First Moments

"Great round today, folks!"

Defence Squad Captain Tatsumi-O-Mori gave his two teammates a hard slap on their backs as they slowly made their way back to Fenrir's headquarters, away from the dozens of aragami corpses that were piled up on the side.

"Hmm, we sure had to take out a whole bunch of them this round," Brendan sighed as the trio trudged on ahead to the pick-up point, "The aragami recently have either been coming in larger packs or just getting fiercer in general."

It has been two years since the –missing Lindow- incidents have occurred. Yet despite the amount of effort put into eradicating the aragami during that time frame, their number did not seem to dwindle one bit. In fact, they seemed to have grown in number.

Some even taking on new forms.

However, that did not stop any of the gods eaters from carrying out their duties. If the aragami were changing, so would they.

"In fact," Tatsumi shot a grin at the pinkette who dragged her large gun across the dessert grounds, "Kanon, over these years, your misfire rate has improved to the point where you're almost as good as Sakuya!"

Kanon Daiba jumped a little at the sudden comment. It was not very often that someone would compliment her of her shooting skills, especially since she herself knew that the highest misfire rate in all of Fenrir came solely from her own –skilful- shots.

"You…you think so?" Kanon brushed a stray hair out of her eyes, "I've been trying my best to improve, but I really didn't think I would have improved that much. Besides, just now right before the Vajra jumped at us, I almost shot a fire mortar at-"

"Relax, Kanon. You –almost-, but the important part here is that you didn't. Take a compliment, you earned it."

The ever cheerful, bandana wearing squad leader shot her a giant grin as he proceeded to discuss administrative matters with Brendan. To take a compliment, Kanon almost sighed, she was always being blamed from since her first day in Fenrir for her constant habits of misfiring or launching a shot even when there was a teammate in her line of fire. Sure Tatsumi was nice enough, never blaming her for her wrongdoings. Even Brendan would offer her a smile and a word of assurance that she would learn eventually to control her shots.

And then there was him.

"MY SHIRT GOT FLAME MORTARED OFF?!"

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!"

"Eh…actually, I don't really mind it this way. Not like I only have one pair of that shirt."

"You don't mind?! But I just burned you by accident!"

"Well, that's one less accident compared to last week where you flamed both my shirt and pants off."

"Ugh…don't remind me."

"Hey, take a compliment, Miss-Fire. You improved, so you've earned it!"

"Kanon?"

Kanon snapped out of her reminisce as she felt Brendan shake her on the shoulder, "You alright? You were staring off into some unknown space as we walked."

"Ah, no. I'm just a little tired after the mission, is all."

Raising an eyebrow but not probing any further, Brendan helped her onto the helicopter. As he did, she could not help but let her thoughts slowly drift off again.

That boy.

The loud, hyperactive and mildly perverted new type who had joined the ranks of fenrir two years ago. The one who quickly rose up to being the leader of Lindow's unit. The one who acted recklessly just to save one person.

The one who had taught her how to accept her flaws and work on them, no matter how slow it seemed.

I wish I could see him again.

-beep beep-

Feeling her communicator buzz in her pockets, Kanon reached for it and hit the call button. Tatsumi then had to try and calm the gunner, who almost dropped the device in shock as the voice on the other end desperately tried to reach her

"I told you, Shun, the last hit that took down the aragami was my shot. Get over it and hand me over 60%, right now!" the blonde man tensed his muscles and slammed the table.

"Goddamit Karel, you were the one who said that we should split equally!" a capped male wearing a green jacket retorted, "Who cares if you hit it and got the killing shot?! This isn't some stupid online multiplayer game, and I kind of need to have my share of –ration- money too, quit being such an asshole!"

"Don't make it look as if you deserve it, you monkey."

"You wanna take that back, ya blonde headed sissy?"

"Enough."

Grabbing both their heads, Gina Dickson rammed her teammates against each other, granting her the opportunity to hear them both groan in pain before turning their newfound annoyance towards the sniper.

Despite having stuck with Shun and Karel on the same team for the past few years, Gina honestly had no idea how to handle her two teammates in times like these. Sometimes, it was not her inability to do so, for usually there would be another individual who would poke his head into their business, attempt to solve the money issues, fail and end up getting into a fight with them instead.

He was about as immature as her two idiotic teammates, at times even exceeding her expectations of the word (hell, Gina did not appreciate being called flat-chested, her good points were just somewhere else). He could sometimes further escalate the situation and make it worse for everyone else. For the love of aragami, there was a time when he even broke Karel's nose in an argument.

Yet when it came down to it, he could always be counted on to brighten up the situation.

"What's the issue guys?"

"Karel doesn't wanna split equally again, the usual."

"Again? Come on Karel, don't be a rich, stingy, snotty brat."

"If you think I am deaf, let me assure you that I fully comprehend every word you have just said."

"Shiny Gay Blonde."

"Alright, that's it, you cheeky little fool, stand right where you are so I can slowly-"

"NOPE!"

The two of them would usually end up in the counselling room again, their license as gods eaters NEARLY suspended, but shortage of workers prevented Tsubaki from doing otherwise.

But what was past stayed in the past. He was gone now.

Things and people that were gone rarely came back, especially in times like these where anyone who so much as walked out could get eaten alive.

Gina's thoughts were only abruptly cut when she heard a crash, watching in mild amusement as Hibari threw a plastic bottle across at the two, causing them to turn their attention to the now forced-smiling receptionist.

"Oi Hibari! There was no need to do that!" Shun adjusted his cap, still reeling from the impact of Hibari's throw.

"You do know that if the two of you don't shut up now," Hibari ignored him and went on, the smile still plastered on her face, "I'll have to report the two of you for unruly behaviour in the lobby to Tsubaki. After all, she did say that if the two of you were reported breaking lobby rule number-"

"PLEASE DON'T REPORT US!"

Gina wanted to believe that even when things changed, they would all still carry on with life the same way, as they always had. She knew this better than any of her teammates, she would always think as her hands unconsciously touched the eye-patch which covered what was once her left eye.

Times change, people come, people go. That's how the world worked, and they would have to accept that. Reminiscing was a sign of being unable to let go, and she'd always been bad at doing such a thing either way.

Yet at that very moment, Gina Dickson wanted to believe that she saw him, fully clad in his white jacket and dark bandana, appearing on the staircase beside the reception and shooting the entire group a hearty grin.

"Gina! Gina!"

She did not even realise she was staring until Karel had began to shake her shoulders, "Did you die for a moment? You were staring into space."

The sniper merely glanced at her teammate for a moment before taking a look at the empty staircase.

Maybe she was reminiscing a bit too much.

Hey guys.

I guess I didn't really die too much after all. I'm trying to use this as a comeback fic, show I'm still alive and all XD Once I'm done with this, I'll see if I have time to get back to my other fics.

I haven't WRITTEN anything in awhile, but do review, I'd appreciate it ^^