Well, here goes Part two of my little Project: A-ko fic.. it follows the
three Prequels, and Part 1, "A Plan Conceived".

Hope you enjoy it...*Please* let me know what you think!!
Coutuva.

+++++

Project A-ko and all original characters Copyrighted by
Soeishinsa/Final Nishijima, Central Park Media Corp., and
Island World Communications Ltd., and are used without 
permission, hopefully to entertain and promote this 
excellent animated series.
*********************************************************

**Author's Note:  < > Indicates someone speaking other than their native,
normal or usual language.**

Renewed Acquaintances - Part 2
First Contact
------------------------------------------------------------------------


	A familiar figure stood partially obscured behind a stand of small
trees, intently watching the small parking lot of the neighborhood park
nearby.  Several children already played noisily among the various
apparatus
set up for the purpose, and the figure glanced over at them out of
curiosity.
	In the figure's hand, a small device resembling a cell phone beeped
quietly, then began to emit a steady sequence of blipping sounds, which
increased in tempo gradually.  The figure smiled wryly beneath it's beat-up
fedora and hi-perf sunglasses, happily noting the relative position of a
small dot on the screen of the device.
	Hearing a vehicle approaching, the figure looked up in time to see
a jade-green Mercedes convertible pull into the small parking lot.  A
black-haired woman and a young child exited the vehicle, and both headed
toward the playground apparatus.
	Looking down at the instrument again, the figure touched a few
buttons and waited for the readout to be displayed.  When the results
finally
flashed across the small screen, the figure grinned widely.
	<"Hmm.. I thought so.  100 percent.  No doubt about it."> the figure
muttered to itself in Japanese.
	Slipping the device into it's large jacket pocket, the figure was
about to head across to the park when a ball bounced gently off it's leg.
	"<Eh?> the figure blurted, turning to see the ball roll off to the
side.
	"Sorry, Mister!"  a young voice called as a it's owner ran up to
retrieve the ball.
	"Daijobu." The figure replied, stepping forward and nudging the ball
toward the child.


