After careful thought, and reconsideration of something that *almost* went
into this chapter the first time, I've made significant revisions to
chapter two. It's not a major rewrite, but the last scene of the chapter
has been altered. In the original draft, Washuu's characterization in the
last scene was off, as at the time, I was erring on the side of drama. It
was not until later that I remembered it's possible to keep the drama going
without having the scientist overreacting to the findings. (Ian Malcom from
Jurassic Park, anyone?)

So, here's the revised version of chapter two. Chapter three should
be...hmm...eh, sometime soon.

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

     chapter two

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Kiyone staggered down the roof access stairs, her mind reeling. The file
she'd just hacked out of the Galaxy Police database had yet to yield any
complete answers to her original questions. In fact, it had opened up a
whole new can of worms, and she'd just barely scratched the surface of what
lay within the file.

She stared down at the data disc she held in almost nerveless fingers. She
had further violated security orders by copying the file, but she had seen
no alternative. It would take a long time to examine the entire
document...far too long. The information in the cover summary alone had
blown her mind. She wasn't entirely certain if she wanted to know what else
lay buried in the classified service record of her partner.

She hid the disc in her robe and slipped into the apartment. In the main
area, Mihoshi was giggling at some anime program on television. Kiyone
studied the blonde. The partner she had often wished she could rid herself
of. The ditziest, klutziest, most inept excuse for a detective in all of
the Galaxy Police.

Or was she?

Kiyone was so lost in thought that she never noticed the slight twitch of
Mihoshi's nose. She was, however, shaken out of her reverie when the blonde
looked up and smiled at her. "Finished already, Kiyone?"

"Umm...yeah, I guess," Kiyone said. "Still more stuff I need to look at,
but I'll deal with it later."

"Okay! Ne, Kiyone?"

"What is it, Mihoshi?" Kiyone asked.

"Wanna go over to Tenchi's place for breakfast?" the blonde asked. "We're a
little low on groceries, and you know Sasami always makes plenty..."

Kiyone smiled. "Sure, why not. I'll get dressed."

"Wai!" Mihoshi cheered.

Kiyone shook her head as she shuffled to the closet. She couldn't reconcile
the bubbly blonde she knew and tolerated with the officer depicted in the
file. The sooner she got to the bottom of this, the better.

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Are you sure you don't want more rice, Mihoshi?" Sasami asked.

"No thanks, I'm fine with this," Mihoshi said, taking a large bite of a
piece of fish. Sasami shrugged, and went about dishing out more rice for
the others.

On any other day, Kiyone might not have paid much heed to what Mihoshi was
eating. However, she was now in full observation mode concerning her
partner, and thus she noticed that Mihoshi was eating practically nothing
but fish. She'd barely eaten any rice, and had only downed about half of
her miso. But the fish...she'd put a bigger dent in that than anyone else
present.

She also noticed that Mihoshi's nose was twitching every few seconds, and
every so often, she'd see a look of confusion or contemplation cross the
blonde's face. *This is getting really weird,* she mused.

She suddenly realized that Sasami and Tenchi were looking at her with
concern. "Kiyone?" Sasami prompted.

Kiyone started, and looked up. "Yes?"

"Did you want some more rice?" the young princess asked.

"Uh...no, no thanks. I'm not very hungry this morning," Kiyone said.

"Are you okay?" Sasami asked. "You looked a little spaced-out there."

"I'm fine, Sasami," Kiyone said, forcing a smile. "Just fine."

Sasami looked unconvinced, but shrugged, and went on about her business.
Sipping her tea to calm herself, Kiyone furrowed her brow. *Okay, that's
it. I've got to read the file, and soon.* Of course, she realized, she'd
have a problem doing that without attracting attention to herself...not to
mention the fact that she and Mihoshi had to go to work in an hour.
*Hmmm...*

Excusing herself from the table, Kiyone wandered over to the door which
appeared to lead to a storage space.

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Ah, good morning, Kiyone," the diminuitive scientist said as the detective
entered her lab.

"Good morning, Washuu," Kiyone said. She paused. "I need to ask a small
favor, if I may," she said.

Washuu raised an eyebrow. "A favor? Such as?"

Kiyone extracted a small data disc from her pocket. "I've got an important
file on this disc," she began, "and I need to go through it as soon as I
can. But I've got work in a little while, and I won't be able to get back
to the Yagami until tonight."

"And you don't want to wait that long," Washuu said, rubbing her chin.
"Must be some file."

"It is," Kiyone said. "So I was wondering...do you happen to have a device
I can pass off as a pocket television or something, that I could view this
on?"

Washuu snorted. "That's easy enough. I'm assuming that's a standard Galaxy
Police data disc?" At Kiyone's nod, Washuu summoned her floating keyboard.
After a moment, a small hole opened in midair, and a palm-sized black box
shot out of it. Kiyone caught the object and looked at it. It had a fairly
large screen for a device its size, a few operational controls, and a disc
slot. A cord trailing from the base of the box split into a set of small
earphones.

