College Life

Part 10: The truth in deed

by Greenbeans <[email protected]>

Disclaimers:

Mild cursing + (There's a lot of yelling going on at the

end ;)

Meant to do this at the end of part 9, but I wasn't sure

how to phrase it. Oh well, at this point in the story, the
author and the character are two completely separate
entities. The character started off based on the author,
but has changed and 'grown' to a point that they are now
entirely different.

Why do I point this out? Because of this story and some

of the ones coming up. It was something that need to be
brought up to avoid any future confusion :)

Comments, thoughts, complaints, compliments, ramblings,

and flames are all accepted. But the latter two stand a
serious chance of being printed out and turned into rat
cage lining.

All characters are property of their respective holders.

I belong to myself, thank you, and have a nice day :)

********** Saturday night **********

It was hard to see much of anything in the dimly lit room.

The only source of illumination was coming from the harsh
glare of two computer monitors.

There was a single operator for the two machines. The

one that the operator wasn't at was monitoring progress
while the one being worked on forged that progress.

'I need your help.... You're the best when it comes to this
type of work.... You want to know also, right?' These
words ricocheted around in the operators' mind.

'I am the best,' the operator responded. 'But what you ask
for is no easy task.'

'It's just a standard hack. Why should this one be any

different from a dozen others that you've done in the past?'

'Because it's *them*. This isn't the first time that you've
tried. How many times have you been shut out previously?'
The operator challenged.

'True,' the other admitted. 'We just weren't using the

right personnel. That'll be different this time.'

The operator though it over carefully. 'Yes, this time

it will be different. I need to prepare. I'll begin after
the Christmas break.'

The other smiled in gratitude. 'Take however long you

need. It's good to have you on the team for this. I'm
sure that if anyone can crack into the files of Haruka
Ten'ou and Michiru Kaioh, it's you.'

'Don't flatter me. I haven't done it yet,' the operator

scolded.

********** Monday (two weeks later) **********

Michiru was working on unpacking their things from their

trip to Tokyo. Haruka was off at the market replacing the
perishable foodstuffs.

Being alone gave her time to think. Their trip had been
enjoyable with getting to see everyone again. She chuckled.
Usagi had hung all over Haruka at the airport to her and
Mamoru's embarrassment.

The best part of the trip was getting to visit their daughter
and best friend for two weeks. They had spent as much time
with the two of them as they could doing things such as
playing in the snow, shopping, and just being a family.

Haruka was such a good father, she reflected. How many

would go to the lengths that she does just to see their
daughter happy? It's an old adage that a daughter always
holds the keys to her fathers' heart. That was never
proven truer than in this case.

She laughed to herself some more when she remembered Haruka

playing in the snow with the energetic Hotaru. She tossed
aside all reservations when she was around the little girl.
Few would ever get the chance to see the normally composed
Haruka hopping around in the snow with the happily squealing
Hotaru on her back.

It would have been all that funnier with Beans there to add
her two cents into the fray.

Yes, she had missed the girl some while they were away.
She knew that Haruka felt the same way. They told everyone
about her and now they all wanted to meet this gaijin that
provided a challenge for the dominating Haruka.

She pulled the silk kimono that they had made for her out
carefully. It was well made, hand crafted. She smiled
as she examined it. Beans should like this very much.

It was a good visit up until the last few days. Setsuna

warned them of previous attempts to break into their
school records. The frequency of these attacks had gone
up over the last month.

They valued their privacy very much. Setsuna had locked

up their personal records so that no paper trail would
left. Thing such as past residences, phone numbers, tax
records were all sealed away. It was meant to be another
layer of protection since they did live with danger at
every turn. Some might think of them as being paranoid,
they saw it as covering their butts.

They all considered the recent invasions to be a major threat.

There were things that they didn't want the world to know,
but could become accessible with only a mouse double click.
The thing of greatest concern to Setsuna was if this person
could unbury the paper trail of their financial standings.
She doubted that they could find them all, but even a
fraction of them could possibly lead to other things.

And now the game seems to have been taken up by a new and
more skilled player.

The blue haired genius truthfully answered that she was no

match for this newest threat. She managed to turn aside a
probe, but she believed that the other was just testing her.
It was only a matter of time before the other found what
they wanted if they didn't physically stop him.

Ami tracked the source back to the college Haruka attended.

It almost made sense with all the computer geeks running
about, but that made it all the more difficult. They
couldn't just go around eliminating geeks for having the
ability without proof first that they were the perpetrator.

Setsuna was going to come to the States once she and Ami
narrowed the field of candidates down from their side.
Haruka and she would work from this angle. They didn't
have much time before he would break through.