	In the park, Eiko found a shady bench to enjoy her book on while
Kikuko ran off to join her friends.  She loved getting out for a breath of
fresh air, and the weather had been cooperating nicely for the past week, a
fact reflected in her deepening tan.
	Just as she opened her book and found her place from the day before,
her still acute senses picked up someone coming toward her.  Automatically,
she tensed a bit, waiting to see what the person's next move would be.
	"Hi, Amii... out with Kiko again?"  a familiar male voice asked from
a short distance behind her.  Inwardly, she snickered about the name... it
had been one she picked on the spur of the moment, after someone introduced
themselves to her the day she moved in.  It wasn't her favorite, but it
worked on short notice.
	Turning, she saw Frank Thompson, a widower that lived a few houses
away from her.  He stood smiling quietly a few feet behind the bench,
folding
a small sweater.
	"Hi, Frank... sorry I didn't see you.  I was reading."  she replied,
pleasantly.
	"That's okay.. I just got here.  The twins talked me into it."   He
said, searching the grounds for his children.
	"I know... Kiko-chan can't stand a sunny day without the park.  So,
I take it you're off today?"
	"Vacation.  I spread it out to give myself a bunch of long weekends.
How about you?"
	"Just the usual.  I still haven't found any work... not that I'm
looking too hard.  I'd rather spend the time at home with Kiko-chan."
	"Yeah... wish I could.  The twins are growing so fast..  Hey,
Amii... want an iced tea?  I'm going to get myself one... as soon as I see
where the twins are."
	Eiko thought about it for a second, then decided there was no harm in
it.  "Sure, Frank.  I have the change right here..."  she began, reaching
for
her purse.
	"Nope.  It's on me.  I owe you one for amusing the twins all
afternoon on Tuesday.  Remember?"  he stated, still scanning the
playground.
	"You don't need to do that... the kids weren't any trouble."  Eiko
protested, holding out a handful of change.
	"More trouble than if they hadn't been there.  Aha! I see them.
They're by the slide with Kiko.  Lemon, right?"  he confirmed, walking off
toward the Cantina.
	All Eiko could do was nod and smile, then shake her head.  She had
known Frank since she moved to the neighborhood, and this act was typical
of
him.  He was a nice guy, but not exactly her type.
	A few minutes later, Frank returned with the teas, and promptly
headed off after his children, not wanting to lose sight of them.  Eiko
again shook her head, wondering how he was going to manage his twins when
they got older if he was this uptight about them now.
        Eiko returned her gaze to her book,  glancing up every so often to
check on Kiko.  The little girl was a bundle of energy, racing from one
apparatus to the other, easily outpacing her playmates.  Eiko sighed,
absently wondering if that wasn't a sign of things to come.
	As she lowered her eyes to the page before her, she sensed someone
nearby again, only this time, the individual was trying to be discreet. 
Her
eyes narrowed as she listened intently to the measured footfalls in the
grass, and assessed the person in question to be fairly large, and quite
probably a threat.
	Closing her book slowly and placing it in her purse, she stood up and
walked away, intent on circling around behind the person she had heard.  As
soon as she was out of sight behind some trees, she raced down toward the
parking area.  Braking to a halt, she turned back and headed toward the
source of the footfalls.
	Quietly approaching the treed area from the opposite side, she
scanned the bushes intently for signs of movement.  Within a few seconds,
she spotted a large figure, clad in gray, hunched down in the trees and
staring at the bench she had just vacated.
	Face darkening in anger, she leapt up in the air, deflected off a
convenient tree, and set up to deliver her famous 'Flying Foot'.  The
stranger heard her and turned just in time to receive a high-heeled size
six
square in the face.  Eiko then dove on the flattened stranger, about to
start
pummeling away, when she got a good look at the purpling face before her.
Stunned, she released her grip and stood up slowly.
	The stranger, despite everything, was the first to speak... in
perfect Japanese.  "O-Ohaio Gozaimasu... <Magami Eiko, I presume?>" a very
familiar voice asked painfully.
	"D!  What the hell are *you* doing here?"  Eiko blurted, both
surprised and angry.
	"<I can't speak that language... >"  D replied, weakly.  "<Can we...
talk somewhere?>" she continued, groaning as she tried to sit up.
	"Damn right.  <Let's go back to my place... It's private enough.
And this better be good!>"  Eiko retorted, helping the large woman to her
feet.
	"Domo, Magami-san.  <I think you'll like what I have to show you.>"
D assured, wiping the dirt and leaves from her jacket.
	"<You'd better hope so.>"  Eiko snarled, shooting D angry look.
"<I'll get my daughter, and we'll get out of here.>"  she continued,
striding off toward the play area.
	D watched Eiko depart, then shook her head sadly.  "<Why do I get
clobbered every time I meet that girl?>"  she wondered, sighing.
	
