Chapter 7
I do not own Full Metal Panic.
Fear.
It is a emotion that all people struggle with. An intrinsic part of the human condition that in most cases keeps one from doing something foolish, and away from the dangerous.
For Kaname, her fight or flight instinct was going off like crazy as this strange foreigner smiled his strange smile in front of her, after his rather shocking introduction.
Run.
Hit.
Cry.
Beg.
All ideas that crossed Kaname's mind in the course of a second.
And yet, all she could do as she sat there was shake uncontrollably, unable to move her legs, her tongue feeling like it had swollen and her heart going faster than a bullet exiting a chamber.
Why can't I move? It's...it's just like before...with Tessa's brother...and that man...oh god... Sousuke...
"BACK AWAY FROM MS. CHIDORI!"
Kaname, after hearing these words, finds the ability to move, and cranes her neck to the back of the room, much like the rest of her classmates, to stare at Sousuke, Glock in hand, and a fire burning in his eyes none of the students had never seen before.
Kaname however, had seen it before.
In the moments before he killed men, such as the traitors on the Tuatha de Danaan.
"M...MR. SAGARA! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!" Ms. Kagurazaki yelled.
"Da, Sagara, what is it you are doing exactly?"
Sousuke noticed quickly that a gun was peeking out of Asimov's pocket, a Gsh-18 by the look of it.
"SO EVEN IN DEATH I CAN'T ESCAPE YOU? IS THAT HOW IT IS GAURON!"
The class stares on, confused.
All except for two people, Kaname, and Ms. Kagurazaki.
Ms. Kagurazaki while not recognizing the name, recognizes the face all too well now...
"He looks just like the man from the hijacking! OH GOD!"
She proceeds to fall back into her chair.
For Kaname, it all begins to make sense as she looks at the Russian again.
In many ways the man did in fact look like Gauron, down to the same scar. The only differences being the color of his eyes, the hue of his skin far lighter than the terrorist Gauron, and an absence of a cross shaped scar on his forehead.
Silence permeates the room for a good five seconds.
Followed by laughter, a deep, rolling laugh, that further rouses Sousuke's ire, as it too reminds him of the condescending chuckle of the man he despises most in this world.
"I forget the history you have with the man Sagara, do not fret, he and I have...very little to do with one another." A look of disgust passes over his visage briefly.
"I suggest you put the weapon away, you forget yourself...what was that name again...ah right, I remember."
He pauses for a moment.
"Kashim."
"I should kill you for that, Asmiov."
"You can certainly go ahead and try, you dirty little street rat."
"Um, what is going on?" Ren says in a meek tone.
Sousuke and Vorg look around the room, realizing the attention they are drawing.
Shrugging, Asimov reaches into his pocket and very quickly removes the clip from his gun, and slides it over to Sousuke.
"I think this will do for now. Wouldn't you agree, Kashim?"
Sousuke stares down the man known as Asimov.
"Don't call me that again, or I swear I'll put this entire clip through your skull."
"Is that so? I can't wait to see you try."
Another chuckle and Asimov turns around and sits in his seat, very proper, back perfectly straight, very much like a statue in repose. All except for the cigarette in his mouth.
The whole class, still rather frightened by the affair, decide to all look in any direction but in the direction of the new student and Sousuke.
It takes Sousuke several minutes before he is able to calm himself down enough to sit down in his chair.
The class at this point devolves into a whole lot of gossiping as Ms. Kagurazaki is still out cold in her chair.
The girls and boys outside of Kaname's little group are talking incessantly about the very strange Russian man.
"He is wayy too tall to be a high school student."
"Right? And that scruff, he could be in his late 20s at least."
"Maybe this school has a thing about accepting strange foreign exchange students."
"Yea, it's like this guy is Sagara 2.0., At least Sousuke doesn't try to scare the hell out of us...I think."
"But what the hell was that about some dead guy? I'm pretty sure Sousuke hasn't actually killed a damn thing..."
