Wow, I had no idea people would like this story. I'm having fun writing it and I'm surprised people are actually reading it. I know this is an ever grown category of fanfiction, but I promise you that this will be the best Strike Witches story to date. Hope you like the second chapter of The Gift. Feel free to criticize it all you want.

From,
Symbiotic

Perrine felt ecstatic. Inside she felt that she was truly something to benefit the 501st, and she wanted nothing more then to gain attention and recognition from the superiors. To her, that was a sign that not only she was considered important to the 501st but also that her status as a noble girl from Gallia was being recognized. There was also another reason that made Perrine happy that she was able to investigate the cause of her commanding officer's apparent distress. That reason was more personal to Perrine, and tied directly to Mio herself. It was something that Perrine desperately did not want to show or let anyone find out about. Fearing that someone would use it against her in the future if they did find out about it, Perrine never dared to let her greatest personal secret be known to anyone but herself. It was a secret that conflicted with the moral upbringings and romantic values of Perrine, but it was one that she could not deny herself from. That secret drove Perrine on in her investigation to find out why Mio was in some form of apparent distress, and was critical in her finding out what was truly going on.

"Where to start?" Perrinne thought as she walked through the hallways of the base, trying to think of ways to find out of how to solve Mio's problems. "Oh where to start where to start where to start!"

This made Perrine rather flustered. She had not thought about much where she would start looking for Mio's cause of distress. She could always observe Mio from afar, but that presented two problems. One was that Perrine would always have the possiblity of being noticed by Mio, which was something that the twenty year old witch from Fuso and the second in command of the 501st would have no trouble doing at all. Even if she had not noticed her on her own, Mio could always use the magic that she used so often in combat to find a neuroi core to find out where Perrine was. Two was the fact that Perrine and Mio were often separate for large portions of the day. Even if Perrine liked being near the major, the fact was that her and Mio Sakamoto were often separate for such long periods that it was often impossible for them to meet up at times other then when they were eating or on a sortie for various reasons. Though she often would witness the Fuso major training Yoshika Miyafuji on an almost daily basis and would watch her then, that was probably the only other time that Perrine intentionally saw Mio other then combat.

Her only option seemed to have to go and find out info on Mio for herself. This presented even more problems. If Perrine was caught by Mio digging around for her personal belongings, she could not only be ostracized by Mio permanently but she could also receive a severe reprimand from Minna. Under one of Minna's many rules on the code of conduct with the witches, they were not allowed to go through each other's personal belongings without permission to do such. Though it was a rule that Minna had difficulty enforcing at times, going through one's own personal belongings could result in a reprimand that Minna said "No one wanted to know about". Being someone who followed, or at least tried to follow, every last rule that was put forth for her to follow, Perrine hesitated at first at the thought of invading Mio's own personal belongings. But Minna said that rules did not matter when other's well being was in jeopardy, and to her Mio's well being was in jeopardy if she did not find out what was getting to her, and Perrine knew something was getting to Mio Sakamoto. Unlike the secret that she struggled to keep hidden from everyone, she could not deny that fact to herself, that Mio Sakamoto was being exasperated by something inside that she was not telling anyone, and Perrine was desperate to find out what was going on. That's when a thought entered Perrine's mind that she never thought she would think of doing up until now.

"I know that it's risky," Perrine thought in her mind as she contemplated her plan to get to the bottom of Mio's apparent distress, "but it's all I can do. I've got to find out what's wrong with Major Sakamoto!"

With that, Perrine began to briskly walk down the halls with her plan in mind. She would start her plan off in the first place and Mio began her day and ended her day in late every evening. Wanting to check there first because she knew that next to Mio's office, it was the place where most of the witch's personal belongings were, she figured looking there would be the logical place to find some kind of clue as to why Mio was apparently distressed. If she was going to find any evidence to use in her favor in proving to Minna that she was upset, she knew that it would definitely be in that room. But as Perrine walked, she realized another problem. At first she did not think much of it, but as she got to the wing of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing's base, it became much more apparent to Perrine. It was a problem that even though she came here at least twice a day she still had not been able to solve, and that was the problem of which was which. Perrine did not know which room was Mio's or how to distinguish that room from all the others.

"I guess I'm to have to try and look on my own," Perrine thought as she went up to one of the doors and opened it up carefully, keeping it quiet in case anyone was on the other side of the door.

