Description: Having lost her resolve to stay in Thailand any longer, Hotaru begins looking for a way out of the country. But a chance encounter with Sakura rekindles her hope and shows her that not everything she has been told about Kasugano's condition was entirely true.
This town is located closer to one of the borders of Thailand. It is, like so many other locations in this war-torn country, an improvished locale. It's impossible to tell what people here even do for a living at a glance as there is no agriculture around it to speak of and given the dilapidated buildings that line the only muddy 'road' through the middle of it, it probably doesn't have much of a trade commerce going on.
But what the people here do for a living is of little concern to young Hotaru Futaba at this point. Ryo had followed her lead in coming here and let her do what she wanted - helping the resistance movement out however she seemed able to. Familiar with the girl as a fighter of some repute, they had tried to put her to use for a couple of light weight missions that would involve some combat. Whether directly her fault or not, neither of those missions went terribly well and one of them resulted in the capture of the two guerilla fighters she was supposed to be protecting, a failure that has weighed on her heavily ever since. Coupled with the harrowing fights against some of the forces on Shadaloo's side, where she had barely escaped or only one due to superior numbers in spite being vastly out-skilled, and the girl is ready to seek a way out of the country. She can't possibly be helping the cause at this rate, and she's probably doing more harm than good.
Ryo had indicated that if she was ready to go, they could go, but Hotaru could taste some of the disappointment in his voice. All the same, the girl who had put together the plan that got them here has begun to work on a plan to get them /out/. And that's why she's in this town. Close to the border, the only 'work' the people here have is being one of the main stopping points of a underground railroad of smuggling individuals or groups in and out of the country, playing a dangerous game with Shadaloo's border security on a nightly basis.
Talking with a couple of people in the middle of town, Hotaru begins trying to feel out just what would be involved in getting her and Ryo back out of the collosal mess she'd gotten them into.
Sometimes, the military is too... well, militant. It's not always useful to have an overt martial presence in an area you're about to subjugate, especially if there's uncertainty about the nature of people in the given area. Proper reconnaissance is vital.
Which would be why one of Shadaloo's top combatants is walking around this isolated border town undercover. Sure... Sakura looks a bit out of place, but less so considering her disguise -- her heavy gauntlets are wrapped in bandages, her selective body armor plating concealed primarily by a long-sleeved, button-down shirt and baggy pants. She still has her headband on, though, and it's extremely difficult to hide her ethnicity. All them Thailanders look alike -- which stands to reason that a young Japanese woman would be noticeable under scrutiny.
It's still possible for her to mingle with the crowd without causing them to flee from the sight of a Shadaloo agent, though... which is how she's able to get so close to Hotaru without raising an alarm.
Not that Hotaru was the objective, mind. Kasugano's just keeping her ears open for any signs of an organized rebellion, any sign that a military operation would be anything less than a total success. So far, all she hears is Hotaru's non-local dialect.
Sakura purchases a newspaper and an Asian pear from a local vendor, slipping a bit closer to the crowd to get a closer look of whatever Hotaru's up to. She wonders: Could Futaba be organizing something?
"...way out. But who?" Hotaru's words carry a little ways. Master of stealth or timely subtlety she is not. "... two people, yeah... just... out." her conversation continues. She had hoped it would be more. How she wished she was having this conversation in an attempt to complete the final stages of rescuing one or more of the mind-enslaved victims of Kurow and Vega's great scheme. She had come looking for Sakura, but over time learned that the Taiyo graduate wasn't merely missing but actually working on the other side, all thanks to Kurow Kirishima, a man Hotaru has clashed against multiple times.
The people she is talking to seem wary, their responses guarded and hushed, perhaps feigning ignorance of what the girl is asking about until they can figure out if she is legitimate or just another Shadaloo minion sent to trick them into revealing the 'unauthorized business' going on in this town. Resting her hands on her hips, Hotaru shakes her head, then continues trying to plead her case, her voice raised a little. "I just want to go home, there is nothing I can do here..."
