Sukeban

“What are we going to do with her? Minami, this teenager isn’t a criminal. We can’t very well keep her in a holding cell forever; we have to find something to do with her.”

The officer in question let his eyes flutter as he leaned forward on the table, pressing his mouth against the hands that were tightly linked together. He stared wonderingly at Moto, who stood in front of him with his back pressed against the wall. Omar was sitting next to Minami, equally as displeased with Minami having tossed Rina into a holding cell as if she were just another common criminal. She was an endangered teenager, thrown out into the streets by her very own parents and he treated her as if she meant nothing. It boiled Omar’s blood to see Minami was treating people this way simply because he had the power to.

“There is nothing else to do with her. We will try to get into contact with her parents to see if they want to reconcile with her and take her back in. If they don’t or if we cannot get into contact with them then we will consider her disowned and put her into the foster care system. For the night, Suzuki will be staying in the holding cell.”

“Why does she need to stay there?” Omar spoke up now. He could see Minami roll his eyes and he glared harshly at the young officer. He already disliked the idea of Rina going into the foster care system and Minami’s bad attitude wasn’t helping. Even if Rina’s parents had once thrown her out, he prayed she would be taken back by them. At Rina’s age, her fate in the system looked bleak. Couples only wanted babies or toddlers; teenagers of her age rarely got taken in, at least not permanently. He wanted her to have a loving family, but what chances of that did she truly have if she was in the system at her age?

“Do you have another suggestion, Karim? We don’t have a family to send her too; what else are we supposed to do with her?” Minami asked in an annoyed tone. Omar sighed heavily; it was getting harder and harder to peacefully work with Minami without telling him where to get off.

“As much as I don’t like the idea of the young girl staying in that cell all night, Minami is right you know, Karim,” Moto spoke up now, gaining the attention of both males in front of him. He sighed dejectedly, scratching the side of his head. “We can’t let her back out onto the streets; she’ll get hurt. We have a moral and legal duty to make sure teenagers like her are safe when we find them. Jail might not be a preferred option but it is certainly better than her being out on the streets.”

Omar hung his head, his hands coming up to rub his aching temples. He knew they were both right. He had encountered her twice on the streets and twice now, she had almost gotten herself hurt by the same group of people. If they did let her out and she didn’t have anyone to stay with, what was stopping her from going back out onto the streets alone? She was too soft; she would never survive that.

“Unless you want to temporarily house her.”

Omar’s thought process stopped when he heard the monotone words from Minami. He slowly raised his head again, giving Minami a curious look. The much younger officer laughed at his clear shock and leaned forward onto the table again.

“You’ve taken quite the fancy to her, I see. I don’t know what you want with such a young girl but if you want her to stay out of jail so badly, we can have her temporarily housed with you until we have a more permanent solution for her placement,” Minami explained to the still stunned ex-officer. Omar shook his head to gain back his senses.

“I’d be happy to give her a place to stay,” Omar responded without much thought. He didn’t have to think about it. If the choice was between his house and leaving Rina to sulk in a cold and dreary holding cell, he would automatically choose to take her home with him. He didn’t want Rina getting attached to the idea of living there if it was only temporary but he also knew that someone as fragile as her wouldn’t last very long in jail, even if she stayed in the individual holding cell the entire time.

“Very well, Karim. But let me warn you that if you harm her, I will prosecute you to the full extent of the law,” Minami told him in a much harsher tone that Omar was getting used to hearing. For an officer, Minami was rather rude to the people he was supposed to be working with.

“What exactly do you think I’d do to her? I’ve let her stay there before…”

“Oh? I don’t believe you’ve mentioned this before,” Minami interrupted him. Omar grunted lowly to express his displeasure for the interruption to which Minami smiled at. The officer pushed himself up, beckoning for Omar to follow him as he set off down the hallway.

Omar wasted no time in getting up as well and following swiftly after Minami, leaving Moto to simply mutter something under his breath. Whether that was directed at Minami or Omar, the older male didn’t really care. He was more concerned with explaining this entire situation to Rina in the most caring way he could, although he didn’t expect the teenager to take this news well at all.

