Chapter 7 Lessons Sagara Style

Over the past week, after he had played for her the first time, she had done A LOT of thinking. Thinking while watching him play, setting in the classroom, cooking dinner or lying in her bed waiting to fall asleep. Thinking about herself, her future and the young man she was waiting for right now. And out of all the thinking a few things had been noticed, facts realized and conclusions reached.

She had noticed that no matter what was going on, if he was anywhere near her, he kept her in sight. It was VERY subtle. And didn't that just BLOW her mind. She would have never thought he could do subtle. It must have come from some Otaku surveillance training. The point was though he always had her in his line of sight. She even tested this theory. It wasn't difficult either. Like the time she went to Kyouko's desk, and deliberately leaned over while facing most of the way away from him. She could just see him out of the corner of her eyes. And the look on his face when he got a good look at her posterior that was covered to barely mid thigh by the skirt had been priceless. He had not even been looking directly at her, but he still broke into an immediate sweat. The best thing was? It confirmed what she had noticed. That he noticed her. And not as a bodyguard either

She had realized the fact that he knew what her favorite food and drinks were, and that she never had to buy lunch or dinner when he was around, he just paid for everything without even giving her a chance to open her wallet. Or the fact that she could not recall the last time she had tripped and he had not caught her.

She had also come to some startling conclusions. She had come to the conclusion that while he might be young he was no boy. She thought of him as a young man. MAN being the operable word. He might not have a lot of insight into the civilian world or interpersonal relationships. However there was no denying a few facts. He was strong, handsome in a rugged kind of way, in VERY good shape physically(years of military training would do that to you), kindhearted, polite, considerate (when he wasn't lost in a clueless fugue), willing to do anything and everything to help her (whether or not she wanted or needed it) or others around him (she thought fondly back onto the little old lady he had helped during the flirting fiasco although she still got heated when she thought about the cages ), and except for when it concerned his emotions, very brave (there was utterly NO doubts her mind as to that one, watching him charge an armed man to defend her had removed those forever). And those traits were definitely on her short list of characteristics for a man.

She had also come to another VERY stunning conclusion. It took thinking about the past and her reactions to situations that they found themselves in. Like when he had received the love letter or the kissing incident with Mizuki, or the time she had seen Tessa coming out of his shower IN A TOWEL, GRRRRR, she had been jealous. And when he and been recalled from Tokyo by his higher command, she missed him and felt vulnerable without his presence. She had not been lying when she said that she only felt safe because of him.

And that video GRRRRRRR. The message was dated yesterday, but she had not got around to looking at it until this afternoon. As far as she was concerned the only saving grace for the Moron was his actions during the incident. He had utterly NO CLUE what was going on. With arms rigidly to the sides, posture ramrod straight, and breaking out into a dead sweat he stood there babbling while Tessa cuddled into him while he was trying desperately to figure out what was happening.

It looked like Tessa was trying to up the ante for the affections of the bewildered young Soldier. He was definitely (as Kurz had put it one time) lost in the sauce when it came to the way things worked between the sexes.

Her conclusion? As frightening, sensational, and amazing as it was. She was falling for the Military Moron, hard.

And after further consideration maybe she already had. She knew that she liked him. But before Hong Kong, when she had been so scared because of the assassin Yu Lan, finding the courage to defeat the Chinese killer on the rooftops of Sengawa. Then using Wrath to help her get to Hong Kong and find the clueless Otaku, getting rid of his case of Cranial Rectumitus (he taught her that one while grumbling about Kurz one day, it means having head up your ass), booting him into Arbalest and sending him to work kicking the shit out of 5 of Amalgams Venom type A.S.es (and was she ever proud of him after that, the entire Urzu team couldn't handle 1 Venom and he dealt with 5, solo), and even afterwards, then when he stood up against the Mithral High Command so he could remain in Tokyo(with her?).

Maybe she had fallen for him already. And didn't that just scare her out of her wits. She had thought about other guys to see if they gave her the same reactions.

Fuwa sempai? Handsome? Sure, but boring.

Shirai? UGGGGGHHHH NOT.

Tsubaki Issei? Cute, but if Mizuki liked him there had to be something very wrong with him. Just look at Shirai

Hayashimizu senpai? Nope, that was Rens territory.