Another man runs up and whispers into the ear of the two villagers Hotaru is speaking with and suddenly they begin shaking their heads at the girl, turning their backs in her direction. Mystified, there's no way she could know that Sakura's arrival, as undercover as she may attempt to be, has spooked the paranoid railroad contacts enough that Hotaru finds herself out of luck for now.
Shoulders slouching a little as she seems just a tad dejected, the girl turns on her feet to start walking out. She'll have to try another time, when they're not so jumpy, she decides. Or maybe find another- It's then that her eyes come to rest on a face she's been searching for since the day she stepped foot in Thailand, her eyes locking on to Sakura with immediate recognition. "S-Sakura..." Hotaru stammers, wondering if for a moment her mind has succumb to playing tricks on her after all this time in the miserably hot country.
It's definitely not playing tricks on her -- Sakura's literally staring right back at her, even as the few people providing cover for her have walked away in fear. Standing there, eating the pear, she seems like a shadow of her former self -- but she looks just like her, all the same. The eyes, those are what's different -- lacking the vibrancy, the passing amusement Sakura had seen in nearly everything.
The locals go about their own business, now making sure to give the two young Japanese women wide berth. The town's gripped with fear, knowing that they could be next on Shadaloo's list... and that the limited freedom they have now could be forfeited at any moment. They don't want to help any outsiders, they want to help =themselves=.
And, with those other annoyances out of the way, Kasugano can speak freely. "If you'd like to go home, Miss Futaba, I'm sure it can be easily arranged. It's really no trouble at all." Sakura may not have heard or understood everything -- but she'd clearly heard enough. Her voice is calm, level, and controlled... in other words, =completely= unlike the voice most would expect of the Ansatsuken student. "Would you like a personal escort?"
Heck of a reunion, really.
Thus marks the first time young Futaba has laid eyes on one of the Shadaloo 'converts' in this conflict. She had been told what they were like by Kurow of all people. The young man had gone into disturbing detail about the breaking process, the reconditioning, the 'gift' of a new perspective on life... He had told her how he had made Sakura the example for the rest, capitalizing on just the pieces of her personality that would be useful to him. It had been enough to make Hotaru sick to her stomach and lash out violently against the flute-bearer in a desperate attempt to take down the boy responsible for so much cruelity.
But hearing about how he had changed the girls is far different from witnessing it in person. And for a moment Hotaru hesitates. It looks like Sakura. Her face, her height, her build as best can be made out beneath the baggy clothing. How could a different personality exist there now? She can tell by her eyes that there is at least something different. She looks tired, less energetic.
And then there's the voice. It's Sakura's, on a purely literal level. But it's not Sakura's in all the other ways that can define someone's speech. Tone, delivery, enthusiasm or the lack thereof. It's just /off/. Taking the couple of steps necessary to close the distance between them, the pig-tailed girl finds her face to face with the very person she had been seeking all this time. "It really is you... I mean- You really are here. It's all true. You're helping Shadaloo now." It's with desperate hope that she looks into the eyes of the other girl, "But this isn't the Sakura I know. How can they make you do this? I don't understand it!"
Sakura and Akira both had to go through quite a bit of 'breaking' -- their personalities were so strong that the Psycho Drive couldn't even fully subdue them at first. It was quite an involved process -- which Kurow no doubt related in great detail.
Sakura has no idea =what= was related though. As far as she can gather, Hotaru is asking a legitimate question: =how= can they make her do this?
The answer is simple, and stated as such with no real conviction or emotion: "Lord Vega has merely shown me the wisdom of consolidating resources under one command. Life is hard for these people, as you can see. There is no need to let people make the same mistakes as have been made for millenia. We can end the pain, eliminate the confusion, give people a higher purpose." Cold, rational, polished... and spouting lines Sakura would have slapped herself for even =thinking= even one month ago. The conversion to a Shadaloo mindset has been fairly extensive, to say the least.
Her eyes look coldly back into Hotaru's. Not long ago, Sakura was very impressed with Hotaru's determination and drive, her will to overcome impossible odds. She had wanted to help, to encourage this girl to bring out her true potential. Now... there is no such kinship, no familiarity in her look. Just cold, vaguely condescending acknowledgement of the existence of a person named Hotaru Futaba.
