Dear Diary, a condensed historical account: "Taste of Death"

Dear Diary - Taste of Death

    Keiko Takashi was born in suburban Kyoto, Japan as a fairly typical Japanese girl. She was an only child up to her teen years and spoke very little English - only what was required to learn in school - because like many Japanese wasn't terribly useful to her.

    She had very humble aspirations as a child, growing up in her comfortable family home with her parents, Meiko and Yutaka Takashi. Comfortable, but not weathly. Her father and mother both worked hard for everything they had, and were happy to provide it to their only child.

    Keiko was born to them just after they married because they hadn't prepared accordingly. The cost of the birth and Keiko's early care nearly bankrupted the family until the father found a decent paying executive job at one of Japan's largest corporations. The drawback was that he hardly ever was home.

    Eventually he was given his own department and he had to ask his wife to work for him part time when Keiko was old enough to be home alone after she returned from school. Kyoto was safe enough that Keiko was able to walk home from school by herself and spend hours there until her parents returned. She used that time to do homework, wash her school uniform, and then relax.

    She got used to her parents being away. At least the things they bought from working so hard kept her entertained - video games, toys, DVD movies. She learned to cook her own food at a fairly young age so she could still eat well without relying on take-out food - which was close by, but not as healthly. At one point she became good enough that she would cook for her hurried parents to save them a trip to a take-out place to grab a bite during a particularly busy day.

    They treasured the few dinners they were allowed to have with each other, having meals as elaborate as an American Thanksgiving. Because in a sense, they were giving thanks...for each other. For the things they had. In spite of the hardship, there were surely times when it was worth it for all of them. For the parents just providing for their daughter was worthwhile enough.

    The parents, as part of their work, had to occasionally go to dinner parties which lasted late into the night. At first Keiko would dress nicely in fancy, delicate silk clothing, tie her hair up, and go along with them to the party. But she quickly became bored with that and asked her parents to leave her at home where she was more comfortable.

    They had to trust young Keiko to take care of herself and go to bed at a reasonable time while they were out. Keiko was intelligent enough by that point to go to bed just early enough so they wouldn't realize she was up later than she should have been.

    It was after they left for one of those parties that tragedy struck. Keiko was an early teenager then, home alone, having last spoken to her parents that morning before school. She was lounging on the soft, plush living room couch in socks drinking green tea while waiting for dinner to finish cooking, watching an animated movie called 'Castle in the Sky'. Outside it was raining hard, but she was warm and comfortable inside.

    Outside, flashing red lights approached silently. She stared at the window as they moved closer and stopped...right in front of her home. She jumped off the couch, anticipating seeing something exciting in her boring neighborhood happening.

    Once she slipped her shoes on and opened the door her heart began racing. Two police officers were coming right toward her, both having very grim looks on their faces. Outlined by the halo of the flashing lights, they both bowed and apologized, and began to explain what happened as if it were their fault and they deserved to be punished by Keiko.

    Hands shaking, one of the officers handed Keiko a letter, apparently written by the police chief himself. The officer had obviously read the letter already, and as he looked at Keiko expectingly he looked as if he were trying hard not to cry.

    The letter apologized again, telling her that her mother and father had been identified as victims of a terrible car crash. They had died on a nearby highway, on the way home - their car became trapped between a large truck and a retaining wall after the truck skidded in the rain and lost control.

    She asked the officer for confirmation, unsure if the letter was real. The officer who handed it to her assured her calmly that it was real, though it seemed he was struggling to remain calm. His partner turned away and hid his face, unable to cope with the situation.

    That's when Keiko began to cry too. The still composed officer hugged her, and she was sure she could hear him crying too. She would later learn that both of the officers had families of their own with children, and were living their worst fears having to tell Keiko such horrible news. Neighbors began to trickle outside and watch solemnly, heads bowed, as they began to realize what was happening.

    Once Keiko calmed herself enough not to sob openly, the older of the two officers extended an invitation for her to have dinner at his home. She shouldn't be alone at a time like this, he said, and his family would be happy to have her as a dinner guest. She was reluctant at first, but as thoughts of staying in her empty home alone crying made her so depressed. In her weakness and sadness she accepted.

    But eating with this strange family did little to cheer her up. She was grateful for the food and the warm treatment, and thanked the man and his wife heartily for it, but in her mind she just wanted to flee and be alone somewhere with her thoughts, as depressing as they might be. Once dinner, dessert, and a DVD movie was over she politely declined an invitation to spend the night there even though she was exhausted.

    Even as he drove her home, the police officer tried to offer again, but she declined. As Keiko walked back to her home in the rain, she didn't look back - but she could feel the eyes of the man on her, looking at her with pity and sorrow. Keiko crawled into her own bed, curled up, and sobbed. The poor man who offered her his family's hospitality wouldn't sleep well that night either.

    It was days later when Keiko's parents were cremated according to tradition, and their ashes spread into the ocean. By that time, she was saddened and depressed, but she had also run out of tears. She had also become numb to visits from the police officer, from her high school teachers, and from an attorney appointed by the court to handle her parents' estate, all stopping by.