More gossip.
As for the part of the room with Kaname's group, things are much different. Kyouko, Ren, and Mizuki are all rather silent, they sit together trying to avoid the foreigner.
Ono D and Shinji are quietly reading AS Fan and snacking.
Kaname, for all intents and purposes scared out of her mind, decides to do something very uncharacteristic of her.
She gets up, and sits down next to Sousuke, and pulls her chair in next to him.
Under normal circumstances, this would have warranted a bout of blushing and bluffing by Kaname, and misguided action by Sousuke.
However, due to the presence of Asimov, all such embarrassment flows out the window. She grabs onto his arm gently, obviously feeling frightened. Sousuke, all too aware of the situation, sits in abject silence, his gun still pointed straight at Asimov, while he continues to smoke.
Several minutes pass, before the strange Russian walks over to Ono D and Shinji, which causes Sousuke to gulp audibly, more than ready to fire his gun at the man that carries the image of the man he hates most in this world.
Ono D, pretending to be asleep is safe from the stare of the foreigner, Shinji however, is not so lucky. Looking over his copy of AS fan, he stares into the eyes of Asimov for a good minute.
Silence... Then...
"Do you have paper I could use? I have no ashtray and need to improvise."
Shinji, scared out of his wits, rips out a page from his AS Fan and hands it to the wild looking man.
"Yzumitelno! that saves me a lot of trouble. Thank you, uh..." He stops bemused for a moment, then puts his face close to the poor lad's own. "What is your name?"
"I-i-its Shinji sir!" He replies loudly.
"Very good, nice to meet you Mr. Shinji. And please, call me Vorg, or Asmiov, whichever you prefer."
He flashes him a smile, that if not for the manic look in his eye, would almost seem genuine. He then moves his hand towards Shinji, causing the young man to flinch, not realizing that the man was merely attempting to shake his hand.
"Now now, no need to be so concerned, I only wish to extend a proper greeting, but perhaps another time when you are less...skittish. Dasvidania."
The room lets out an audible sigh as the man walks right past his seat and heads for the door.
"Seeing as the teacher is indisposed for the moment, I'll be leaving for the day. I'll be seeing you very soon Kashim." He walks out of the room, and Kaname is about to gasp for air when he pops his head back in to say
"And you too, Angel" his head disappears and once again a deep silence penetrates the room. This time no gossip is spread, no words spoken.
Silence, and the smell of smoke, wafting through the room.
Several hours later, lunch
In spite of the terrible state of the homeroom teacher, now resting in the nurse's office, most of the students decided to stay behind, and self studied, since many did not feel like speaking out loud too much after the events of the early morning. At lunch time, Kaname finally moved from her seat next to Sousuke to get lunch. Sousuke, naturally worried for her, goes along with her. No words are spoken as they pass through the halls, and no quips from Kaname's friends either.
After buying lunch from the food vendors, (who surprisingly enough have no trouble selling to Sagara despite their past... "altercations,") they all end up at the school roof, no doubt wishing to prevent entering the classroom until there was no other choice left.
The foreboding silence continues to hang like a fog over the group for a few minutes, until, unsurprisingly, Ono D opens his mouth.
" So, Sagara, just what in the hell happened in there?"
"It was a mistake on my part, please disregard..."
"A mistake? To be honest I think it was a mistake for not shooting that guy square in the eyes with that...I'm hoping its an air soft gun or something." Ono D punctuates this by ripping open his next packet of bread rather forcefully.
The girls, a little turned off by Ono D's lack of decorum, turn towards Sagara, who have had their curiosities over the situation piqued as well.
"I hate to say it Sousuke, but I don't think your exactly telling us the truth about that guy, or why you got so angry." Kyouko states in a genuinely concerned tone.
"Well sure, since when has this guy ever been good at lying anyways?" Mizuki states rather bluntly
"Your just saying that because you ended up getting caught by your friends after the horrible fake date." Shinji says over a mouthful of yakisoba.