.. Also, impatience. At least that much got carried over. "... You wish to leave," she asks in confirmation.
It's unnerving hearing the Shadaloo talking points echoed back from the face of a girl Hotaru knows would never say such things. Especially from someone that she has idolized for the last couple of years, aspiring to be able to demonstrate the kind of spirit, guts, and determination that she had seen in Sakura time and time again. From an example to follow to a servant of a monster of a man - the change is confounding to Hotaru who has never had the mistfortune of having to deal with something like this before.
"That doesn't make any sense," she replies to Sakura's explaination, one hand coming to rest on her hip. "Do you remember what they did to make you feel this way? The labs, the mind games, the boy with the flute... That isn't how someone should be 'convinced'. That's brainwashing. Kurow told me everything about it. How he played for you and Akira, taking advantage of your weakened state to turn you this way! Do you remember that?"
Her brow furrows at the impatient question, looking a little frustrated for a moment but the expression passes swiftly. "Yes." 'Wish' is putting it mildly. Until these last two weeks, she used to think a rough day was one spent triple-waxing the Kyokugen Dojo floor. Now? That sounds like a /vacation/ compared to what she's going through out here. "Come with me," Hotaru urges, "Come back to Southtown with me and see the people that miss you, that are worried about you. You didn't forget about your friends did you? Your family?"
Did Sakura =forget= what's been done to her? No... not in so many words. She's suppressed certain memories selectively, of course -- ones that don't fit into her current understanding. It'd be bothersome for those to get in the way, of course.
But Hotaru isn't the first person to tell Sakura she's crazy, that she's being manipulated to believe the words she's saying. She is, however, the first person with any sense of what =really= happened. Key details -- labs, mind games, Kurow -- that have direct relationship to the memories she'd set aside until now. Details Akira herself could have shared with Sakura... if she weren't being besieged from all directions just one day before.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, a reaction is elicited. Sakura's brow furrows in thought, eyes narrowing slightly. Hotaru's words hit a nerve, there.
Even still, the Doll programming is still driving the wagon. "It was a difficult transition. Some weeks ago, I was quite stubborn and set in my ways."
But... she's also been urged to come back to Southtown. "It is not hard for me to come and go to Southtown when needed." Maybe simply -going- to Southtown wasn't what Hotaru was getting at. "I have not forgotten about my family. I visited them last week. And like you... they tell me I'm wrong. They tried to convince me that =their= way is right, and Lord Vega's is not." She shakes her head slowly. "Miss Futaba, what you fail to realize is that society as =you= know it is really not much different from the grand vision Lord Vega has for us. You call it 'freedom,' yet 'freedom' is control. I was expected to finish high school, and attend college. I was expected to become a teacher, and continue the cycle of 'education'. This... 'education' is nothing more than telling you what to think. How to act. It's 'brainwashing,' though you accept it. Cherish it."
Pausing, she closes her eyes for a moment. "For the past six months, Hotaru, I have been struggling, trying to find my place in life. And yet..." She opens her eyes. Her stare is still cold... but not focused as before. Not completely soulless, her eyes are actually trembling. Struggling. "I have it now. I have purpose. I know what I want to do, and I can help people this way."
Sakura brushes her bandaged hand across her face, sweeping the hair out of her eyes. Her voice... is now softer. More sardonic, if only slightly. "And now you, and many others, are telling me I'm mistaken. Deluded." Shaking her head, she takes another bite of her pear. "How would you know?"
"You /do/ remember..." Hotaru replies, blinking slowly, picking up on the nuances Sakura's expression goes through. She wondered a lot about how the whole process worked. How someone could still be in their own head yet believe something 180 degrees opposite of what they used to. "It wasn't a transition. It was forced on you. They did this to make you their tool," the girl presses, hand moving from her hip to clench in front of her. "It's probably the only way they get anyone with any morale fiber to work for them..."
