[Fiction] The Edge [Complete]

[z-Gu Saori]

Saori had found lots of ways to take the edge off. Right now, her arms ached and shook as she climbed the last steps to her apartment. It was a good ache though, the kind of ache one got after countless pushups. Though Saori had been doing pullups, not pushups, her fingers digging into the tree branch until her fingernails crumbled.

She spun the key in the lock with one hand, balancing the bags with her other arm and a knee. The door was pushed open with her butt, and Saori stumbled into her apartment. She barely remembered to kick off her shoes at the door, but she forwent the sandals entirely. Her feet sank into the deep, expensive pile of her carpet.

The dawn sun was just peeking through her curtains; the young nova dropped her bags on the counter, hearing them clink as the glass bottles softly bounced against one another. Saori yawned as she padded over to the windows, pulling the shades tighter, then leaning a book against the curtains to keep them shut. The last thing she wanted to see was the living symbol of her foresworn country.

Back at the bags, Saori unpacked her groceries. The rum went in the back of the cabinet, the gin to the left, the whiskey and Jack in the freezer. The cigarettes were opened immediately, and Saori sighed with pleasure as the first of the chemical influences soothed her nerves. Setting the smoldering cigarette on the edge of the sink, she splashed some cheap whiskey into a glass. The foul liquid was horrible, and Saori winced and choked it down as quick as she could. But she only got what she could convince others to buy for her, so she was grateful. As she took another drag on the cigarette, she was simply happy she could buy her own nicotine.

Her dark eyes narrowed in concentration; when she felt the buzz sweep her system, she relaxed. There. That feels so much better. Grinning, she flopped onto her couch, holding the cigarette well away from the fabric. The alcohol made her feel warm, and it pushed that terrible pain away. She had just enough presense of mind to drop the cigarette in an ash tray before wrapping the blanket around herself.

She was pretty sure she slept, but she wasn't sure how long before the knocking at her door awoke her. "Uph?" she inquired, then realized that she needed to answer the door. With a groan, she stumbled to her feet and checked the peephole. Oh, no, she groaned to herself, pressing her forehead silently to the wood. Not now. But this was not her choice, and Saori forced a smile to her face before opening the door.

"Ryu," she said warmly, bowing, "welcome to my apartment. Please forgive the mess; I was napping and didn't expect anyone today."

[Long]

Long smiles and nods. Singles living alone aren't particularly known for neatness Saori, it's alright." He moves inside and waits for her to shut the door behind them. Once she does so he looks around. Then his peircing Blue eyes catch hers.

Not knowing how to begin, he decided the truth was best. "Chien was a good man. Whatever he may have done in the past, I know that much. Now, he's finally at peace. His pain has ended. When I found out about his passing The entire family offered prayers for his peace."

Words don't mean much in times like this, but they still needed saying, like so much else. He noticed the cigarrettes and various other things laying about, especially all the things that didn't fit the obedient image he had of Saori. Either things had gotten very bad, or things had never been as they seemed.

[z-Gu Saori]

Saori's eyes go distant as he spoke of Chien, as if she wasn't really listening very hard. When he finished, she smiled sadly and nodded. "Thank you for your kind words." There was little emotion in her tone, but her ragged inhale on the next breath told Long just how upset she was.

She caught his glance around the room, and Saori sighed. She wasn't sure what to expect; Long could be so strange about such things. He might scold her, or ignore her, or have her spied on by one of his elite friends. The last was least likely, but still possible. One just did not know.

"I'm glad to see you're back," Saori said. "I know that Timeslip has missed you, a great deal. I'm sure that the children wish to see you as well." She fell silent, then glanced at him. Her tone remained casual as she asked, "Would you like a drink?"

She needed that drink herself, but she didn't move toward the cabinets. She would drink only if Long drank. She wouldn't drink much; just enough to take the edge off.

[Long]

"A drink would be nice yes. As to Timeslip, yes she missed me, but I cannot help that anymore. Things have changed much in the months I've been away, and I am affraid they will never be the same." He could see the look of confusion.

"The night I returned, it was made apparent to me that I will have to continue on without her, and my daughter that she carries. Utopia will hound her to the grave, and those who help her. Just by her pressence and association our house is under constant scrutiny." The words are hard to say. He loved Timeslip and stood by her, but now she had pushed him away. He knew it was done more for his own good and the twins, but it didn't make the situation any easier.

"I come home to find a man I respected dead, and that my wife has decided to leave for both our sakes. I find that I will have a daughter I may never see, and a sister.." he trails off and takes in the room with a sweep of his hand. "A sister who has either changed greatly in my time away or who has never been what she seemed."

"What happened Saori?"

[z-Gu Saori]

"What do you think happened?" Saori growled, her voice low and tense. Within a second, she managed to get her voice and expression under control, and with a sigh, she said, "I'm sorry. That wasn't fair. When you hinted that you thought I may have been lying to you, about myself... I've never done anything wrong to you, save tell you the truth." Her dark eyes were flashing as she continued, "I haven't earned your doubt, but if it makes you feel better to think that I've always been a bad girl in sheep's clothing, then so be it.

