Andromeda

The Inner Man – Episode 20 – Secrets

Mashiro pushed himself through the morning still tired from the ordeal in Tokyo. It had been a long day and a rough one at that for everyone involved. The Doctor was still with them, though he was having reservations about how long the Doctor would be allowed to stay. There were revelations made to him about the organization he worked for that changed everything. He learned that they were working with the enemy, the same one that they had been trying to hunt down for years. It had been the sole focus since the beginning and that was all merely a lie.

He was having trouble knowing what to believe anymore with everything changing so quickly on him. There was nowhere left to turn and no more allies. He was alone in this city with everyone trying to hunt him down and kill him along with Chiko. They were no longer safe anywhere at this point. Mashiro did not know what was going to happen next to them. He kept looking over his shoulder for the next attack. It was that feeling as well that was making him fatigued.

His job became all the more difficult now to protect Chiko from even those that he trusted. Even though his job was over and there was no one giving him any orders he still remained by Chiko. Chiko needed someone to keep him safe; he was still trying to find a place that he could fit in. And now he had to adjust to life to get used to being a girl for the rest of his life. He had no chance at returning to his old body now and the Doctor's lab was in the hands of the enemy.

Mashiro had sent Chiko on his way to school with breakfast finished. He seemed to be doing a little better now in spite of everything that happened. The last couple weeks had been very trying for both of them. Though he actually saw Chiko smile and laugh, which was something that he could not remember the last time that happened. There was definitely something a little different about Chiko now. Whatever Kohana did it seemed to have improved Chiko. He was still loud and annoying at times, but he did not seem stuck in a depressed state the rest of the time.

Now that he had finished cleaning up the kitchen and the Doctor was done gorging himself they went into the living room. Mashiro needed some answers from the Doctor and it was about time that he got them. The Doctor seemed to know more about the situation than he was letting on. He was not even sure that the Doctor's sudden arrival was not planned as well. Mashiro was left wondering if he could even trust the Doctor. The man was weird and strange most of the time, though it could be all part of an act that he put on. However, he also was the only other person to know who Chiko was really, so unless he did not have orders to kill him none of it would make sense.

"Time that we have a talk, doc," Mashiro said setting him down on the couch.

"A talk? About what? Sewing tips, wardrobe tips?"

"Don't play around with me. You know more than you're letting on and have for a while. Did you know since the beginning?"

"No, I just only recently figured it out. You think I would make bodies for people that were going to be killed knowingly?"

"Then when, when did you find out the truth?"

"Three weeks ago, though I had suspicions for a while. I just did not know anything other than all of the people we were helping ended up dead soon afterwards. I did not know how or why, but I came across some files related to Chiko. It was then that I began my investigation."

"Related to Chiko? What sort of files did they have on him?"

"Yeah, I was doing normal checks on him and ran across top secret files. They were mainly medical files, brain scans, treatment files, just the normal things you would find in a medical folder for someone that just went through the hospital. However, none of it made any sense. Why would standard medical reports be classified top secret? So I looked deeper, they were running more than just the simple medical treatment on him. He was put through memory extraction several times, though it seemed that each attempt failed."

"Memory extraction, why?"

"They were looking for something, but it is a very risky process that tends to affect the patient if put through prolonged treatments. Even the process has a low chance of success, but they seemed to not care anyway."

"What were they looking for and trying to remove?"

"My only guess would be whatever he saw that night he was almost killed. No doubt the treatment screwed up whatever memory is associated with that time. I have no idea what became of it, but they continued until he was conscious long enough to know what was happening. But the reports say nothing about it succeeding, just left his mind a mess."

"Explains the attitude and personality."

"No, I'm pretty sure he was like that before. Though it didn't improve things for him. From my own scans, he seems healthy enough, but with everything he is anything but stable."

"And the rest of your investigation?"

"I did not find out too much more, since most of it is all top secret and only accessible to the director. But I was able to learn that they were trying to kill him and that they have connections with The Awaking Dragons, who they had been supposedly investigating themselves. Then they found out that I had learned too much and I needed an escaped. Thanks to you, I was able to find somewhere safe to hide out."

Mashiro sighed to himself and looked back at the Doctor narrowly. "Probably accelerating the process of finding us as well. How much do they know about what happened? If they were really trying to kill us they would have done it a long time ago."

