Yukiko Takayama's Story

This place is as good as any..

The door to Gambit's Bar slowly creaked open and a young asian women peered into the bar. She was already familiar with the place and knew she would be relatively safe here.

Sliding into the bar, and gently closing the door behind her, Yukiko surveyed the patrons in the bar. A fantastic myriad of individuals and creatures dotted the rustic bar, and the young woman smiled slightly as she pulled her dark hoodie over her face, and let her hands run over her jeans before she clasped her purse.

Making a face she started into the bar, a few footsteps in as she tried to find an empty table.

"This place is pretty packed tonight.." She said to no one in particular, but she would find an empty seat at an already occupied table. The question in her mind was who?

Pulling her hood over her face she started into the bar further, trying not to be seen. Ever since Shimizu made his move the entire family was scattered, with her Father disappearing, and her sisters all in hiding, Yukiko wasn't taking any chances with anyone who even remotely looked like they might work for Shimizu.

And so her eyes moved across each and every patron in the bar, watching them closely.

Sui looked down at the coin then at the man as he walked away. He whispered his own elvish tanks before flipping the coin up into the air. A glowing green light engulfed it transforming the coin into a moth. The insect landed on the bridge of Voja's nose spreading it's glowing wings as the wolf tried to focus on the new creature on her wings. He ruffled the wolf behind the ears as she stared at the Luna Moth flying off towards the ceiling of the bar. Sui then took his leave with the wolf in tail of his robes making his exit out of the side alley door.

As the Kitsune twins approached the door one of their guards opened it for them and they smiled thankfully before stepping inside. The two of them took in the whole room before seating themselves at a booth. Two guards stood outside the front door, one sat beside Emiko, and two other guards stood outside the back door. As Hnako read through her menu, their agent sat down beside her and grabbed a menu.

"I don't know why you girls wanted to come here..." he grumbled aloud.

"Becaaaaause! It's what the guy at the front desk suggested." Emiko replied.

"Front desk-when did you go to the front desk?"

"I sent her because we didn't have anymore towels." Hnako chimed in.

"Towels? Why didn't you have enough towels? Don't worry, I'll take care of that."

"No, we invited the guards to go swimming with us." Emiko laughed.

"Why did you do that? They are here to protect you."

"They deserved a break." Hnako added.

"Hey! Are you jealous?" Emiko said as she stared closely into the tired Agent's eyes.

"Aw! I'm sorry! We'll invite you next time for sure!" Hnako said as she hugged their Agent.

"It's okay, I was probably asleep anyway. Let's hurry and get lunch over with. You still have to get to the studio today, remember?"

The both of them sighed as they said in unison, "We remember..."

"Good, because our deal is no shopping until the work is done..."

"Why don't you chill out?" Emiko said as she poked his elbow.

"I am chill, you don't think I'm chill?"

"No-yes-wait! Um...Ye-No!" Emiko teased their Agent as she smiled warmly towards him.

"I know I'm chill, but you're hyper today."

"Can't I be excited? We don't eat in places like this very often."

"Of course you can..." The Agent said as he looked around the restaurant, eavesdropping on nearby conversations.

"I don't like how vulnerable we are to fans coming up to us."

"Emiko and I wouldn't have a problem with that, we aren't crabby old men."

"This old man thing has to stop. I'm thirty-eight..."

The three of them laughed and waited to be served. While they waited their Agent looked over the documents he carried from the mailbox earlier that morning. Emiko and Hnako played their hand held games against each other.

The young woman found herself nestled in an obscure and rather sparsely populated corner of the bar. Her eyes were glued to the bar door as if she was watching out for something, or someone.

She made a face briefly, before she pulled her hood over her face, she was trying not to be noticed it seemed.

Hnako noticed the young woman at the corner of the bar. The woman obviously didn't want to be noticed and Hnako made a mental note to mind her own business. Before she looked away her imagination filled her head with possibilities of who the woman was and what her past was like. She didn't realize she was staring at the woman until their Agent noticed.

"Hnako, not you too. Leave people alone, both of you."

Hnako couldn't help it now, she wanted to know who the woman was and imagined she was on the run and her imagination ran with the idea. She smiled at the woman and waved.

"Hey! Do you want to join us?"

Yukiko perked up slightly at the sound of voices coming from the pair, a pair of what could only be described as fox-girls and a man sitting with them.

Yukiko made a face under her hoodie before she stood up, figuring it would be a wise idea to mingle with the crowds, it'd be harder for the Umibozu to pick her out of a crowd, that was for certain.

Moving deliberately over to the pair, she slid into the bar-stool and smiled.

