heavily on Astraia's decisions and how badly the Department Heads needed him. "No buts, Andy-kun. I don't mind Astraia trying to kill Eva, but I don't want to see you end up in the same fate. I don't intend to be Jennifier and Hypertia's official tea-server forever, you know." There was a touch of reproach in her voice, as though she was blaming _him_ for everything that went wrong. Or maybe she thought that she was using an encouraging tone. She wasn't succeeding, but the thought of being back in the safe sanctuary of WSF made the Man's heart somersault a little. For one thing, WSF didn't have people who viewed two guys sharing the same suite as... The Man could have convulsed on the spot in hapless rage. It took all of his willpower to remind himself that most people didn't know better and that he, as a former social agent, would be more understanding and not destroy everything in the vicinity. Humans included. He had lived with psychos with worse sense of humor and temper and still he survived. He would survive this humiliation and return to WSF in one piece, then demand a re-negotiation in his contract _and_ never step into this reality again. Though he really couldn't pin all the blame on those people. After all, they did look like...especially the way he gathered Gavin into his arms and carried him into the hotel. Of course, he wouldn't guarantee the fate of the next human who gave them strange looks. The Department Heads wouldn't have to know about it; he could keep it off the record if he wanted to. After all, sakura trees were quite obliging most of the time... "Andy-kun? Are you still on the line?" asked Ryuu no Fujin. The blending sounds in the background halted, breaking the rhythmic trance the Man had placed himself in. He shook his head and snapped back to attention. "Ah...gomen ne, I was wondering whether Astraia will scream if I were to call her now." He sounded almost apologetic. "It's better than meeting her face to face; it's something you'd rather not experience." He sighed. "That's not much of a choice." "I thought White Sakura Foundation would have taught you that," said Ryuu no Fujin, faintly puzzled. "I know. That's what I'm afraid of." "Well don't. You should be more afraid of Astraia's temper. Choices can wait; Astraia can't," Ryuu no Fujin pointed out reasonably. "Oh dear, Ryuu-kun's looking for me again. I'll talk to you later. Ja!" "Ja," mumbled the Man dazedly. He cut the line and slipped the mobile phone into his pocket. It was that slim. He leaned back against the couch and stared contemplatively at the white-washed walls, then at Gavin's sleeping form. The silver-haired youth looked absolutely at peace, as though the mundane worries of life barely touched him. Silver hair, finer and softer than silk threads, veiled half of his face, and from the Man's current angle, Gavin did look a lot like a girl. A very pretty girl save for the flat chest and his clothes, emphasising that no, he was not a girl but a very beautiful bishounen. The Man studied Gavin's profile for a while longer and reached to a decision. He pulled out the phone again and dialled Astraia's number. Before the first tone, the Man thought he heard Gavin mutter something. He looked up, and froze when the youth repeated: "Evangeline-chan..." The phone slipped from his fingers. The Man stared at the ground for a long moment, and in a daze, moved a foot forward and stood up. He rested his entire weight on it. CRUNCH. For the first time in her life, Evangelina found herself at a loss of words. Well, not entirely, but for some strange, unknown reason, everyone around her were speaking gibberish that faintly reminded her the language of the apes. The difference was that she _understood_ what the apes were saying, but not these people. In fact, they might as well be speaking Greek to her, if she didn't understand the language in the first place. Evangelina was fluent in many languages, mostly European, Japanese and a few other obscure ones. She could have been a walking dictionary of languages, considering how wide her knowledge was in that area. However, her mentor, whoever the poor unfortunate soul was, had left a huge gap in her studies in a number of the eastern languages, e.g. Chinese. It probably wasn't her mentor's fault; there wasn't only one form of the language. While the hieroglyphs were the same, and resembled kanji at times, there were different ways of speaking it. There was Mandarin, the most commonly used dialect, Teochew and Cantonese and a dozen others that were quite widely used within the country. And Evangelina knew nuts about them. Besides, she had more or less driven her mentor to the path of insanity after their first week together, so continuation of further studies had been rather impossible. Evangelina sighed, feeling a little sorry at the loss, then straightened and scrunitised at the blabbering gibbon with a frown of concentration while her mind wandered elsewhere. She wasn't really bothered by the fact that