'Crossfire'

Chapter 1: A Goddess Comes to Japan, Again

One week previously...

"Captain! We are almost at the base. The Danaan's going to make it."

"I'm getting unstable readings from the reactor. It doesn't look to happy ma'am!"

The Tuatha De Danaan had just returned from an extended mission. A mission that hadn't gone too well. There were breaches in the hull all over the sub from numerous missile attacks that had barely been defended from. And the inside was as much as a wreak as the outside was, with collapsed hallways, steel doors wrenched from their hinges onto the floors and Arm Slaves that had been torn limb from limb, littering the floor of the main hangar bay.

Captain Teletha Tessa Testarossa was sitting in the bridge, on her captain's chair. She was fiddling with her ponytail and kept crossing and uncrossing her legs. The mission had almost cost the submarine's crew their lives. They had been lucky to return from the mission alive.

"Reduce speed and make the preparations to dock. Nobody relaxes until you're off the Danaan." She commanded. The reactor powering the ship had been under a lot of stress from the fight. It was stable, but it was a nuclear reactor, and she didn't want to put anymore pressure than what was absolutely necessary on it.

Commander Mardukas relayed the Captain's orders in his usual fashion, but she could barely hear his voice. She was still caught up in her thoughts, and barely even noticed it when the submarine finally docked.

"Captain, the Danaan has docked."

Tessa came back to reality, and nodded. "Good work gentlemen. Prepare to disembark immediately."

"Aye Captain."

"All personnel, please prepare to disembark at once." The captain's voice echoed throughout the main hangar bay. Sousuke Sagara, Kurz Weber and Melissa Mao were all sitting on a bench in front of the Arbalest, one of the few machines to make it out of the mission without ending up on the floor in pieces. Kurz had his arm in a sling, and Sousuke had bandages over his head. Melissa was the only one who appeared unharmed, although she winced in pain as she tried to stand up.

"Come on guys, lets get out of here."

The two male soldiers nodded, and quietly stood up to follow her. Both were silent as they followed her.

Walking down the hall towards the exit, Sousuke spotted Tessa walking towards them. She looked tired, and defeated. She caught him looking and smiled weakly.

"Sergeant, are you alright?" She had her eyes on the bandages covering his head.

"I'm fine Captain. Just some minor injuries."

She nodded, and her smile faded away. "Lets hurry." The two parties both disembarked the Danaan.

-

Sousuke and Kurz had both been transferred to the nearby military hospital. They were both stuck in bed, even though there was nothing wrong with their legs. Tessa and Mao were sitting with them.

"So what happens now?" Melissa asked. She got the feeling that there wouldn't be a mission for a while, with the Tuatha De Danaan out of action, as well as many of the M9's being out of commission.

"We'll have to wait for the repairs to finish." Tessa said quietly. "But that could take a very long time, considering the extent of the damage." She looked up at Sousuke. "However, your other mission still remains the same regarding Kaname Chidori."

"Understood, Captain." Sousuke nodded. Tessa nodded back, but felt a little disheartened. It had been a long time since Sousuke had called him Tessa. She had been longing to him say it again, occasionally considering giving him an order to be less formal when no other high-ranking members of the crew were around. But after thinking such thoughts, she was also torn as to whether or not that was an abuse of power...

"Captain, are you okay?" Sousuke was looking at her with concern. "You seem upset."

Tessa quickly shook her head and faked a smile. "I'm fine Sergeant, I'm just a little bit upset about the Danaan and that last mission." Even though she said it, she knew that it was only half-true. Melissa and even Kurz had caught on to her though. Sousuke could be oblivious to the captains feelings, but they could see right through the captains charade.

"Just call her Tessa you fool." Melissa sighed.

"I think I'm going to have a little chat with Sousuke when the girls go. How could anyone not see the captain just wants him to be a little more informal with her, at least?" Kurz felt mentally exasperated at Sousuke's obliviousness

The silence was quickly interrupted by the arrival of Lieutenant Commander Kalinin.

"Captain, it has been estimated that the repairs on the Danaan could take anywhere from three to six months."

"Three to six months!" Kurz burst out suddenly. "What are we supposed to do for that long?"

Kalinin gave him a quiet, calm but deadly glare as he spoke again. "From now on, you are to support Sousuke in his other mission, as well as safeguard Captain Testarossa."

"Safeguard the captain...?" Melissa said slowly. "You don't mean?"

Sousuke had already started to sweat as he realised what Kalinin meant, as Kalinin confirmed his death sentence. "The Captain will be going with you to Japan. This is an order from Lord Mallory himself, who says it will help the captain and her surrounding crew mature to the ways of civilian society for deep cover and infiltration missions."

"S-she's... coming with us...?" Sousuke stuttered. Last time, the captain had stayed for a mere two weeks. And that had been hard enough. This time, it could be for up to six months...

Unlike Sousuke, Tessa has a wide grin on her face. She finally had a chance to forget about her duties for a while, and just act like a normal, seventeen year old girl. She was looking forward to it already, and mainly because of the now-panicking Sousuke in the bed beside her.