"You can set it for a holographic display when you're alone; the display
will switch off if anyone else comes within range of its proximity sensor,"
the redhead explained.

"Thanks, Washuu. I owe you one," Kiyone said.

Washuu grinned. "It was nothing, especially for the greatest scientist in
the universe!" She cackled.

"You're the greatest, Washuu-chan!" a puppet said as it sprang up over her
right shoulder.

"Household electronics are a cinch for you, Washuu-chan!" proclaimed a
second puppet, appearing over her left shoulder.

Kiyone sighed. *Does she have to do that EVERY time?* she wondered.
"Anyway, I have to be going now. Thanks a bunch, Washuu."

Washuu waved. "Enjoy!"

As soon as the detective exited the lab, Washuu grinned, eyes twinkling
mischeviously. "It must indeed be some file. I can't wait to see it for
myself." Cackling, she entered a few commands on her floating keyboard.

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Kiyone thanked the gods for the blessing of luck they had bestowed upon
her. She and Mihoshi had arrived at their current place of Earthly work,
and discovered a note taped inside the door. Their employer was ill, and
would not be opening shop today.

After convincing Mihoshi to pay a visit to the Masaki residence and hang
out with the others for the day (which had taken only a marginal amount of
convincing) and assuring her partner that she wanted to catch up on the
latest news from Headquarters, Kiyone returned to the apartment, and
slipped the disc into the reader Washuu had given her.

She pulled up the biographical data section of the file first. A
three-dimensional holographic representation of Mihoshi, dressed in the
standard Galaxy Police uniform and standing at attention, appeared in
midair. She noted a few subtle differences: in this image, in which Mihoshi
appeared a few years younger, there was a gleam in the blonde detective's
eyes which she had never seen before. This gleam spoke of a sharp mind,
intelligent and focused. There was also something...feral. Savage, even.

There were also a large number of decorations on the young woman's uniform.
Commendations, medals, valor awards.

Text flickered into existence next to the slowly rotating image.

KURAMITSU, MIHOSHI

VITAL DATA
DATE OF BIRTH:  JGC 10798.32
PLACE OF BIRTH:  JURAI IMPERIAL GENETIC RESEARCH FACILITY
RACE: UNCLASSIFIED HUMANOID/ANIMAL HYBRID
SEX: FEMALE

Kiyone stared at the information which had been listed as 'unknown' in the
public copy of the file for a moment before continuing.

CURRENT RANK: DETECTIVE 1ST CLASS
HIGHEST RANK ACHIEVED: SPECIAL OPS CAPTURE DIVISION COMMANDER (CODENAME:
OPERATIVE "K")

Kiyone blinked. Several times. "SPECIAL OPS!?" she shouted into the
emptiness of the apartment. "And a division commander too..." That hadn't
been in the cover summary. She frowned. *This can't be right. But if it
is...how did she get busted back down to D1C?*

After a moment, she continued reading. The bio was full of a long list of
commendations that Mihoshi had received. Skimming that information with
growing astonishment, she finally reached the end of the entry. Her eyes
widened.

OPERATIVE "K" CRITICALLY WOUNDED JGC 10817.93 DURING PURSUIT OF CLASS-A
CRIMINAL KOROZON (MISSION SUMMARY "KOROZON")
OPERATIVE "K" FOUND DEAD ON ARRIVAL
OPERATIVE "K" RESUSCITATED; GP MEDICAL DISCOVERED EXTENSIVE, PERMANENT
BRAIN DAMAGE (MEDICAL HISTORY DETAIL FILE)
UPON RECOVERY FROM INJURY, OFFICER DETERMINED TO BE CAPABLE OF LIGHT DUTY,
DEMOTED TO DETECTIVE FIRST CLASS, OPERATIVE STATUS REMOVED (RANK ADVANCE
SUMMARY)
DETECTIVE MIHOSHI ASSIGNED PARTNER: D1C KIYONE MAKIBI (ASSIGNMENT SUMMARY
"GUARDIAN")

Kiyone gasped. *Brain damage...and they kept her on the force?* That
explained a lot of things. It also made her wonder what Mihoshi must have
been like before...

The last entry in the bio caught her attention. "Guardian?" she mused.
After giving that some thought, she decided would rather not explore that
further at the moment. Especially since she had a pretty good idea what it
meant.

She switched the reader off, and pondered what she had learned thus far.
She thought back to the reason she had originally begun this search for
information about her partner's history. She decided it was a safe
assumption that whatever Medical wanted with Mihoshi at present, it had
something to do with the brain damage she had suffered. She recalled the
date on that entry, and frowned. *Five years. It's been five years since
that happened.*

She was still having difficulty accepting the information she had just
read. It was a bit difficult to believe that her partner had been, of all
things, a special operative, then suffered brain damage, and allowed to
return to duty as a detective. It didn't add up. She needed some kind of
proof that this was factual information.

And she knew just who could obtain that proof.

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Kiyone approached the Masaki house with a growing sense of anxiety and
trepidation. Ryo-oh-ki ran past her as she neared the house, and gave her a
brief "miya" by way of greeting, before dashing off toward the carrot
patch.

