FMP Fan Fiction

Wo Futari De

by Esoteria

Chapter 5

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Sagara was in a strange mood. In the past hour, he'd been in just about every imaginable state of mind, from pride and contentedness when drying this girl (who now sat slumped over on her right side onto the armrest on the bench-seat), to self-hatred and anxiety when confronted with his own failure to notice the enemy presence. In fact, in the end the enemy hadn't even been Amalgam, meaning that if there had ever been an excuse to have missed the clues of hostile presence, it was gone. These were little more than organized thugs. Once he'd successfully rescued the unconscious Chidori Kaname from them, Sousuke had found himself almost grinning, strangely impressed with his performance, and inwardly mocking all the Mithril personnel who would surely reprimand his anti-tactical method of infiltration. He couldn't understand how it was possible that he felt guilty about further endangering "Angel" by just... bursting in, and yet ultimately he felt good about it at the same time.

The train proceeded at a slow pace. A few buildings drew by as a background, overlaid by Chidori, sitting across from him, and the white, unassuming color of the train car interior itself. Sagara stared at the bruised area on Kaname's neck. From this distance, it was hardly noticeable. Sousuke crouched in the aisle, sitting on his ankles, turning Chidori's head slightly and passing two fingers across her neck. The skin was raised slightly, but it was an ultimately superficial wound. Sousuke had to admit he knew very little when it came to tranquilizers. Surprisingly few of his missions had involved them (none that he could recall, in fact), and his mercenary days before joining Mithril had hardly involved the kind of approach that would utilize tranquilizers. As for his missions while under his current employment, Sagara would have to surmise that if an organization like Mithril were to be called in, the situation was no longer able to be suppressed in a non-lethal manner. At least, he consciously thought, that's what we SRTs will tell ourselves.

The possibility of a tranquilizer dart being used on Kaname couldn't be ruled out. From what he knew, that'd have been the most instantaneous method of suppression. But the bruise didn't seem large or severe enough to have come from a projectile. He did know that tranquilizer darts only worked because they detonated a small charge on impact, injecting the chemical instantly. A charge like that would probably thrash the needle in the victim's body, which would mean internal bleeding, and a much larger-looking bruise. It would all depend on the size of the dart, he supposed. Then there was the possibility of straight injection. How the enemy could've come up behind Chidori silently, then successfully injected a tranquilizer into her neck, was unknown.

Her enemies were not terribly well equipped. Using AK-47 assault rifles in an enclosed area was not a commendable tactic. Only one of the men Sousuke had come across had a shotgun, and there were no submachine guns or suppressed weapons to speak of. If any of them had the chance to fire their weapons, they probably would've missed horribly for the sheer kickback of all the firearms. The unsuppressed weapons meant stray bullets and deafening noise in a hallway like those.

The fact that these weapons were so poorly suited for their situation meant, to Sagara Sousuke, that these men would probably not have had access to military grade tranquilizers. If they were darts, they were probably intended for animals. If it was an injection, it was probably some regularly prescribed tranquilizer intended for anti-anxiety. Sousuke did know of two such medicines: diazepam and droperidol. Both were used in hospitals to sedate patients, but in larger doses they could certainly put a human out of consciousness. It was dangerous to overdose someone like that, though...

Sagara was struck with the shock of intense panic. What if Chidori were to die from this drug? Could an overdose kill her after a time? He had checked her pulse in the renovating area of the station, and found it to be fairly strong, but...

Sousuke grabbed Kaname's face and straightened her forward. He touched her neck and looked at her, hoping for a strong, well-paced heartbeat.

...doki, doki ...doki, doki… the beat was there, but Sagara was so scared his hands were shaking, he couldn't tell how strong it was. He moved his hand down to her chest, pressing so hard for a beat that his knuckles turned white.

Sousuke tried to concentrate. Calm down, Sousuke. Stop shaking, wait for the heartbeat. She'll be fine. His body wasn't so sure. He found his other hand forcefully stroking the side of her face. Maybe he was trying to wake her up. Maybe he was trying to get some color back into her pale figure. Maybe he was just panicking. Every time his fingers weren't pressed against Chidori, they were almost vibrating.

... thump, thump ... ... thump, thump

Sagara took a deep breath. After several minutes of staring intently at her, counting beats, he let his breath out in relief, his head swimming from lack of oxygen. The heart rate was slowed, but strong. He would check again soon, to make sure it hadn't slowed.