"Well they cannot work openly like the syndicate. But I also scrambled their machines locking the information about Chiko away in the Section Three supercomputer with AAA protection only accessible by the Prime Minister."

"That is a little overkill don't you think, just for being suspicious."

"He has my precious daughter! I wasn't taking any chances of her being killed. I figured the safest way was to make it so that no one could get to it, even me."

Mashiro sweated in embarrassment, "That is a lot of protection, doc. Either way, it did manage to keep Chiko safe for a while. But it seems that they know everything now."

"Yes, the supercomputer is not unhackable."

"Now-" Mashiro said before a realization came to him. He noticed a lurking shadow out the window through the reflection of the glass picture frame in the room. They were not alone anymore; it was unclear who it was that was coming for him. However, at this point it did not really matter who it was. They have more enemies than he could count and none of them cared about good timing. "I suggest you find a place to hide doc, preferably up stairs."

"Huh?" the Doctor said looking at Mashiro strangely. Mashiro motioned to him about those that were outside. The Doctor was a little slow about getting the hint, but he realized what was happening and disappeared.

Mashiro did not want to have to worry about protecting others in the middle of a fight. He also did not need to have something that was holding him back if the Doctor got captured. Mashiro rushed over to the wall to the front yard trying to look outside. There was nothing around in sight, meaning that they were already at the door or elsewhere ready to move. 'Glad I made those preparation last night…'

He pulled out a gun from underneath the table as the front door was kicked in. Mashiro aimed the gun immediately along the wall waiting for whomever to enter into the room. It was a second more as they slowly approached the doorway, their weapon visible first. But Mashiro waited, his gun aimed high. Then as the man looked into the doorway to see, there was a gun shot through the room. The man stared right at the bullet as it pierced his forehead and dropped him to the floor.

It set the tone for the rest to come as one burst through the window across the living room. Mashiro aimed and fired without even taking a moment to think. The man fell to the floor dead before he had even made it into the house a second. Several more burst in from different parts of the house. Mashiro looked around measuring where each person was and preparing himself. The first came in through the hallway and was dead before he was close enough to Mashiro. The next two came at once and one of them was dead immediately while the other was swinging his leg at Mashiro.

He easily stopped the attack and fired a shot through the man's head before he could continue. 'Five, so far…more than I expected. Quantity over quality…' Mashiro knew that there had to be a few more and began searching the house for the rest. He slowly looked into the den that was starting to look more like it had before the ceiling was replaced. The den was empty and he moved on through the hall. He came to the kitchen to find it empty as well.

Mashiro reached the last room on the first floor and slowly entered the room narrowly dodging a sharp boot to the face. He quickly grabbed the leg before it could be pulled back and ran his elbow through the man's knee dislocating it. After that he shot the man in the head and returned to his hunt. There were still others in the house.

He could not be certain there were more on the first floor, but he had to check the second floor, as it was the only place that he had not been yet. Mashiro pulled out some throwing knives from behind a picture hanging on the wall as he walked upstairs. The gun was almost empty and he needed to be ready for whatever else might be waiting for him.

The Doctor was in one of the rooms and Mashiro did not know which one. There was the chance that he was captured as well, but he knew that he could not pause. He regretted sending him upstairs a little, but it was no doubt a better place than the fighting downstairs. Mashiro came to Chiko's room first as it seemed to be the best choice that the Doctor would flee into. He began to approach the door when someone jumped out of the room at him kicking his gun anyway.

Mashiro did not waste time worrying about the gun as he returned with a punch to the man's face promptly breaking his nose. The man stumbled backwards as Mashiro clasped him by the neck and threw him into the room over Chiko's bed. Mashiro ran into the room using it as cover to surprise anyone else that might be in the room. He saw the Doctor in the corner of his eye as he entered the room. As he figured he was being held by one of the men that were invading their house.

The man held a gun on the Doctor emphasizing the point by pushing it against him. Mashiro looked at the man narrowly. "I'd suggest you not make a move if you want this man to live past today," the man said.

Mashiro looked away sighing. "If I cared about him, he is whiny anyway. You'll be doing the world a favor."

"How dare you, Mashiro! I never-" the Doctor said shouting at Mashiro. He moved just enough that Mashiro dropped a knife into his palm and in flash it found its target in the forehead of the man holding the Doctor.

"Thanks, doc. Couldn't have done it without you."

