The Assassin and the ESPer - The Sequel
Part 01 - Waiting
By Amidala

Notes: This was originally going to be part of the story. Then I decided not to use it. However, the people have spoken: they all want to kill me for where I ended AAE (Assassin And ESPer). So, this is being added in again, only as a sequel.

Disclaimer: This story has nothing to do with Usagi, as most of mine don’t. This story has everything to do with Makoto, as ALL of mine do. If you don’t like Makoto, go away. If you don’t like me because I don’t like Usagi-fics … go away.

Other than that: Happy reading!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sitting in the kitchen, at the table, idly twirling a straw, was not her idea of fun. But there she was, staring at the clock that was mounted on the wall in the living room, just opposite her. The ticking was becoming like a stability measure, and unconsciously she had adjusted her heartbeat to match the sounds. The air was very calm, annoyingly so, and there was a sense of unease surrounding her as she stared moodily down at the plastic tube.

“Two days,” Makoto muttered, “It’s been two days since they left, and left me alone again. Where the hell do they go all the time?!”

She’d woken up and found them gone the day before and since had been running on annoyance, two extra hours of sleep, and near a gallon of coffee. She debated punching a wall to take out her frustration, but settled on tossing a kitchen knife into one of the couch pillows. It missed by three feet. She growled and got up to retrieve it and crossed all the way to the living room windows that faced the driveway.

It had, in fact, only been one day and ten hours since her new family had left her alone in the huge mansion they lived in, but Makoto had always been one to round up her hours and minutes, especially when kept waiting. Waiting was not something that had come easily to her for a long time, but all her training with Schuldich to control her powers had helped her acquire that discipline. That wasn’t to say that she enjoyed the waiting, however, and once again she found herself waiting for Nagi, Schuldich, Farfello, and Brad to come back after one of their “business trips” with their boss, Reiji Takatori.

“And once again, I am left in the dark,” the frustrated girl muttered out loud.

So far she had watched every movie that appealed to her (all three of them), taken so many walks around the garden she could walk the paths blindfolded in her sleep (and imagine it only took her five times). She’d read all the books she wanted twice through (all two of them), and made enough food for them all to eat for a month. She had even put out the medical kits that would be required when they got back, because any “trip” over three hours long always meant that one of them would come home injured in some way. And still, they weren’t back.

“Where are you?” Makoto whispered, leaning against one of the front windows, hoping to see their black car driving down the drive.

Nothing.

//Schu-ani …where are you?// she called out mentally, not expecting any response.

//Oh you know, hanging around the finer neighbor hoods of Tokyo,// came back the slightly nasal voice.

Makoto pushed away from the window.

“Schu?” she asked out loud.

//You were expecting the Easter Rabbit? Of course it’s me. How many Schuldich’s who can communicate telepathically do you know?//

Now she groaned out loud. “And all this he says after I’ve spent almost two days worrying.”

//You shouldn’t. We always come back alive.//

“That’s not the point! I never know where you go, I never know what you do, and most importantly, I’m never allowed to join in the fun! And almost always one of you comes back bleeding, besides. How am I supposed to take care of you if I don’t know anything?”

//That’s not for you to worry about, love. We’re just doing what we always do: serving the fat man known as our boss.//

“I don’t see why you put up with him. He’s such an asshole.”

Mental laughter resounded in Makoto’s head. //That he is. But he pays us nicely, so we put up with him. … SchiBe!//

“Schu-ani? Doushita no?”

//Betsuni, Mako-chan. I have to go now, ja matta ne!//

And just like that, he cut off mental communication with her. Swearing loudly and colorfully, Makoto threw the knife back into the pillow. It hit dead center.

“Shimattaaaaa!” she screamed in total frustration and helplessness and anger.

Some of the birds in nearby trees flew away.



An hour later showed Makoto still waiting by the front door nursing her third cup of coffee for the night. They still weren’t back. She’d had no more contact with Schuldich or been able to Hear any of their voices since he’d cut of contact with her an hour before.

“What the hell are they doing?” she demanded of the wall yet again.

Yet again she received no answer.

“Great. Now I’m talking to myself. I must really be bored. Either that, or I’m going insane. Yeah, that’s it. I must be going insane. … Maybe I’m just over-tired. Maybe I should try to take a nap or something. But what if they come back? I should be here to greet them, I always am. I guess I’ll just stay here then.”

Her thought patterns had been running in circles like that all day, and always with that same conclusion. So she stayed, and to fill the silence, she turned on the TV, flipping to random stations when one voice grew annoying. Eventually they all sounded the same; she turned on the radio.

“Nagi … “ she whispered, staring at one of the few pictures on the wall.

It was one of those candid shots that you hated the photographer for taking at the time, but loved them forever after. She and Nagi had been playing in the huge fountains in the gardens at the time. He’d splashed her and she’d retaliated by tripping him into the water and they’d both wound up soaking wet because he had pulled her in after him. She had landed on his lap, and that was when Schuldich had whipped out the camera and taken the picture.

That’s it. I can’t take it any more. I’m going to find them.

The four always left an address of where they were going when they left, incase that she desperately needed to reach them for some reason. They also left her with the phone number of the building. She was quite sure that these were very fake numbers, and so had taken to doing her own research of their cases. Currently her hacking and detective skills were coming along quite nicely, though they were not as good as those of her adoptive family’s. This mission found the four at a big political party where they were to act as Takatori’s bodyguards.

For such a hot politician, he sure needs a lot of protection, Makoto sneered mentally, he must be paranoid about something.

Everyday her good opinion of him (which hadn’t started out very high) became less and less.

The party was at one of Tokyo’s big halls, not too far that she couldn’t get in by taxi as long as she walked to the company lot a few miles down from where she lived. The first lesson that Brad had taught her was that she was never to show anyone the location of their home. She didn’t understand it at all, but she also didn’t really have anyone to show it to.

Usagi and the other Senshi kept regular contact with her by phone, but they were too far away to make day trips anyway. Being on the other side and just a little ways from the border of Tokyo tended to separate the Schwartz family from a lot of people, and sometimes Makoto got the feeling that it was a purposeful thing.

Target locked on, Makoto grinned to the computer screen. You may not want me there, but I’m coming anyway.