Haruka was going to the school to speak with Beans after she
finished the shopping. She had finally convinced her to trust
the girl since this should fall within her area of expertise.
With any luck, she could help them narrow the field of
candidates down.

*****

I was reading quite peacefully until a stack of books were

dropped onto the table besides me. Reflexes took over as I
scooted back away from the noise looking for the source.
Haruka, with that damn annoying smart-ass grin of hers, sat
down opposite me.

"Miss me?" She asked sweetly.

"No!" I exclaimed in mock anger. Once my heart resumed

beating at a normal rate, it made it easier for me to focus
on her.

"Too bad," she stretched her arms up, then folded them
behind her head. "I missed you," she said it jokingly, but
a part of me believes that she actually meant it.

"How was your trip?" I book marked the page I was on so

that I could get back to it later after Haruka had her say.

"Got to visit my friends, ate good food, drove fast cars.

What could make it better?" She snagged a couple of chips
from the bag I was munching out of.

"Oh, I don't know. Seeing your family, enjoying the holiday

spirit, torturing someone else," I put a bit of an edge on
the last comment, but she laughed it off while continuing
to eat my chips.

"Did see my parents," she added as an after thought.

"I'm sure they're glad to know you care," I said dryly.

"Watch it there, Beans," she warned. "I love my folks very

much. They have always been supportive of me."

"It gladdens my heart to know that," I replied humbly.

"So what were you up to during the break?" She asked after
we sat examining each other for several moments. It wasn't
as a challenge as so much as just reestablishing our
understand of the other.

"I played with my computer all break," I answered.

She laughed at me for that. "And you call me bad for putting
my friends and cars above my folks. You do the same thing
you hypocrite!"

I smiled slightly. I had stayed with my parents during the

break. I didn't get to see them much because they were
always at work, or I was on the computer.

"What are you doing here? Classes don't start until

tomorrow." It was school tradition to begin classes on
Tuesdays instead of Mondays after the breaks. I'm not sure
why exactly, but it is a nice respite from having to just
dive back into classes.

She pointed to the pile of books she dropped earlier.

I groaned. "Haruka, you're supposed to pick those up before

you leave."

She shrugged at my reprimand. "I was being lazy."

She shifted slightly in her seat before going onto another

subject. "Listen, Beans, we've got a bit of a problem,"
she said before introducing the source of her trouble.
She waited until she had my full attention before
continuing.

"Michiru and I appreciate our privacy. We've gone to great

lengths to assure that we have that privacy. Our problem
is that someone is currently trying to hack into our records.
We've been able to stop them so far, but we can't hold
them off forever. We know that it's someone from this
school that's doing it. A friend of ours that will be
helping us is going to be arriving soon. Hopefully she'll
have some leads on who the hacker is, but we may need your
help to either stop them or to provide information."
The steel in her eyes convinced me that she was taking
this very seriously.

"Haruka, I tell you this in all honesty, so please trust

me when I say that you are worried about nothing," I wanted
to reassure her that everything would be alright. She
didn't need to fly off the deep end.

"I can't agree with you. We are considering this to be a

threat and are treating it as so," her tone was firm. There
was no way that I was going to persuade her otherwise. Not
when she was set on being paranoid.

"If that's how you wish to go about it," I replied without

any commitment one way or the other. "But I think that
you're getting worked up over nothing."

She glared at me for a moment. I didn't turn my level gaze

away from hers as I had noticed most people tended to do.
She was the one being foolish, and I wasn't going to back
down and allow myself to be ran over by her.

She gave an unladylike snort and picked up her books. "I'll

see you in the lounge tomorrow to study math," she had
walked away before calling back. "Thanks for the chips!"

********** Tuesday (early morning) **********

Cracking knuckles before beginning, the operator of the two

machines laid skilled fingers onto the keyboard. There
was foundation that needed to be laid before anything
could be set into motion.

The hacker searched databases that had previously been

cracked into during the Christmas breaks for any information
that could be obtained. Anything that wasn't absolute
common knowledge fit the definition of the search.

A smile, ever so faint.

The hacker would have it all....

***** (At a more reasonable hour)

"The first day of classes are so boring," Haruka

complained while waiting besides me in the lunch line.

"You're telling me. I think I've got the math prof

from hell for this term," I pointed to the chicken
strips and mashed potatoes.

"How was I to know that Values of the Arts included

just about everything for paintings, to music, to
literature? Plus we have to write a six page paper,"
she didn't get anything from the hot foods line.
She instead built herself a salad.

"Usagi," I called teasingly.

She dropped the salad fork back into the lettuce.

"What?"

"Eh? You're a rabbit for all the veggies you eat," I

leaned past her to get a cup of ranch dressing.

"Eating vegetables is good for you," she scolded.