What she found was a room that to her was absolutely filthy and disorganized. Dirty clothes, food wrappers, and cans were thrown amiss all over the floor haphazardly. The trash can in the room was overloaded to the brim with food waste, cans, and various other items that belonged in there and not on the floor. The bed's sheets were stained in various places, the sheets were all about it's top haphazardly and not tucked in in at all, and the pillow for the bed was on the floor, across the room from where it should be on top of the bed. To Perrine, who tried to keep everything ever so tidy and up to the most exacting standards, this was simply unnacceptable. At first she thought that this was the room of Yoshika, who she had grown quite jealous of due to her attachement to Major Sakamoto. In her mind, she knew now that she had something to blackmail the young Fuso witch with since she knew that Minna and Mio always enforced a strict policy of organization and cleanliness among the witch's belongings. Wanting to get more supposed dirt on Yoshika, Perrine began to step in the room. Stepping only two steps into the room before closing the door, Perrine soon found out one of her feet was not on stable and solid ground. Taking another step, the Gallian witch was soon thrown up into the air in a backflip and then landed right down again on the cold, hard, and dirty floor of the room with a loud thud. Scrambling to get back up and brush herself off, Perrine could not believe that Yoshika was allowed to be disorganized, and couldn't wait to hear Minna and Mio berate her for such. But when she looked down onto the floor, she saw something that dispelled her belief that this was Yoshika's bedroom.

"What's this?" she asked as she picked up a black object held by a multicolored ribbon off of the floor, holding it in her hand. At first Perrine did not recognize it, but then she realized she knew what it was. It was the Knight's Cross of Valor and Bravery, an award only given to soldiers who made up the military of Karsland. Once she knew that, then Perrine was able to quickly deduce in her mind who's room this was.

"You would think that Karsland's little 'Ultra Ace' would be a bit more organized," Perrine thought to herself arrogantly as she threw the award behind her as she walked out, closing the door to the room and then walking to another door. When she opened the door she had walked to, she didn't even need to look inside. All she needed to do was open the door to find a massive red bra on the doorknob to know who's room it was.

"She's really that big?" Perrine thought to herself as she held the bra in her hands shakingly. "Wow I guess she's not bragging when she says she has the biggest around here. No one else is that big!"

Putting the bra back on the doorknob and closing the door, Perrine then went to another door randomly in the hallway that made up the wing she was walking in.When she got to the door, she first went down to turn the doorknob, only to find something that she had not found in the other rooms. This door, unlike all of the others that she had encountered so far, was locked. In complete disbelief of what was going on, Perrine kept on trying to turn and jiggle the doorknob so it would open, but to no avail. Growing impatient, Perrine began to elbow the door to try to get it down. While she could always use her magic to blow the door off it's hinges, that would leave behind evidence much to incriminating for her to bare. So she tried to elbow it open, but the door stayed firm. Exasperated after a few times, Perrine backed up to take a breath and then begin to hit the door again. But before she could start, she saw the doorknob turn and began to quickly scramble to get herself up. As the door opened up and Perrine thought she would be seen by none other then the person she was looking for, her mind soon went to ease. All she found was the 501st own little piano playing, night flying, radio tracking, Orussian witch standing in the doorway in nothing but some white panties and a white bra. She had found the room of Sanya Litvak.

"What are you doing Perrine?" Sanya asked in a yawn, her eyes barely open enough to see Perrine.

"Oh," Perrine said sheepishly. "It's you Litvak. Well I wasn't doing anything I was just..."

"Why were hitting my bedroom door so hard?" Sanya said quietly. "Do you need some help with something?"

"No," Perrine said sharply. "Just, go back to bed Litvak and be ready for night patrol when the time comes."

"Alright," Sanya said in another yawn. "Dos Sedonia Perrine."

With that, Sanya walked back into her room and closed the door as she did such. Perrine simply got up and began to walk to another door again, this one she hoped wasn't locked or occupied by anyone like Sanya. As she walked down the hall to another door, Perrine felt a bit of exasperation boiling inside her. Even if she didn't know who's room was who's and she didn't really pay attention to it very much, she still thought that finding Mio's room should not have been as troublesome as she had found it was being so far. As she reaches this next door though and turned the knob to find the door was unlocked, Perrine opened the door and turned on the lights. Once she did that, she smiled in delight and cheered herself on the inside.

"See, you could do it all along Perrine," she said to herself as she walked into the now lit bedroom she was looking for. "Like a proper noblewoman of Gallia, no task is too hard for you Perrine Clostermann."