As Mizuki proceeds to pummel Shinji a few times in the gut, Kyouko and Ren turn their attentions toward Kaname
"That goes for you too Kaname, you've been awfully quiet since he showed up today, he said something weird to you I know, what was it..." Kyouko ponders over it for a minute.
"I think he said something like nice to meet you, Miss Whispered..., whatever that means." Ren says matter of factly, and proceeds to pat Kaname on the head, who has still throughout the conversation failed to utter a word.
"I am sure that is just your imagination, Miss Mikihara, and not a matter worth discussing at the present time." Sousuke proceeds to bite into his plain roll after stating this.
Ono D stands up after hearing this, and gets in Sagara's face. "Not worth discussing? I think it's damn well worth the trouble, given the scare you guys gave the whole class! That and I don't think any of us have ever seen you go into a rage like that before. I seriously thought you were going to kill that guy, no joke."
The rest of the group nods their heads, except for Kaname and Sousuke obviously. They knowing the obvious answer to that problem.
Kyouko moves back over to Sousuke and pushes Ono D out of the way.
"Look Sousuke, I know you don't like talking a lot about your private matters, and this definitely seemed like one, but today you scared all of us, and we are your friends. We just want to understand what's going on, I think we deserve to be kept in the loop.
Once again, the group nods their heads in agreement simultaneously.
Sousuke crosses his arms defensively, and closes his eyes for a minute, pondering the pros and cons of telling them.
It is true that the situation I have put the class in due to my indiscretion in openly confronting Asimov will possibly put them in added danger, however, there is no way I can tell them everything, without putting them all in far greater jeopardy. Is there a way to reconcile these two dilemmas?
He stays like that for a good few minutes, with the rest of the group waiting for him to respond.
Finally, he opens his eyes and sighs heavily, very uncharacteristically for the Mithril operative.
"By no means do I wish to pull the wool over your eyes, however the fact of the matter is I cannot tell you everything."
Ono D grabs Sousuke by the scruff of the neck at this
" What's that, you think we can't handle it or some shit like that? Don't take us lightly or else I'm gonna sock you, forget the fact that I'm sure you could kick my ass."
"You didn't let me finish, I was going to say I'll tell you what I can, and that's all. I hope you will all be satisfied with that."
Ono D, feeling a bit foolish backs away from the arm slave pilot, and bows his head apologetically. The rest laugh at his brashness and nod in acknowledgment at Sousuke's statement.
Kaname takes this moment to chime in "Are you sure, Sousuke?"
Sousuke nods his head "I won't be able to tell them the important parts, but enough to ensure that they are armed with basic knowledge of the situation. No more, no less."
Sousuke turns to the group and clears his throat.
" I was not lying when I said I mistook our new classmate, Asimov, for a face from my past. However, despite my regret over exacerbating the situation, I will say that the man should be considered dangerous. I suggest you all be wary around him, but please do your best to not make said wariness obvious."
"Should I assume you can't tell us why you think he's dangerous?" says Ono D.
" Unfortunately that is correct, at present, I cannot disclose my reasoning of the situation, only that you should trust my word on this, and stay clear of him."
"Fair enough, Mr. Sagara, but just who is it you mistook the man for? It seemed to rattle Kaname as well when you mentioned that name earlier...Gauron I think." says Ren
Kaname flinches at this, and Sousuke puts his hand on her shoulder to steady her a little.
" I feel I can also only give cursory information on this as well. Let me ask this first though, Kyouko, does Asimov remind you of anyone in particular? Or you Shinji? I know you two saw him before."
Shinji and Kyouko look at each other for a second, a little perplexed, before a light finally comes on in Shinji's head.
"Hey yeah, I remember now! He looks like the guy that hijacked the plane on our school trip!"
Kyouko pops her head up as well at this.
"Oh gosh, your right. But what does that have to do with..." She trails off for a second lost in thought then looks Sousuke straight in the eye.
"Is he the man you knew from before? Gauron?"