"Much better then that fried crap that you're eating."

"You're right," I agreed. There was no denying it.

The selection for meals wasn't that great. 60% of
the offered foods were fried. You had to eat some
sometimes, or not eat at all. It was a long running
complaint against the food service.

We checked out and found an empty booth.

"So when is your friend going to show up?" I asked.

"Tomorrow or the next day," she ate her salad. "Have

you found anything out?"

"I haven't even looked. I still think that you are

being paranoid about this."

She gave me a cool look. "We're on the same side.

Why are you fighting us?" Her deep timbre gave her
voice a menacing edge.

"Why won't you trust me on this?" I asked back,

annoyed with her persistence. "You have *nothing*
to worry about!"

"You obviously don't understand," she grumbled and

pushed her hair back.

"You're right, I don't understand," I replied in

a mocking tone. "But you're missing the big
picture too, so I'm not alone."

She chewed on her lettuce as she thought about that.

Swallowing she said, "Things are more complicated
than you know." She bowed her head for a moment
before adding, "It's imperative that our lives aren't
spilled out for the world to read."

She was being completely and candidly honest with me

at that moment. It was rare to see beneath the
gloss to find a 'real, non-superhero' person that
she so often presented herself as unconsciously.

I put down my fork to lay my hand onto hers. She

looked at me slightly startled. "Haruka, NOTHING
will get out. Everything will be just fine if you
let events play themselves out."
She thought for several more moments. "I'm sorry
that I can't believe that," she said with no anger
behind her tone. It was another honest admission.

"So am I," I replied.

*****

'Beans is being no help at all!' Haruka thought

darkly as she stormed to her next class. 'She's our
friend, but she won't help us. Why can't she
understand how important this is?!'

She glanced around the small room, opting for a desk

in the back. She slid into her seat while putting
her book bag to the floor.

'Applied Physics.' She read off of her schedule

sheet. Why did she sign up for this class any ways?
All the physics she need to understand were involved
in making her car, and thus her, go faster. Who
cared about the rest?

"May I sit here?" A man that looked to be about her

age nodded to the seat next to her.

"If you want," she turned her attention back to her

schedule. After a few moments, she noticed that he
was looking at her.

"What?" She asked irritably. Not bothering to look

away from her sheet.

"You're a woman, aren't you?" He asked slowly.

"Congratulations, you can tell the obvious," she

continued to ignore him.

He chuckled. "Why don't you take a look around you?

You're the only female in the class."

She put down the sheet to scan the room. What he said
was true. "So what?" She crossed her arms defiantly.

He chuckled some more. She noticed through her annoyance

that it was a deep, rolling laughter that made others
want to join him. But she was in no mood to laugh.

"Wait, let me guess. Mechanical engineering, right?" He

smiled slightly.

"That is my major," she responded. "How did you know?"

"Well, you are in this class, and it's a core requirement

for the major. Plus it's also on your schedule Ten'ou
Haruka-san."

[Eyebrow twitch]
"Who the hell are you?" She asked in a low, threatening
voice.

He put his hand out to shake with her, "James. I've heard
about you."

He ticked the things he knew about her off on his fingers.

"Exchange student from Tokyo, Japan. Smart. Aggressive.
Bitchy. Good looking, er, girlfriend," he smiled sheepishly
before continuing. "Hang out with those no good geeks."

She was going to take offense, but he stopped her. "That's

the opinion of most the student body, not mine. In
particular, you hang around with Beans," he put his hand
down.

"Do you know her?" Haruka wanted to know some about this
man who had apparently done his homework on her.

"Who doesn't know Beans? She's the one that save my

computer's life Spring term last year. Had some nasty
error that I couldn't even describe, but she managed to
fix it in only a few hours.

"Yep, Beans can keep her computers. I prefer motorcycles

myself."

Her interest was perked some by this. It wasn't the season

for touring, but once spring hit, she wanted to have her
bike in top order ready to hit the road.

"Is that so?" She asked, trying to hide her interest.

"Oh yes," he smiled, not really at her, but at the thought

of his bike. "I'm going to get her in prime condition
during the winter so that I can tour her as soon as the
weather permits."

"Really?"

His answer was cut off as the professor called the class to
order.

"I'll tell you about it after class," he promised before

turning his attention forward.

********** Wednesday **********

Haruka came into the house from the garage. She had
just returned from school for the day. Michiru was
already home from her classes. A welcome sight greeted
her in the dining room.

"Setsuna, it's good to see you," Haruka smiled at the

green haired woman. She poured herself a cup of tea
then joined the two women at the kitchen table. "Who's
taking care of Hotaru?"
She nodded in response to her greeting. "Hotaru is
spending the nights at Mako-chan's while I'm here."

