Infinite Stratos: God of Thunder

By: The 483

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Infinite StratosFranchise.

Spoiler Alert: Warning: Light to mild spoilers for the Anime may be included herein.

In The Pit

It was amazing how quickly one could become adjusted to new circumstances, Houki thought as she awoke far too early on a Sunday morning. It was the following Sunday after Casey, her new roommate had arrived. They had not spent a lot of time together overall, being in different classes and Houki having club activities. But Catherine was scarce as well, having spent almost all waking hours she was not in class in the pit, repairing her damaged machine. So they had only really talked during the interlude when they both lay in bed, waiting for sleep to come. But they had got along. They already had a pretty stable schedule. Catherine had been working until around 8 every night, when it was impressed upon her by an outside source that she needed to eat, despite it cutting into working hours, or Houki would get in trouble for it.

So Catherine grudgingly accepted that she would cut off at 8, and eat while Houki used the shower, then Catherine would return and take her own shower, with completion of nightly chores/homework or Ichika hounding/Sarashiki trolling until around 10, 10:30. Catherine had been at odds with Tatenashi since the first day, and had mainly ignored her, or passed a barb in a semi-subtle way when in earshot. At least, until Thursday, when she received the paper she had sent for on Tuesday. She had filed a copy with Miss Orimura, and had let her throw it in Tatenashi's face. Houki had seen the gleam in Catherine's eyes when she had seen Tatenashi's face. Why this had become a battle point between them she did not know. But she had looked at the paper Catherine had smugly showed her, and acted as if she understood the reason she was so pleased. Most of it seemed like lawyer talk and condescending over explanation, and the last three pages were just a long string of patent numbers and references. But Catherine pointed out the relevant passage.

"…while implementing Magnetic Acceleration to propel the projectile (See Reference #72) to hypersonic velocity, the technology involved does not interfere with the concessions of the Alaska Treaty." At the bottom of the page with text, signatures of the representatives of the seven veto powers were embossed. There still needed to be a test to see if the weapon in question was safe to use on other people, but that would happen sometime the following week.

"Hehe, it great, because the weapon was not created for the IS, it's a byproduct of the IS, it is proprietary technology, so I don't even have to let my own government look at it."

Houki did not know a lot about the Alaska Treaty, (They did not get the class pertaining to the geo-political landscape of a world with IS capabilities until late in the second year. The first and first half of the second aimed at learning about and how to pilot the IS's.) Other than the fact that its primary purpose, besides making sure that IS equipped countries did not use them for warfare, was to keep a technological balance between these countries, so no one fell behind. So she had simply made a non-committal noise, asked her to pass the chicken, and looked pretended she understood why the other was so pleased.

The had been going to do her preliminary rundown on Friday after class, but a storm pattern had swept in, so she had postponed it for Saturday. But, Saturday had also brought and all day shower, and the teachers did not like the students to operate there IS's in the rain unless it was a heavily supervised drill. The plan was to have a little sparring match, which Houki volunteered to assist with, confident her 4th Generation could handle whatever Catherine's backyard breed machine could dish out. She had volunteered to help her Sunday, but Catherine had begged of, claiming she had a prior engagement. So they would pick it up maybe Monday, or Tuesday.

Houki rolled over, and looked at her clock. Just before 8 A.M. It was rare that she allowed herself to sleep in like this, but she enjoyed it. But Catherine, dressed for town, rather than the academy, was making an awful lot of noise, now sucking a finger and pointing a chop stick threateningly at the rice cooker on the sink counter. She apparently heard the shuffling of the sheets, for she turned, and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, did I wake you? I was trying to do this quietly." Houki sat up and rubbed an eye with the back of her hand, and yawned.

"… for trying to be quiet, you sure do make a lot of noise." Catherine gave an embarrassed smile.

"Yeah… sorry about that, but this infernal machine has spent the last 15 minutes trying to convince me that it wants to die." She jabbed it sharply with the chopstick, and looked irritated. "I do not know what it is with me and these lesser machines. I mean, I once even had a toaster commit suicide."