"In a word, yes."
"But we all met him that day, how could you have grown to have such a grudge like that? I mean we all were scared out our wits and hated the whole situation but..." Shinji looks on confused.
Sousuke shakes his head.
"You misunderstood, that man and I, had met before."
"What do you mean met before?" Ren asks with concern in her voice, still unsure as to what exactly is going on.
"I can only say that the man, Gauron, hurt many people I knew, and I happened to not be one of the people hurt. That man for lack of a better word, turned my existence upside down."
Kaname too looks on at the Sergeant now, curious, as she only barely understood the hatred she felt for the man known as Gauron. She knew enough that he was involved in operations in Helmajistan back when Sousuke was there, but that was all Sousuke had ever told his charge, most likely in an effort to block it out.
Already knowing the answer, Kyouko pipes up again. "When you say he hurt people you knew you mean...?"
"Yes. He murdered them. Viciously, and with as much precision as could be possible." His stone cold proclamation floored the group, sans Kaname.
"Well that explains the crazy weaponry." thinks Ono D
"That's all I can say. I'm sorry I can't disclose any more information at this time. To be honest, I hope I never have to."
"Why?" Asks Mizuki.
"Because that means the situation has become dire, and you are already in a state of danger."
Nothing more is said the rest of the lunch period by the group of friends. Kaname, however, sensing the emotional turmoil beginning to brew in her bodyguard, grabs a hold of his hand. No objections from the sergeant as he holds her hand back.
"I'm right here Sousuke." she whispers into his ear.
Sousuke nods at this.
I think our roles have reversed, I am now being protected by her.
He sighs again and takes another bite of his roll.
I never realized I'd ever be ok with that. I must be getting soft.
After school
The tension in the classroom had let up after lunch, seeing as the exchange student had not been back all day. And for the most part, the last periods of the day went by in a flash. After class let out, Kyouko decided to walk part of the way with Kaname and Sousuke toward their apartments.
"Kaname, do you want company tonight at your place? I can stay for a while." Kyouko asks her friend.
Kaname smiles at this and shakes her head
"Thanks Kyouko, but I think I'll be ok now. Besides, Sergeant Serious over here is probably going to insist on taking me back to my place anyways." She points over at Sousuke, who, despite their closeness earlier today, is back at a respectable distance, keeping watch diligently.
Kyouko pouts a little at this. "Ok, but please call me if you change your mind I'll run right over!" She clasps her hands with Kaname, and looks to be at the verge of tears.
Kaname begins to laugh, and pats her best friend on the head
"Will do, Kyouko, but please stop with the waterworks."
Kyouko nods her head and stifles her sniffles. She turns around and walks away. She then decides to do something rather surprising for Sousuke and Kaname.
She hugs Sousuke real tight. To the point where Sousuke began to wonder as to his own lung capacity.
Kaname, despite the sobering nature of the day, somehow finds the little hamster in her head turning, specifically towards jealousy, and hitting Sousuke portions of her brain activity.
"I'm sorry about today Sousuke, thanks for sharing with us." Kyouko says, sniffling a bit.
"It's not a problem Miss Tokiwa." Sousuke says with as much kindness as he could muster. Not knowing what else to do in the situation, he pats her on the head.
Little did the Sergeant know that that only riled up Kaname more.
Kyouko breaks away from the hug, a bit of redness to her cheeks. She bows her head then runs off in the direction of the train station.
Sousuke waits for Kyouko to disappear from sight before turning around to resume the trek to his apartment.
"Alright then Kaname shall we get …..?" Sousuke stops abruptly after seeing the look on Kaname's face.
"So, you seemed to be enjoying yourself over there Sousuke huh?" Kaname says sardonically, as she begins to tap the ground in her typical fashion with her feet, her hand keeping tempo on her elbow.
"Um, Kaname?" Sousuke asks, genuinely bewildered. "Enjoying what?"
Kaname turns around in a huff and begins walking to the apartment.