"Wah?"

Mashiro casually walked over to the man that was lying on the floor holding his nose. He knelt down looking at the man with cold eyes. The man's eyes widened as he saw his death coming. Mashiro lifted the man up enough and gave his head a quick turn snapping it. He dropped the body to the floor as he walked out of the room. "Stay out of trouble, doc."

He walked through the rest of the rooms not finding anyone and returned to the downstairs. Mashiro saw through the front door what seemed to be the final one waiting for him. However, Mashiro was not looking forward to the fight. He raised the gun and fired immediately at the man. Unlike the others he had fought, this one dodged the attack. He was more skilled than the others. Mashiro eyes narrowed as his muscles tightened in preparation.

As he stepped outside to the man that was waiting for him, he saw that he was wearing a mask. It was another white mask like he had found at that scene with the dead men behind the library. There was an obvious connection between the two, though Mashiro did not know what they meant. However, this was not the time for him to be thinking about something that was going to distract him. He needed to end this matter quickly.

The two stared down at each other in the front lawn of the house. Wind blew through the area as Mashiro took the offensive against the masked man. He struck first with a kick to the ribs that the man block, but was sent stumbling off balance. Mashiro followed it up with another kick to the opposite side at the legs knocking him to the ground. He fired another round from the gun, but the man rolled out of the way as the bullet kicked up earth.

The masked man flipped backwards returning to his feet as Mashiro took a swing at him. It was dodged, but Mashiro was already following through with a knee to the stomach. However, the man had his hands to block the knee as he leapt off the ground using the motion to send him backwards. Mashiro chased after him into the next lawn as the man dodged around a tree at Mashiro incoming attack. The man was more about avoiding than actually fighting it seemed.

The man disappeared behind the tree as Mashiro looked around to figure out where he went. There was only one logical choice left with the ground empty. As he looked up, he found the man coming down out of the tree at him feet first this time. Mashiro did not have enough time except to partially have his arms block the attack. He was knocked to the ground by the assault feeling the pain across his face and arms. The masked man rolled over quickly returning to his feet as Mashiro pulled himself up. But the man was already attacking again before Mashiro had a chance to completely recover. He received a full kick to the face knocking him across the grass under he hit his head against a lawn decoration stuck in the ground.

The man continued his offensive bringing his foot down on Mashiro, but Mashiro rolled out of the way and spun his legs around knocking the man off his feet. Mashiro then grabbed the lawn decoration out of the ground and stabbed it through the chest of the man. Blood slowly poured out the back of the man as Mashiro got up and wiped himself off. He pulled the mask off the man and walked back to the house. There was something to the mask and he knew it, unfortunately he did not know if there was enough time left for him to find out what it was.

Mashiro entered the house thinking about all of the clean up that he was going to have to do. He sighed out loud as the Doctor walked down the stairs. "All over for now it seems." Mashiro looked around the room feeling unsettled by the whole scene. He did not know who this group was that attacked him or the reason for it. If it was another group, that was more trouble for him. He was getting tired of having more enemies than he could swing at.

He walked upstairs hoping that he could find some answers. Mashiro went into his room where he pulled out the computer that Section Three had given him. If he was lucky they forgot to terminate his account. He opened up the database and put in his login. There was a moment before 'Invalid' appeared on the screen. 'Long shot anyway…guess I'll have to do it the hard way.' Mashiro packed up a few things on him and walked downstairs. "I'm going to the library. I'll be back to pick Chiko up later. Try to clean up some of the mess, doc."

"What?!"

Mashiro was already out the door leaving the Doctor alone. He got into his car and drove off out of the neighbor into the city. There was going to be more of these attacks he knew and if he did not understand his enemy, he was going to lose. It just worried him how long he could keep this going before succumbing to exhaustion or the impossible. Mashiro knew that he could not think about it too much or it would become a focus point. That was something he could not allow, it would become a distraction to him preventing him from protecting Chiko.

When Mashiro arrived at the library he felt a little lost. He was not completely sure why he had gone out when he could have been doing other things. It was more instinct at the moment that was telling him that he needed some answers. He was tired of learning the answers too late for it to do any good. They were always two steps behind whoever was pulling the strings and barely managing to stay ahead of the ground falling beneath them. Knowledge was the most important key to understanding the situation and he understood nothing of what was happening anymore. There were too many secrets around him all aimed at Chiko and he could not protect him blindly forever.

