Momiji spent the whole day at class even more scatterbrained than her usual self. She just couldn't seem to focus on anything today. "Whew Momiji, get a grip on yourself," she mumbled. "It was only a damn dream."

"Did I hear you say 'dream' Momiji??" her friend Akiko, who went to the same school, teased. "Dreaming about ol' Loverboy-Todd?? You really gotta quit that, you turn into such a space cadet when you do."

"No, not about Todd...about, well, nothing. Nevermind." Momiji said. "Ok..."Akiko shrugged. "Well, you're still acting pretty weird today. What's gotten into you? You're not hiding something from me again are you? I thought we went over this last time!"

"No Akiko, I really mean it's nothing. Don't worry about it." Momiji tried to put on a big smile. Akiko eyed Momiji suspiciously. "Well...ok...lemme know if you ever need to talk about something though, right?"

"Will do, Akiko. Now, I gotta run or I'm going to be late for work. Catch you later!" Momiji waved and ran off, late as usual.

She only got a few blocks when she suddenly heard loud noises and yelling from an alleyway up ahead. Warily, she crossed to the other side of the street and slowed down to take a look. As the yelling got louder, she could make out the sickening sounds of flesh on flesh, the wet smack of a fist making contact. Gang fight? she thought to herself. Torn between running away and her curiosity, Momiji stood on the street and peered into the dark alley, trying to make out just what was going on inside. She could hear the voices more distinctly now.

"Freak!"" We're gonna kick your ass freak!"" Where's your fight now, huh?" "You just going to lay there and take it like a bitch?" Each one of these insults was accompanied by a blow and Momiji could make out a ring of tough looking street kids surrounding a prone figure. All common sense fell away as Momiji indignantly surveyed the scene. Her compulsion to stick up for the underdog kicked into overdrive, and against all better judgment she reached into her purse for the small gun she now carried. Too many psychopaths around still made attempts on her life, just 'in case', and she had taken it upon herself to learn how to use a weapon. Without Kusanagi...well, she had to take care of herself now. She was a lot tougher than she used to be.

Gritting her teeth, she stalked over towards the alley, gun held in a steady grip as she took a stance by the opening. "Ok, scumbags!" she yelled angrily. "Leave them alone!"

As they all turned shocked faces towards her, she saw that they were younger than she had guessed, maybe 16 or 17. One by one their surprise melted into a sneer, and they looked her over contemptuously. "What are you gonna do about it, lady? Shoot us?" one particularly weedy youth laughed. Momiji narrowed her eyes and stared the kid down. She wasn't going to take this kind of shit from this kid. She didn't need this right now. "Just do it!" she barked, hoping that she sounded convincing. Could I really shoot him? she wondered as her gun wavered slightly.

Slowly the group advanced toward her, accompanied by various comments on the 'fun time' they were going to show Momiji. 'I mean it," she said. "Stay back or you'll regret it!" When they all laughed again, something seemed to break inside Momiji. All the helplessness she had felt throughout her life, all the attacks she had depended on others to rescue her from came rushing into her mind. In these pimply kids faces she saw all the countless Arigami who had tried to kill her, all the crazy people who accosted her on the street, all the hate mail and threatening letters she got daily. But this time it would be different. This time she would stand up for herself. This time Momiji would rescue someone else. This time…she steadied her stance and let the anger course through her. "No!" she cried out. "Leave…me…alone!!!" And she fired a shot directly at the gang leaders left foot.

As the report rang out, the youth's faces turned to disbelief, and then the air was filled with the screams of the injured leader. Hastily, the gang dragged their comrade out of the alleyway, cries of "Quick, the cops will come!" trailing in their wake. Momiji dropped the gun as if it had burnt her and stared at her hands for a minute in shock. She had actually shot them! I shot them! She repeated over and over to herself. I shot them! She was startled out of her daze by the sound of a muffled grunt. Oh jeez! She thought. In all the excitement she had forgotten about the very person she was trying to rescue!

Hastily she ran over to the crumpled person lying face down in the alleyway slime. "Hey, hey mister!" she cried out. "Mister, are you ok??" He looked pretty bad, she didn't think he was moving at all until she saw him struggle a little to roll over.

"Here, I'll help you," Momiji's reached out to the man's shoulders. "Although I don't really think you should be moving. Let me go get some hel..." Momiji froze, hands hovering above the man's now face-up self as her sentence trailed off into the dead silence. No! Her dazed mind struggled to sort through its confusion and surprise as she stared at the face below her, bloody and bruised with two eyes swollen shut. It can't be! Momiji jerked her hands away like she had been electrocuted, stumbling backwards in her shock and tripping over the refuse in the alley. Dumbly, she fell back with a hard thump onto her backside and ended up in the muck, eyes about to pop out of her head. She could do nothing but stare in mute disbelief as Mamoru Kusanagi groaned again and appeared to regain some consciousness.