Perrine looked around the room of Mio Sakamoto. By what she saw, she judged that it was supposed to look just like her old home in Fuso. The bed was a traditional Fuso style bed, on the floor with some of Mio's clothes folded neatly at the side and made to standards that made Perrine jealous. On the wall were various pictures of Fuso caligraphy and pictures of people who must have known Mio back home. On one wall was a rack of swords, the same ones that Perrine saw Mio train with day in and day out, and fly into combat with every time they engaged the neuroi. A bookshelf with various texts of all kinds was up on the right side of the room and the dresser was on the left. Nothing in the room was where it wasn't supposed to be. There was nothing misplaced, nothing disorganized, everything seemed just perfect. It was just like Perrine had dreamed of, and she questioned herself for a second if she wanted to really disturb the tranquility and serenity of such a place.

"I know this is wrong," Perrine though to herself, "but it's for the Major's own good."

Perrine then began to look around the room for clues. She first checked the book shelf and the nightsand near Perrine's bed, looking for any signs of a possible diary that the major kept. But she found nothing of the sort. Most of the books Mio had were simple books on training and Fuso history, nothing anywhere near the lines of a diary and nothing Perrine could even read to begin with. So she began to look around in other places, such as Perrine's dresser. But she found nothing in there other then Mio's clothes. It felt a bit naughty of her to be touching Mio's clothes and looking for things that would find why Mio was upset on the inside, but she knew that it could be the only way she'd find anything as to why Mio was upset. Not finding anything though in the dresser, Perrine then put the clothes she took out back and then closed the drawer. Distraught as to where to find something, Perrine sat against Mio's wall and thought for a second.

"There has to be something in here that can tell me something," Perrine thought to herself. "There has to be, there's no other way around it. Something has to be in this room that can tell me something!"

Thinking even harder, Perrine saw through her glasses something that she had noticed before. It was a calendar, a standard roman calender, across the room from where she was sitting. Even more perplexing to Perrine was what she saw on the calendar. One of the days was circled by what appeared to be red ink from a marker and had some kanji under it. Curious as to what this was, Perrine got up off the floor and went over to look at what she was seeing in the room. Approaching the calendar and picking it up off the wall, Perrine looked down at the calendar to find out anything about it.

"That's strange," Perrine said to herself. "The date circled by Major Sakamoto is today. Could something be bugging Major Sakamoto about today?"

Perrine continued to ponder the possibilties about such, but she knew that she would not be able to truly understand what this day meant to Mio Sakamoto unless she could read the kanji on the calendar, something Perrine knew she did not know how and knew that only two people on the base knew how to do. Those two people were Mio herself, and the one that she had brought from Fuso most recently and that Perrine detested the most right now because of her apparent ever growning attachment to Mio. That person was Yoshika Miyafuji, and knowing that Mio would not tell her herself what was on the calendar. Only Yoshika could tell her, and Perrine hated that fact but accepted it.

"It's for Major Sakamoto," she told herself as she walked out of the room with the calendar in her hands. "It's for Major Sakamoto's own good. Now where could Miyafuji be?"

Outside the main compound of the 501st base, in a field that was flat and clear of any plants but the grass that held the soil together, white lines had been laid down to make a diamond like shape on the ground. On that diamond were six of the witches in the 501st, playing a game that most of them had never heard of until they joined the 501st. Playing it now for yet another time, they knew that this one of the few moments that they would probably have that could be bg genuinely fun for all of them, and they were very happy they had the privilege to play the game that they were playing now. That game, was baseball.

Hailing from The United States of Liberion, baseball was yet another aspect to life in the 501st that Flight Lieutenant Charlotte E. Yeager, the lone witch in the 501st from Liberion and the fastest person in the world for the time being, brought to the 501st. EAch of them brought some cultural aspects from their homeland, be it food, a game, or something else that they could have brought along, and Charlotte brought along probably more then many of the other witches. The game of baseball was something she greatly enjoyed playing and watching back home in Liberion. Missing the game dearly, Charlotte asked Minna one day if she could teach the other witches to play baseball and make a baseball diamond in her free time. Minna agreed to the proposal, stating that the witches could always use something fun to do in such troubled times. The only condition was that the game had to be abandoned when ordered to go into combat of any kind or when she requested such, and Charlotte agreed to such with not one bit of trouble. Importing bats, gloves, catchers gear, chalk for baselines, baseplates, baseballs, and even baseball caps with each respected witch's national symbol on them from Liberion, Charlotte got all eleven of the witches to play the game with her at some period or another. This time though was one time that Charlotte was greatly waiting. Today she was playing with her best friend Francessca Lucchini at the catcher's mount, the "Ultra Ace" Erica Hartmann at first base, 501st marksman Lynette Bishop at second base, and up and coming witch Yoshika Miyafuji on third base. Charlotte was on the pitcher's mound with a baseball at her hand, and batting was none other then the one witch she could consider a rival in the 501st, fellow Flight Lieutant and the second highest scoring witch in the 501st, eighteen year old Gertrud Barkhorn of Karsland.