Her shoulders slouch a little though as the girl she once knew talks about having seen her family and having found their position lacking compared to the apparently convincing 'enlightenment' Vega has provided her. Shaking her head, Hotaru falls quiet for a moment, blue eyes searching the other girl's. Kurow had told her it would be like this, his voice taunting, mocking the hopeful girl's limited understanding of just how strongly he had crushed the will of the girls.
Young Futaba tries to dig deeper though, as if something in Sakura's expression tells her that somewhere beneath all that the girl she used to look up is still there. "What about Master Ryu? Have you talked to him? Have you listened to him? Years of looking to him for inspiration, you even managed to convince him, one of the greatest fighters in history, to take you in and train you... What would he say now? Have you found out?"
Sakura is prone to get swept up by her own emotions. She's... strong-willed, yes, but bludgeoning her personality with the hammer of the Psycho Drive wasn't the right way to go. No, she was lured in by other means, her strong, dynamic personality wielded by Kurow to get her to not just follow her programming -- but =believe= it. In that sense, no, it wasn't =forced= on her at all. She was found vulnerable, at a crossroads in her life, and Shadaloo provided an answer -- or so she's been led to believe.
But, deep down, Sakura's still there. And she's indignant that Hotaru is actively telling Sakura that her choice -- the choice she believes was a willing one -- is =wrong=. "Negative! My moral fiber is what =drives= me!" she snaps, her own fist clenching in determination, the heel of her boot grinding into the hard-packed dirt in perhaps the closest one can get to a "true" Sakura response yet. "Do you think I =like= killing? No! I'm here because I =want= to be here, and you just can't get that through your little head! I'm =serving= for the common good, I'm helping the best way I can!"
She quite nearly swings a fist at Hotaru... but something stays her hand: that searching look of Hotaru's... that need to see good in Sakura, even when Sakura can't even see the =bad= in what she's doing.
It's enough to force Sakura to jerk her defiant eyes away, closing them. "He hates me too. Not a single one of you can trust me to make up my own mind about this. It's always how I'm 'deluded', in need of 'help', how Lord Vega and Kurow have =lied= to me."
Scowling, she opens her eyes again, looking askance at Hotaru. "Akira was the only one who I could talk to, who would understand me. And she's lost now too. Just like you, just like everyone else -- blissful in their ignorance of the world, seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses." She waves her open hand in a broad sweeping gesture to indicate the dilapidated town. "This! This is what your exalted society, your =perfect= thinking has constructed. Lord Vega can do so much more, if you welcome him instead of railing on about how cruel and heartless he is. He's got more compassion than anyone I've spoken to this year." She tears her defiant glare away from Hotaru, looking back down to her feet... seething in unmasked frustration.
Sakura's bandaged hand is completely soaked in pear juice, at this point. She crushed what was left of the asian pear's core.
Shoma heads back to the Thailand main area.
It's with some surpise that Hotaru reacts to the emotion coming out now. It still isn't entirely like the Sakura she knew. But it's also different from the detached, impassive clockwork doll she was talking to at first. She has no idea if this is really even the smart thing to do. She had admitted as much to Kurow when he pressed her to acknowledge her ignorance on how any of this actually works. Still...
"I know you don't like killing..." Hotaru replies, her voice soft for a moment. "I could never think that of you. No matter what they did to you, they could never change you that much. I don't believe it... They... I- I don't know what they did. I don't know what you've been going through." she admits openly. "But I know who you were. I've watched you for years, admiring you. You've been an example for so many... Maybe you would make a great teacher, but maybe you wouldn't want to do it. It's up to you. You have to make those kinds of choices yourself."
Her expression changes a little as Sakura begins defending Kurow. If only she could tell her everything the young man said to her on the beach. If only she had his words recorded, so she could play it back. The mocking, taunting tone as he described breaking the girls. "They have lied to you," Hotaru states firmly. "Kurow... Kurow Kirishima is a disgrace. He's betrayed everyone he's ever known. All so he could become ruler of Japan just like he told me. If he has to use you to get there, then he will. Without a second thought. He is a monster!"