she was in the middle of nowhere. She was _not_ lost. She was perfectly at home, as soon as she could understand what was being said to her. It wouldn't be long, she promised herself. She would have killed those people talking to her, if she ever found out that they were actually her a calling her a ghoul. The world was a funny place. It had a knack of throwing a number of people into prickly situations that only idiots would call an adventure, and that was before the idiots experienced one of those things themselves. Often, after the first adventure, the idiots would gain enlightenment and become geniuses, experts at predicting what comes after an adventure. Another situation which involves stunts that may very well kill someone. Them, in particular. Of course, not everyone had the same opinion. In every society, every world, every race, there would be a group out there who regarded life as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and personally made sure that it was for them, resulting in heart-stopping stunts and looking for trouble even in the most boring, predictable situations. They were the people who should be avoided at all costs, lest an innocent bystander unwittingly became involved in their escapades. These people were occasionally known as White Sakura Foundation agents. Social or Environmental, your choice. It made little difference to the world, since both departments were comprised of psychos. There was a saying among the agents of WSF, "All WSF agents are psychos, but not all psychos are WSF agents." It was fairly true; White Sakura Foundation went into deep detail about the history of their agents before signing them on. So deep that the candidate usually had no choice but to accept the job, though more often than not, they were more puzzled and fascinated than anything else. Which of course, made WSF a specialised and elite clique. Full of false modesty and bad sense of humour among many things, including being magnets for trouble. They didn't always look for trouble; it was reasoned that trouble had a way of finding them, no matter where they were. They had the charisma that lavishly drew the attention of trouble in their way. Gavin glared at the mobile phone in his hands, then at the Man, who stared at him with a frightening intensity. For any other person, the room would have shrunk and the temperature would have gone up a couple of degrees after five minutes with that sort of look trained on them. But Gavin had the advantage of being trained by one of the best, and a look of that standard was not enough to make him surrender without a good fight. Besides, if he didn't, his mentor would have been utterly horrified and insulted. Never mind horrified, but an insulted Astraia was one of the situations he was sure he would _not_ like to be involved in. "_I_ have to call her?" pronounced the youth deliberately, brushing back a strategic lock of silver hair, which was probably aimed at dazzling his audience with his angelic beauty and grace. "Hai. And if I were you, I would do it right now," advised the Man, his voice as even as glass. Gavin stared at the phone again, a thoughtful expression creeping over his face. Then he blinked--long eyelashes brought out the opaque blueness of his eyes--and propped an elbow on his lap, resting his chin on his knuckles lightly. The Man stared without flinching, though at the back of his mind, he wondered how the youth managed to look so much like a girl. "Why me? You're here, and it's not like you don't have her number," Gavin pointed out reasonably, after a long moment of thought. It was part of the survival instincts Astraia instilled him after their first six months together, basically meaning, "If you wish to live to brush your hair another day, then think before you speak. Words are the most lethal suicide weapons ever given to humanity." The Man spread his hands and smiled with all innocence. "Can't. My phone's ruined." He gestured at the dismembered parts of a what-used-to- be-a-phone on the coffee table a tad too readily, raising a number of suspicions in Gavin. Like everyone else in WSF, Gavin knew that the Man would rather fall flat on his face than to incur more debts. Unlike Evangelina, who incurred debts as though there was no tomorrow. Futhermore, the phone looked as though some elephant had trampled on it. And a fairly vicious elephant too, from the number of bits that were left behind. They could have been mistaken for bread crumbs from afar. "What happened to it?" The Man fidgeted. "I don't want to talk about it." Gavin raised an eloquent eyebrow. "The Department Heads aren't going to be too happy." "If we find the candidates, they'll feel better," reasoned the Man. "Which means you'd better call Astraia up fast." "You realise that she's not going to be very nice about it, don't you?" The Man nodded. "You also realise that whoever calls her is going to die horribly, don't you?" Nod. "You also realise that I'm going to be the one, don't you?" The