"At least she will be fed well. I'll have to call

Mako-chan and thank her for keeping an eye on Hime-chan,"
Haruka commented.

Setsuna got right to business once they were both ready.

"Someone is definitely trying to get into both of your
records from school, tax, driving, you name it. I don't
think it is related to the earlier attempts that were
being made for awhile in early November.

"Ami and I have narrowed the field down to around a

dozen people with the 'demonstrated' skill. It could
be someone that hasn't ever shown this ability before."

"But that doesn't sound likely because you would have

to be practiced to be able to accomplish the level of
cracking that is going on," Michiru reasoned before
drinking her tea.

Setsuna nodded. "That's what Ami and I figured. Here's

a list of people that we believe could do it, along with
their 'handles'," she passed the printout to Haruka.

"I know some of them," she spoke aloud to herself. She

handed the list over to Michiru while pointing out one
person to her.

"'Beans?' No real name to go with it?" She glanced up

puzzled. Setsuna shrugged slightly.

"Ami wondered over that too. She couldn't find a real

name to tie to the handle. For all we know, that could
be her name."

"I don't think so," Haruka commented. She was about

to add how Beans thought of their running around
looking for ghosts, but didn't. That was between her
and stubborn girl.

"I would like to meet this Beans that you've told us

about," Setsuna sipped on her tea. "She sounds like
an interesting person."

"That's a good way to describe her," Haruka allowed.

"Be nice," Michiru scolded her partner. They nipped

at each other often, but she knew that it was out of
friendship that they did it.

"So how are classes looking for this term?" Setsuna

change the subject. She was considering encouraging
the inner to also go on exchanges if things went well
for these two. They probably weren't the best guinea
pigs to use because of their previous experience, but
it would give her some idea.
"Mine seem like they should be okay," Haruka pointed
an accusing finger at their friend. "You didn't warn
me about that Japanese class clause."

Setsuna smiled slightly. "It was only a minor clause,

nothing that would hurt you. Take the class seriously
and you should get a good grade. How about you,
Michiru?"

A pained expression crossed her face. "Well, it does

seem that one of my instructors this term may not like
me. I'm not sure why, but his whole attitude towards
me changed when he heard my name."

"He's probably intimidated by having such a skilled

violinist as you in his class," Haruka said proudly.

"Perhaps," she thought about it some. This really

shouldn't concern her too much. She's had the students
and faculty against her before. First in high school
when she was simply better than the rest of the student
body and many of the faculty. It wasn't false ego that
said this, but plain truth.

Then the few friends that she had left shunned her
when her like for Haruka became known. People then
avoided her like her preferences were some sort of
disease that would spread to them.

Their absence went unnoticed. Haruka was the only true

friend that she ever had. Sure, she would hang around
with others to be social, that was her nature, but when
it came to true friends, Haruka was her only one.

Coming to be friends with everyone meant a lot to her.

She didn't spend as much time with them as she did with
Haruka, Setsuna, or little Hotaru, but they were also
her true friends.

********** Thursday **********

"Busy this afternoon?" Haruka came up from behind me

in the narrow hall. Her coming out of nowhere didn't
surprise me. I was building an immunity to her little
tricks and 'comments'.

"This afternoon, no," I answered, dodging a knot of

people that decided that the middle of the hall was a
good place to stop and chew the fat.

"Good. Setsuna arrived yesterday and we'd like you

to meet her," Haruka also avoid the obstacle to
remain right behind me.

"Setsuna, Setsuna, oh! She's the one that wants to

become a fashion designer, right?" I asked after
placing the name. I was proud of myself for
remembering. Stuff like that is usually in one ear
and out the other with me.
"You've got it," she encouraged. "We were thinking
that we could all go out clothes shopping. It is
one of her favorite things to do you know," she
grinned wickedly at the expression on my face. I
had barely survived the last time we had gone
clothes shopping. Now they were going to drag me
along with a 'professional shopper.'

"I dunno about that," I said doubtfully. "When are

you going to give my clothes back to me?"

"Ask Michiru about your clothes, not me. Now that

I know you are free, I can always kidnap you, so
it's easier on me if you just come along peacefully,
ne?" By then we had reacted the room that my next
class was held in.

"You have a strange way with logic," I nodded my head

in assention. "Come up to my room and get me when
you're finished with your classes. This is my last
one for today."

She waved bye to me while fighting her way back down

the hall. Well, it wasn't much of a fight. People
instantly parted before her when they noticed that
she was coming near. The group of gossips were
easily dispersed before her icy glare.

I laughed at their indignant manner toward Haruka.