"It's okay." Houki said with a chuckle, throwing back the sheet and rising, her night gown all bunchy. She stretched, and Catherine averted her eyes. Once Houki had fished and straightened herself, she walked over and inspected what had Casey bothered. "Aw, do you need me to work the rice cooker for you?" She said in mock sympathy. Casey made huffing noise.

"Nah, I don't feel like it anymore. Just trying to avoid a trip to the cafeteria. Anyway, sorry again." Houki waved it away.

"Don't worry about it. I should already have been up, anyway. Want me to fix you something?"

"Thanks, but its fine. Really. I'll just grab something while I am out. I want to get to the stores early, and I don't like the crowds."

"Alright, if you say so. You're going shopping already?" She asked, crowding Catherine out of the way, and beginning to prep herself dome food. Casey nodded, shifting and leaning her back against the wall with the bathroom door.

"Yeah. I guess I had so much gear to load for shipment that I forgot to pack really any more clothes then I normally bring if I have a tournament. So I have some socks, and one extra pair of underwear. I hand to retire one on Wednesday.

"Oh. Well, I am not really one for clothes shopping, but I could take you around if you'd like. I know the area fairly well."

"Thanks again, but it's cool. I got a guide." Houki looked dubiously over her shoulder.

"Not Cecilia, I hope." Catherine and Cecilia had been getting along for the past few days, now that Cecilia was sure she was not going to get in trouble. They had even all been up, playing cards together, her, Catherine, Houki, Charlotte, and Laura, last night, and was the cause of them being up a little too late. Catherine seemed to be getting along with all of Houki's friends, save Tatenashi, who's forced smile when they crossed paths looked like that of someone biting into a lemon they weren't keen on.

"Nah. It's a local, and they are going to meet me out front in about… 4 minutes now. Have to bolt. Catch you later, Houki." Catherine had turned, noticing the time, and waved over her shoulder as she opened the door.

"Alright… have fun." She said, but might have refrained if she had known that the next time they would see each other would again be in the infirmary, or that Catherine's sojourn into the city was with Ichika, and the result of a meeting that had taken place in the men's bath on the evening of Friday night.

(…)

Friday Night

Catherine wallowed in the luxuriously warm water of the vacant men's bath. She loved being submerged in the warmth; it did wonders when her scars tightened and throbbed. The shower in the dorm room was ok… but it just couldn't compare to submerging herself to the chin in the warm, steamy scented waters.

She was the, to her knowledge, only girl on campus to have every received a pass to use the male bath. It was, perhaps a concession due to the events surrounding her arrival, and while not one to normally curry favor like that, when something felt this good, she was not too keen to reject the offer. And since there was only one student who used it besides her, and from what she had heard, rarely partook, she didn't even need to go through the trouble of timing it so that she could be alone. She had been surprised the first time she had changed in the girl's locker room. She didn't consider herself body conscious, except with her scars, but those were personal, not embarrassing. She had no problem with being naked, but was still not used to being in a room full of naked, or various stages of undress, people. Even if she wasn't shy, she was still used to a lifetime of naked time being private time, not just gender segregated. But, seeing as she wore her skintight IS suit under her uniform, or clothes, all she had to do was hop into a bathroom stall, shuck the outer, and stuff her clothes in a locker, and she was good.

She lay back, floating on the water, looking at the crossed timber roof through the obscuring steam. She must have fallen asleep, floating on her back, because she awoke with a jar, but couldn't figure out why. She was thinking that maybe she'd bumped her head on a side wall, when she heard a slosh and contented sigh.

"Ah, it seems like this is the only place I can escape and be alone anymore." The voice filtered in and registered, and Catherine decided she needed some questions answered from this person, and decided she could be seen by this person.

"Wouldn't it be nice if that was really the case?" She said, almost ethereally, and poked her head up from the small layer of steam, her hair, unbidden by its normal silver chopstick guard, was surprisingly long, as it washed over her shoulders and floated in a ring around her. There was a two second pause as Ichika, chest deep, processed this sudden apparition.

"Oh, shit!" He stumbled backward, growing slightly red, and stood to regain his balance. Catherine just cocked her head to the side like a curious puppy, a light smile on her lips, as she inspected the blurred form of male in front of her.