	Once safely within her house, Eiko prepared some tea and sat D down
in the kitchen.  Seating herself across from the large woman, she glared at
her over the table.
	"<Okay, D.  How did you find me, and why are you here?  And like I
said, it better be good.">  Eiko demanded, eyes narrowed.
	D only smiled broadly, then reached into her large pocket to produce
the cell phone-shaped device.  "<This tracker/proximity sensor homes in on
your bio-signature... All I have to do is program in the pattern, and it
can
track you within 20km.  Once I get close enough to you, it can then home in
and monitor your proximity to me.>" D explained, happily.  "<I used it to
successfully locate our Princess the first time we met.  It was during
those encounters that it recorded your signature, as you were always with
her.>" she continued, grinning smugly.
	"<How convenient.>" Eiko observed, flatly.
	"<And as to why I'm here, this should explain all.>" she indicated,
reaching to her inside pocket to produce a pink envelope.  It was
intricately
trimmed in gold leaf and bore a very official looking symbol.  She handed
it
carefully to the stunned Eiko, who immediately suspected where it came
from.
	Carefully opening the seal, she removed the ornately decorated card
and looked it over carefully.
	"<I knew it.. it's from Shiko!  Wow, what a name... Queen Ciaara
Katherynn Onyema the Sixth.  I see why she called herself Shiko.>"  she
noted, wryly.  "<Okay, so what's up with her...?>"  she asked excitedly,
reading on through the note.
	"<Oh, my god... Shiko's having a baby!>"  She exclaimed, leaping from
her seat.
	"Hai! <And that's not all, Magami-san... read a little more.>" D
urged, excitedly.
	"Ano... <Okay...>"  Eiko replied, looking back at the message
anxiously.
	D sat quietly watching her read, smiling knowingly all the while.
She was quite well aware of what Shiko wanted of Eiko, and fervently hoped
Eiko would accept the offer.
	Eiko, meanwhile, gasped aloud as she read the last few lines of the
note.
	"<Is this for real, D?  She's really that scared of raising a child?>"
Eiko asked in disbelief.
	"Hai!  <That's why she waited so long... and she has stated that she
doesn't want her child raised by nurses and tutors.  Magami-san, she's
petrified of the responsibility, and desperately needs your help to guide
her.  You're the only person who'se advice and counsel she trusts.>"  D
explained insistantly, her eyes pleading.  "<Please, Magami-san... I beg of
you to help my Queen raise a worthy Heiress to the throne.  Without a
descendant, the lineage will end, and we could end up with a Civil War.>"
D continued, her palms together before her, and her eyes reddening.
	Eiko regarded her numbly as she spoke, then slowly dropped into her
chair.  The card slipped from her fingers and landed on the table before
her.
	"<What is it, Magami-san?  Is something wrong?>"  D asked, noticing
Eiko's stunned reaction.
	"<So, basically... you're asking me to help prevent a war, right?>"
	"<Ahhh... in a manner of speaking, yes.>" D responded, hesitantly.
	"<D... I'm sorry... I don't think I can do this.>"  Eiko replied,
slowly.
	D's large jaw dropped.  She hadn't been expecting such a negative
response.  "Ano... <Why?  You were Her Majesty's best friend...>"  D
stammered, unable to fathom the rejection.
	"<You don't understand... I went into hiding two years ago, D... and
the reason was that I had no life left for me after 'helping' everyone
else.>" she began, quietly but firmly.  "<Because of that, I missed my
daughter learning to walk... I missed her first words... I missed her
learning to dress herself... all because someone needed me for something.
I have a good life now... I'm free to live it as I please with my daughter,
and I don't have to answer to anyone.>" she explained, lowering her head.
"<I have no intention of throwing all that away... for anyone.>"  she
continued, rising from her chair again.  "<Now, If you'll excuse me, I have
to go to the store.  The door's over there.>"  she indicated, anger
starting
to edge her voice.
	D couldn't reply.  The large woman simply glared at Eiko with a
combination of anger and disbelief etched on her features. After a moment,
she stood up, bowed to Eiko, retrieved her hat and sunglasses, and headed
for the door.  Stopping momentarily beside Eiko, she turned and looked her
hard in the eye.
	"<Her Majesty will die from a broken heart if you refuse to come.>"
she stated levelly,  then turned back and walked out the door.  As she did,
Eiko felt a quick brush against her skirt's outer slash pocket.
	"<What the hell is this?>"  she snapped, withdrawing a small device
from the pocket.
	"<In case you come to your senses.>"  D replied, an unusual
bitterness in her voice.
	Eiko set her jaw in response, and watched the large woman carefully
as she headed down the walkway.
	"<You're wasting your time... I'm not going!>"  Eiko called after
her angrily.
	D simply kept walking, not even looking back once.
	Eiko stood fuming in the doorway, watching D walk down the street
until she rounded the corner.  Glancing down at the device in her hand,
anger flashed across her face.  Without a thought, she crushed the device
to
bits and threw the pieces out into the yard.
	Closing the door with a deafening slam, she turned to see Kikuoko
standing in the archway to the livingroom.
	"Mommy... what are you so mad about?  Did that man bother you?"
she asked, innocently.
	"In a way, yes."  Eiko replied, walking over and kneeling before her
little girl, her face softening.  "I'm sorry, Kiko... I didn't mean to
upset
you.  That 'man' is someone I knew a long time ago.  He wants me to do
something for a friend of his."
	"Does this mean we have to move again, Mommy?" Kiko asked,
disappointment edging her soft voice.
	"What?"  Eiko blurted, not expecting Kiko to have remembered why they
moved in the first place.
	"You said we moved from our first house 'cuz too many favors were
asking.  That man wants one, right?"  the little girl explained unhappily.
	Brushing the child's bangs back away from her face, Eiko smiled
slightly at her daughter's intuitive response.  "Yes, honey, he does.  A
big
one."
	"So now we have to move again."  Kiko sniffed, looking at the floor
and shifting her foot around.
	"Yes, Kikuko... it looks like we do."  Eiko responded with a sigh,
reaching out and pulling her daughter into a tight hug.


