Mission: Cake Delivery

Disclaimer: None of the characters in Library War belong to me.

Note: This fic was written for Calkat for her birthday. Hope the rest of you enjoy it too. =)

Private Iku Kasahara was not in a good mood. But then, dangling off a cliff that dropped fifty feet into thick brambles was not usually anybody's idea of a good time. Growling to herself, she heaved herself upwards bodily, a feat which would have felled many more able-bodied men. Being a woman made you much more flexible – luckily, as in this case. Once she had scrambled to safety, she rolled over, lying down spread-eagled on the rocky earth. Oh to be safe and on flat ground. Tall people – as her accursed height was forever reminding her, did not do very well with heights, contrary as that was to appearances. Her gaze slid from contemplating the arid sky to the small wrapped package which she had carried literally by her teeth over that stupid ridge.

Damn Shibasaki had omitted to tell her that such an obstacle would be in the way. And damn that chibi too. She rolled her eyes. "Who in the world would volunteer to go on field training on their birthdays?" Her stupid boyfriend, it seemed. No matter, if Doujou would not condescend to spend his special day in a sane manner, well, she, Library Clerk, Private First Class, Iku Kasahara would remind him to do so. That was, if she got to him alive first. Her thoughts darted back to Shibasaki. That woman! So much for being a friend! The route that the Intel Officer had drawn up for her on the console had turned out to involve among other things, a bug infested swamp, brambles, scaling up a small waterfall and now this.

***

"This is the fastest route to Doujou-sempai. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Her friend had eyed the wrapped package with disfavour. "Didn't Doujou get a pair of ringside tickets to the boxing match? It's not like he's forgotten you. Besides, you're making a fuss over a cake which you didn't even bake!"

"Eh? Where did you hear about those tickets from?" Deep inside, Kasahara flushed, secretly pleased that the chibi had had at least the decency to behave like a normal human being sometimes.

"That's confidential," her friend answered lightly, as Tezuka nodded solemnly. "Well, if you're sure, I've drawn up the shortest route for you, as you've requested."

Without waiting, the hot-headed girl had snatched it and was out of the office.

"Wait! Kasahara!"

***

Now that she was thinking about it, Shibasaki's instructions had been suspiciously vague. Instead of being given a map, her friend had provided her with a list of information – which went generally along the vein of "Turn left at the ivy-choked stump" and "If you see a rock wall before you – scale it". Frowning, she belatedly unfolded her map of the terrain of the training grounds, tracing the route from the main building to the base camp. It was a near perfect straight line, whereas a mere detour on the left of the swamp following a disused camping trail would have been more ideal. Her fist shook dangerously. "Shi…ba…sa…ki…"

"Hai, Lt Doujou speaking, what is it HQ?"

"Hello, lieutenant."

Shibasaki? What on earth was an Intel Officer speaking to him in the middle of field training? "Just a minute," he said hastily and then shouted at the stragglers. "Hurry up! Do you think your foes will wait while you're reaching for your gun like that? If this was a real war, you'll be dead twice over, Private Tatsuo!"

Shibasaki winced as Doujou could be heard commandeering the batch of new recruits over her phone. Then, his voice was back, firm and businesslike. The contrast was startling. "What's the matter? Is it Kasahara?" he asked.

"In a manner of speaking. She's on her way to intercept your training." She paused meaningfully. "You do remember it's your birthday don't you?"

"… Where is she now?" he demanded, stricken.

There was the sound of somebody (probably Shibasaki) shuffling notes and tapping away. "I'll say, given her abilities, about ten minutes from giving you your present."

"Impossible! She'll have needed at least three hours to get here!"

"Oh, she took a shortcut," Shibasaki said cheerfully before hanging up. A sudden loud rustling from the trees before him seemed to corroborate what she was saying. How could anyone be so stupid… The recruits meanwhile clearly thought this was part of the training. They cocked their guns. Well, they were only carrying paint pellets anyway. He folded his arms grimly. Being his significant other didn't mean she could breach all manner of rules. On top of it all, he was her superior for goodness sake. He sighed. She'll get over the paint and being yelled at again… and hopefully without any underhanded flying kicks to his back. There was only so much he could take. "On my order…"

The moment Kasahara stepped out from behind the bush – an irritatingly thick and impenetrable specimen, she was pelted with bullets which splashed into fountains of yellow and blue. Shrieking, she ducked down, hugging the cake to herself protectively.

"Kasahara!"

"Hai!" she saluted instinctively and then realised what she was doing. Lowering her hand, she glared at Doujou. "You foul chibi! You did that on purpose!"

Doujou, not one to back down, shouted back. "You are disrupting the training programme, Private! The rest of you! Two dozen push-ups! And I want to hear you counting!" The team rearranged themselves with praticed ease, though not without many furtive glances at their officer and the paint spotted recruit. The girl was the slightly taller and looked almost as intimidating as Lt Doujou, an act which was a feat in itself.

He snatched her arm and dragged her to where a pine tree gave them a little more privacy. "What made you do that? You idiot! You could have been punished! And don't you have a sense of danger at all? Those men could have shot you full of holes," he hissed.

She pouted. "I wanted to give you this to take with you on your training." She held up the package, miraculously unscathed. "But Intel got your schedule mixed up."

"Did they?" he thundered. She nodded. "Don't get too mad at her okay?" She rolled her eyes. "'Cos you've got to leave me some space to get back at her too," she growled. "That woman made me climb a waterfall."

Now that he was looking at her clearly, he noticed that her uniform was damp and leaves were clinging to her short hair. Oddly moved even though both their current states was hardly kissing material, he pulled her into a hug.

"Oof."

Surprised, she thrust the cake in his face to cover her embarrassment. And those new recruits had stopped counting. Doujou, who had his back to them was not to notice and one of the recruits grinned, giving her a thumb's up. "What's this?" Doujou asked, peering at the box. It had, from its sealed appearance, clearly been prepared for an arduous journey.

"Your birthday cake."

"Ah."

The slight smile gave way to a slight frown. "But you don't know how –

"It's from Tieroll's." Her face flushed. "I know you like their dessert."

"Ara. I thought you two would be here," Shibasaki said as she, Komaki and Tezuka appeared from the opposite direction which Kasahara had. Kasahara stared at them. "What're you doing here?"

To Kasahara and Doujou's surprise, the men sprang up and at a nod from Komaki, burst into a rendition of the quintessential birthday song. Doujou stared and then turned to Komaki who laughed at his friend's stunned expression. "Mission accomplished," he said.

"You two planned this!" Kasahara shouted.

"I did try to stop them," Tezuka interjected. "But it's against me to go against both a lieutenant and a captain." Komaki smiled innocently as Kasahara flailed at her erstwhile colleague. "You would!" she shouted. "And I bet you didn't even try very hard!"

"Well, it was quite an easy thing, given both your unsuspecting natures," Shibasaki pointed out as though it was the most natural thing. "And we got permission from the higher ups. Doujou's well-liked you know."

Unsuspecting… Doujou sighed. It'll be a miracle if he could instil any discipline in his soldiers if this got out. While the others were milling about, eating what looked like onigiri and cold chicken which had been surreptitiously stuffed into various backpacks, Tatsuo came forward and saluted him smartly before spoiling the effect by grinning boyishly. "Lt Doujou, sir!" He held out two of the paintball guns while Shibasaki and Komaki's backs were turned. "Shall we get this party properly started?"

End ~