"Alright now things are going to get good," Francessca said happily from behind home plate in her catcher's gear. "Now batting, cleanup hitter of Karsland, the great and mighty 'Trude Barkhron!"

"Thanks for the introduction," Gertrud said with a slight smirk as she walked up to the plate with a Louisville baseball bat in her hands. "Mach schnell Liberion girl, I'm getting old here."

"So says the one from Karsland who has her panties in a bunch," Charlotte snickered slightly as she rolled the baseball in her hands, making Gertrud look at her with an even more serious and determined face then before.

"Just throw the ball already," Gertrud ordered as she straightened out her baseball cap with one hand and got in her proper stance to hit the ball.

Meanwhile Charlotte got in the correct stance, watching Francessca for hand signs that would tell her what pitch to throw to Gertrud. After watching the Romagnan girl's hands closely, Charlotte gave Francessca a firm nod and then began the process of throwing the ball. Winding up with her arm and stepping back with her feet, Charlotte rapidly motioned her arm forward in the proper motion that she had learned long ago from both family and friends back in Liberion. Once she did that, she released her fingers from the ball and let it spin right through the air towards Gertrud. Keeping a firm eye on what she was seeing coming towards her, Gertrud waited till she felt was just the right moment, and then placed all her strength in one fluid motion. Despite this however, all she hit were the air particles in front of her. Francessca on the other hand felt the strong impact of the ball hit into her catcher's glove, which came in with a loud "thwack".

"Strike one," Francessca said. "Alright Shirley, one down two to go."

"Schlagen Sie den Ball 'Trude," Erica said as she hit her hands in the baseball glove Charlotte had given her. "Make it go faster then Shirley did when she broke Mach 1!"

"That'll be the day Erica," Charlotte scoffed. "Alright you ready for this one?"

"Mach Schnell Liberion girl," Gertrud ordered, tauntingly waving the bat as she waited for Charlotte to pitch the ball to her.

Charlotte looked once again to Francessca's hands, which were making a series of handsigns that that the Liberion girl watched very closely. After deducing the hand signs like any good pitcher in a baseball game should, Charlotte placed the baseball glove behind her with the hand carrying the ball, positionging her fingers out of the prying eyes of Gertrud. Once she felt she had got the correct grip on the ball with her fingers, Charlotte moved her legs forward and then brought her arms back. With great might, she thrust her body forward and then released the ball from her fingers. Sailing through the air at high speed, Gertrud watched the ball from the plate initially go straight but then begin to sink to a lower level, so low that she knew that she thought it went out of the strike zone. But when it hit Francesscas' glove, she got a different response.

"Strike two!" Francessca cheered happily. "Only one more to go before you get four in a row Shirley. And by the way 'Trude, that was a sinker pitch and it was in the strike zone."

"I see," Gertrud spoke, annoyed by the fact that she hadn't noticed such but quickly getting back into position to hit the ball again.

"Come on one more chance here 'Trude," Erica said encouragingly. "Blow this one clear away!"

Gertrud nodded firmly to Erica and then looked back at Charlotte. The Liberion girl had her hand behind her back again, this time getting ready to give her a pitch that she was sure the 18 year old witch from Karsland would never be able to hit. It was a variation and her best variation on the first pitch and the easiest pitch she had given Gertrud so far, but it would make things very tricky for the witch from Karsland if she was not careful. Moving her fingers around behind her back, Charlotte found the correct grip and then positioned herself in the windup position. Watching closely from the plate, Gertrud could tell something big was coming and readied herself to swing at whatever Charlotte was going to throw at her. Watching Charlotte wind up and then begin her motion, she paid even more careful attention and tightened her stance as Charlotte threw the ball from her hands. Moving through the air at high speed, the split seam fastball came towards Gertrud at a speed that left the eighteen year old witch amazed that such a pitch was even possible. But that didn't stop her from bringing her bat down and swinging, connecting with the ball and making a loud crack rip through the air as the baseball began to soar through the air towards left field, and towards Yoshika Miyafuji.

"Alright 'Trude," Erica cheered happily as Gertrud dropped the bat and began to quickly sprint towards first base.