	Later that night, as Eiko lay in bed staring at the dark ceiling,
she replayed the conversation from that afternoon in her mind, remembering
how distraught D had been in trying to convince her.
	In actuality, she missed Shiko a lot, and would love to have seen her
again.  But, in asking what had, Shiko had stepped over the line... she
wanted something from her.  That was the very situation that she had
uprooted
her entire life to escape, and she couldn't bring herself to be in that
position again.
	She was tired of people using her to achieve their own ends, no
matter what they were.  It actually hurt her that her best friend, who
obviously knew that she had left Japan and gone to great lengths to drop
out of sight, would track her down to get her to do the one thing that she
vowed she would never do again.
	Rolling on her side, she cursed her one-time friend for forcing her
into the position she was now in.  She knew that in order to avoid this
situation happening again, she was going to have to leave, and try again to
disappear.  The thought of going through that made her angry, since she had
been in this little town just long enough to be accepted, and for her
daughter to have made some good friends.  Friends she would miss.
	Eiko felt her eyes start to moisten as she thought of having to drag
Kiko away from her life a second time, and get yet another new start.  The
first time, Kiko was barely old enough to realize what had occurred... but
now, she was older, smarter, and on the verge of a potentially disruptive
change in her young life.  The little girl was going to need stability to
lean on, and that had just been utterly destroyed.
	"Kuso.. why did you have to do this to me, Shiko?"  she asked aloud,
wiping away the forming tears with a sniffle.
	Abruptly, she felt a tug at her blanket, accompanied by a soft,
hesitant voice that Eiko could tell had been crying recently.
	"Mommy... Can I sleep with you?"  Kiko asked softly, sniffing back
her own tears.
	Eiko's heart melted.  "Sure, honey..." she answered, rolling over to
face Kiko, who stood sheepishly beside the bed, holding her favorite
stuffed
bunny by one paw.  "C'mon in.  Were you crying, Kiko-chan?"  she asked,
wiping the child's cheeks.
	"Yes, Mommy... I don't want to move."  she said sadly, crawling in
beside Eiko and snuggling against her.
	"We may have to, honey... now that they know where I am, people may
come around to ask me for things again.  I don't want that to happen... It
would take me away from you, and I'd miss you too much."  she explained
gently, hoping her daughter would understand... or at least accept her
decision.
	"I know, Mommy... but I'll miss Sarah and the park and all my friends
at the monkey bars... Please don't make us move again... I don't want to
go."
the little one argued, starting to cry.  "Please, Mommy?  Please?"  she
begged, looking into her mother's eyes through her tears.
	Eiko felt her chest tighten at her daughter's plea, and scooped the
sobbing child into a tender embrace.
	"We'll see, honey."  she sobbed, her voice choking to a whisper.
"We'll see..."

	D, meantime, sat quietly under a large tree in the park where she
had 'met' Eiko earlier.  As she finished the last of the submarine sandwich
she was snacking on, she sighed heavily.
	"<I can't believe she said no... I thought she'd be thrilled to be
invited to live in the Palace with her old friend.  Something terrible must
have happened to her to make her so bitter.>"  she thought to herself
sadly.
Sighing again, she fumbled around in the darkness for her tracker/sensor,
which also acted as her communications link with the ship that awaited her
reports.
	Locating the unit, she activated it and prepared to report her
disastrous news.
	"This is Operative DC138621S113, Codename 'D' reporting as ordered."
she stated in her native tongue, holding the unit before her face for a
good
picture.
	"Go ahead, Operative D."  came the reply, flatly.
	"The news is not good.  I have located the target and made contact,
but she *refuses* to return with us.  I have left a calldisk with her
should
she change her mind, but I'm not optimistic at this point in Earth time."
	"This is not good, Operative D.  You are aware of the importance of
this woman to our Queen, are you not?"
	"Yes.  I know it's more than just the Heiress issue, if that's what
you're referring to.  I knew that long ago."
	"Good.  Then you will continue to monitor the target and if
necessary, make contact again and try to convince her to come willingly.
Regrettably, we can't force her, so use your best tact and diplomacy to try
again.  This mission must succeed, D."
	"Right!" D replied, and shut down the link.  Closing the device up,
she looked up at the starry night sky and sighed aloud once more.
	"I'd hate to see what will happen to our Queen if it doesn't..."
she thought to herself, sadly.




====================================================================
END - Renewed Acquaintances - Part 2    A FanFic by V. Coutu.


Comments Welcomed - Flames Extinquished!
coutuva@vecdev.com
coutuva@hotmail.com




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"No, we don't broadcast animation live anymore... it puts too
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