Regaining his composure, Sousuke found his left hand still at her cheek. When he actually looked at her, he realized: In his panic, he'd rubbed her so hard it had hurt her. Several red lines appeared, drawn from around the corner of her mouth to near her earlobe, probably where his thumb had traced. Sagara frowned, and moved closer to inspect his unintentional damage. He smoothed over the abrasions, holding her faced with both hands and mentally kicking himself repeatedly for having hurt her.

Then, when he looked back up to her face again, big, brown, dilated eyes were staring back at him. Kaname stared, groggily gazing at him--or past him, perhaps--with her mouth slightly agape. Sagara froze, finding himself less than ten centimeters from her face, both hands at her cheeks and neck in mid-…caress. He heard his own heart pound in the silence. When Chidori realizes the situation, she'll... Sousuke couldn't decide whether to cringe at one possibility or blush furiously at another. He just found himself staring back anxiously, hunkered down before her.

Several moments passed.

Sagara watched Chidori's pupils return to a more normal size, but the blank look remained on her face. Suddenly, her eyes went to Sousuke's. Sagara recoiled a bit at this, not knowing what to expect.

"Haaa? Sou-- Nnn..." Chidori made slurred attempts at speech. Sousuke watched her slowly pull both arms up from her sides and, with effort, rest them on his shoulders. She was looking at him intently now, though clearly she was mostly oblivious to her surroundings. Then Sagara felt her tug gently... then harder... then she outright pulled him into her. Losing his balance from his position, Sousuke fell, only barely dodging left to miss colliding with Kaname's face directly. He must've looked like a rag doll; flopped over on top of her while she clung to him awkwardly.

"Nnn..." Her voice trailed off into silence. Sagara had been frozen since his landing--if one could call it that--and waited for some further feedback.

...None came. "Ch-Chidor--" He started. Fumbling with what words to actually spit out, he found himself unable to formulate an introductory sentence, or phrase, or any words at all. With no response, it finally dawned on the SRT that Kaname had fallen back asleep or unconscious.

He carefully gathered himself up and stood in the aisle, hanging onto the handrail overhead. Chidori did not look particularly comfortable. She actually hardly looked alive, head laid back, arms and legs splayed, in something of a slouching position on the seat. Her skin was still pale about the face. Still, she had awoken and showed some signs of recognition.

Sousuke couldn't help smiling a little. He sat down between her and the armrest and pulled her by the waist and shoulders a little bit at a time until she finally slipped off the back rest and onto his side. Having lost whatever form of restraint that was normally on it a long while back, Kaname's hair followed the rest of her, and the blanket followed suit.

Sagara looked down at her, now clearly asleep instead of unconscious, as she drew one arm up to hang around his opposite shoulder. She kept that tired look on her face as she snuggled into her pillow--his upper arm. Her hair covered most of her face and, being still wet, sort of swept down across both she and Sousuke. He remembered thinking several times in the past how inefficient it was to have such long hair. Way back before he first met her in person, Sagara had assumed her hair would be short as it was in the picture of her at 14 years old. But now none of that really bothered him. The rain had amplified Kaname's faint scent: perhaps some perfume, or maybe just shampoo, he wasn't sure. Sousuke couldn't help but feel slightly intoxicated by her smell... he'd only noticed it a few times before, but those moments had been chiseled into his permanent memory. After a deep breath he felt his eyes rolling up into his eyelids, and realized just how exhausted he really was. It had been a very stressful and very emotional day, and they still had a long way to go. This thought occurred to him. They could get off the train at their station, but it wasn't nearly as large as the last, and it wasn't enclosed at all. They'd freeze if they were to just rest there. Not only that, but his safe haven of Mithril-controlled space would be no longer once they took a step out of the train. That meant no more relaxing, and no more time to appreciate the--he looked down again once more--little things.

Irritated by the outcome of his train of thought, Sousuke looked outside to see how long he had before he'd have to start waking Chidori up. He pulled her a little closer with an arm wrapped about her shoulders, and let his head hang back, looking up at the ceiling.

I wonder how many more of these moments there'll be...? Wo futari de... just the two of us.

Refracted fluorescent lights on a ceiling faded slowly into darkness as Sagara Sousuke drifted off against his will.

...--

"SOUSUKE!"

Sagara nearly fell out of his seat. He felt a large wet spot down his left side that was getting very cold. Across the aisle sat Chidori, now clearly awake, looking stern. The train was still moving.

Sousuke looked down at where Kaname had been, somehow hoping that the cute, sleepy one was still there and the angry, very-much-awake Chidori was just a hallucination.

...No such luck. Sagara was very cold in that area... very cold. Her hair must've had a lot of water left on it that soaked into his uniform. Actually, come to think of it, her wake up call hadn't been particularly loud, but it sure sounded that way over the rhythmic hum of the train. He groaned audibly.