He had two masks that he had found and it was clear from the design that they were related to each other. There was something familiar about them he thought, unfortunately familiar was not helping him. He marched through the library with little regard to anyone hunting down a place that might have some answers. Mashiro began his search at the computer terminal that held a catalogue of all of the books as well as scans. He spent the next hour flipping through pages of information that was not getting him anywhere.

There were plenty of books on masks and the history behind them. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could find thus far that seemed to be related to the masks that he found. Mashiro continued through the computer database for a while longer unable to stop search hoping that the next window would be what he was looking for. Each turn lead to empty halls that just divided further to the point that he could spent days going through the library and not finding what he was looking for.

It reached the afternoon and Mashiro realized that he had to leave to get Chiko. He walked out of the library disappointed and exhausted from the fruitless search. However, he was determined to keep looking later when there was more time available. As he entered the car he looked into the back sit where the two masks lay waiting for him. He looked at them closer for a moment. There was something at the edge of his thoughts trying to tell him something. 'Gragh…what is with these mask?.'

Mashiro sat down in the car closing the door partly. He picked up one of the masks and stared at it thinking. There was something about it that he was forgetting, he knew. He tried to retrace the past going over whatever he could remember that might link it. There were so many enemies that they had fought and he had a lengthy past with just as much possibility. 'They are connected with Rachel from the mask that Bear wore that one time. But it does not make any sense why she would be using this. Is it just simply a calling card she picked up? There feels like there is something more still…'

Unfortunately, Mashiro's concentration was short lived when he heard the screeching tires around the corner. The sound snapped him out of his trance and he tossed the mask in the back seat. Mashiro slammed the door close and started up the engine quickly. He could hear the noise growing louder as it approached. There were multiple cars coming after him from the sounds he was hearing. 'Is Rachel making her move?'

Mashiro quickly pulled the car out of the parking lot as three cars barreled around the corner of the street. The cars stopped blocking the street and interrupting traffic. They were black foreign cars, by the looks of it more than likely from the North American States factories. The windows were tinted, but Mashiro could tell without needing to see their faces that they were after him. He spun the wheels of his car quickly as he broke the standoff in the middle of the road. His car sped towards them in their roadblock at full speed without showing signs of changing direction. At the last second before hitting them, he turned the car and applied the brakes heavily.

The car spun almost out of control towards the cars completing a semi-circle before Mashiro stopped the movement lunging the car forward. He drove parallel to the cars the length of the street where he hit the sidewalk and turned into the building nearly hitting it before coming to another reckless stop. The path was clear now and the three cars were recovering their positions to follow him as Mashiro drove down the sidewalk. He did not stay on the sidewalk long returning to the street where he weaved in between oncoming traffic.

His eyes split between the road and the rear view mirror to see the three cars closing in behind him as traffic crashed around the reckless driving. He did not want to stay in the lane too long endangering the innocent, but he hoped it would shake off a couple of the cars. Even with his skill he did not know how long he could out run three cars. He was going to have to get creative if he was going to survive the chase.

The cars followed Mashiro through the on coming traffic as he took a quick turn down a narrow alleyway. It was the nearest thing he saw that might shake them; even it seemed a little typical. However, he was not interested in flair at the moment. He needed to lose at least one quickly. The cars sped down the narrow alleyway with just enough space for the side mirrors not to be knocked off. Mashiro hit some trash as it was being tossed out knocking it up into the air to find its way to the cars behind.

They burst out of the alley into light traffic sending a civilian car into a light post as they all cut in front. Mashiro looked behind him quickly as he was steering around the next car to see that all three were still tailing him. It was a cheap maneuver and it failed to help him. They were now gaining on him with the open lanes to come on beside him. Two of the cars came up along side him placing him in between them with the third close on his tail.

As he expected, they were going to try to stop him or knock him off the road by wedging him. The two cars bumped into him trying to get him to slow down. Then to add to the situation, the car on the left rolling their window down pulling out a gun on him. Mashiro had glanced over noticing the change from black tint in the corner of his eye. He barely did a double take as he put the car into reverse from a brief braking that made the engine whine. He spun the stirring wheel sending him out through a narrow opening as the two cars in front rammed into each other sending sparks into the air from the scraping metal. The third car turned in time to keep following him.