The two men made their way back to the individual holding cell Rina was being kept in within only a few minutes. Minami unlocked it, allowed Omar entrance into the room. As Omar stepped in, he quickly noticed Rina curled up in a corner of the room on one of the benches. She didn’t look up at the initial sound of the door opening but she did look up when she heard the door close. There was a small part of Omar that wished Rina hadn’t. The guilt swarmed him when he saw the obvious signs of Rina’s tears. Her eyes were nearly bloodshot and the skin around them was puffy and swollen.

“Rina, we need to talk for a few minutes,” Omar said. He was trying to remember his training as an officer for all those years. He couldn’t look at Rina as if she was really Nadia. She wasn’t. He couldn’t pretend as if she was the same as Nadia. She wasn’t his daughter; she was just another troubled teenager like the hundreds he had worked with before. He had to remember that his role was getting her back into a safe place.

Omar stood silent now. His back was pressed against the wall and his arms were stuffed lightly into his jean pockets while his eyes searched Rina’s form. She wasn’t looking at him; she was looking at the floor with her knees still pulled up to her chest and her arms hugging her legs. He wanted to approach her but his training had taught him better. He didn’t know how Rina felt about him at the moment, it was better for the both of them for him to keep his distance until he did. When Rina continued to fail to say anything, Omar cleared his throat and continued.

“They’ve decided on a plan with you. First off, thank you for being honest with us, Rina. I know it isn’t easy to tell the police something like that.” Omar let his sentence trail off, hoping for a response from Rina. He felt disappointed when she stayed dead silent still but continued nonetheless, “Minami and Moto are going to try and contact your parents. We are hoping to get in touch with them soon and reconcile the three of you.”

Rina raised her eyes now to look at Omar because of his words. Omar didn’t understand it but he could see the fear in Rina’s eyes. She hadn’t told them much about her parents; just simply that they had disowned her merely a few months ago and she’d been living with friends ever since. He didn’t know any of the circumstances why Rina would have been disowned by them. He couldn’t let the confusion slow him down though, he knew an officer like Minami would get impatient soon and come barging in to tell her all of this himself.

“If they can’t get ahold of your parents or they refuse to let you back in… Our only choice is to put you into the foster care system. It wouldn’t be adoption, Rina, if that is what scares you. The system would just find you a caring family to live with until you are of age.”

Omar couldn’t ignore the way Rina’s body began to shake at the words he was saying. He could see the tears in her eyes again just before they began to roll down her cheeks again. She was crying again… He had been really hoping that was one reaction Rina wouldn’t have to the news.

“You said you wouldn’t separate us…” Rina barely managed to get out before she let herself be taken over by the crying again. She wrapped her arms tighter around her legs, burying her face into her knees while her body shook with the sobs that tore slowly at her heart.

Omar could feel his own guilt beginning to eat away at him. He did say that to her. Even if he did know at the time that it could end up being a lie, he didn’t expect that he would feel so guilty if it did turn out to be a lie. Omar and Rina both knew the chances of the system transferring her to a family outside of Tokyo were fairly high. And they both knew that meant Rina might not see Haruna or any of her friends again once she was sent to a family. He didn’t want that to happen to her…

The ex-officer closed his eyes and exhaled softly. What was he thinking? Rina wasn’t Nadia. He couldn’t care for her in that way; she wasn’t his daughter and she deserved a real family that would be able to care for her. He couldn’t use her to replace his daughter. She was just another case; he had to push through with this for her sake, even if it meant taking her away from her friends.

“In the meantime while we wait for the decision to be made, Minami wanted to keep you in this cell… But he’s agreed that you can temporarily stay at my house until we find more permanent and appropriate living accommodations for you,” Omar finished explaining the situation.

Rina didn’t respond to Omar even after he had finished explaining. She could only continue curling herself into a ball while the tears controlled her. He was trying to take her away when he said he wouldn’t… She really thought she could trust him.

Omar sighed softly, deciding that now was the time to approach Rina. He took careful and slow steps towards Rina before sitting down on the bench beside her. He reached out and let his fingertips lightly touch Rina’s leg. The teenager jerked away from him, sending another wave of guilt through him. She was showing clearly how upset she was with him and the entire situation.