"Oh, and Sousuke? Commander Mardukas asked me to pass on a message to you. He says that the little talk he had with you the last time a situation like this occurred still applies, and that he won't hesitate if anything happens to the captain."

Sousuke swallowed in fear, and nodded slowly. Kaname was not going to like this when he got back to Tokyo...

Tessa giggled silently next to him, looking forward to the time she was going to spend with her favourite sergeant.

-

Present day...

The sun rose on another beautiful day in Tokyo.

Through the gap in the curtains, a thin ray of light softly illuminated the face of a sleeping Tessa, as she dreamed peacefully. A little further on, slightly in the shadows was Melissa, safely handcuffed to the captain. It had become a regular thing, but Tessa still wasn't happy with the arrangement.

In the other room, Sousuke slept restlessly, his dreams being slightly more worrying. He was also handcuffed, to an unfortunate Kurz Weber who had proclaimed loudly against the idea of having to be cuffed and forced to sleep next to another male. But, as everybody tried to remind him, it was for his own safety. And it didn't make the captain feel left out.

Sousuke groaned in his sleep, as his dreams began to scare him. He could see an angry Kaname with her lethal paper fan, who was raging because of Tessa. Then he saw a seductive Tessa trying to sneak into his bed. Shortly afterwards, his brain kick-started from his perverse dreams and shot into consciousness. Breathing heavily, he tried to push both girls out of his mind.

He looked over at the sleeping Tessa, through the gap in the door. She was wearing a smile, the kind of smile she rarely wore when she was on the Tuatha De Danaan. It was the smile of a teenage girl with nothing to worry about. Seeing her so calm and relaxed, Sousuke felt himself smile a little. It was good to see her happy.

His mind suddenly panicked when one of her eyelids fluttered and slowly opened. A sparkling gray eye opened up slowly, and picked out Sousuke who had frozen, his mind racing. Her smile grew wider as she gently stretched out her arms and yawned.

"Good morning... Sousuke." Not long after they arrived, she had started calling him by his normal name, instead of Sergeant, or Mr. Sagara. She had said it was because while he was here, she wanted to feel like a normal girl. Which naturally meant, he had been given an order directly from her that dictated he wasn't allowed to call her Captain, or Miss Testarossa. She was Tessa, even when they returned to the Danaan and they weren't around high-ranking officers. When he had told Kurz, he had simply laughed and said it was the captain abusing her power and having fun.

It still took him a while to remember not to call her captain though. "Good morning... Tessa."

She grinned when she heard her name. Like she always did when he said her real name. It always sounded better than captain. "So what are we doing today." She wanted to stand up and stretch, but being cuffed to Melissa meant she had to lie on her side and stare at Sousuke. Which wasn't such a bad thing to her.

Sousuke thought about it for a moment. Today was a Saturday, which meant they could do anything. They didn't have school, but Melissa and Kurz were going out for a while. They had told him yesterday it was just a little surrounding reconnaissance. Which meant to him they were going out and having fun, leaving him in another awkward situation.

He looked up at her. "Well, anything. We don't have anything in particular to do today, so you can decide."

Tessa put her finger to her lips and looked up, thinking about it. "I think I'll figure it out over breakfast, its still early morning." She yawned again and looked back at Sousuke. "Hey Sousuke?"

"Yeah?"

Tessa giggled. "Can I have a morning kiss?"

His reaction to the question was a sight to behold. Instant perspiration, a flushed face, and a million and one thoughts racing through his mind, with quite a few of them being Commander Mardukas yelling at him not to not do anything stupid. By the time he thought of answering, Tessa had already leaned over, with half her face hidden by the slightly open door with a smile. "So-us-uke..." She emphasized the syllables on his name, and closed her eyes, with her lips softly glistening in the low light.

His rational thinking processes had suddenly gone into overdrive, and his brain was steaming. He didn't know what to do, and his body had stopped moving. But before he even had a chance to react, Kurz rolled over in his sleep, pushing Sousuke towards the slightly open door.
With a yelp of surprise, Sousuke fell forward. His face had stopped inches away from Tessa's. Tessa had opened her eyes, and suddenly realised how close they were. Without even thinking about it, she quickly leant forward and gave Sousuke a peck on the lips.

Reacting as though he'd just been shot, he jumped backwards. He could feel his heartbeat accelerating to beyond the speed of a missile, whilst Tessa giggled softly.

"I guess this means me and Kaname are on equal grounds now." She said softly. Her eyes were still staring at him, and he could still feel her lips on his. He didn't know what to do, but he was so glad that Kaname hadn't seen it.

As soon as the thought had crossed his mind however, there was a familiar knocking on his door.

"Sousuke, you up yet?" The familiar voice of Kaname Chidori echoed from his front door, causing both Tessa and Sousuke to jump out of their skin.

The morning had just begun, but Sousuke was already exhausted. To him, this was going to be a long six months...

I've been dying to write a Full Metal Panic! story. I'm hoping this turns out well, but it more or less follows the Fumoffu! side of the story, because it made me lol so many times.
However, I've yet to decide whether this is going to be a SousukexTessa, or a SousukexKaname.
Reviews might determine the outcome though, so please R&R :)
Thank you muchlies