Mashiro was driving in reverse now down the wrong way of the street with the third car following him. The third car was ramming into the front of his car making him bounce. He did not have enough speed in reverse to keep a distance. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the other two cars having already recovered following in the other side of the lane with traffic. 'Persistent…' He pulled out his gun from the glove compartment that he carried with him just in case something happened.

One hand on the steering wheel and the other wielding his gun, he fired two rounds out the front window of his car. He stopped caring about the state of his car after the first scratches. The third car took two in its hood; unfortunately he was not able to get the engine as he hoped. The car was backing away a little moving around more. It was going to be difficult to get another shot and he did not want to waste ammunition right now. Mashiro flipped the car around quickly while the enemy was in recovery and speed on into traffic.

He kept looking out his right side watching the two cars following them as the third tailed him closely. Mashiro was beginning to wish he had one of the organizations cars at this moment for the durability that he needed. This car would not survive being tossed around in spite of everything that he had already done to it in the past. It was good for short runs of endurance, but nothing rough as he was taking now.

Mashiro turned into the other lane as someone leaned out the window in the third car to fire off part of a clip of an automatic gun. It was smaller than a rifle, but larger than a handgun. The bullets ate through the asphalt of the road following a path to Mashiro's car. He took cover behind another car as the third changed lanes to get behind him. However, Mashiro was already speeding up in front of the car and turned quickly in front of them with the third car following.

He cut through the opposite lane as the two cars barely missed hitting him. The third car was hit in the front by one of the cars leaving it barely running in the middle of the street. Mashiro continued through the traffic going down into an underground parking lot. The two remaining cars immediately followed him into the parking garage. They sped around the turns of the garage driving down deeper.

Mashiro continued to watch where they were as he drove through the garage recklessly. They entered a short tunnel that connected to the next garage beginning their ascension. The cars drove around the turns that connected each level as it went higher past the ground floor. He was chased up to the top of the garage where he sent them into a loop once around until he got his bearings. It was exactly where he needed to be; he just hoped that they would give him the little push he needed.

Mashiro sped up suddenly breaking away from the cars for a moment until they increased speed as well to close the gap. However, he quickly put the brakes on the car and backed into an open parking spot very roughly as his bumper slammed into the cement wall. The two cars did not have enough time to react at the increased speed and plowed through the barrier breaking through the reinforced concrete. The second car stopped in time and turned around, but Mashiro was on the move putting the car back into gear. The car leapt forward and he sped around the top of the garage at increasing speed with the remaining car following.

He pushed the accelerator to the floor as he came to see the opening in the wall and leapt over the hole falling down towards the highway. Mashiro looked ahead to see the first car landing on the highway roughly getting hit by two speeding cars. The car was almost immediately totaled with the impacts and sent flying into the opposite oncoming traffic where it was slammed against the wall of the highway by a trailer truck. Mashiro came into land roughly on the highway with the traffic diverted from the chaos to have a safe landing. He increased speed again as the final car followed him still.

'One left…' Mashiro increased speed further on the car until the engine protested. The remaining enemy car was still following quickly behind him. They were swerving through traffic, sending people into the sidewalls in fear or surprise. Mashiro knew that he was not going to lose them through this light traffic. However, the enemy was growing tired of the chase it seemed having pulled out guns on him again. They were firing at him with more consistency, even though they were not hitting anything. Mashiro had to move around more than he wished to avoid the bullets coming at him. He was forcing other cars off the highway or into others. It was becoming dangerous to stay from the number of accidents he was creating.

Mashiro pulled off the highway followed by the last car as they drove into the outer parts of Osaka. The residential neighborhoods had already given way to the industrialized part of the city. He drove through a fence into a construction site with the car following him. The site was still in early development; so much of the ground was uneven. Mashiro hit a bound of earth sending him into the air as the car chasing him took a safer route around. He landed on a pile of metal beams with his rear wheels kicking a couple beams behind him. The other car had to swerve to avoid being pierced by the beam and continued the chase.

The two dug around the dirt paths of the site until it gave way to a loading garage adjacent to the construction. Mashiro drove around an incoming full bed trailer truck that was backing up, but the other car was not as fortunate. The clearance was enough that it only scraped the paint from the top of the car, but it cracked the glass. Mashiro drove around the corner of the building as they opened fire on him again through the front window.