“Rina, I’m sorry, but what do you want us to do? You are fifteen years old and on the streets. I’ve encountered you twice, both times you nearly died too. We cannot leave you out there; you need a permanent home and… As much as I know you don’t want to, the foster system is your best way of finding that home.” Omar was doing his best to lessen the pain for Rina but he knew her pain wasn’t lessening even a little with how heavy her crying still was.

He sat back on the bench, letting his head fall back against the cold wall. Wasn’t there something else he could do for her?

*****

Mami coughed lowly as she crouched low to the ground, the cold wind swirling around her beginning to seep past her clothes. She ignored the sensation though and kept moving at the low height, making sure she was ducking below each window. She couldn’t believe what she was doing right now but she to do this. She couldn’t concentrate on anything else. Knowing the possibility that the police had come here, she had to know how Haruna was doing.

This was her only option. She knew that if she knocked on the front door, Madoka would refuse her entrance again and most likely take it out on Haruna afterwards. She’d already accidently made Haruna suffer enough; she didn’t want to be the reason Haruna had to endure anymore pain at the hands of her aunt. She only wanted to find a way to get Haruna out of this.

When she got to what she knew was the living room window, she slowly lifted her body a bit to peer in. She was thankful when she saw that no one was in the living room. With no car in the driveway, she knew that meant Haruna must be in the house alone somewhere. She just had to figure out exactly where Haruna was.

She pushed herself back down low to the ground and continued to sneak around the house. It was only when she got to the window that she knew led to Haruna’s room did she raise her body again. The curtains to the room were open and Mami took the opportunity to peer inside. Her eyes scanned the room until they laid onto Haruna. She could see the boss laying on the bed on her side, facing away from the window and unmoving.

Mami bit down on the inside of her mouth and instantly went to work without another thought to try and get the window open. She had snuck in and out of Haruna’s house multiple times over the years. This was certainly nothing new to Mami. It took her a bit more time than she would have liked but she had successfully managed to open the window from the outside, pushing it up just enough so she could only barely squeeze her body through.

She fell onto the carpeting with a grunt and a loud thud, the window rattling shut behind her from her impact. She could hear the bed stirring and she knew her fall had alerted Haruna of her presence. She quickly pushed herself up, brushing her skirt off quickly before turning to Haruna to see the boss had turned herself over, now laying on her other side so she faced Mami.

“What are you doing here?” Haruna asked her. Mami could notice the way Haruna attempted to keep her voice as hard and stoic as she usually did but the boss’ voice wavered anyways, letting Mami in on a small glimpse of how she was probably feeling. Although Mami didn’t expect Haruna to be feeling very well anyway.

“You’ve been missing for days, Haruna. I wanted to check on you,” Mami told her. She tried to keep her voice hushed on the off chance that someone else was home but she couldn’t stop the loud and worried tone that she let out along with her words.

“Well you found me. Now leave.” Haruna tried to push herself up to face Mami better after she spoke but her arms shook beneath her. She grunted softly when she felt her arms give out, letting herself crash back down to her bed. She growled lowly and Mami sighed, approaching the boss. She looked the boss’ body up and down but couldn’t see a thing. The oversized light blue sweater and dark blue jeans covered nearly every inch of her body and most likely also covered any bruises she might have.

“What did they do to you?” Mami murmured without thinking. She heard Haruna scoff and she knew the boss had rolled her eyes. She gave Haruna a weak smile; she was torn between admiring the boss’ stubbornness and being aggravated with it. Regardless, she pushed herself down, kneeling at the bedside so she was more eye to eye with Haruna. “Stop hiding from me, Haru. Tell me what they did.”

“You already know what they did,” Haruna managed. Her voice broke a bit and she silently cursed herself for not having better control of herself. She looked at Mami, noticing the sad look in the blonde’s eyes. Mami reached a hand out, laying it on top of one of the hands that laid motionless on the bed. Haruna had to admit that it felt nice to feel a gentle touch again.

“They did something new, didn’t they? I’ve never seen you in so much pain.” Haruna wanted to laugh bitterly at Mami’s words. Was it that obvious how much pain she was in? Or was Mami just that noticeable of her best friend’s behaviors? Instead of laughing, Haruna sighed softly. Her composure was slowly dropping, her control over herself slipping the more she looked at Mami.