"Hey, I'm Yuki." She said, offering a smile.

Both of the Kitsune twins say in unison, "Hello!"

"My apologies ma'am, I hope they aren't disturbing you." The Agent said to Yuki.

"Don't act so old!" Hnako said as she lightly smacked his shoulder.

Emiko smiled as she spoke, "Why were you sitting alone Yuki?"

Hnako turned back to Yukiko and added, "Yeah, are you expecting someone?"

"Calm down girls, let her speak..." The Agent interrupted them.

Both Emiko and Hnako waited happily for Yukiko's response.

"In a manner of speaking." Yukiko said, turning to the door of the bar for a moment, and then she turned back to the trio before her. Of course, Yukiko's face was unmistakable to anyone who paid attention to the news.

Anyone who paid attention would likely have seen Yukiko's face in Terran, Taiyou and even Aschen news sources. But the hoodie did a fairly good job of obscuring her face somewhat.

"Bad men with guns are looking for me... I'm trying to keep a low profile... this place has proven safe so far, I hope that continues." She said, her accented words carrying a hint of trepidation.

Alkir had sat idly long enough. He made his way into his room for the night, but not before overhearing a conversation. "Bad men with guns are looking for me... I'm trying to keep a low profile... this place has proven safe so far, I hope that continues." She said, her accented words carrying a hint of trepidation.

This intrigued him, bad men, with whatever crazy thing guns were. He sat back down, this time within earshot of the woman and the two younger girls. He couldn't put his finger on why, but if she needed help, who was he to deny her request, and besides, it wouldn't hurt to make a few friends in this place.

The Agent recognized the woman and immediately showed subdued signs of discomfort. Emiko and Hnako didn't recognize her and probably would have cared anyway.

"If you're in trouble, you could come with us for a while. We travel everywhere, so we could take you anywhere you like." Emiko offered.

"Girls, you can't ju-" The Agent powered down as Emiko pushed against the side of his neck with her thumb.

"Sorry, he's programmed to be overprotective..." She apologized.

"I don't know if you recognize us, but we are the Kitsune Twins, famous pop stars from Niihama. We are welcome almost anywhere and no one would think to look for you with us. So, what do you think?" Hnako asked.

Yuki made a face as she turned to the newcomer, the face turning into a smile as she pulled the hood away from her head so that the group could get a better look at her.

"Kitsune twins.. yeah I've heard of you two... you're big back in the Empire among kids, my little sister's a fan." Yukiko explained, nodding.

"You'd be putting your careers at risk if you helped me.. I... I can't really explain this here... but there's people on Niihama that want me dead, and they'll kill or ruin anyone who stands in their way." Yukiko said, making a face.

"I appreciate the help, but it's too dangerous.. if someone saw me... I just..." Her expression darkened as she lowered her head, her eyes going to the window before she went back to those seated with her.

Little did Yukiko know, however, that there was a small red dot bobbing slightly on the back of her head, a single Umibozu sniper perched on an adjacent rooftop was watching her through the bar window, armed with a high-powered Seburo SS4-4000 Anti-materiel rifle, which fired a 20x102mm High Velocity Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Depleted Uranium Discard Sabot Rocket Assisted bullet, which traveled at roughly 8200 feet per second to deliver a blow that would eviscerate a human sized target.

The Princess however, was completely oblivious.

Alkir noticed a small red dot bobbing up and down on the back of her head. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew it couldn't be good. He quickly made his way over to her, tapped her shoulder twice, and whispered to her, "Walk with me". He hoped she'd be smart enough to walk with him, it might just save her life.

Another guest had finally arrived, though the time it took to get here caused them to be a little late.

In the main hall, after being checked against the guest list, the latest arrival was slowly making their presence known to all those who were attending this extravagant event.

She was wearing an extravagant kimono, golden geometric designs overlaying a dazzling series of reds and purples, her hair was done up in the traditional Taiyou manner, tightly styled over the crown that adorned her head, this crown was of also a rather ornate design, appearing to be made from wood, with elements of gold lead, and small red gems along the center, this, along with her stark black hair contrasted with the white and red makeup, similar to that of a Geisha.

Porcelain white face, and plump red lips to give contrasting color. This was almost a mask in of itself, as the sheer amount of makeup left the woman almost totally unrecognizable.

It was her security that could likely tip off her identity. Though they kept a small perimeter around the woman, to keep the other patrons from getting too close.

Eight men, all with dark glasses and simple business suits surrounded the woman, their weapons were well concealed, but limited to simple handguns worn under their vests. Each one of them identified themselves as operatives of the Emperor's personal security contingent.

