"Hurry, pull him out of the water!"

Thunder roared and lightning clashed, the violent winds churning the sea into a frothy wasteland. A submarine nearby dropped a life raft overboard. Inflating on impact with the waters surface, a crew of three men jumped aboard the inflatable and pushed out to the floating body.

"Hurry, we need to get him inside and into the medical bay" a crewmen called to the rafts men.

The body was scorched and scarred, unconscious he drafted back and forth with the ebb of the sea. In the distance, a ship sat, a plume of smoke emanating from it's ruptured hull.

One of the people in the raft jumped into the water and swam to the body.

"Oh god, we need to hurry up, he's not breathing!"

Swimming the body towards the raft the two men pulled the body out. A side hatch opened near the aft of the submarine allowing access to it's inner recesses.

"Heh, he must have been through hell to be in condition like this, check out this gash, it'll be a match for his left." The crewman said looking at the gaping wound along the man's face. Wiping the blood from his hands, the crewman pulled his associate from the water. "Hurry, let's get him to the medic."

The hatch silently closed behind the raft. The submersible descended into the depths of the sea as silently as it arrived, not a sound was heard, nor splash to be seen over the thundering and pounding of rain. Just as it ran under the surface of the crashing waves, the submarine disappeared once more under the cloak of its EMC.

The Bond We Share

"You know, Kyoko, it's not so much him that I miss. It's more of the random events and, well, it's so peaceful now that he is gone." Chidori grumbled. Looking over her lunch, she stirred through her rice with her chopsticks and sighed heavily. Dropping her head to her desk, she continued. "After all the events that occurred over the week before we came back to school, I would have at least expected to hear word from him. I mean, it's been two weeks...TWO WEEKS, and still nothing."

"Face it, Kana, you miss him. Just admit it, you liked Sousuke, you can say whatever you like, I know it's the truth." Kyoko replied. "After all, when I got my camera back from you after the trip, the rest of the memory was taken up mostly of Sousuke, or you, and then the last one is of you both. What's more, from the timestamp on them, they were all taken within a forty minute timeframe, the day before you got back. Yeah, I know you said that you spent a large part of your week trying to cope with the 'missions' that Sousuke and the others were doing."

"Yeah, and you know that one guy I was telling you about?"

"Yeah, yeah, that weird psycho guy, Gary or whatever."

"That's Gauron."

"Yeah, him. How he went and took over the submarine and tried to kill Sousuke, what...twice?"

"Twice, while I was with them, yes. From what I understood, however, they faced up against him several times before. But, that's all over, he's gone and there's nothing else to worry about. So, let's quit talking about it. You were telling me earlier about your break?"

"Yeah, but you did spend time with Sousuke before everything happened. How'd that go? How'd it go with him?"

"It went, nowhere. I'm telling you, nothing is going on, or was going on," Chidori sighed "between us."

"Well, whatever. You better not keep lying to yourself like that Kana, it's not healthy. You'll become some old maid who regretted the things she did before you know it."

"And just WHAT is that supposed to mean!" She slammed her chopsticks on the desk, half of one broke off and skittered to the floor.

"Oh, nothing." Kyoko pulled out her camera and shot a picture of Chidori.

"Ugh, sometimes I just can't deal with you. I'm getting a new pair of chopsticks." Standing up, Chidori stormed out of the room slamming the door behind her.

"An old, bittery maid, indeed. I just wish you'd be more honest with yourself, Kana" Kyoko muttered clicking through the past photos. She stopped at one photo and smiled. It was a photo of Sousuke and Chidori holding up a large Sea Bream. Chidori held the fish high with one arm, the other she had wrapped around Sousuke's back; she was beaming with delight, Sousuke had on an awkward smile. "Despite what she might say, they do make a good couple" she chuckled and pocketed the camera.

'Honestly, an old maid? Be more honest? I am being honest with myself. Sousuke is just another person who went to this school and now he is gone. Happens all the time right? Miss Sousuke? How could I, all he ever did for me was cause trouble and nearly get me killed on several occasions, what kind of person would like him? What kind of person could like him?'

A drop fell onto her hand.

'What, where'd this come from?'

Another drop dripped onto her hand.

'I'm not crying, am I? Again? Oh god, please...let me forget him.'

Clutching her chest, Chidori rushed into the girls' room and locked herself in a stall. She leaned against the door and felt a lump start growing in her throat.

'Come on, Chidori, get over it. You've gone over this before, he's gone...he wont be coming back...he's on another mission...He was here only because he was obligated to...He meant nothing to me...I...meant nothing...to...'

Chidori fell to her knees crying. She couldn't hold back the tears. "Why, why dammit? Why did you leave? You war-crazed freak, where are you?" She pounded the ground with her fist ignoring the pain each blow sent up her arm. "Why did you leave me? Why couldn't you just come back with me?" Not bothering trying to hold anything back anymore, Chidori collapsed and bawled into her arms.

The door creaked open and Kyoko stuck her head in. "Kana, are you in here?"

Through heavy sobs, Chidori managed to choke out, "Kyoko...why...why did he leave..."