Most people either bowed to her winds or were blown
over by there strong gusts. I like to think of
myself as one of the rare people that could
withstand the gales of Haruka Ten'ou.

*****

"Setsuna this is Beans. Beans, Setsuna," Michiru

introduced us to each other. The other woman was tall,
almost as much as Haruka. She had this really dark green
hair that looked almost black.

I could tell that she was into fashion. The look she
wore caught even my notice, and that doesn't happen
very often.

Her demeanor was distant. While in the car, she didn't

say much with anything she did say directed towards
Haruka or Michiru. That was to be expected since we
had just meet.

But I felt uncomfortable around her. When it comes to

judging people, I trust my instincts first, everything
else second. My instincts were screaming that
something was up with this person.

The first store we hit was of little interest to me.

Setsuna and Michiru tried on clothing. Haruka and I
both leaned up against the wall and discussed last
nights basketball game.

"Haruka," I nodded over in Setsuna's direction. She

was on the other side of the shop looking at skirts.
"Is she alright?"

"Eh? Setsuna? Of course. We've known each other

for years," she assured.

I still felt weird about her. She looked normal, but

she was too cool, too perfect. She lack Michiru's
warm personality or Haruka's fiery temperament. It was
like nothing was taken personally with her.

We continued window shopping for another 2 blocks.

Haruka and Michiru lead the way with Setsuna and myself
following them. Finally, I got fed up with the feeling
eating at me. Turning to Setsuna I asked, "How far up
your ass is the burr?"

She had a blank expression on her face. Michiru was

horrified by my rudeness. Haruka was furious. She
came closer to take me to task for it, but I held up my
hand to stop her.

"I can tell that you're a kind person, but you have this
holier-then-thou, 'I'm not a part of this world, so
don't bug me with it' attitude. How about we start
over and do it right this time?"

I stuck my hand out. "Hi! I'm Beans," I greeted.

She just stood there with a now dumbfounded expression

replacing the blank one.

After a moments consideration, it was replaced with a

warm smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you Beans. I'm
Setsuna Meiou," she shook my outstretched hand.

"Did I just miss something?" Haruka grunted.

"Nothing, love," Michiru pulled lightly on her arm and

we continued walking.

When they had gotten a bit ahead of us Setsuna said,

"You're not like anyone I've met before and I've met
quite a few people."

"You don't know how often I'm told that," I replied

dryly. "Where are you from?"

"No where in particular. Japan if you need to have me

affiliated with a country," she smiled slightly. "You
guessed right implied that I don't hold many allegiances.
But the ones I do have are very important to me."

We continued shopping. Every few stores we would stop

and go in.
Haruka grabbed me by the arm to pull me aside when
Michiru took Setsuna into a cosmetics store. "What the
hell were you thinking!" She hissed angrily. I didn't
turn away from her, but I was seriously tempted to.

"I wanted us to get off on the right foot, that's all,"

I defended my words. The feeling of unease that I had
around her had decreased since I said something, so my
outburst was worth it.

"I told you that you could trust her. She's on our
side!"

"Since when is life a game of ball tag with sides and

all," I challenge, just keeping my anger in check.
She wouldn't listen to me when I told her that everything
would be fine regarding their hacker, but she expects
blind obedience from me when she tells me the same thing.
Damn hypocrite!

[Eyebrow twitch] "How can you be so blind to what's

around you? Everything has two sides. There are winner
and losers, good people and bad people, each coin has a
head and tail. Don't be so naive to the obvious," she
scolded.

Michiru and Setsuna came outside at that moment. They

watched us with a puzzled look because during the course
of our 'discussion' Haruka had backed me up against a
wall with her hands up besides my head. She put her arms
down and backed away from me.

"C'mon love, let's get some dinner," she smiled her most
charmingly at Michiru. "And NO rat food," she directed
the comment at me with a light tone in her voice. But
her eyes still flashed with a touch of steel.

********** Friday (early morning) **********

There was a visitor for the operator this morning. The

rooms' other usual occupants had left for an early weekend,
leaving the operator in peace until he showed up.

"What is it?" The operator asked.

"I was wondering about your progress, and about how you
were doing," he came into the darkened room. The door
was shut behind him.

The operator smiled slightly, but it wasn't to encourage

him. "I'm doing fine. As for what you want, I'm almost
finished."

He walked up to displays. "But you're not in yet," he

protested.

"What? You want me to rob you of your moment of glory.

You can penetrate in the rest of the way yourself. I
simply pulled away the layers that were stopping you."
"The deal was that you would retrieve the records of
Michiru Kaioh and Haruka Ten'ou," he continued to insist.

"What deal? You asked me to get further than you, and I

did the very first night. There's nothing in this for
me except getting my hands slapped if I'm caught."