Chidori snapped back, "It's not 'aauggh'! We could've missed our stop, you know. It's the next one. But before that, you're going to have to explain how I got here in the first place!"

So she didn't remember... Sagara would spare her as many details as possible, but there'd be some explaining to do regarding the bruise on her neck... and--he grimaced-- the abrasions on her face. Sousuke stared out the window behind Chidori. Outside the storm was subsiding, but the rain was hardly down to the point of a "shower" yet. Perhaps they could get a taxi the rest of the way. Probably not, the drivers on second shift would've just gone home for the day by now, and third shift was likely to have been cancelled in this weather. There was some level of irony in how the storm hadn't really gotten better... it had just transferred some of its rage into the girl before him.

"I'm waiting..."

Sousuke sat up. He took a deep breath, sighed it out, and began an explanation.
"As you may recall, we were... I was... caught off guard at the train station. Hostiles I assumed to be Amalgam surrounded us. We successfully suppressed the first group in the hallway, but the radioman fled, and I was forced to give chase. Due to a lack of foresight on my part, I left you with a fragmentary grenade as your only means of protection while I attempted to disable the radioman."

"Disable?" Chidori interrupted. Sagara continued.

"Roughly thirty-five seconds later, I returned to find that you were no longer in that position..." he said regretfully.

"...and then?"

"Your location was mistakenly broadcast to me over the radio I had procured."

"So you came and got me..." she didn't sound as mad anymore, but she still seemed generally displeased.

"Yes. Hostile resistance was minimal."

"Minimal?"

"Yes. At any rate, I checked your vitals and moved to enter the train."

"And those guys just let you go?"

"They were... subdued."

Chidori gave a nasty look.

"...non-lethally... subdued."

She followed with a little smile, "Good."

Sagara had omitted any information regarding the condition of the group in the hallway. "I was confronted by Wraith upon exiting. He gave me written orders, which informed me that this train was safe to take us to our normal station."

"...No more bad guys...?" Kaname said finally.

"No more bad guys."

"No problems?"

"No problem."

She had just wanted to hear him say that, and everything would be fine. Absolutely fine… maybe.

Sousuke watched Chidori's expression take a 180 degree turn. She grinned at him, nodding her head with a "Nn!" of affirmation. Before Sagara's confusion could turn into a question, Kaname pointed out the window in one direction.

"We're about to stop."

"Wait, Chidori... there's one more thing..."

Kaname looked back at him, a bit concerned.

"Hmm?"

Sousuke paused briefly. "...I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"Sorry for letting you get into that mess... then letting you get captured... and..." He knew that she would remember their pass through the hallway. Even if she'd momentarily forgotten, it wouldn't be long before she remembered that bloody spectacle.

"...and what?"

"And that I killed..."

Kaname paused for a minute. "Sousuke... it's alright..."

"No, it's not alright. First I didn't notice those amateurs, then I shot vital points assuming they were professionals, and then I left you to be captured, killed, or worse after simply tossing a grenade at you, as though that would do you any good."

Chidori was silent.

"It's ridiculous, I've been a total failure today, and... ...and those orders I got just prove it even more."

Kaname waited a moment. The train started to slow down. "...What did the orders say?"

Sousuke recited immediately, with an even more militaristic voice than usual. "Urzu 7. Your performance has been evaluated as needing improvement regarding the protection of Angel."

"They said that? Just that?"

"Mostly." It hadn't hit Sousuke until a moment ago just how much weight those orders carried. This wasn't just Wraith trying to get under his skin. "The Response Division, apparently, finds my recent failures unacceptable. I would have to agree with them."

"Sousuke, you know I don't want anyone else to--"

"I know. ...I know." He sighed at length, and then stood up. But before he was aware, he had risen directly in front of Kaname who had also stood, again not ten centimeters from her face.

They both froze; neither backed up. Then, a few blinks of the eye later they both heard the door open and moved in tandem, not saying a word. They bent down simultaneously, collected their bags from the seats, and went to the door.

Having stepped just outside, they stood still while the doors closed behind them.

Ding! The train made an electronic noise that it was leaving, and a brush of wind told the two that it had now gone... just like that.

Silence, aside from the ambient patter of rain on the roof of the station and the train tracks, enveloped the awkward mood.

"Well then," Kaname said at last, not glancing his way, "I suppose we should get moving..."

"Roger," was his immediate reply. A moment later, a hand was offered in Chidori's direction. She looked for a moment, and then slowly placed hers in his palm.

"I'm going!" Tightening his grip, Sousuke took off, Kaname trailing a pace behind.

(to be continued...)