Man flicked away an invisible speck of dust and met Gavin's eyes. "I do. That's why you're calling her, _Gavin-kun_." "..." They could have tango-ed into the manager's office and no one would have stopped them. In fact, most people went out of their way to _avoid_ crossing their path. One look at their distinct white uniforms was enough to give a large number of people nightmares for the next couple of weeks. But it was to be expected. WSF agents had a knack of waltzing into people's lives and leaving behind bits and pieces of it. And often, the chaos they created were irreparable. Which would explain why nearly the entire strength of the White Clover Foundation New York Branch office opted to hide in the washroom upon the arrival of the WSF agents. It didn't matter if they were squashed like sardines in a can, though there were people who stage-whispered, "Ouch! Don't shove, you idiot!", "That's _my_ foot you're stepping on!" and "Shut up! You're going to get us caught!." Amidst all these, prayers were being said. Prayers of mercy, prayers of good will and promises of, "I will be nice to myself as long as I get out this relatively alive." Mitsuru swept the manager's office with a glance that would have melted gold. "Where -- in the world are we?" she inquired politely, sliding a sideways look in Astraia's direction, watching the latter's reaction with the wariness of one who was about to witness the explosion of the century, and it wasn't gauranteed to be a nuclear explosion. In fact, it was worse. White Sakura Foundation agents didn't just blow their temper. They blew up everything else around them in a manical fit of depression. There was a running quote among agents of the White Clover Foundation: WSF agents were never logical. They didn't believe in theory. To them, theory was something that happened to other people except them. Theory and WSF agents _never_ mixed. But practicality and WSF clicked very well. Theirs was a match made in heaven and nothing could ever tear them apart. If someone asked WSF agents for help, they'd most likely wonder whether it was worth it before taking any course of action. Usually within 10 seconds flat. It was one of those uncanny reflex actions. The one biology teachers called conditioned reflex action. Astraia smiled, one of those slight twists of the lips that would have boiled gold. "White Clover Foundation. One of its branch offices, that is." Mitsuru had the look of the world's biggest mystery had been solved right before her eyes. The only problem was that she had fallen asleep somewhere in the middle and now, she was completely lost. "I see... "But what are we doing here?" Astraia shrugged. "It's not like we packed or anything, so we have to borrow a couple of things from WCF. Like a notebook, an apartment and a wardrobe of clothes during our stay here." "Are you sure that's allowed?" Mitsuru gazed penetratingly at her senior. Astraia had a rigid smile on her lips. "Definitely. In fact, they're so ready to help us that they'll offer us a mansion if we just ask, isn't that so?" she asked, rapping sharply against the desk. A whimper escaped underneath it. Mitsuru started, then bent down and came face to face with a cowering manager, gazing at her with wide terrified eyes that said, "Take anything! Anything at all! Just don't hurt me! " Realising that her jaw was agape, Mitsuru shut it with a snap and turned to Astraia. Jerking at thumb at the poor man, she asked in complete amazement, "How did you know...?" Astraia snapped her fingers. "Intuition, okay? Besides, he was breathing on my boots." Mitsuru was lost between bewilderment and admiration. "You mean you can tell through your boots? How? Is there some sort of tremor? Waves? Or what?" There was a moment of coughing, interrupted by a mild whimper under the desk. "Actually," began Astraia in a delicate, if somewhat embarrassed voice, "I think my boots were conducting heat. The temperature changes drastically in air-conditioned places." A whimper rose in agreement. Mitsuru's face fell. "That's _all_?" she said incredulously, in an accusing tone, as though Astraia had been lying to her all the while. Astraia shrugged. When you had a pair of boots that reflected your teeth with a spark at the corner, it usually meant that it had the heat conductivity of a metal. It didn't matter what material it was, just as long as it gleamed. Besides, she didn't lie. It was just that her junior hadn't been using logic. "So...what are we going to do now? Sit down here and wait for them to settle things?" asked Mitsuru with the innocence of one who had yet to deal with WCF's agents personally. If she had, she would have realised that it would have taken an eternity just to pry them out of the washrooms. She would have realised that making Evangelina see sense would have been a breeze compared to getting the WCF agents to _do_ anything in their presence. Astraia shook her head, throwing Mitsuru a look. "No. We're borrowing their systems for a while." "Wouldn't