The girl shakes her head, pig-tails flailing a little, squinting her eyes now. "Master Ryu can't hate you. That's impossible. If what he said conflicts with what Vega told you it's because he was telling you the truth! What you needed to know!" The girl balks a little as Sakura gestures at the village of squaller, once again looking slightly deflated. "I don't know about how things end up like this... But I've seen Vega's tanks roll over towns like this, crushing everything in their path, sending people running from their homes. They aren't the people he's trying to help. He doesn't even act like they exist! That's not the man you would help. Not the cause Sakura Kasugano would be a part of!"
Sakura doesn't like killing, no. Commanding tanks, ordering troops around... all that's fine as long as she can remain detached from the details. She'll even pull guns on people if need be, but she will only deal non-critical blows. Even against Gan... someone who was in her way last night... she couldn't bring herself to kill. It's completely against the compassionate tomboy's nature, even if compassion and tomboyishness are buried under the weight of Doll programming.
She's also... really really susceptible to people telling her they look up to her. That they =are= listening to her. It's why she was considering teaching in the first place, why she had taken on two students who frustrate her to no end. And she can listen to Hotaru's advice on that level, her chin nodding with affirmation on each point the younger girl raises.
... Futaba's distaste for Kurow, though, seems to have the reverse effect on Sakura. The Shadaloo agent doesn't know it, and she'd outwardly refuse it... but the girl is crushing for Kurow somethin' fierce. It's a side effect of his control, a deceptive lie continually woven into every command he gives her. And talking about him in a negative light tends to make Sakura even more aggravated.
And when she gets aggravated, it's pretty darn obvious. Glaring back at Futaba, Kasugano shakes her head. "Negative! You're completely wrong about Kurow, he's always looked out for me, protected me, even before I joined Shadaloo." Fists clench, the half-eaten pear falling out of her hand, forgotten as she squares up with Hotaru. "He =cares= for me, no matter what rumors you've heard or whatever you've been told. I =know= this!" She glares back at Hotaru, eyes becoming near slits... but her heartrate does slow somewhat, the anger fading as she calms herself, if only slightly. "... And Master... And =Ryu= has never really understood me either, he... he's been holding me back. I never got as powerful under him as I have under Lord Vega, because Lord Vega trusts me to =handle= the true strength! If you have strength... you've got to =use= it, or else it's just... a weakness. What good is strength never harnessed?! Never used as a means to an end. Strength fades over time, and Ryu will find that out soon enough."
She curiously dances past any mention of what Sakura Kasugano =would= have been a part of, or what she's =already= been a part of in the Metro City rebellion.
Hotaru actually recoils now, leaning back from the other girl, her expression a combination of shock and dismay at the way Sakura thinks Kurow feels about her. The idea that he would care for anyone at all is so incongruous with everything she's seen him do or say... it has to be more of the conditioning speaking now. But that it would have taken such a strong hold that it sounds like Kirishima has replaced Ryu in Sakura's mind reveals just how deep the control goes - far deeper than she had ever imagined. "Can't you see... what Kurow really is? He did this to you. He was instrumental to changing you to think the way they do. They trapped you and Akira for a long time, waited for you to wear down so that you would be vulnerable to his manipulations. And then he stepped in, with his vile flute, and played."
Hotaru exhales, looking half resigned now. It makes sense, she muses, that Kurow would do this. Make Sakura think he cared so strongly for her. It makes it all the harder for Sakura to see the manipulation for what it is if she thinks the one mostly RESPONSIBLE for it cares for her. One thing Hotaru is sure of, she's going to need someone way better at helping Sakura through this than her unfortunately unqualified self. But she saw the changes in emotion, the shifts, the details. "I don't believe Kurow," she states as if responding to something else entirely. "You won't always be like this... I can tell." Hotaru tightens both of her hands into small fists, arms straight at her sides. "I wish to go home, but not until you're free of this. Free of the things they did to you. I'll find a way... You can beat him. I know it. We can beat him... He isn't untouchable." She takes a step backward now, distancing herself from the Sakura That Is for now, knowing full well that to help find the Sakura That Was, she's going to need to discover someone more knowledgeable about dealing with such things.