The memories of yesterday were still fresh in Haruna’s mind; as fresh as the welts and bruises on her body still were. Mami wasn’t entirely wrong about them doing something new. Madoka had ordered Haruna to stand up after dragging her from the closet but Haruna had refused. She continued to refuse until Madoka had grabbed the top of her head, gripping onto a handful of her hair. She yanked harshly, beginning to pull Haruna unwillingly as the teenager struggled against her and the immense pain it was causing her. That new behavior, however, was just the icing on the dose of punishments Madoka and Ken'ichi doled out to her that night.

“No… They didn’t. They were just mad. I’ve never seen them so angry before…” Haruna’s sentence trailed off as if a realization was occurring to her. Her eyes snapped to look directly into Mami’s before they narrowed. “The police. Did you call them on me?” Mami was taken aback by the sudden accusation, though she couldn’t say she hadn’t expected Haruna to bring it up.

“I didn’t call the police, Haru…… Rina called them.” Mami flinched, half expecting Haruna to yell at her. She had temporarily forgotten how bruised and broken Haruna was at the moment; she was probably too tired to even accomplish yelling at Mami.

“Rina…. Did you tell Rina about this?” Haruna accused her again in a harsher tone. Mami shook her head hard, gulping back the guilt and fear that were pouring into her body. This was her fault… Haruna’s pain was her fault. If she hadn’t brought Rina that day then none of this would have happened to any of them.

“I didn’t tell her. She… She saw it on her own. That day I came to check on you, Rina begged me to bring her with and I agreed. I know it was stupid and I’m sorry, Haruna. But I didn’t expect her to see that. When Madoka told us to leave, we didn’t leave. I told her to go wait across the road but she didn’t. She followed me and we… We saw what Madoka did to you.”

Mami paused and a silence filled up the room. She watched as Haruna’s eyes changed from anger to worry. The blonde would give anything to know exactly what was going through Haruna’s mind right now. Was she angry with Mami? Was she upset with Rina? Was she scared? Mami didn’t know at all how Haruna was feeling right now.

“Where is Rina?” The next question Haruna asked made Mami stiffen and nearly made her fall over from where she knelt. Of all the questions that Haruna could ask, why did it have to be the one Mami dreaded entirely? There was no way Haruna was going to be happy when Mami answered this, but she knew she had to. Haruna deserved to know. Perhaps she could even think of a plan on how to get Rina back.

“Earlier today… Rina got called into the principal’s office. She convinced me to go back to class and I didn’t see her the rest of the day. I… I heard that she was escorted off campus by the police.” Mami said her last sentence with hesitancy. She watched Haruna carefully and was astounded when she saw the fear take over her expression. Mami truly couldn't believe what she was seeing. It had to have been ages now since the last time she saw Haruna this genuinely scared.

“How could you let them take her?” Haruna murmured out. It didn’t sound like Haruna was asking the question to Mami directly though, it sounded as if she was more asking it out loud for the sake of asking it and getting it out of her mind. Mami wanted to touch Haruna again but she didn’t dare lay a hand on the boss.

Mami felt so stupid, and she had been stupid. She hadn’t thought much of Rina getting called into the principal’s office and she should have. Rina had been perfectly good in the days she had been back to school; there was virtually no reason for the principal to call her in. She should have seen the police coming but it had never occurred to her. She had been so reckless and stupid, and now look at the mess they were in.

“I’m sorry…” Mami could only manage. She sat back on her legs, looking down at the ground. She had never felt so guilty before; Haruna looked so scared and upset about what Mami had just told her. Her short pity party was interrupted when Haruna coughed. Mami looked up at her, seeing that the moment of fear had been replaced with her usual emotionless eyes.

“Find her and get her back; don’t lose her again.” Mami nodded quickly to Haruna’s orders. Haruna didn’t even need to order such a thing; Mami would do everything she could to get Rina back no matter what. “And Mami… One more thing…”

“What is it, Haruna?” Mami asked, leaning closer to the brunette who was speaking lower now. Haruna let her eyes flutter shut, letting out a small breath and allowing her composure to crumble.

“I won't be back for a few more days and you all can't be without a leader... Which means you're their leader until I come back."