None of the guys she thought of even came close to giving her the fluttery feeling in her stomach like the Military Misfit named Sagara Sousuke. And the thought that some other girl might catch his eye did not sit well with her and it took awhile, but she finally identified the feeling as jealously. And the only reason she could be jealous was the fact that she wanted him for herself. Herself? Did she? Yes, she did. And once she reached that conclusion it was all over for the unsuspecting young man in the automobile that was approaching. She had decided that she wanted have the poor clueless Soldier as a significant other. The only questions going through her mind now was how to go about getting him t realize that fact.

It had a rumbling sound that could be felt as well as heard. A deep bass sound that vibrated in the chest and spoke of raw power just waiting for the touch of the accelerator. The car coming down the road could be felt from over ½ a block away, but it wasn't loud.

Kaname knew how to drive and was legal, but all the cars she had driven had been the small domestics, and except for one glaring occasion (that being the incident with A21 and the Behemoth) she had never really even broke the speed limit. The car heading towards her was a completely different animal from the domestics' altogether. The paint seemed to absorb most of the light hitting it reflecting very little of the late afternoon sunlight. It had almost none of the chrome that she had seen on other cars like it. The windows were tinted a dark purple/red, even the front windshield was tinted. Starting dark at the top and fading out as it got closer to the huge front hood.

The huge purple/black monstrosity rumbled up to the girl standing next to the curb. She watched as the car came to a halt and the driver shut the engine off killing the vibrations going through her body.

Sousuke then exited the automobile. He was dressed in a pair of nice khaki cargo pants, gray dress shirt open at the collar with a black undershirt and heavy shoes that while dressy had thick soles and uppers. The clothes were a compromise between him and her. She had helped him with the choices when purchasing the clothes, however they had his tastes in mind as well. Hence the cargos and heavy shoes. They looked nice, but you could carry more stuff (Guns, frag/smoke grenades, ammo, who knows what all else) in the cargos and the shoes would be comfortable even if you had to walk/march long distance.

She on the other hand was strictly dressed to kill in a blouse/skirt outfit that clung to her figure. The skirt ended just above the knee and was light and airy fluttering in the breeze. The blouse clung in just the right way and showed just enough cleavage so as to leave you wondering just how much you actually saw.

"You look very nice Sousuke". She said reaching out to adjust his collar. Not that it needed it, she just felt like doing it.

He responded with his usual "Uhhhhh " and she knew that she had her outfit and actions just right.

"Relax Sousuke, I'm not going to hurt you." She said sweetly, and then her voice changed to a slightly frosty tone. "Not if you tell me about this other hobby of yours that is."

"Kaname, as I have stated before I have no other hobbies besides the music."

If her tone was frosty before it became downright Arctic now. "Oh Really, then what about this car Sousuke?" she asked.

Sousuke realized that he would have to talk fast in order to defuse the K-bomb that was about to go off in front of him. "Kaname, the automobile is an ongoing project that had security and protection aspects built into it. If Eleanor had been available while we were having to escape from A21 and the Behemoth, we would not have had nearly the trouble we did." he stated calmly "Especially considering the deficient vehicle that Kurz acquired."

The fact that the car had a name set her eyebrow to twitching slightly. She put her hands on her hips and leaned slightly forward, starting to scowl at the young NCO in front of her. The lean was deliberate on her part. She had realized the effect that certain parts of her anatomy had on the young man standing in front of her and she had every intention of using the weapons at her disposal ruthlessly.

He had assumed a position of At Ease, feet shoulder width apart, hands clasped behind him hanging just below the small of his back and making DAMN WELL good and sure that his eyes were front and center and not front and down. He did not want to die a horrible gruesome death at the hands of the girl in front of him. "Really, well it looks like some huge gas guzzling, gear head, hot rod to me."

From seemingly nowhere a melodious feminine voice floated in the air. "Excuse me, but I resent that accusation. I am most certainly not a gear head hotrod, and while I might have a higher usage of fuel for the distance traveled, the capabilities built into me by SGT Sagara more then compensate for such shortcomings. SGT Sagara, are you sure that you want to give her command authority over me. That does not seem to be a wise course, as she seems to jump uninformed decisions."

Kaname had lost count of how many times in the last week that Sousuke had been responsible for speechlessness on her part, but it had happened again. She stood there on the sidewalk looking goggle eyed, trying to form a complete sentence. "Huh? Wha? Wher?..." It only took a moment before she recovered though. "Sagara Sousuke, just who is that?

Not who, Kaname, that is the AI of the car, Eleanor. He stated as he started walking toward the passenger side of the vehicle. Kamane just stared at him as he opened the door for her and stood there calmly waiting for her to have a seat in the car. She shook it off long enough to get into the car giving Sousuke a look along with a "Huummp" and a flip of her hair.