"Not bad." She commented, letting a hint of respect color the words. Ichika looked down, made a choking nice, and planted himself down hard, getting his back to her before the bulk of the splash rejoined its brother water.

"Sorry! I didn't realize someone was in here!" He sputtered. Catherine was bemused. Why would he? He was the only male in the school.

"Didn't you notice that I left my change of clothes in one of the baskets? Is that not what they are for? Am I mistaken?" She pushed off from the bottom, and moved soundlessly to the lip of the pool near the entrance, where she had left her glasses.

"Yes. Sorry, I didn't notice. Here. I'll leave." Catherine located her glasses, noted that he did not step on them, and placed them on. A light almost imperceptible crept from the left of each lens to the right, burning way the steam, and she could now see Ichika's back clearly.

"Don't bother. I ain't got anything worth getting excited over, and from your comment the other day, I assume you've already seen. So hand out for a while." Her voice carried a hint of frost at the end. She hooked her elbows over the lip if the pool, and leaned back against it, lounging, after adjusting her hair so it floated in front of her, covering her insubstantial chest. "Go ahead, turn around. I find it awkward talking to the back of a man's head." He hesitated.

"I'd really rather not…" Catherine arched a brow.

"Really now? Or is this a, "You showed me yours" thing, and you don't want to face me unless I'll show you mine? I can do that." She smiled as he turned, hands up.

"Oh, no! That's not it at all!" She chuckled.

"Relax, sport. I just wanted to get you to face me. If it helps, I am covered with a towel under here." She wasn't, but boys were shy. Especially ones who had just accidently flashed a near stranger. He was going to turn back, when his eyes rested on her left arm, and he looked concerned.

"Yes. That. When I borrowed your pants… Oh, and I need to return those, mine came in this morning. You PX her works fast. Anyway, when I met you there, you were about to ask me about these, I presume. Correct?"

"…yes…" He said, carefully. Her eyes narrowed.

"Alright. When did you have an opportunity to ogle at them?" Her voice was sharp, but didn't climb in volume.

"Ummm… when Tatenashi brought you in to the infirmary…"

"Who?" She snapped, wondering who else had this over her now.

"Sarashiki Tatenashi. The Student Council President." Catherine groaned.

"Ah, great, the Ruski." She muttered. Ichika looked confused.

"Rust…key?" Catherine looked momentarily ashamed.

"Sorry, meant, the Russian." Ichika didn't seem to get it, but nodded anyway.

"Alright. Well, she took you in, and I went to see after I saw that Cecilia wasn't; going to do anything stupid. They asked me to hold you up while they removed the top of your IS suit. You are a heavier then you look." Catherine let that comment go, because it was true. She was well muscled for her slender frame.

"Alright… so it just you, the Russian, and those two teachers that saw the scarring?" She asked, almost menacingly.

"…That I know of…" He again was taken aback. She wanted to ask the obvious question about if others were questioning her ability to pilot with her amount of injury, but she fought it off. After all, her stationary act was basically a gimmick. Once she was back in the saddle, she'd give them a real show that would leave no doubt to her ability. She wasn't as fast as she used to be by a decent factor, and sometimes her leg and arm would just completely crap out on her, but she still retained a shadow of her former self.

"Alright, then I shall forgive you." She visibly relaxed.

"What happened?" She eyed him, and smiled sorrowfully.

"Sorry, champ. But that is not a story I care to relive. Suffice to say, accidents happen." She angled for the subject change.

"What about you? Who are you trying to escape, your harem?" Ichika flashed a quick look of panic, but shook it off from long practice.

"My… what now?" Catherine flicked water at him. She wondered if he was meek, or if she was just dominating the conversation, or maybe he was really shy. After all, Chelsea, before she got her snide ass kicked, had always commented that she was overly aggressive both on and off the field.

"Come now. Okay, so it's not a Sultan's crop. But 7 isn't a bad amount." He tried to look confused, but was not pulling it off.

"I am afraid I do not understand."