    The police officer only stopped by to check on her, and his wife occasionally accompanied him, both trying to cheer her up and encourage her to rebuild her life. The teachers visited a few times trying to encourage her to return to school and improve herself as her parents would have wanted. But all she wanted to do was stay home and be sad, aside from venturing out on exploratory walks to to buy groceries.

    Her inattention to matters led the attorney to finally tell her bluntly that she only had enough money from her parents to live for maybe a year or two on her own. After that she would have no place to live. Because she had taken off so much time from school her grades were now abysmal and therefore she couldn't get permission from the school to get a job. That meant she needed a new family.

    Unfortunately she had no other relatives who could help. Her mom and dad were both only children and their parents had already died years ago. If she had any relatives left at all they would be too old to care for her anyway, especially on a fixed retirement income.

    The police officer and his wife attempted to adopt her but was rebuffed by the court. He simply didn't make enough money to support yet another child, especially one who was a teenager. And while he was a police officer with a good reputation he had no experience with adoption - teenagers were usually given to families with some previous experience if possible.

    There was one such family - the Seranos. They were an American family who lived and worked in Kyoto, and at some point had become approved by the Japanese authorities for adoption. Once the court located them the attorney notified Keiko. He told her it was the only way that she could survive legally. She had no choice.

    At the time Keiko tried to look at the bright side - she would still be able to live in Kyoto and could return to the same school and all of her familiar places. She could virtually ignore her American adoptive parents like they were hotel keepers and live her life as close as she did before as she could.

    She moved in with them, taking as much as she could from her old room to furnish her new one, making it a familiar living space. She took a room at the end of a hallway so she could be isolated with exclusive access to the bathroom across the hall. Keiko spent nearly all of her time at home, at first, in that room without interacting with the Seranos much except for dinners and an occasional movie. They seemed patient with her at first because they knew she was still traumatized.

    Even that wouldn't last, however. Charles Serano Jr, Keiko's new adopted father, was transferred back to his company's headquarters in Los Angeles. Only he was asked to transfer back, but since it seemed it would be permanent his wife Sarah insisted on accompanying him and bringing Keiko as well. She thought it would be good for Keiko being immersed in a new language and culture. Keiko hated the idea but had no choice but to go along. If she tried running away she would just be broke and homeless.

    Keiko was admitted to a private school in L.A. about a week after they arrived. She spent most of her time at home trying to avoid the alien language and culture she was supposed to be immersed in, because she was afraid of what it would be like being a lost stranger. And as she found out on her first day at school, she was right.

    The other students treated her horribly, making fun of her because she didn't speak well and because she spoke softly. They literally pushed her around because she was smaller than most of them. The teachers constantly reprimanded her for being too quiet and not speaking correctly. She found herself absolutely miserable.

    She dealt with that eventually by making other people miserable. During her first week an older male student made fun of her name and made some comment she didn't understand but could tell was fairly lewd by nearby students' reactions. She attacked him and beat him bloody and unconcious as everyone watched. That earned her a week suspension, which she was happy to accept - but it also brought to light that she had been given basic martial arts training years ago by her real parents.

    The beating of that male student was a sign that Keiko had stopped caring. So much evil had happened to her that she no longer expected courtesy, good manners, or caring from anyone. Cruelty still hurt her but she did her best to insulate herself with a deep cynicism.

    That deep cynicism didn't go unnoticed. Her father, Charles, did, and he and his wife applied for her to be admitted into 'The Academy', a mysterious place owned by their employer, the Intelligence Agency. They told Keiko the news once she had been accepted, hoping that would help her through her last couple years of high school.

    In preperation for The Academy, the Seranos enrolled Keiko in some very advanced martial arts classes, covering arts from many different Asian countries. It was the first time she began to enjoy herself - because that particular class prized style and grace over speech, and she hadn't learned to speak English all that well yet.

    During her senior year in high school, her newly graceful and toned appearance attracted the attention of a male student named Brian. He had a California surfer look that she believed placed him completely out of his league, but he seemed to want to make friends with her anyway, at least. She taught him a little Japanese and gave him insight when he wanted to date others. He helped her with homework and English grammar. Most importantly, he gave her a friend that she so desperately needed.

    But at some point, they realized that they had to seperate. Brian had enrolled at a conventional college. Keiko had already been enrolled at the Academy to be groomed as a professional government assassin. They were both crushed at knowing they would each be losing their best friend.

    After graduation they spent a few weeks together exclusively, trying to make the best of the little time they had left. During that time they talked a lot, and it slipped out that both regretted being friends for so long and never exploring what it might have been like to have a deeper boyfriend and girlfriend relationship.

    Keiko admitted that she thought she never would have had a chance with someone like him. He claimed much the same. A realization of how much time they'd wasted came over them during their last couple of days together. They told each other secrets. And that last night, Keiko placed herself in, as the secrets noted, Brian's slightly more experienced hands and gave him her virginity.