He struggled for a few moments to sit up before achieving any success, and Momiji was too stunned to even attempt to help. "K-Kus..." she croaked out through a mouth and throat suddenly gone dry. Swallowing and clearing her throat she tried again. "Kusanagi?" she whispered.

He suddenly froze in place, his puffy eyes attempting to force themselves open enough to see. "Who is there?" he cried out, the effort making him cough "How do you know me?...who are you?" Kusanagi struggled the rest of the way up and stood swaying unsteadily, green blood dripping from dozens of cuts and bruises blooming all over his body. One arm was cradled in the other and looked like it might be sprained. "Who are you??" he yelled, panicked with a feral look on his face. "I can't see." Kusanagi began stumbling out of the alleyway,

"Kusanagi!" Momiji cried out, desperate to calm him down. "It's me!" Kusanagi stopped moving so abruptly he almost fell over."Mo-Momiji?"

"Kusanagi, it's me!" Momiji scrambled up and started towards Kusanagi, reaching towards him with one hand. At the sound of her voice getting closer Kusanagi began backing up hastily, tripping over piles of trash before he suddenly suddenly flew up into the air and dissapeared over the rooftops.

"Kusanagi! Kusanagi! Come back!" Momiji screamed into the empty dark sky. "Please!" Frustrated, Momiji gritted her teeth and took off running out of the alley in search of Kusanagi. Racing out the opening of the alleyway onto the street, she eagerly scanned the horizon but couldn't see anything. He was gone. Again. "Damn!" she swore, most unlady-like, and stomped off to search for him, calling his name as she ducked in and out of the shadowed alleys.

He was too hurt to be flying around like that! Why had he run away?? That was her job usually. All these past five years, she had secretly entertained fantasies of meeting Kusanagi again but somehow they had always ended rosier than this debacle just had! Not that she could blame him of course. If she were him she would hate her too. Unwillingly, scenes of their messy breakup began replaying in Momiji's head, and she gave up the search for Kusanagi, sadly trudging home to the movies in her mind.

"Its time for me to grow up Kusanagi. I can't have you following me around like a well trained guard dog trying to protect me all the time!"...

Fragments of their last conversation chased after Momiji, rearing their ugly heads and laughing at her confusion. God, she thought it had been the right thing to do! He couldn't really have loved her. No brainwashed guard dog really loved its charge, it was just obedient. Little had she imagined how much she had loved him, and how much it would hurt to be seperated from him until the deed was done. Even now she still felt ugly, cruel, and stained when she remembered the way she had treated him. But she knew it had been the right thing to do. She had to set him free, let him live his own life. If you love something, set it free and all that, right? Right? So...why hadn't he come back to her?

Because you were right! A nasty little voice whispered in the back of her head. He really didn't love you at all. You were just a silly, stupid girl. That's why he ran off again, before you could get some silly ideas in your head and try to hook your claws in him again. Can you blame a guy for wanting his freedom after years of groveling for you and Kaede? Sadly, Momiji sighed agreement and began walking home through the growing twighlight gloom.

A few blocks away inside another alley, Mamoru Kusanagi was propped against the cold brick of a building, trying deperately to get his pulse back under control. He was mortified that he had ran off like that, but he couldn’t seem to control his panic or the uproar of emotions he went through with seeing Momiji again. What in the hell is Momiji doing running around Tokyo and threatening gang members with a gun?!?!? If that was Momiji... he growled to himself. That girl...well, er, woman! in the alley looked far different than anything Kusanagi remembered from 5 years ago. No baby figure there any more...she probably gave up those cartoon panties too, he thought with a wicked grin as visions of more 'adult' options danced through his head. But as suddenly as the grin had appeared it was wiped away as Kusanagi's memory flashed a few choice images at him. Namely, THE scene. The big, fatty, drawn-out, festering last time he had seen Momiji. Quickly that was followed up by a photo he had seen in the newspaper of Todd Schell, otherwise known as one certain Kushinada's fiancé. His Kushinada! Kusanagi couldn’t squash that feeling of ownership fast enough. Involuntarily he winced at his own stupidity, and the pain his battered face registered caused him to wince again. Who knew why she had wanted him to come back…he could still hear her voice calling him faintly. Probably to kick him while he was down. Or ask him why he was letting himself be beaten up. How could he explain to her? How could he tell her that they were right…they were all right about him and he was so very damn tired of fighting. Or, best of all, maybe she wanted to invite me to the wedding…yippee, he thought, dripping with sarcasm even in his own head. Frowning to himself, Kusanagi pushed himself away from the wall and staggered off in search of a place to curl up and lick his wounds, both physical and mental.