"I thought that you wanted to know all about them.

Didn't you take any of the files for yourself?"

The operator sighed. "I do want to know about them, but

there are other ways to learn it. Any ways, I've done
what you wanted. You can go the rest of the way without
my help."

The operator escorted the visitor to the door. "I'll

warn you now that you're going after something bigger
than you."

He waved the operator off, "I'm sure that I can handle

it. I'll go in today."

The door was shut as he left the operator's domain.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear," the operator

smiled slightly.

***** Later that morning

"I can't explain what's happening," Ami's voice sounded

exasperated over the speaker phone. She had continued
chasing the hacker from her end. They had only managed
to eliminate 6 of the people still on the list.

Plus, to Haruka's growing frustration, they hadn't been

able to eliminate Beans off of that list for certain. As
much as she's come to trust the geek, she is still a geek,
and can't be eliminated out of just friendship.

"Honestly, I'm puzzled by the haphazard logic that this

hacker seems to abide by," she pulled herself back to Ami's
analysis of the situation.

"First, he breaks down all the firewalls, but doesn't take

anything. He then begins to link all records about you two
into a chain. Anything that can't be discovered by just
picking up a newspaper is in that chain. But he doesn't do
anything with it. What's most puzzling is his next move.

"He puts up his own firewalls around the records; incomplete

firewalls. Anyone with skill can make it through them like
someone working their way though an obstacle course. It
seems that the prize for completing the course is your
records, all your records that he's been able to fine. Stuff
that I thought was purged is in there."

"Shimatta!" Haruka's fist hit the coffee table.

"Would you like me to run through it? I know that I can make
it," the girl asked.

"Yes!" Haruka exclaimed.

"No," Setsuna's calm voice overrode hers.

"Why not?" She challenged angrily.

Setsuna smiled at her. "This hacker has gone to a lot of

setup time for something. Let's sit back and see who tries
to run the course. It may lead us to him."

Haruka nodded at her logic. "But when I get my hands on

him..." she let the threat trail off.

"We all can have our dues," Michiru finished just as angrily.

*****

Ami was dialed into the tech college's main hub. "This is
interesting," she commented to herself. She followed the
lead like someone would follow a trail of bread crumbs. It
looked like it was going to split into two for a moment, but
the path lead her to a single machine.

She called Setsuna on the other line. "I think I've almost
got it. Yes!" She grinned as she read the name of the
host: 'Yggdrasil'.

*****

"What that hell are you doing Beans!" Haruka charged

into the open room. She saw the computer on the desk with
the display going nuts, her modem was crackling at the
amount of traffic it was routing.

She knew that she shouldn't have trusted her!! These

Americans were too damn self-centered to be of any use
to her.

She strode angrily to the computer, prepared to take the

operator out for good. Beans turned around in time to
see the seething anger on her face.

"Haruka, no!" She plead as she lifted her up from her

chair by the shirt collar. She cocked her right fist
back to hit Beans, but was instead stunned by a solid
blow to the gut.

She dropped the traitor down as she folded over from

the punch. "You bitch," she groaned in pain. "You were
on our side."

Michiru followed her in without any sign of her usual

composed self. Setsuna was right behind her.

"I'm sorry to have to do this Beans," she said. It

was now Neptune and Pluto who were standing before
her.

"Deep Sub --" Her words were cut off when Beans cracked
her in the jaw with a left upper cut. The punch was
followed with a hit to the torso that sent her to the
floor gasping for breath. Neptune had left herself open
when she raised her hands above her head to call her
attack.

Pluto stood off with her, staff in hand. Beans pulled

a Louisville slugger out from besides her desk in time to
parry a blow that was aimed for her computer.

"I can't let you do this," Pluto spoke calmly.

"I *must* do this," she replied pissed. Pluto had almost

smashed her most prized toy. Beans swung the bat for an
overhead blow, but quickly changed trajectory to hit her
in the side. It was followed by a blow to the other side.
She fell to the floor in a heap.

With the interruption taken care of, Beans returned to her

computer and began to type furiously.

Haruka had managed to pull herself into a sitting position

and was gathering her strength to attack again.

"Stay there, Haruka," Beans said with a cool edge to her

normally warm tone. "This is for your own good."

"How can you say that?! We haven't done anything to you!"

Haruka was hurt by the girls betrayal, but she wouldn't
let that stop her from killing her.

"Look at the monitor on the other desk," Haruka hadn't

even noticed the second computer that was working away.

"So what?" She sneered. She was only interested in what

the computer Beans was at was doing.

"ARE YOU DENSE HARUKA!?!" She yelled at her. She was

stunned by the anger and frustration in her tone.