"Please. You can play stupid around them, but that is not going to fly with me, Hun. No one can be that stupid. How they can still believe it is beyond me." He was still stubbornly clinging to the oblivious act. So, Casey used her leverage. "Considering that fighting over you put me in the hospital, I think you could at least be honest with me." She added a sad inflection, and could almost hear the resounding thud as her volley hit the target. Bingo sounded like a back wrenching sigh. He wore such a look of utter weariness and defeat, Catherine felt an unaccustomed pang of feeling bad. She had taken advantage of her mishap three times already, it was time to stop. Her look softened.

"Hey, sorry. I guess I am just too pushy. It's okay, if you don't want to talk, or if I am making you uncomfortable, I'll leave."

"No. It's okay. I am just tired, and not used to such… informality with girls." Catherine flinched. In a formal society, that was not a good thing to be accused of.

"Oh, I am really sorry. I just find it so much easier to get along with guys. I always lived with my Brother, and he certainly didn't treat me like a girl. He treated me like one of his buddies from the think tank. He always used to say, "Kate,"" she made an exasperated face and said to Ichika, outside the framework of her story: "He always used to call me Kate, because he knew I hated it." She then continued. "Kate, I'd get you a water bra, so you could find some nice engineering student and settle down and start a mediocre firm and fabricate some sad little components, except that I would first have to buy a second one, so the first one would have something to accentuate." She made a cross between a smile and a frown, with a giggle mixed in. "Such an asshole. And that didn't even make sense, because he was an Engineer!" Ichika didn't quite get why that was the part that she was irritated by, but smiled.

"So you don't get along with your brother?"

"What? No, we got along great. He just treated me as if I were a brother, too. Worked well, I just had some trouble with smoothness when interacting with other at level girls."

"That's nice to hear. I always thought I got along well with my sister… but my friends all think our relationship is odd."

"Is it odd?" Catherine asked, completely sincere.

"Umm… I don't think so…" Catherine smiled.

"Well, then there you go. I don't think anyone else is qualified to decide what is odd between siblings… unless you're sleeping with her. That would be odd. You're not… right?" She did her best to look warily curious. Ichika sputtered and drifted backward.

"What! Of course not!" Catherine giggled impishly.

"Relax, friend. I'm just kidding. You have such overblown reactions, it's fun to tease you." He looked even wearier, and Casey again felt bad. "So, why are you hiding? You never answered."

"Well… it is sort of like you said… with all 7 of them constantly attempting to get me away from the others, I almost never have any time to myself."

"Ah, so I am interfering with that, then. Want me to take off?" He thought about it for a moment.

"Not if you don't want to. It makes a difference when it's someone who isn't fighting over me." Catherine smiled and stretched, lifting her arms over her head in a stretch that was not indecent, but bordering on it. Ichika averted his eyes, but was calm. It was weird, he could talk to this girl whom he barely knew, but he was not strictly uncomfortable. She was very frank, and assertive almost to being rude, but at the same time she had that odd mix of apathetic interest that made her easy to talk to. It reminded him of when he hung out with Dan and Ran in the time since she confessed.

"That's good. I really am enjoying the soak. Really helps dissipate the soreness. So I have heard various accounts so far, why don't you fill me in on your side?"

So, for the next hour or so, they talked casually, just letting the conversation flow from one topic to the next. He told her about the girls, and how, in order to put off the time when he had to hurt them, he pretended to be neutron star dense. He also got into how he lived in the area, and some of the basics on the academy. It was quite a bit more informative that when Houki had tried to tell her things, but that was not her error. Houki just more answered when asked, whereas Ichika volunteered info he thought she might not know. He was kind of boring and more than a little plain… but he was likable enough. He did seem to shock fairly easily when Catherine talked about some of her past…shenanigans, but she didn't get the prudish vibe, just the inexperienced.

"So, you said you got your IS core after getting in touch with Tabane? But how did you get in touch with her? She is, as far as I know, completely outside of the government's ability to locate, except when she decides to pop in here. How did you get a line to her?" Catherine cocked her head, looking puzzled, like this was the simplest thing in the world.

"The same way everyone else does. She moderates the forums on her fan site, "Shinononet." She has a ideas thread, where she encourages users to post what they think are cool ideas, and when my brother posted some rough prints for Tess, she invited him to send her the full work up. Why? Is this not commonly known? I mean, she even trolls her own forums. It's kind of awesome." Ichika looked exhausted.