Mashiro was turning the car all manner of directions to avoid the gunfire, as it had become more accurate firing from the front window. Unfortunately, he was quickly taking bullets to the car and it would not last long at this rate. Another series of bullets raked across the back of his car's body. He was losing control of the car and spun it around for a final shootout with the other car. Mashiro put the car in full reserve as pulled out his gun returning fire back at them.

The two exchanged fire, bullets eating through the hood of Mashiro's car and the seats. He felt the pieces flying up in the air as he returned fire. After a couple shots he was able to put a bullet in the shoulder of the driver sending the car away to run into another trailer truck that was backing up. The car exploded on impact in a fury of flames that ignited the trailer as well. Metal was sent flying in all directions as pieces pierced Mashiro's car bringing it to a halt.

As Mashiro turned off the engine and let the tension in his muscle ease he could feel the dripping of blood. He got out of the car and saw that he had a cut along his leg and his shoulder. It was not until now that he realized it through all of the adrenaline that was pumping. However, now he could feel all of the pain that was going through is body. Everything was sore and aching from the driving stunts he pulled off. There was nothing on his body that did not feel as though it was throbbing.

Mashiro held his hand over his shoulder as he walked away from the car to find another vehicle that he could take. He could not afford to be staying out here for long, especially if all this was a diversion to get Chiko. However, as he walked towards one of the trucks parked nearby he heard the sounds of a vehicle that sounded suspicious. The noise was loud as the engine was being push, he did not like the feeling that he was getting from this.

A fourth car plowed through the metal fence coming to stop in front of Mashiro. It was just like the others that were chasing him down. The doors opened as four men stepped out of the car, more of the usual. Mashiro was not feeling up to fighting even more worthless henchmen. However, there was little choice in the matter. He did the best he could to focus himself as they approached him. They looked at him cautiously, but they did not seem to expect him to fight back.

Mashiro sent his injured leg up for a kick to the head of the one in the front. He felt the pain surge through his muscles as the leg impacted the man. The man was knocked down out of the way as the three charged on him immediately. All Mashiro could do was block and try to return a punch when he could as he was getting beaten up. Most of his strength was already drained away. Mashiro dropped out to the ground, but it was a feint as he swept the ground with his leg again knocking the three down.

He rolled over onto one of the men putting his elbow into the man's stomach. Mashiro rolled through the earth as one of the men recovered and tried to stomp him. The foot missed, but it kicked up some dirt making him cough. The two came after him as Mashiro regained his position and flipped backwards letting his feet kick the two in the chin. The two men fell backwards to the ground.

Mashiro stood up from his flip panting heavily looking at the three men knocked out on the ground. He looked around for the fourth when he suddenly received a sharp pain to the back of his head. Mashiro's eyes blurred and he could not keep his concentration as he fell over in the dirt. The fourth man he had initially kicked was standing behind him with a metal pipe in hand. 'Chiko…' Mashiro soon lost consciousness not knowing what was going to happen next.

- - - - -

Chiko turned back as though he had heard something, but found Sakura running out from the school doors to catch up to him. Now that school was done for the day, Chiko had to wait for Mashiro to pick him up. Since he was insisting that he wait for him now with everything that happened. Chiko was sitting down on the inside of the school walls at the grass keeping an eye on the street.

Sakura came up behind him greeting him, "Hey Kohana! Waiting for Mashiro?"

"Yeah," Chiko said looking back at her. He stood up to face her when the strap on his school bag suddenly ripped falling to the ground. They looked at each other in surprise as Chiko knelt down to pick it up. "That is strange, it is still new."

"Oh my, that means something bad is about to happen," Sakura said with a frightful look in her eyes and her hands up around her face.

"You don't believe that do you?" he said.

"But that is what my mom told me once, she said its an ill omen," Sakura said suddenly having a confused look across her eyes.

Chiko sweated in embarrassment and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sure its nothing. Though I will need a new bag." He sat back down on the grass along with Sakura holding the bag on his lap. She insisted on staying until Mashiro came for him. There was not much Chiko could say to make her change her mind, but he did not mind too much.

The school continued to let students out of its halls as time passed. However, there was still no sign of Mashiro making Chiko worry. They had been getting into a lot of trouble lately and he wondered if something might have had happened to him. He had always been there for him, even if a little late. Chiko knew that he would show up eventually for him, so he just kept waiting.