To deny them entry was considered an affront to the Taiyou Empire.

With or without them, Yukiko chose to attend, and once among the crowd she surveyed everyone, keeping quiet but watching the others with a razor sharp attention.

Meldraenei was simply sipping her drink while her eyes worked their way across the crowd. Across her vision, dossiers on each were being drawn as the absentmindedly tapped into the local net connections on the planet. Her mind was going at several million computations per second as she worked her way through the local information within not only the local planetary grid, but also several low to mid level Aschen servers, Taiyou and even other more discreet server connections. All presences of her mind going to these terminals were sufficiently scrubbed as her highly advanced countermeasures were put into place and her trace was only registered as a momentary glitch in the systems. Barely a flicker on their screens if anyone were to view them for any length of time.

Her concentration once this was done was now drawn to a man whom was approaching her and asking for a dance. Her eyes went over his features and didn't even registered the glow coming from all of his golden accessories. She nodded once and gave him a polite curtsy and took the man's arm to be escorted to the dancing area.

However there was motion towards the doorway and her eyes went to none other then the crown princess of the Taiyou herself, Yukiko Takayama. Data began to work again but utilizing a much more covert program to dig into the public sector grid information about the princess. The same processes took less then five seconds before her attention now turned to the man and she went with him to the floor to engage in dance.

"A dance does sound splendid this evening good sir. I honestly was not expecting anyone to ask me for such an honor. I am Alecia Summers by the way"

She placed her hand on his side and took his hand, letting him lead in the dance.

Douglas smiled as Bamboo offered her services. The woman was either playing coy or truly did not recognize the mans advances for what they were. "Madam Bamboo, the pleasure is all mine I assure you, your assistance is indeed required because I cannot seem to fathom what a beautiful flower such as yourself is doing here all alone?" Douglas offered a charming smile. "Would you care for a drink?"

Mr. Malachite turned himself away as the Atom 7K pinged his AR feed and directed his attention to the entrance of the crowned princess of the Taiyou Empire, and her entourage of guard that accompanied her. The opulent CEO smirked and dismissed the feed allowing the artificial intelligence to deal with whatever problems that would occur or arise.

"Ah splendid! Splendid!" Mr. Malachite bellowed as he excused himself from his current guests and made his way over to the refined young woman only to guffaw and show his jubilant nature as he approached them with open arms. The CEO of Mars Corp. offered the princess a simple bow once he was close enough only to take a long drought from his glass of apricot brandy.

"Yukiko Takayama I presume? Welcome, welcome, please enjoy yourself and partake in the fine company and finely prepared food. You honor us with your presence for this Gala supporting peace and prosperity for the multiverse." Mr. Malachite looked over the guards and his oil factory senses began to kick-in whilst information on their weapons began to run across his eyes thanks to the MAD scanners at the entrances of this bought building.

Atom 7K began to expand his parameters once he was free of civic duties only to scour the matrix outside the companies domain by sending his agents to look over the basic grid. They would make short work and produce information of strange glitches but nothing more than simple errors on the cities part. This was more than a simple annoyance though as the A.I. began to look over the edge of its grid and into the basic jungle bellow sending patrol ICE to make sure the security grid remained in one peace.

Bamboo hadn't realized that she was being flirted with at all, something that could be chalked up to cultural differences. Even with her years spent on Terra, she had little experience with being flirted with. About the only time the ambassador wasn't surrounded with other erutin was when she was conducting business with the local politicians. "My twin Sisal is here somewhere, so I'm not too alone. I'm glad I was able to help with your mystery." She assured him, wondering where exactly her twin was anyways. There really was no telling. As it was,s he didn't understand how her presence alone was a mystery. Bamboo was a Dark. She could certainly handle herself.

The flirting continued to go over her head. "A drink would be nice however. I'm parched."

She noted the crown princess of the taiyou was here, her implant working rapidly to process and report that. The crown princess hardly came out for anything after all. There must be some business the other needed handled. Still, Bamboo turned her attention to her companion and smiled to him, focusing on now. The political ramifications of the crown princess' arrival could be debated later.

"Shall we go to the drink table together, Mr. Weskit?"

Taking her hand with ever a soft touch, Malian guided her to the dance floor, listening to the soft fugue that was playing in the background and finding the rhythm for it. A warm smile crossed his face as he led in the dance, right foot forward of course.

"The pleasure is mine, Alecia," he said, his voice dancing as much as his feet were, "It is hard to think of someone not willing to give a lady as beautiful as yourself the courtesy." A little flourish, and his hand was suddenly guiding her into a twirl.

