Disclaimer: Yes, I do not own Full Metal Panic. And yes, in my dreams, I'd like to pretend I do.

Summary: Her mouth stopped near his ear, and whispered ever so softly, much like the same way she did last time Sousuke allowed her to cut his hair. "You can't protect me forever, Sousuke" SousukeKaname

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Save Me
By makka na yuki

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The time after a good home-cooked meal is finished and the plates are set aside, is always a state of comfortable silence for both of them - Kaname fixing up the dining area, looking to see if she'd missed a spot with her cleaning rag, humming a tune or two. And him, Sousuke, standing a little bit close by her side, eyes darting from time to time, expecting who-knows-what to come barging in through the windows. They have both come to cherish such rare moments, especially now when the dull ache of separation is already starting to fade...

Sousuke couldn't get his mind to ease up. He hasn't been back for more than a few hours, but the long-haired girl in front of him had given him more jumbled-up thoughts than he was willing to stress upon. There was no immediate threat in the vicinity, he knows that much, having excused himself a few minutes prior to sneakily go around the perimeter half a dozen times with all his tracking gadgets in hand. True, Kaname had given him a weird stare at the length of time he spent in the "restroom", and he, not wanting her to know that he had spied around her apartment complex, calmly stated that the food might have poisoned his stomach.

He shouldn't have been surprised to have his skull cracked immediately after. It was a normal response, Sousuke thought, as normal as the two of them could get, but he couldn't let go of the bad feeling that something was terribly off about her smile…

His musings were disturbed when Kaname had turned to stare at the top of his head. "Such a big mess" Kaname sighed as she raked a hand through his hair "Mou, don't you guys know when to get a proper haircut?"

"Negative" the young soldier replied "As I have stated before, cutting it myself with a knife is easier and much more time efficient. I would have preferred to have it all shaved-off but Sergeant Kruz implied that it would make me look… strange"

"And old!" Kaname laughed. "So the pervert is still breathing eh? You'd definitely scare of the children if you don't do what he says."

"Affirmative. Tomorrow I would immediately set up an appointment with the nearest-"

"No! Let me do it…" Kaname cut him off, a blush forming on her cheeks "… at least just this last time" she added in a silent whisper that he couldn't hear. The blue-haired girl blinked in embarrassment "I mean, you remember the last time we went to a salon, you almost killed the guy.. and yeah"

Sousuke grimly recollected that uncomfortable experience. Wraith had aimed her sniper at him again at that time, causing him to panic and assume that the stylist was trying to slice his neck off. The young soldier decided to have another talk with the undercover agent.

Sousuke nodded his head and smiled "Alright"

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Nothing much has changed, Sousuke mused as he looked around the area of Kaname's bathroom sink. The vase with purple flowers still sits in front of mirror to his left, while the painting of a sailboat hangs in the wall to his right. Even the cloth wrapped around his neck to protect his clothes from falling hair still has the same peach color - similar to the one was used the last time he got his hair cut by the Whispered girl.

Kaname skimmed her hands through the soldier's head, once again looking from strands that are a bit too long.

Snip.

He liked it... the feeling of her hands on the top of his head. It once lulled him to sleep, he remembered, just a few moments before the violent girl pushed his head down the sink and almost drowned him using a faucet. Sousuke's lip twitched at the memory. Girls... he would never understand them.

Snip.

"Hey…" The long-haired girl started.

"What is it?"

Snip.

"You've been gone for so long because you had work to do after that mission in China right?"

"Affirmative. I apologize for not meeting you at the airport as planned"

"Mm." She shook her head, "I understand."

Snip. Snip.

Kaname turned his head from side to side. "Did you fight again?"

"Yes. But that is already a given."

"….. You didn't get hurt, did you?"

"No" Sousuke answered hesitantly - they both knew that was a lie. He raised his eyebrows as he recognized the familiar flow of conversation. Was she deliberately trying to ask the same questions she had the last time they had this moment together?

Snip.

"I see" She fingered a few strands at the top of his head in thought. Sousuke sighed and closed his eyes to dispel all bothersome suspicions.

Snip. Snip. Snip.

Silence.

And then, he felt it - the cool tip of the scissors pressed gently on his neck, almost breaking skin, but not quite ready to draw blood.