She pointed to her other computer briefly. "THAT is the

other person's progress. This is mine. I *was* a minute
ahead of him, but because of you, he slipped past me and
I'm now playing catch up!"

Her eyes went wide at the sudden realization of what was

going on. Beans was trying to stop the hacker from
getting their files.

She saw the expression on her face and said scornfully,

"Yes, dumbass, I'm *not* the one you're after."

"But..." Ami's work had lead them right here. How can she
not be the one? But, no, she wasn't the one they wanted.
She had never done anything to harm them. Why would she
start now?
Beans continued her work. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon you piece
of shit," she chanted while playing her keyboard.

Haruka didn't distract her any further, but instead watched

the two monitors. She couldn't make heads or tails of the
display, but she could tell that an epic duel was going on.

Neptune had regained her breath and was looking over at the
still stunned Pluto.

"I'm fine," Pluto concentrated on the pain. Senshi could

heal quicker if they focused their power into it. Beans
hadn't been gentle with the bat and had fractured several
of her ribs.

Neptune reverted into Michiru. She sat leaning up against

Haruka on the floor.

"Is there anything that we can do to help?" She asked.

"Just sit there and shut up," Beans said annoyed. Things
weren't going her way. Her trap may not go off after all.
Damn it!

Her face had lost it's playful look. Right now it was all
business. Her brow was furrowed in concentration. A bit
of sweat had gathered at her eyebrows.

"Just a little more, c'mon, c'mon," she mumbled. "Come to

Beans you arrogant SOB. Think that I'd do this out of the
kindness of my sweet 'lil heart. Just go a little further."

She leaned back suddenly with a grin on her face. "You're

shit ain't so hot now, is it?!" She jeered her unseen
opponent. "Heh, get outta that one!"

Beans got out of her chair, stepped over the three of them,
to sit at her roommate's computer. She typed quickly, but
without the fury that she had earlier.

"This'll keep you from getting any funny idea," she said
to the computer. With a keystroke, the screen was filled
with scrolling junk characters. "Heh," she turned
around victoriously.

She grinned proudly at the confused Haruka and Michiru.

Looking down at Pluto she said, "Sorry about that, Setsuna,
you didn't leave me much choice. Never attack a geeks'
computer."

"It's alright," she forced herself into a sitting position.

She would hurt for a couple days more, but the worse was
over. "How did you know that I am Setsuna?"

Beans laughed at her. "You all really need to get some

better costumes! Though that staff of yours is pretty
cool."
***** That evening

"So you got to the records first, pulled them all together,
then set the other person that hired you up for the fall?"
Setsuna asked with slight amusement.

They were all at Haruka and Michiru's house. After a quick

dinner, they sat down in the living room to talk. This
whole mess required a bit of explanation. Haruka had been
madder than hell at Beans for not letting her in on the
secret.

"Something like that, but he didn't hire me. I got

nothing out of the deal. He wanted me to break into the
records. I wasn't going to do it at first, but once I
started, I realized how inadequate you're firewalls were.
I tore through them and set up a sort of 'card house'
firewall. I gathered everything together so that when the
house fell, everything would be buried," she leaned back
into the couch and sipped on her drink.

"You could have told us," Haruka protested again.

Beans nodded. "I could have," she agreed. "But it didn't

involve you, so I didn't."

This only angered Haruka more. "What do you mean 'it

didn't involve us'?" She said with a totally calm voice
that would chill the hearts of whoever it was directed at.

Beans shrugged her off. "You weren't a player in the game.

Just a fan on the sidelines with something wagered on the
outcome.

"Don't get mad about it. In this day and age, information
is power. That's the game I play. If you haven't caught
on yet, I'm on your side," she said that with a slight
smile. "I don't give my allegiance to many people, but you
two have it."

From her determined set Michiru could tell that they had just
received a powerful ally. She had noticed how Beans didn't
seemed attached or committed to many things. She treated
everyone with the same friendly disposition, but she wasn't
real close to anyone. To have her commitment to their cause
was a significant announcement for both parties.

"Thank you, Beans," Michiru bowed to her. Haruka also bowed

when the meaning of the event sunk in.

"Arigato, Mame-san," she echoed softly.

"If what you've done with Haruka and Michiru's records

proves to withstand testing, then their are others that
I'd like you to repeat it for," Setsuna said.

Beans nodded. Today, she had finally earned their trust.

********** Saturday night **********

Two people were in the operators domain discussing the out
come of yesterday's events.

"You screwed me Beans. It was a routine hack but you

stopped me."

"You screwed yourself by taking on something bigger than

you," she answered easily. "You were attempting to play
on a level higher than you'll ever reach."

"Is that so? And you've reached this level?" He sneered.