"I hope you like rum and coke," she said, moving gracefully to the counter and mixing a drink. "I'm out of sake, and I find that rum and coke is as close as I can find. Perhaps I'll find a better mixture." For a moment, the sounds of her working were the only noises in the apartment; she broke the silence with a soft, "I'm sorry about Timeslip. I truly am, Long. You were gone for a while. Long enough for everything to fall apart."

Her voice was empty and flat as she brought him the glass, holding her own drink. "You could not have known, though," she said, laying a free hand on his shoulder as he cradled the drink she had given him. "I know you would not have been gone so long if you had known what would happen.

"I lost Amped. I lost Chien." Lost. As if she'd lift up a cushion on the couch and find them there, smiling and waving and ready to warm her dying heart again. As if she would ever have them back. Chien was dead, and They would see to it that Amped would never return. "Chien, you know. Amped... he doubts the cessation of his devotion to Dervish." Yes... that was so much easier to say, and after practicing in the mirror, it sounded spontaneous.

"How are the children?" she asked, clearly changing the subject.

[Long]

"It's been awhile since I had alcohol of any kind. Right now I'd drink jet fuel if it'd take some of the edge off of things."

He places a hand over hers gently, wary of his ever-present claws, even in this form. "I don't doubt you Saori. That has never crossed my mind. There are just parts of who you are that I really know nothing of. I did not mean to offend you." He smiles. "Besides if smoking and drinking were enough to make you a bad girl in my eyes I'd be a bigger hypocrite than I'd have ever thought I could be. Do you realize what I spend on alcohloic beverages?"

He sighed in resignation with regard to Timeslip. "I knew this was coming, yet I let my childish hope blind me to the truth. I wanted to believe I could fix the problem, but I can't."

"Misato and Benkei are fine, they ask about you. They miss having an aunt around that isn't their teacher or three decades older than them. You should stop by now and again."

[z-Gu Saori]

"I will think about it," Saori said, taking a sip of her drink. The alcohol was warm and wonderful; it still burned, but it was the heat that promised dullness, soon, so soon.

"There is little more to me than you have seen," Saori said. "I have ever wanted only happiness and long life. There is nothing more." She considered her drink, but didn't have any more. "So what now for you, brother?"

[Long]

"I move on, raising my children with Endeavor. There will be some paperwork to do, to formalize the end of Timeslip and I, and the we'll see from there. Ever since word of Endeavor and I got out the people have been of mixed feelings. SOme see it as dishonorable, hile others see it as a good union of two of Japan's major nova personalities."

He downed the rum and coke in one draught then looked to his sister. "You were right before you know. I am a killer, it's what I was trained to do, how I was trained to react to any percieved threat. I stylized it with being a warrior, but in the end my job was to kill those who opposed me."

He smiles at her and nods. "I nearly lost my temper that day with you, after you'd done exactly what I'd been trying to get you to do. You spoke your mind and I reacted poorly. I said some things I didn't think I could. I guess what I'm trying to ask is I hope you can forgive me. I have lost enough family already, if there is hope of at least bringing you, my sister back to the family then I will try. I'd like for you to return home to Japan."

[z-Gu Saori]

Home. Saori almost laughed. Her home had been Chien; where he had been, so had her home been. Her home had been Amped; where he had been, so had her home been. For the first time, a tendril of anger at her own weakness wound through her heart, and she hated that he had such power over her.

Hating how someone makes you feel isn't that far from hating them. Saori's heart seized with more pain, even as she practically admitted it would help things.

"Thank you for that apology, for those kind words," she said. "I do forgive you; you're my brother, how can I not?"

She was close to the edge. "I think you should leave, though, now," she said, her fingers tightening around the glass. "I'm sorry... I'm just so tired - I didn't sleep well last night - and I know you have things you need to do. We should meet for dinner sometime." Later. When my heart is a little more dead, and I don't hurt so much...

[Long]

Long rises assuming his new all-white tiger form and nods. "I'd like that." He nods and then turns to leave. "Very well Saori, I won't press this further. I will leave you to your own life then. You know how to reach me if you have need of me, or would like to see your Niece and nephew again. Take care of yourself little sister." With that the massive Tiger glowed blue and vanished leaving Saori alone with her grief and sending Long back home to handle his own affairs empty-handed.

[z-Gu Saori]

Saori's drink tumbled to the rug, spilling from limp fingers. "That was..." She doesn't finish her sentence, but the words hang in the air. Shen Kahn.

She scrambled for her phone, snatching it up and frantically dialing a number. When it was answered, she said, "His fur was white."

"Make an immediate report of the encounter, and do an Alpha 1 drop." The phone clicked off, and Saori grabbed some paper. In block text, she quickly outlined the conversation, writing it all down. She wadded up each piece, jamming them in the toe of a battered pair of sneakers that she saved for this reason.

Twenty minutes later, she dropped out of the sky in front of a Good Will Center. The garbage bag over her shoulder had a few old clothes and a battered set of shoes. "Hey, Joel," she greeted, walking up to the man with a red shirt.

"More clothes, Saori?" he asked as he nodded at her, a friendly smile on his face, but his eyes were hard.

"Yep, and a set of shoes, this time," she said, passing over the small bag. As he left with her cast-off garments, she pretended to browse for a moment and tried to stop the tremor that was shaking her. She finally gave up and flew toward home to the empty, bland apartment.

God, she needed a drink. Just a little one; just something to take the edge off.