they mind?" Astraia considered it for a moment; it hadn't crossed her mind that they would ever protest since in all her experiences, they usually gave in, mainly to put some distance between them. Aside from that, trying to argue with a WSF agent was like talking to a wall. The difference was that a wall vibrated and never talked back -- except echoes, but that didn't count -- whereas WSF agents screamed, yelled and resorted to bodily harm. Not often, but enough to make it a fact that WSF agents weren't _nice_. Of course, one could reason that the Department Heads weren't nice in the first place, and that everyone from WSF were psychos. "I don't think so. They're quite amendable, as you can see." She gestured expansively at the near deserted office, making a note to herself that perhaps, it would be best if she made the amendments fast. It would probably be considered as terrorising the members of the Affiliation, and only heaven knew what sort of trouble they could get into because of this. She rapped against the desk again and bent down. The manager jumped slightly, like an overeager rabbit that hadn't seen the sun in days, and crashed his head against the underside of the desk. He stared at Astraia with a glazed smile, before rolling back his eyes and falling backwards, landing at Mitsuru's feet with deadly accuracy. Mitsuru shot him an unidentifiable look, which gradually switched to something that looked suitably disgusted. Astraia straightened, dusting her pants as though there was nothing in the world that was in the least bit out of place. Mitsuru glared at her. "Great. You had to knock him out. What are we supposed to do now?" "I don't suppose you know how the system works." "I _don't_," said Mitsuru flatly. "There was never an occasion for me to report to any of the branch offices in the first place." Astraia shrugged. "Neither have I. Usually, we just report changes to the WCF agents on duty." "And why didn't you?" demanded Mitsuru, prodding the still manager with a dainty foot. But it was hard to have a dainty foot when one wore a boot that looked like a...well, _boot_. The pointed tip of a high-heel would have achieved better results in conveying the message, "I am absolutely disgusted" with one gentle prod and an elegant catwalk away from the body. Not to mention that the heels of stilletoes were unnaturally good self-defence _and_ suicide weapons -- basically the differences one noticed between trodding on someone's foot and falling when the heel broke. Astraia levelled Mitsuru a dead-pan look. "The files _aren't_ with me." Mitsuru took in a deep breath and counted slowly to ten. Before she reached 'four', she was already planning the thousand and one ways to nick a pound of flesh off Evangelina. Hypertia smiled blissfully and leaned back against her chair, basking in the knowledge that it was not her turn to look at the reports. She had seen the pile of folders that came in that day, and inevitably, shuddered when she laid eyes on the colours of the files. In her personal opinion, the agents of WSF had a very bad sense of humour. Either that, or they had bad colour coordination. Probably colour blind or something equally as bad. Somewhere lost behind the stacks of files, Jennifier emitted a low moan. "You'd think that after Heero Yuy, they'd accomplish their missions without a hitch," she muttered hoarsely. Hypertia glanced at the clock, then at where Jennifier supposedly was -- the little hills and baby mounds of files surrounded her desk, making it impossible to see her face, save for a few glimpses here and there. "You've been at the damnned thing for almost four hours. You sure you want to go on?" Hypertia asked. She rested her elbows on the desk and gave the files a questioning look. "And I'm only one-tenth done ~!" Jennifier wailed. "I'll never finish this them at this rate~!" Hypertia proceeded to hum, which regrettably, was as usual, off- tune. Oh, she knew that anything that had to do with music was not her forte, and she couldn't sing even if her life depended on it. People said that she was off-key, she thought she was tone deaf. Of course, there were other comments, but they fell off her as a cat would shed its fur. Some called it clueless, others said that ignorance was bliss. Jennifier said that she was too laid back to bother, though Hypertia thought of it as thick-skinned. Predictably, Jennifier swivelled a dead look at her friend, a look that advised her friend to shut up. Hypertia smiled, waiting for... "Hypertia, you're going off-key again." "Hai." She continued to hum. "It's jumping on my nerves, you know." "Hai, I know." "Can't you just stop humming?" demanded Jennifier crossly. "Why should I?" "It's getting on my nerves," said Jennifier pointedly. "So it is," Hypertia conceded with a slight quirk of her lips. "It's irritating." Hypertia clasped her hands together, a starry look in her eyes as she gushed dramatically, or so she thought, "Oh, thank you so much! I'm so honoured! Really! It's