There was a slight commotion that brought his attention towards the entrance of the establishment, to gaze upon the loveliness of the Taiyou Princess who graced everyone with her presence tonight. And judging from the protection surrounding her, it seemed like it would only be just that...a presence.

Malian sighed as his lingering stare went back to Alecia's face, "It is unfortunate for us to have the Taiyou Princess here tonight, I think." He spoke in a lower voice, clearly out of range for Yukiko or her subordinates to hear, "They have a way of showing off, don't they?"

Yvandír had gained access to the party through one way or another, a guest, he had been stood by himself, his keen senses picking up minute details that even the trained would miss, each one of his senses honed to perfection, capable of hearing a man from twenty miles away as one example of how strong his perceptions were, he fiddled with the small palm sized stone wolf in his pocket.

The half-elf demi-god, in name only, he was an immortal being however, returning to life exactly twenty four hours of his death, such is the height of mortal power, in the time since his arrival into the multiverse he had founded a small PMC who specialised in security,the comapny named 'PARAGON'. Yvandír was there to garner some attention towards his business, and to make powerful new friends, though he was never good with people.

Clad in a modern tuxedo his muddy brown hair tied back into a neat plat and his mask, a full face mask, the mask druidic in nature, made from red oak the mask is twisted and its features warped, though even under the mask the Half-elf kept his right eye covered by a strip of black silk, and even through the ear plugs he wore, they kept him from being deafened by the sheer volume of sound in the room. He could hear most conversations.

At his waist, his curved duelling blade, the blade was ceremonial at best, favouring his longbow, though for everyone’s sake it wasn’t on his person, but on his companion’s Fenris, his direwolf that he carried in the miniature statue form.

seated to one side of the hall, he occasionally had to remove the earbuds to sort out the dreadful itching they caused with a cloth.

"Yukiko Takayama" The words elicited a slight but well hidden frown from the Princess. The social faux pas would have, in traditional Taiyou settings resulted in scandal and a swift and brutal disciplinary action.

But the Princess dismissed the man's mention of her given name, out of his ignorance to their customs, a Baka Gaijin. She held no ill will but simply inclined her head in a slight bow, before politely correcting him. "Do not address me by my given name again, it's tradition in our culture to address me as Your Imperial Highness." Yukiko corrected, her voice smooth and almost obviously condescending.

Her security did not let Malachite pass their perimeter, standing between him and Yukiko, but making no other outward signs of movement.

Information on their weapons was also fairly rudimentary, Seburo M-5 pistols concealed in their jackets.

She flagged down a drink, plucking it from one of the roving servers. A moment later one of the guards was inserting a pen like device into the drink, testing for all manner of drugs, poisons, and adulterants. When the small LED on the tip of the pen turned green, the drink was passed to Yukiko, and she took a small sip.

Always finding herself in strange situations and places through her intense curiosity and lack of concern for her well-being, she was now here in a gala she had no clue how she'd end up in! Of course, she slipped through any security or door watchers to get in. Due to how hard it was to see her to begin with, it was unlikely anyone except small children and pets recognized her presence. It was almost like she was a ghost! Except, she wasn't ethereal. Her 'invisibility' came as a side effect of her third eye being closed. On the one hand, she could do things like this! On the other hand, it was hard to be noticed by anyone.

Still, she didn't care. The other side effect was her blissful and always cheerful nature taking over, never really understanding any other emotion. It was likely she didn't even understand her bliss and cheer, and just was. After all, she was a being of instinct.

Swaying from left to right as she moved, her hands rested behind her back and a grin stretched itself across her lips. There were all of these new and exciting things to discover and examine! Maybe something fun. Everyone here looked like they were of higher standing than she was on the social class - everything here was of high quality. High standards. High everything...! Koishi looked around, amazed, and her mouth agape. She never used to like crowded places when she could read minds, but now that their minds were silent...it was so much better! Perhaps she could tell big sis all about it! She may even be jealous!

As she wandered about, her 'invisibility' took over. It was like a social invisibility, tricking the mind into making up reasons as to why Koishi was happening without jumping to the conclusion that it is in fact Koishi. Taking a scone off of a poor man's table? He must have already eaten it. A strange poking sensation against their arm? Must be their clothes are too tight. Her invisibility wasn't 'perfect' despite being called 'perfect invisibility'. Small children, supernaturally aware, and strong willed people could get the faintest glimpse of her. And that would be enough, if they wished to track her strange pale green glow down they'd find what they were looking for.

In the meantime, Koishi was looking for someone to talk to...someone she could willingly make her presence known to. After all, all of these new and strange people could be interesting...!