He kept his eyes closed. "What are you doing Chidori?" Sousuke asked calmly.

Kaname smiled at him sadly. He still trusts her, after all this time. He shouldn't… It would make everything so much more easier "Just testing out a theory."

"And that is?" the young soldier opened his eyes and looked at her through the mirror.

"A secret" Kaname winked and continued on with her work. "Almost done. Just a little bit more"

Snip.

"If you say so…"

Snip. Snip. Snip. Snip.

"Ne Sousuke?" she asked, after a few moments of tense silence "Do you remember? The first time I cut your hair, it had been half a year already that we had known each other."

He nodded slightly.

"…Now… it's after half a year of being gone… funny coincidence don't you think so?"

"I do not understand. What are you trying to say Chidori?"

Snip.

"Hmm… nothing really. Only that… a lot of things have changed…"

"I am aware of the recent events." Sousuke continued obliviously "The crime rate in this area seems to have visibly lessened over the past few weeks. The political debates, as well, have- "

She cut him off "Aa."

"…Chidori?" he asked as he saw, through the mirror, her lean closer to him.

Her mouth stopped near his ear, and whispered ever so softly, much like the same way she did last time he allowed her to cut his hair.

"I trust only you"

But, just as fast as his heart soared that day, it broke into many pieces.

"You can't protect me forever, Sousuke"

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He opened his eyes.

Something was definitely wrong. Sousuke stood up to glare at his bed. He wasn't able to sleep at all anyway…

The young agent turned to look at Chidori's front porch through his window. Everything seemed peaceful enough, so why didn't this bad feeling disappear yet? He had left Kaname's apartment moments ago, still feeling as restless as he did when he arrived. Everything that have occurred this day had played out in the same manner…much the same manner as it did the last time he was forced to leave her. Sousuke had dreaded opening his laptop, though he knew he was being overly paranoid. But what if… what if another message came to order him to cease any type of communication with the blue-haired girl again? Would he be able to live through that?

Shaking the disturbing thoughts out of his head, Sousuke moved to turn to get a drink of water when he saw it. There, his eyes narrowed to focus on the roof of Chidori's apartment building. A shadowed figure wearing a cloak was moving through the rooftop…

Suddenly…

… a loud boom was the only warning that the young soldier got before he was thrown out his glass window by an explosion near his door. Sousuke roughly landed on the ground below, with the tree's branches non-too-softly breaking his fall. Glass had cut him everywhere, he noted as he readied his gun to look up at the flames consuming his room, but other than that, he was still alive.

He looked up once again to see the shadow on the roof disappear. Sousuke quickly removed his gun from his pockets before breaking into a run. He couldn't let this mysterious shadow – the only probably suspect around - get away… he can't let anything hurt Chidori again.

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He shot once, twice at the fleeing opponent, determined not to let it outrun him. He had broken through Kaname Chidori's door a few seconds ago, only to find her apartment empty. There were no signs of struggle… but he couldn't be sure. Someone, Sousuke thought grimly, dared kidnap her again.

The young soldier analyzed what other kind of traps this enemy had in store for him. The cloaked individual didn't even try to fight back nor reply when he asked it to identify itself.

The shadow quickly fell down on the ground, clutching its legs, but still refusing to make any sound. Sousuke quickly reloaded his gun before stepping closer, but was stopped when the enemy turned its shining brown eyes at him. His eyes widened in disbelief.

No... it couldn't be…

"I should've asked Kyouko for a less suspicious-looking cloak ne?"

This was just a mistake…, he argued with himself as the gun fell from his hands, the bomb…she couldn't have-

She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"I knew nothing could kill you Sousuke"

…a slight twinkle in her eyes. "Nothing can kill you Sousuke, I know that much."

He felt something in him break.

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Author's Note: I know the hair-cutting scene is one of the most common situations you'd find both our characters in… but I simply had to use it. It's one of the best scenes in the Second Raid since it once symbolized the start of the downfall of their relationship. But then again, hair never stops growing, thus, who would know when another treasured moment such as this would come again? Boink.

A longer chapter this time, though it would still take awhile for everything to come into light – not to mention I'm still not sure how all this would end. Hummm…