"Wow… that is so obvious, I never would have thought of it. That sounds like Tabane, alright."

"Oh, you know her?"

"Yeah, she and my sister Chifuyu are old friends, and I grew up with her Sister Houki." Catherine nodded in understanding, and, never one to miss a perfect segue way into where she wanted the conversation to go, pounced.

"Speaking of… which of the girls do you like?" He was not caught off guard, but he still did not like it. Catherine cut him off on his planed exit. "And don't tell me you don't like any of them. You would not be that concerned about hurting the others if you didn't have one singled out."

"I… am going with no comment."

"Oh, and if I got out, and dug in your wallet, who's picture would I find?" Another jackpot.

"You wouldn't." Ah, boys are always the same. Once they got a hold of a picture of a girl they liked, it was always tucked safely in the depths of their wallet, except when being viewed in in use for other, less wholesome activity. Her own brother had continuously kept a print of Tabane and one of Natasha Faris's Silver Gospel (The pic was an exploded blue print miniature of the IS) in his. He always did have strange taste with his concept of beauty.

Catherine cocked her brow and fitted on a predatory smile.

"If I wanted to, do you think you could stop a Wet, lithe, naked girl who is stronger then you?" She had apparently nicked what little pride the rest of the girls had not yet managed to kill.

"I am not a complete weakling." He said, with an attempt at machismo.

"Unless you are hiding a lot more muscle somewhere, I wouldn't favor your odds. I'll let you in on a little background. I was in High school for a year and a half before the accident. We used to play pick up football games during gym. Well, the boys did, and it was open to any of the girls who wanted to, though I was the only one who did. I was always the one who got to be ball carrier, because I didn't go around the other players defense, I went through, unless at least three of them were either very solid, or had really low centers of gravity.

After about three months, there was a petition to put me on the Varsity team, even though I was a freshmen and girls were not allowed on the schools official teams. I failed, of course, but they still tapped me for practice when I wasn't working with Everret."

"So you kicked a ball around good. That speaks more to agility then strength." Catherine waggled her finger at him.

"No, dear. FOOTBALL. Not Soccer. The one where a bunch of 300 pound men slam into each other." He still looked dubious, but his shoulders were set a little more cautiously. "I will tell you what. You're a local? Well, I need to go and do a little shopping, get replacements for the stuff I forgot to pack. Escort me, and I will drop the matter for now. Deal?"

"Alright. I can show you around."

"Shake." She said, and stretched out a pruned hand. He grasped it, and she proceeded to crush his hand until his knuckles popped. Not to be mean, but to show she was not bluffing. Ever since the injury, she did not like to leave doubt when she said she could do something. She released his hand, and stood, wherein he forgot immediately about the pain, and swiveled around with a yelp.

"Wh-what the hell! You said you were wearing a towel!" Catherine looked down at her own naked body and shrugged.

"Oh, yeah. I lied. Do people really wear towels in bath water? I always thought that was just a trope used in anime and such in order to keep the rating out of the nudity area."

(…)

Sunday morning

"You're late." Catherine said as she walked up to where Ichika was waiting for her.

"What?" He checked his watch, which read 9:12. He'd gotten there 10 minutes prior to 9, when they'd agreed to meet. He looked her over. He did not know what to expect her to dress liked, when not in school. It wasn't a dress or skirt, though he imagined her slender frame would suit a sundress quite nicely. What she wore, however were a pair of well-worn jeans, sneakers, and a black tank top. Under that, however, was her IS pilot suit, black and smooth, covering her left shoulder down to the writs, but leaving the right bare. She also wore a light material vest with a fur collar, which hung open and only had holes for two widely spaced buttons to draw it; an accessory rather than an item to keep warm with. On her hands was the ring that was her IS item, and a pair of thin fingerless gloves that Ichika did not recognize as shooting gloves. Finally, a pair of dog tags hung around her neck on a decorative silver chain that matched the single small hoop she wore in each earlobe. As always, she wore her glasses, which had polarized to a darker tint in the bright morning sun, and grew lighter as clouds passed in front of it.