"Kurow is someone who is trying to make me perfect, without filling my head full of lies or confusion!" Sakura speaks rashly, unscripted, uncontrolled... just like always. It's just that she's seeing things from a completely askew viewpoint. "He's told me...." ... But she trails off.
Because of the flute. She hadn't considered it relevant before. But Hotaru mentioned the flute. Unlike everything Kurow's =said=, the music of the flute never fit into any particular pattern. Whenever she'd expressed a difference of opinion, that flute was there. Whenever she'd be helped back to her restorative pod... the music of that flute was there. She'd just considered it odd, really, but Hotaru mentioning it makes her pause.
And then Hotaru withdraws. =Hotaru= does not trust Kurow. This is an incontrovertible opinion; Sakura can't possibly say she's wrong, nor is there any logical point to pick apart from her own viewpoint. It's just a statement -- one that Hotaru obviously feels very strongly about.
Sakura takes a step back as well. She's... calmer. Perhaps that means the logical, programmatic portion of her psyche has regained control -- or perhaps the emotional side still needs a moment to process. Perhaps both! But the point remains that the fire in her eyes has stilled, from even mere moments ago.
It's a good few moments before she speaks again. "I will consider your words. Standing Shadaloo orders are for you to be captured, and or expelled from the country. Do with this knowledge as you see fit." She pauses for a moment. "I owe you that much, as a friend."
That said, Kasugano abruptly turns ninety degrees to the right and begins to walk.
Well, at least she isn't going to have to run to avoid capture right /now/, and that's some relief. Having to fight her way past Sakura is not a prospect that Hotaru expects she would have much of a chance with. She already knews the girl to be a fighter of exceptional calibur. And she also knows that Kurow said whatever power that Sakura had been augmented...
But he also said that the girls he had control over wouldn't be afraid to kill, and yet... there isn't that killing edge to Sakura. The girl is even letting her go free, unharmed, in defiance of standing orders. It's a small thing, but it actually means a lot more to Hotaru than one might realize - a flicker of hope rekindled, a faltering resolve redoubled. "Thank you," she says, her voice soft again as Sakura turns to walk away.
Hotaru glances over her shoulder, in the direction of the people she was intending to petition help to get out of the country from. A slight sigh escapes her lips as she shelves her longing for the creature comforts of home or even the ice cold showers of the Kyokugen Dojo. No, it looks like for now, Hotaru won't be leaving yet. She better to tell Ryo. Though the young man seems quite content to just pass his time beating heads around here either way!
Sakura didn't ever want to kill. She's =capable= of it. And she almost killed Chou.
But she didn't know Chou, for one. He was just some biker dude, and he was pretty outspoken and rude, to boot! ... That, and Kurow was standing right next to her, watching. Sakura won't ever admit it, but if people disapprove of her actions, and make this disapproval known... she won't do it. And she was afraid of disobeying one of Kurow's direct orders.
She has no =direct= orders regarding Hotaru, and as thus, is free to interpret the rulings as seen fit. If she gets called out, so be it. But Hotaru's a friend -- deep down, Kasugano =knows= this, even if she can't break completely free from everything else.
She also is... concerned that her actions have been frowned on by everyone but the two people who currently matter most to her: Lord Vega, and Kurow. The only thing allowing her to do what she does =now= is the fact that she's continually, constantly praised. Those two... are all she has left.
At least, until Hotaru had come along and shared her little ray of sunshine. Her =actions= are disapproved of... but there is still hope.
But she won't be listening to any more disapproval. It hurts a bit too much.
People who had been gathered in her path scramble to get out of Sakura's way. She may be dressed in a button-down shirt and baggy slacks, but the face of the agent now called by some the "Angel of Death" is unmistakeable. Even if she is, in some sense, having a "good day"... the soldiers that are likely to follow her rarely have changes of heart.
Just the same, it's easy for one to lose sight of the headband in this small village, with lots of corners.
Log created on 11:26:48 06/24/2007 by Hotaru, and last modified on 21:09:41 06/24/2007.