Mihoshi lay stretched out on the veranda, napping in the warm afternoon
sun. Kiyone looked at the blonde sadly. *If it's true...oh, Mihoshi...*
Steeling herself, she continued onward.

"Good afternoon, Kiyone!" Sasami greeted.

"Good afternoon, Sasami," Kiyone returned, smiling at the princess. "Is
Washuu still in her lab?"

"Where else would she be?" cracked Ryouko, who had just phased through the
wall and was making her way outside. Almost as an afterthought, she waved
to Kiyone.

"Yeah, she's down there," Sasami nodded.

"Thanks," Kiyone said, as she approached the door to the lab for the second
time that day.

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Washuu smirked as the door to her lab opened. "Back so soon, Kiyone? Miss
my company that much?" she quipped.

"Washuu," Kiyone began hesitantly.

The child-sized scientist's expression turned serious. "What's up?" she
asked.

"Washuu, have you ever..." Kiyone began. "I know you have genetic data on
all of us. Do you...have medical scans as well?"

Washuu raised an eyebrow. "Medical scans? Not really...why?"

Kiyone was quiet for a long moment. "I'd like to ask a favor," she said.

Washuu smirked. "You're not afraid you're pregnant or something, are you?"

"No, no!" Kiyone blushed. "It's nothing like that!" Gathering herself, she
explained, "I was wondering if maybe you could scan Mihoshi. There's
something I need to know. It's important."

Washuu's brow furrowed. "Sure," she shrugged. "Tell her to come--"

"I'd rather her not know about it, if you don't mind," Kiyone interrupted.

Washuu's eyebrow reached for the ceiling. "That's not something I'd expect
from you, Kiyone," she said.

"I know," Kiyone said, "but it's very important. She's sleeping on the
veranda right now...please help me."

Washuu hmmed. "Alright, let me dig up a portable medscanner." *I don't
blame her. This, I want to see for myself...*

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Several minutes later, Washuu and Kiyone stood in front of a console in the
lab. Washuu removed a crystalline cylinder from a device she held, and
inserted it into a slot on the console. "Let's see what we have here," she
said. Glancing at Kiyone, she added, "It'd save some time if you told me
exactly what you're trying to find."

Kiyone hesitated briefly. "An analysis of Mihoshi's brain."

"Didn't think she had one," the scientist quipped. Seeing an
uncharacteristic scowl cross Kiyone's face, she shrugged, and entered a
command into the console. The screen above them came to life, displaying a
close view of Mihoshi's head, which faded into a silhouette. A
three-dimensional representation of her skull appeared briefly, before
fading to reveal the core of her nervous system. Four different views of
the brain appeared on the screen, along with a series of chemical analysis
readings and tissue analysis data.

Washuu frowned at the display. "Well. This is odd."

"What is it?" Kiyone asked, fearing she already knew the answer.

Washuu shook her head in amazement. "She shouldn't even be ALIVE, Kiyone.
More than forty percent of her brain is scar tissue." She gestured at the
various scans. "The damage is widespread...there's scarring in almost every
region of the brain. No wonder she's...the way she is. She shouldn't even
be able to *walk* in this condition."

"So it's true..." Kiyone said. "It's all true..."

"Wait a minute..." Washuu said suddenly. She began tapping at the controls
furiously, causing the multiple views of Mihoshi's brain to zoom in, down
to almost the cellular level. Wildly flickering readouts accompanied the
new visuals. Washuu raised an eyebrow. "Well."

Kiyone stared uncomprehendingly at the readouts. "What? What's going on,
Washuu?"

Washuu turned to regard the detective with an unreadable expression. "The
scar tissue in the di--in Mihoshi's head...it's regenerating."

"Regenerating?" Kiyone echoed.

Washuu nodded, turning back to the readouts. "That's right. Impossible as
it may seem, this brain is repairing itself. And--" She paused to
manipulate the controls again, and blinked. "I don't believe it." She
stared at the display. "That should *not* be possible. Not at all."

"What shouldn't?"

"As you know," Washuu lectured, "the brain is the body's control center and
its data storage area. Memories, things learned, voluntary and involuntary
muscle control...it's all in the brain.

"When brain tissue is damaged, there may be loss of some of this data.
Whatever is lost can be re-learned, and stored elsewhere in the brain, in
many cases, but once brain tissue is damaged, whatever was there is lost.
It doesn't come back on its own."

She gestured up at the display screen. "But somehow, if what these readings
are telling me is true, the regenerated tissues in Mihoshi's brain are
being *fully* restored. They're not blank, like they should be. Whatever
was in there before..." she paused. "Is there again now."

Kiyone blinked. "Is that why they want her to come in...? I wonder..."

Washuu summoned her floating keyboard, and entered a few commands. Kiyone
stared as the cover page of Mihoshi's file appeared. "How did you--?"

Washuu gave her a *look*.

Kiyone sighed. "Right, stupid question."

Washuu patted her on the shoulder. "We'd better get started, Kiyone." With
a few taps of the floating keyboard, the two women delved into the file...

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-