"You're the one who is late." He said. She tutted at him, but did not look irritated.

"Don't you know that a lady is never late?" She shook her head. "Here." She held out a hand, a donut wrapped in a napkin offered. "Breakfast was uncooperative, so I dug these up."

"Oh, thanks." He said, and took it gingerly. He rummaged around in a pocket, and withdrew his wallet. "What do I owe you?" She changed her assessment. Maybe chivalry wasn't dead, after all.

"You can show me whose picture you keep in there." He stared at her, and she smiled innocently, trying to coax out some dimples she never had to begin with.

"Uhh… hell. Alright, but it will have to wait. If we don't hurry, we'll miss the train.

Once secured on the train, both standing, Ichika having offered the seat to Catherine, she in turn offered it to a mother with two young children in tow, Ichika reluctantly handed over his wallet, and did his best to look uninterested.

"Oh, chin up. I'm not going to use this against you, and I won't say a word to the girl, if I know her, and you don't want me to. I just am a busy body. She opened the wallet and gaped, before tilting her head curiously, trying to make sense of the picture staring back at her, the woman in question clearly hostile, and a smaller boy with her.

"Okay… so you like older women. Nothing to be ashamed of there." Ichika looked at her clearly confused.

"What are you talking about?" She held it up for him to see.

"It's that one teacher who seems to run the school. I don't see anything wrong with having a crush on a teacher. I mean, it might be a little weird that her kid is that old, but, hey, I guess it could be kind of cool to be a step parent." Ichika blushed vibrantly red.

"No, no no!" he said, raising his free hand. "God, no. That's my sister, Chifuyu. That picture was taken no long after her win at the first Mondo Grosso. I'm the kid."

"Oh… that makes sense. I though he looked vaguely familiar. Which is weird, as I know very few people here, and no kids. So you're into your sister?" She doubted that was the case, though the woman was certainly pretty enough to merit it. She had that kind of hard edged beauty that came with high power positions, and a severity that reminded Catherine of a Drill Sergeant she had had when serving her time so she could officially be the RC for the U.S.A., as they wanted someone who was a soldier, at least on paper, to represent the country. Ichika sighed.

"Why does everyone seem to think that?" He said, dejectedly, and shook his head. "No, she's just really all the family I have. Here." He reached into the billfold portion, and withdrew a surprisingly large sheet, folded, and clearly of magazine print. Catherine's right eyebrow crept skyward. Was he in unrequited love with one of those idols, like in some of the manga she read? He handed it to her, relieving her of the wallet, while she opened the simple fold, and looked at a ful 11 page out of a magazine. She frowned slightly.

"Ah, so you are into the big boobs." The page was a full color print. In it, Ichika was wearing a soft colored tux, his arms wrapped around the waist of a clearly embarrassed and non-resistant Houki. "She certainly cleans up nice." Houki herself was wearing a neat and fitting pale blue dress that smelled of summer, riding the border between elegant and casual, and looking very pretty outside of her usual ramrod straight bearing. The dress made her substantial bust even more impressive with its generous helping of cleavage.

"Not exactly. I won't say I don't like it… but … I don't know. I knew Houki when we were kids, before she moved away. But, I guess I never really noticed anything until I saw her in class, my first day at the academy." Catherine smiled, looked one last time at the picture, and carefully folded it back and returned it.

"Long lost love found again, eh?

"Not really. It had been six years since I had seen her. We had been just kids, and I really almost didn't recognize her, she had changed so much. And no, not just there." He said, with a side long glace at Catherine. She grinned and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Party pooper." She didn't get to reply, as at that moment, the warning bell chirped, and the station was announced, followed by the squealing of the brakes.

End 4.

Cutting it here, because I want to post it, (been a while) and I don't want to streach this one as far as the scenes I have planned would push it. So I'll save it for the next one, which may be short, as I may make the start of one the IS test. So, thanks for tuning in if you did, and I hope this clears up the question of the Ichika X ? pairing. And, I hope that how Tabane was contacted fits. I kicked that one around a lot, and liked where it landed. Thanks for reading!

Also, I have to write some pointless fluff piece, so may be a spell before the next part.