"Oh nothing, I suppose it isn't even worth mentioning right now!"
"Wait, Kaname!" Sousuke tries to keep pace with her, but she only increases her speed every time he gets next to her.
Sousuke, not knowing what else to do continues to follow behind her.
"At least you seem back to normal."
"Is that supposed to mean something?"
" Merely that you seem to be talkative again, which proves to me your in a better mood."
"Oh is that so, you think you have me figured out pretty well don't you?"
"Not entirely, but enough to know when your sad or happy for the most part!"
Kaname turns around at this, her face red and eyes a little puffy.
"If only the same could be said about you!"
Sousuke, unsure what to say, grabs hold of Kaname's hand, in order to prevent her from running off again.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm not even all that angry about Kyouko hugging you, I know it was platonic, but even still, I felt like it was enough to justify me getting angry at you."
"About what, Kaname?" He lets go of her now, in an attempt to coax her into elaborating.
"How long have we known each other now Sousuke?"
Even though the question was for the most part rhetorical Sousuke could not resist chiming in
"Roughly a year now."
Kaname sighs and shakes her head.
"Yeah, in other words for a while now. In all this time, I realize just how little I know about you. I talk and talk all the time and you just sit there and listen!" She puts her head below his chin to avoid him seeing her tear up again.
" I keep on selfishly going on about my life, my day, my feelings, and yet you don't give me anything to go on." She lightly hits his chest.
"You don't laugh, you don't cry, you just sit there, and I have to sit there and guess at it."
She hits him again.
"I don't expect you to tell me how you feel all the time or anything, but we are in this together dammit! We both should be more honest with each other."
She hits him a third time.
"If your sad, I want to know. If your happy, I want to share in it with you. If your angry, I want to be there for you. Make me feel like I can do something for you for once."
Sousuke just stands there for a while, unsure of how best to respond.
Clueless as to the best course of action, he holds Kaname close, eliciting a further shade of red to color Kaname's cheeks.
"I'm sorry, Kaname."
"Idiot."
Sousuke smirks at this.
"Today I have felt more emotions then I think I have experienced in most of my life. Anxiety over if you were scared of me now this morning, anger over meeting Asimov, unsure over how to make you feel secure once again. Angry after remembering my encounters with Gauron, sad about..."
He pauses at this and pulls Kaname even tighter in.
"I miss my comrades."
Kaname smiles, and buries her face further into Sousuke's chest.
A good 20 minutes pass by before they break apart, and continue on to Sousuke's apartment.
Author's note:
Jesus Christ I made this 10 times more fluffy near the end then I would have preferred but it actually seemed to fit given the circumstances I put them in. If Kaname seems too out of character for some viewers today, I can only say that the dramatic portion is near its completion for a while. This is probably the most amount of fluff you will see. Thank God. However, once again, I fully believe that this fits. Lets be frank, the girl the few times she has encountered Gauron have been situations that would no doubt leave a bit of a scar. Withdrawing and all that is not much of a surprise. However, her moodswing and shift toward Sousuke's lack of emotional connection to the girl also seems reasonable to me, given that she is (I can only perceive to be) fairly strong willed, and obviously since she cares for Sousuke, gets hurt by the fact that he doesn't open up to her. I'm a dude and I actually get that. Granted I wouldn't cry or some shit over it, but the point remains valid. That might be the one leap in logic in her character I feel might have been a bit much. I'm not sure.
For those of you who didn't get it, (and trust me I wouldn't be surprised or blame you if you didn't) I did make Asimov look a bit like Gauron.
Whether or not there is a reason for this is something I'll leave for you to think about.
Now then, I apologize for the serious time lapse between now and the last time I put up a chapter, life can be an annoying little bitch sometimes, like that kid at the toy shop that won't keep quiet about the new toy he or she wants.
Hopefully with Christmas vacation and what not, I can finally continue on my merry way and actually write a few more chapters for this before life decides to rip me away once again.