After waiting until the entire school was empty Chiko became concerned and stood up to look beyond the wall. Sakura followed up behind him as the Doctor came walking down the street. Chiko did not like the look of this as he walked across the street to meet him. Sakura continued to tag along with Chiko, though he hoped that she would go home since this was not a matter for her ears. He had already gotten her involved with the matter of him being kidnapped. Chiko was just thankful that the men had used a tranquilizer on her rather than a real bullet. He would never have forgiven himself if she died because of him.

"What's wrong, doc?"

"Mashiro hasn't returned home yet. I became concerned."

"I see. Well I'll follow you back. You can go on ahead, Sakura."

"You sure?" she asked him.

"Yeah, don't worry about me. I've already kept you too long."

Sakura walked off slowly down the street looking at once before continuing. Chiko turned back to the Doctor hoping that there would be some answers from him. The impression that he was getting was that Mashiro was not missing for normal reasons. He wondered if the syndicate had made a move or if it was another one of their enemies. "What's going on, doc?"

"Mashiro left a little before noon to go to the library."

"The library? What was he doing there?" Chiko said as they began to walk slowly back to the house.

"Some men attacked the house after you left and Mashiro defeated them. However, he seemed to think that he could get some answers and left. He has been gone since. I'm afraid another group of them found him and he maybe fighting them off now."

Chiko clinched his fists together; he did not know what he was going to do. He knew that Mashiro was good enough to get beat anyone, but it had been a long time that he was missing. There were many things that could have happened and something might have happened to Mashiro. He might need help right now and he was just standing around with uncertainty and confusion. Chiko did not even know where Mashiro might be; he did not have a tracking device like he had.

They made it back to the house and Chiko saw the state of the house. It only made him worry even more about what had happened to Mashiro. 'I know I'm going to regret this…' Chiko looked over at the Doctor in the living room. "We need to find Mashiro, you have a car or something?"

- - - - -

Mashiro slowly woke up with a headache bouncing through his ears. He opened his eyes to look around to see that he was in a room now rather than outside. There was not much that he could tell about the room itself other than it seemed to be a large warehouse. He did quickly realize that he was tied up in a chair unable to move. It was apparent that those that had been chasing him had him captured now for whatever purpose that was. This seemed a little backwards since it was Chiko that they were after and not him. However, if it was Rachel as he believed it to be, she had different interests in mind.

He looked around to see if there was someone else in the room, a guard or someone. It was empty though, with the door to the room about ten feet away from him. Mashiro tested the bindings to see if he could loosen them and free himself, but they were tight. It would take a lot of work if he were to escape from this. However, he heard a sound from outside getting closer, approaching him.

The door opened and there were two men that walked into the room taking up opposite positions by the doorway. Then she entered as he expected it, Rachel back from the dead. Mashiro let a smirk across his face knowing that he was right, even though he was cursing himself inside for not have killed her properly. 'Screwed up you monster…'

"We meet again, Mashiro."

"It would seem so, how is your second life?"

"Quite well as you can see." Rachel approached him crouching down to look him in the eyes through his ragged hair. She grabbed his head by the jaw looking directly at him. "Mistakes aren't like you, however I'm grateful to have the chance to have my revenge."

"I won't make that mistake again."

"I doubt you'll have the chance. This is the end my love…" she said as she kissed him on the lips. Mashiro remained unchanged in expression, even though he had memories flooding back to him. Ones that he had preferred to keep locked away forever. She pulled away from him as he looked up at her. There was suddenly the sound of gunshot through the room as Mashiro's eyes widened in surprise.

Preview for the next episode:

"I can't believe you went and did that Mashiro. Going off and getting captured. Who's going to save you now and who's going to save me?"

"Hey, I'm not feeling so well here."

"It's just a scratch."

"You take my place and then we'll see what you say."

"No thanks. I can't believe that I have some rescue you now. I think you got our roles mixed up."

"Who was it that was complaining about getting kidnapped every episode?"

"So what is this some sort of pay back?"

"Maybe..."

"Grr...making me screw up the preview too! And clean up all this blood, it’s disgusting. On the next episode of The Inner Man, Reasons. We all have our reasons for what we do."

"Reasons...hehe there are too many reasons at this point."

"You better not miss it. This time I AM doing the kicking. Tee hee! Better stay alive long enough Mashiro!"