such joy to so irritating! I'm touched, truly touched!" "Sometimes, talking to you can give me a headache." "I think you mean insufferable." Jennifier rolled her eyes. "God..." And very nearly fell off her seat when she saw Shinobu's face on her computer screen. It stared at her impassively, almost as though it was frozen, but the distinct ripples assured Jennifier that it was not a wallpaper. She glared at it for a long moment, then snarled: "Why the hell do I have a bloody screen saver of Shinobu's bloody face in my computer?" "Nani?!" yelped Hypertia, deserting her seat in favour of the miracle. "Pass me a copy of that screensaver! I want it!" She didn't have to add what sort of things she could do with it the moment she laid her hands on them. "You can have the damnned thing if you want. Just make sure it's out of _my_ system. If it's some bloody computer virus, I'm going to kill that pathetic guy," growled Jennifier in very low tones. "I resent that last comment, Jennifier. I'm not pathetic and I'm most definitely not a bloody computer virus," said Shinobu's face. "Oh, so you're a bloody screen saver then," said the girl snidely. "N-o. I'm Shinobu on a bloody video conference trying to get through to the two elegant, poised Department Heads of WSF, whose names happen to be Jennifier Ding and Hypertia Tsuyu." Sarcasm dripped from his voice like maple syrup. Hypertia narrowed her eyes and smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment, _Shi-chan_." "Suits me. And don't call me Shi-chan. I hate that name." Innocence radiated around Hypertia. "But Shi-chan, it fits you so nicely. It's like you're born to it, _Shi-chan_." Wheeling her chair to a forty-five degree angle away from the computer, Jennifier snickered, before she remembered whose computer he was invading. "Shinobu, what are you doing in my computer system _again_? I thought I told you not to mess with _my_ computer, or I'd really kill you?" "Yeah, why do you keep hacking into Jenni's systems?" Hypertia piped in, somehow finding her way through the maze of papers and planting herself right in front of the computer screen. Shinobu stifled an exasperated growl. "Who, may I ask, was the one who shrieked in clear, distinct tones, that if, _if_ I ever mess with her computer again, she'd skin me alive and flay me in boiling oil, bishounen or no?" Both girls eyed at each other and raised their hands simultaneously. "We both did," said Jennifier. "Yes, both of you did, but Hypertia's more persistent and more lethal than you are. Her voice especially." "I'll take that as a compliment of the highest order, _Shi-chan_." Jennifier narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean by Hypertia's more lethal than me?" "If you'd please, I'd rather spare my ears from her singing and screeching, though I usually can't tell the difference." "Oh, you poor, poor dear," said Hypertia mockingly. Jennifier considered his words for a moment, and decided to let the slight pass. After all, it was the truth; there were people out there who would rather eat Ryuu no Fujin's "exotic" dishes than to deal with Hypertia's voice. Oh, and her temper as well. People were queueing up to find ways of shutting her up, but until she suffered from a sore throat [which was unfortunately rare], it would seem as though nothing in the world could drown her voice. "I see your point, but this is the absolute last time. Hack into Astraia's or Ryuu-chan's, but lay off mine, is that clear?" "Don't even think about Astraia's. She'd blow up your system for that," Hypertia chipped in helpfully. "I didn't help in the founding of WSF in order to nurture psychopaths," said Shinobu flatly. "Oh dear, you don't know us very well, do you?" "If I had the choice, I'd rather not know you at all." "Oh, you hurt our tender, fragile feelings, Shi-chan." "Please, if you had hearts, they'd be made of diamonds." A speculative look glazed Hypertia's eyes. "Wouldn't that make us in possession of the largest diamonds in the world? Cool! We're rich!" Jennifier had a pained expression on her face. "Hypertia, I don't think he meant it literally." Hypertia glared at her, a trifle annoyed. "You had to burst my bubble, didn't you?" "Well, someone had to," said Shinobu optimistically. Hypertia stuck her tongue out at him before folding her arms and sitting resolutely on Jennifier's desk. "What's up, Shinobu? I don't think you hacked into my systems in the face of death just to ask us how _we_ are," said Jennifier bluntly. Hypertia rolled her eyes at her, which actually meant, "That's diplomatic, Jenni." Jennifier shrugged, which was equivalent to, "You win some, you lose some. You _can't_ have them all." "I _was_ waiting for you to figure that out," said Shinobu. Hypertia sidled him an evil look. "Niichan, what's that supposed to mean?" she asked, her voice dangerously innocent. Not so much of a threat, but her usage of 'niichan' was a dead giveaway, considering how much she detested her own brother. Or it might