"Hell no. But I can tell when something is so large that

it could engulf me if I screwed up. If you had succeeded,
you would have been killed. I didn't want to see you dead."

"You're bull shitting me."

"Am I? It's your choice on whether you want to believe me

or not, but for your own good stay away, please."

"This is nothing more than a challenge to me. The ultimate

hack," he glared at her.

"You said once that I was better then you. I'll be your
competition should you choose to continue this nonsense.
There are some things that no one is meant to know; not you,
not me. Keep away from Haruka Ten'ou and Michiru Kaioh.
This is likely to be the only warning that you'll receive."

She escorted him out of her room with a warning to never

return.

********** Monday **********

It had taken a few days for the dust to settle in the

aftermath of this odd even. She had seen Setsuna every
day since they had their little encounter. Somehow,
she knew that they had more to discuss, but they both
avoided it by silent agreement.

They both knew that the other still wasn't playing it

straight. No matter how good she thought she was, there
are things out there that she didn't even knick upon.
Setsuna had her hands far enough in the cookie to have
earned them a permanent place amongst the crumbs.

She knew that she wasn't being completely honest with

them. In fact, she had been quite worried that her
whole plan was going to backfire in her face. Having
their resident computer geek, Ami, find her was the break
that she needed. She'd knew that she was being watched,
and needed to distract the watcher to allow time for her
trap to spring. She wasn't going to fess up to this
because Ami would obviously be proud of her accomplishment.

She knew that she'd gotten lucky. Computer crime was

frowned upon by the government, but that's not whom she
was concerned about. It was only by surprise and their
blind rage that she had been able to knock down both Haruka
and Michiru before they managed some serious bodily harm to
her. She was, of course, grateful that she hadn't been
harmed, but she'd never get the drop on those two again.

She walked behind on of the further out buildings. Setsuna

came up from behind her, but she wasn't startled by her
sudden appearance. "I thought that you had left," she said
while turning around to meet the tall woman.

"My business here isn't finished yet," she answered. "How

did you know, Beans? You would have to have known who the
the true threat was to been able to stop him, there was no
other way."

Beans leaned up against the side of the building and looked

off into the distance. "I was the one that hacked into
Haruka's and Michiru's records. I set them up to look like
a prize ripe for the taking."

"Beans, who was the person that you were setting up?"

She turned her gaze back to the woman. Shaking her head she
answered, "I won't tell you who. I've stopped the threat
against you and that's all the further it needs to go."

Beans levered herself off of the wall. "I'm not blind,

Setsuna. I know that bad things would happen to whomever I
named. Only a fool wouldn't be able to see that underneath
the exterior Haruka is capable of nasty things if she felt
justified in them. I don't doubt that Michiru is the same
way. I don't disagree with them, and it doesn't frighten
me, but *I've* taken care of this. They can either accept
that or suffer."

Setsuna bowed her head in acceptance of her terms. "I won't

pursue the matter."

She nodded also. "I'm sorry about the bat to the ribs. I
was so angry that I didn't pull the swing at all," she tone
held a note amazement. "You should be dead," her gazed
returned to the outlying scenery. "I guess you 'Senshi'
are something special."

"We hold true to our duty. What you accomplish is even more
amazing because you don't have our advantages. I can sense
no power from you when I would surely expect it," she smiled
amused. "You're not like anyone I've met before and I've
met quite a few people."

"You don't know how often I'm told that," she replied in
kind with a smile, returning her eyes to the woman. They
stood there like that for several moments. Beans didn't
doubt that this wouldn't be her last encounter with her.

"Take care of yourself Beans," Setsuna sketched a bow and

walked away. When she reached the middle distance she
disappeared completely. Her vanishing didn't frighten her,
it was just another part of these mysterious Senshi.

********** End part 10 **********

Whoa, this one got long, or at least longer than every

other one that I've written thus far :)

Next Episode: "Versus the wall" In all her years of

schooling, Michiru has always had to face the biases of
others who were jealous of her looks, money, or skill.
Now she must challenge someone who's dislike isn't based
on any of those things, but who's goal is to destroy her.

I'd like to acknowledge some of my favorite fanfic authors

whom I drew inspiration from:

* Tim Nolan: "Awakening", "Obligations"

Thank you for answering all of my Outer Senshi questions =)

* Jackie Chiang: "Senshi Kurai"

I really liked this fic for being serious and still having fun!

* Brett Handy: "Oh my God!!" Series

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement you've given, mate!
Check out his Oh My Goddess and Ranma fics at his website at:
http://www.ozanime.com/darkwind/

* A Sailor Moon Romance:

For posting this and providing me with plenty of fics to read ;)
http://ctdnet.acns.nwu.edu/~aerdnahu/#