Chapter Text
Even when she said no one is important enough to make her return, 3 years later, she still returned. She was fully adapted to her body now, and she won't change it with any other prosthetic body type that the boss claimed to be more “advanced”. She already got used to how she looked in the mirror with this face now.
The night was still young, and she was walking around the bustling city, looking at the most appetizing street food stalls, when a drunk man bumped into her. The man bowed apologetically to her, and walked wobbly away. He was wearing a black beanie, huge padded coat, and jeans.
She couldn't see his face, but she remembered how he smelled. And she realized he didn't smell like alcohol. Before the man went too far, she chased him and stood in front of him. “Umm. Hello?”
The man slowly raised his face, with his hand he made a small gesture pointing at a dark alley on his left. She understood and walked towards the alley. He followed her.
“I'm undercover,” he whispered after he made sure they were alone in the alley. “I'm checking if my mates are drinking excessively and unknowingly spilling information.”
“Oh.”
Then he took off his beanie and stood tall in front of her. He looked a little older, but still had the same boyish grin as years back. “I remember you.”
“And I remember you,” she said, with a shrug. “And now I already have this face for almost 6 years. Of course you have to remember me.”
“Sure.”
A moment of quiet passed and she looked at him with a smile. “Do you need to go back out there, finishing your mission?"
“My mission already terminated the moment I bumped into you.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“No.” He walked closer, softly pinned her on the wall. He's now almost a head taller than her. He pecked her forehead and took a step back with a grin. “If I remember correctly, you said you won't return?”
“You remember correctly,” she said with a huff. “And I remember I asked you to kiss me but you peck me on the forehead, like that.”
“Maybe because you're not specific enough–”
She already crashed her lips on his before he could finish his sentence. She kissed him, hard and demanding, and he surrendered almost immediately. He let her nip, bit, and sucked his lip, until finally she let him go. His face was red, his hair disheveled, but he was grinning. With a swollen lip.
“Do you want to continue in my apartment?” He asked politely, and in 20 minutes they already occupied the closest soft surface inside his apartment. His sofa.
xxxxxxxxx
When Motoko thought she would finally die in combat in America, the help arrived as additional rangers. One of the rangers has a set of sleepless eyes. And the boyish grin she would never forget.