Walking up to the sink across from the stall Chidori occupied, Kyoko leaned back and stood silently. 'What can I say to you Kana, what can I do to help ease your pain. Is there anything I can do? Is there?'

"Why! Why did he leave?" Chidori cried.

"Kana, I..."

"Why!" The door flung open and Chidori rushed out and ran to Kyoko wrapping her arms around her. She fell to her knees unable to support herself.

"It's alright, Kana. You were very important to him." She held her friend and tried to comfort her. "He couldn't just leave without having you on his mind. What was it again that he said to you? That time on the sub?"

"He said...'I'm here because...because you were there...because I was there to look...to look after him. That it is because...that it is because I was there that he...was alive.'"

"That's right, he was glad that you were there by his side. Just look at these photos he took of you." She pulled out her camera and scrolled to a few frames of Chidori. "These photos are excellent photos, almost as if shot by an expert. He couldn't have taken photos like these if there wasn't any love."

"You...you think?" Chidori sniffled, trying to hold back another sob.

"Of course. You were very important to him, and you trust him, right?"

"Yes, yes I trust him." Chidori was breathing heavily, holding back the tears.

"Then believe in him, Kana, he'll return to you. I just know he will, and you know he will too. Just keep that in your heart and let that motivate you."

Wiping her eyes, Chidori held back a few sobs. "Yes, you're right, Kyoko. I should trust him. I need to...I need to believe in Sousuke, he will return, I just know he will."

"Good, now let's wash your face, class starts in a couple minutes and you still need to finish eating your lunch."

"C'mon, aren't we done yet!" Kurz whined. He was leaning against a brick wall gasping for air and sweating. "We just finished our last mission three days ago and we don't get any R&R time?"

"Nope, it's orders Kurz, so quit your complaining and get your ass back on the track. We still have two more days of training to go." Mao yelled. "You think it's easy for me? Or Sagara? Look, we're all just as tired as you and probably just as upset about this. Just two days after the whole Gauron incident we get called out to Lebanon to stifle an uprising that involved a chemical weapons plant, then we have to do these exercises." She huffed and looked up towards the drill commander. Shaking her head, she turned back to Kurz. "Once we're done in two days, we have to check in with the AS tech crews and work on synchro drills for another day or two. It wont be for another week before we have any time off."

"Man, that is too much work!"

"I agree, we really need to have a break." Sousuke huffed. The sweat dripped off his face as he shifted the weight of the filled pack and assault rifle strapped to his back. "There's something I've been meaning to do for the past week but been unable to."

"What?" Kurz grinned. "Call up your cute girlfriend Chidori and say 'hi'? Let her know you've missed her and that she's been the only thing you've been talking about for the past three days?"

"Chidori and I are in no such relationship," he blushed. "I only wish to know how she is doing after the trip home. I was told by Lt. Goldberry that I should check up on Chidori."

"Man," Kurz slumped down into the grass, "you don't need Goldberry to tell you that. Anybody should know that you're supposed to check up on your girl. Besides, Doc Goldberry saw Chidori like twice when she was with us."

"Hey, Urzu team, get yours butts moving!"

"Get up Kurz, you still have another ten laps to go before we are done for the day." She kicked Kurz and turned to Sousuke. "She's right, though. First chance you get, you should talk to Chidori and see how she is. She probably misses you." Mao turned and began her jog.

Looking down at Kurz, Sousuke shifted the weight of the pack once more and jumped on the dirt track. "Yes," he said to himself, "I need to talk to Chidori as soon as possible."

"Man...its going to be a long day." Kurz groaned.

"Hey, Urzu 7, get your lazy ass up or it's another five laps tagged onto your ten remaining."

Kurz grumbled and pushed himself to his feet, brushing off the grass and dirt that stuck to his knees. He looked up and stared at the clear sky, sighing to himself, he ran to catch up to his team.

"How's he doing?" a man asked. He stood in the shadows and stared through the window at the body in the room. He dressed as a military man, a dark brown suit with various pins and stripes on. The stars on his chest ranked him as general, he wore a dark pair of shades and spoke in a gruff manner.

"Huh? Oh excuse me, sir." A lab technician replied, just noticing the man behind him. "He's doing well, amazingly well. We're surprised he survived at all, I mean, look at the scars and stitches all over his body. If it were anybody else, they would most likely be dead."

"Heh, good. Inform me when he wakes. I have a special...job...that I want worked on. I want my best man for the job and he's it." Turning, he walked down the corridor, shoes clicking at each step on the linoleum flooring.

"Yes, I am very surprised that you lived. Looks like that thing we implanted in you had the desired effect." The technician said. He looked over a clipboard with various pages attached to it before putting it back in its place on the door.

'You're job, will be a little more to your liking I'm sure. When you wake up, I'm going to send you against an old 'friend' of yours.' The general chuckled to himself. He walked out the sliding doors and sat in the passenger seat of the jeep waiting outside. The jeep took off, across the small compound. 'Yes, I have a very nice job for you, which I am sure you are going to enjoy. Welcome back...Gauron'