"Come on Yoshika," Lynette said quickly. "Catch the ball before she gets to home plate!"

"I got it," Yoshika panted heavily as she chased after the ball. "I got it Lynette chan!"

Continuing to run towards the ball with all the strength she had, Yoshika continued run harder and harder as she got closer and closer to the ball. Even if Gertrud had it hit the ball very far and high, it was not out of the reach of Yoshika catching it. Determined to catch the ball and put the Karsland witch out of the game, Yoshika continued to sprint harder and harder until she got to a spot where she could catch the ball. But she never reached at spot. As she was sprinting, Yoshika noticed someone run into the field who wasn't originally there. That someone was Perrine, and she stopped right in front of Yoshika, in the way of the path that she needed to follow to catch the ball she was going after. Initially perplexed by what Perrine was doing, she soon realized something else that changed her focus completely.

"Perrine san look out for the ball," Yoshika called out frantically. "Perrine san!"

"What ball?" Perrine said as she looked up at the sky, initially not seeing the ball that Yoshika was trying to catch. However, it quickly came into view too fast for Perrine to do anything about, and instead of the ball connecting with Yoshika's glove like Yoshika had hoped, it connected with Perrine's face, sending the girl down onto the ground.

"Perrine san!" Yoshika exclaimed, dropping her baseball glove and activating her magical powers as she rushed towards the girl.

Sprouting the ears and tail of a Shiba Inu and attracting the attention of the other witches, Yoshika began to heal the wounds that were apparent on Perrine's face from being hit by the falling baseball that Gertrud had sent flying in the first place. Focusing all her power that she could and keeping her mind absolutely sharp, the power that Yoshika was putting forth allowed her to quickly heal up Perrine's wounds. As the other witches who were playing the small game of baseball gathered around to see what was going on, they were awed to see Yoshika healing Perrine so fast with her power. They knew Yoshika had strong magical abilities and was continiuosly getting better at them, but they had not thought they were as good as what they were seeing. But after a few seconds, Perrine was healed of the minor injuries she faced at the hands of the baseball and Yoshika watched in delight as she sat back up again, only to grimace at the rage that Perrine began to show.

"Okay who hit that stupid baseball that hit me in the face?" Perrine roared violently, ready to throttle who ever hit the ball. "I swear when I find them I'll..."

"You'll do what?" Gertrud said unemotionally as she stepped forward into Perrine's field of view, making the Gallian witch think twice about doing anything to the witch who had hit the baseball that collided with her face.

"Oh that's not the point," Perrine said quickly, calming down as she stood up. "I'm here to get everyone's help. Major Sakamoto is in trouble?"

"She's in trouble?" Lynette gasped. "How can we help?"

"Wait a minute," Gertrud said quickly. "How do you know the major is in trouble?"

"I have evidence," Perrine said proudly, quickly brandishing the calendar that she had taken from Mio's room. "I know something about this day is making Major Sakamoto upset and that's why I came here."

"Why'd you come here if you knew something about today was making Major Sakamoto upset?" Erica asked in confusion, not quite getting what Perrine was trying to say. "And where did you get that calendar anyway?"

"Didn't Commander Minna say it's against the rules to dig through the others personal belongings without permission?" Charlotte pointed out, backing up the sixteen year old Karsland witch's statement.

"Well um, I don't know what it is about today that's making Major Sakamoto upset," Perrine said sheepishly, earning glares from Gertrud and Charlotte. "But there is something here on this calendar that Major Sakamoto wrote down, but I can't translate it. I came here to have Miyafuji do that."

"Oh okay," Yoshika said understandingly. "I'd be glad to help. Let me see it"

Perrine then handed Yoshika the calendar, which Yoshika brought up to eye level to begin reading. Being a native of Fuso, it didn't take her long to figure out what Mio had wrote down on the calendar, but she was confused as to how this was making the witch that had brought her to Britannia to help the 501st. To Yoshika, what Mio had marked down should make her happy, not upset. In troubled times like this, it seemed only natural for them to gladly await for days like Mio marked down, and according to Perrine's claims that was what was getting to Mio.

"Well what is it?" Perrine questioned impatiently, making Yoshika lower the calendar down from eye level.

"I don't get it," Yoshika stated perplexed. "Why would Sakamoto san be upset by today?"

"Maybe if you told us Miyafuji we would be able to figure out why," Perrine proposed sharply. "So tell us."

"Perrine," Yoshika said slowly. "Today is Sakamoto san's birthday."