    Days later the next school year began and Keiko was forced to leave her best friend behind as she was enrolled at 'The Academy'. She had to live on their campus and was not allowed to leave. Nevertheless, she started out happy there - because she realized that unlike the others who came from happy families and were terrified of what would happen...she didn't particularly like her life at the moment and welcomed any change.

    But at the same time those other frightened students were better trained than Keiko. They had been groomed practically since birth to train as assassins, and while Keiko had a broader martial arts training she felt almost immediately like she was a step behind everyone else. She had to fight an uphill battle.

    However, as time went on she began to see her more flexible training as an asset. The others were taught very rigidly and lacked the creativity Keiko did, in fighting style, planning, and mental flexibility. She accepted their training - weapons, accupressure, pressure points, stealth - and was able to almost immediately adapt it to her own personal style, while most others couldn't. Keiko paired that with advanced training in English to develop an almost perfect American West Coast accent.

    Keiko was only partly surprised when she graduated with the coveted World Class Assassin designation, meaning she would be given a quite favored position with the Intelligence Agency and be sent directly into the field. Her skills and adaptability were in very high demand for specialized jobs.

    Upon her induction into the Intelligence Agency's assassin corps she was sent directly into 'rush week', as new recruits called it, where she was assigned to kill one low priority target per day using any method at her disposal. The object was to wash out recruits who couldn't handle the job, the hard way. Either they would make it through the week unscathed, or they would end up arrested or killed.

    Keiko passed their test easily, killing all seven targets without any close calls whatsoever. None of her victims even saw her before dying. Each time she varied her methods, but she entered and left silently and left no evidence behind.

    Her first target is the only one she would remember. It was an advisor to some politician who had been urging his boss to review the massive bill whose funding ended up at the Intelligence Agency.

    She arranged an appointment with him late in the day using a false name, ensuring that his secretary will have left and he would be alone. The downtown office building he worked from was deserted when she entered in a business suit and sunglasses, carrying a bag that could pass for a purse, but concealed a 9 mm pistol.

    Without waiting to be called she simply strolled into his office, past the vacant secretary's desk, and called his name to make sure it was the right person. When he reacted positively to the name she fired once directly through his forehead, turned, and left the building, and then travelled a safe distance away before stopping.

    During training Keiko heard that many new recruits become sick after their first kill, usually losing the contents of their stomachs. It was considered normal. She expected that, but then strange because it didn't happen to her. Keiko's heart raced a bit after a kill, but with a little time it slowed and she would relax. She felt exhilarated because she struck a new milestone in her life.

    At the same time she knew in her heart that what she had done was the epitome of evil. Striking down a man anonymously, in cold blood, without thought or explanation. She wasn't sure at first if it was breaking her heart, or if she was just feeling regret. But it was something she had to do, and she knew she had to learn to deal with it somehow.

    She vowed to herself, in order to help her cope with the 'evil' component of her job, by selectively picking her targets and by educating them as to why they had been selected just before ending their lives. It made her feel as if she were improving the world somehow, weeding out those who were cruel and dishonest - the very type of people who put her in the situation she was in.

    Eventually, to keep her skills sharp, she was assigned a personal trainer named Michael. Unlike the others she met at The Academy and later at the I.A., he seemed to be much more kind and encouraging rather than forcing her to prove herself all the time. He was kind enough so it was soon after they met that they became close, and then eventually lovers.

    That was up until Keiko realized that Michael was actually sent to keep an eye on her. She had been taken advantage of by both him and the I.A. - they suspected that she had doubts about her new life, and Michael was to report on her attitude as well as train her. At the same time he was supposed to form close bonds with her to make it more difficult for her to leave.

    On the second part at least, she was right. It tore her heart out, but she finally decided that she had to retire from the Intelligence Agency. Keiko put in a request...and a few days later found it had been denied. The I.A. informed her that because World Class assassins were rare and in high demand she would not be allowed to retire. She protested and was given a stern warning which implied that she herself would become a target if she persisted.

    Michael was torn. Contrary to his orders, he had actually fallen for Keiko. Her gentleness and sweet disposition had genuinely won him over, and he would have liked to see her released from her duties. He thought for days, agonizing over the choice between duty and Keiko...and utimately he decided to make a sacrifice.

    He staged a public fight with Keiko, carefully orchestrating it so Keiko was left with the impression that she killed him by accident. While convinced that he was dead Keiko believed she had no choice but to flee the I.A. before she was disciplined - exactly what Michael wished her to do, to set her free.

    Keiko purposely left behind everything which established her identity and fled to what she thought was a city far enough away and inconspicuous enough to hide from the I.A. while she started a new life...in Garden City.

    Her first day there she established a false identity, took a job with the Garden City Police, and met a man who would become her best friend, Sean Morrison. When the I.A. came looking for her she destroyed their presence in the area and left their assassin corps devastated. Only time will tell if they try again. But meanwhile, Keiko Takashi is finally free.

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2006 by Jason Froikin, and may not be
-- reprinted without permission.
-- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow
-- Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin
-- Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin

Post By Anime Jason Sun Oct 08, 2006 at 11:17:33 am EDT	Subject Dear Diary, a condensed historical account: "Taste of Death"

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