be the usual sibling rivalry. Who knew? Who could possibly fathom the thoughts, the agenda behind every sibling's every movement, every existence? To make their siblings' lives miserable? Who really knew? Other than a fellow sibling in the same boat, that is. Shinobu could be dumb; he could be as dumb as to unwittingly annoy the Department Heads of WSF. But he hadn't survived this long by ignoring the inflection of their voices, which seemed to be the windows to their moods. And he knew that he was treading on very dangerous ground. The mines were hidden and one wrong step could blow him away. "Nothing. Whatever made you think that I meant something?" he said smoothly, false laughter escaping from his throat. Hypertia lowered her eyelids, giving him an 'I'm-still-unconvinced' look. "It's about your agents." Both Department Heads sat up abruptly. Flippant as they were at times, when the Chairman of the White Tenshi Affiliation and their boss -- Shinobu, for those who missed the point -- reported about one of theirs, they had to pay attention, like it or not. "Who?" Jennifier wanted to know. "The whole lot whom you assigned to the Kaguya-hime reality." Hypertia wrinkled her nose. "Isn't it under Astraia and her team?" "That one. White Clover Foundation agents reported that they were being harrassed by, qouting them, 'a demented silver-haired schoolgirl and a raven-haired doll with the maniacal gleam in her eyes'. Sounds familiar?" The two girls exchanged looks. "Astraia and Mitsuru," answered Hypertia. "According to a witness, they barged into the New York Branch office..." "What are they doing in New York?" Hypertia mused aloud. "I thought I assigned them to China, Gavin and Andy to New York and Evangelina to Japan?" "That's the other thing I want to find out from you. According to a White Rose agent, your Evangelina's somewhere in China, and Gavin and Andy in Japan. But first, what are they doing with WCF's property?" Jennifier stared at the WSF plaque and back at the screen. "I can guess. Someone, most likely Eva-chan, keyed in the wrong codes. That's why they ended up in the wrong places." "That's stupid," scoffed Shinobu. Hypertia had a flat look on her face. "Trust me, Eva-chan can be that stupid. I don't even know how the others could let her key in the damnned codes in the first place! And she's not 'our' Evangelina, even if you paid us a million bucks. "You could, actually, we wouldn't mind, but that still won't guarantee that she'll become 'our' Evangelina," Hypertia added after a moment of silence. "You can wait until the world ends, Hypertia, and what codes? I thought you people were using the old-fashioned method of sentry guards? Aren't the doors linked to your computers?" inquired Shinobu. Jennifier's eyes narrowed significantly. "I'm glad you realised that, Shinobu. If you ever infect my system with a virus, I swear, I won't only skin you and flay you in boiling oil." "There's something known as a virus shield, you know," Shinobu retorted evenly. "Please continue." "Arlen donated a sum of money towards our cause and upgraded the foundation utilities," explained Hypertia. "One of yours, right?" Hypertia shrugged. "Depends on how you look at it. He left some years ago and set up the White Clover Foundation. Come on, he's a member of the White Tenshi Affiliation. Don't tell me you've forgotten him, or are you growing old?" Shinobu refused to be baited. "Him. I haven't seen him attend a bloody meeting since Astraia vetoed herself out of it." "Serves you right," murmured Hypertia. Shinobu shot her a scathing look. For a moment there, it seemed as though he was going to say something, then a sly smile spread across his face, lighting it up like the grin on a cat that had just eaten a supposedly-forbidden canary. "What about you, Hypertia? Unless memory fails me, you haven't attended any of the White Tenshi Conferences after the first year. How do you explain that, hmm?" "Your memory's failing you," Hypertia rebutted instantly, and without changing her smiling face, she reached for the keyboard and pressed down 'ctrl' 'alt' 'del' simultenously. Twice. The Microsoft sound (TM) came on, and the screen went zap. They stared at the empty screen for a long moment. "What do you think he's doing now?" asked Jennifier, an eyebrow arched in question. Hypertia shrugged, and proceeded to weave her way out of the maze. "Same thing he does every time... "Drown his sorrows with an entire bottle of Coke." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Rendezvous: Part 1 ~ End All characters of White Sakura Foundation, concepts and related stuff are created by Hypertia Tsuyu and Jennifier Ding. Yes, we exist, and we belong to ourselves, thank you very much. Special mention of Breet Miller and characters of Kaguya-hime are copyrighted to Reiko Shimizu-sensei. No profit has been made and there never will be. This piece of fiction is written purely for the fun of it. - End Part - Copyright (c) Melissa Koh 1999. All Rights Reserved.