Sousuke then reached in to the car over her shoulders and started pulling out the straps of the 5-point harness and proceeded to explain to her how to fasten it. All of the straps reminded her of the time he handed her a waterproof bag on an airplane, asking her if she had a swimsuit then telling her to get into it and place everything else into the bag. The memory started to make her nervous because the next actions from him was to strap a harness onto her and then hook the harness she was wearing to the one he had on and without ANY warning jump from the plane. It was then that she got to thinking.

"Sousuke, why would I need to be strapped in here like I'm in a fighter jet?" She asked starting to get a little wide eyed. The fright she had received from the jump had caused her to nearly drown him upon landing (Even though she would never admit that she enjoyed the free fall.) and this setup was just a little to close to that one for her comfort.

"Eleanor is not like an unmodified automobile Kaname. This car is capable of rapid accelerations, braking and cornering. Therefore it is necessary do be secured into the car." He stated as though it was obvious.

It was a good thing that he had anticipated the fact that she liked to wear dresses and skirts because he had ordered a custom style of harness. Where the military style had the buckle coming up from between the legs, this set was modified in such a way as to have the buckle coming from the center of the car. In her case it came from the left.

"Kaname, if required, I will need you to reach between your legs and fasten the last strap. The other 4 should be sufficient to keep you secure under normal driving conditions"

The look on her face promised pain untold because of what and how he had said what he did. "What did you say Sousuke? Reach between WHERE?"

For one of a very few times the look on her face and the tone of her voice had utterly no effect on him.

With a grim, determined look on his face, he peered straight into her eyes and barked "Kaname." His tone shut her up long enough for him to tell her. "There is no discussion and I will brook no argument in this. You safety is paramount."

The look on his face and the tone he used had an unexpected side effect on her. Usually about now her temper would start to rise, but not this time. She was able to see beneath the stoic mask he normally wore. She could see and hear the very real concern for her safety that had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with his duties as a bodyguard and everything to do with how he felt about her. This time instead of her temper rising, his expression and tone set loose butterflies in her stomach and set her heart to beating. She was sure that her face was doing a good impression of a red neon sign

"That is one of the major reasons I had this automobile constructed. Under normal driving conditions the use of a 3 or 4 point safety belt is all that is needed. However as I stated before, this is not a normal automobile. Eleanor is capable of going from 0 to 160 KPH (100 MPH) back to 0 in as little as 13 seconds, and holding nearly a full G on a 100 meter skid-pad. If such violent maneuvers are required then a 5 point harness will be necessary for your safety. Now if it is required I will need you to reach between your legs, grab the last strap, fasten it into the buckle and pull the other 4 straps tight. This will keep you safely in the seat of the automobile. Now I have left a little slack in the belts for you. Are you comfortable?"

Kaname came out of her slight daze and realized that she was. Surprisingly comfortable as a matter of fact. The seats were nothing like the seats of a normal car. With deep buckets with a lot of lateral and lumbar support, and a very high back that it nearly enclosed her. Almost to the point that while she could squirm around a bit, but could not move side to side.

Pretending to act a bit petulantly she said, "Yeah, I am. So what else do I have to do before we can get moving?"

Once he had the harness secured and set for her comfort Sousuke opened a panel set where the glove compartment used to be revealing a small computer keyboard and screen with a biometric handprint sensor on the side "Eleanor, as of now Chidori Kaname is to be recognized as a primary operator. She is allowed level 2 clearances. Please log the order and begin procedures for security recognition and password creation."

Once again the feminine voice sounded "Understood SGT, order logged, Miss Chidori, please place your right hand on the scanner pad and await further instructions."

Kanames' eyes narrowed a bit at the voice and hesitantly moved her hand to the scanner pad in front of her. The pad lit up and scanned her palm print and she felt a small prick to her middle finger.

"Ouch, that hurt." she squawked jerking her hand away from the pad, looking at the tiny drop of blood that welled up. "Sooouuusukeeeee" she growled long and low. She was definitely getting heated the longer this went on. Her whole plan to get under Sousukes skin was backfiring and she was not amused.

"Just what the hell was that for?" she asked with a fire in her eyes.

Unlike before where he had remained unaffected by the look and tone, this was a completely different situation. Her safety was not on the line, just his.

His only reply was his usual "UHHHHHhh

"Miss Chidori," came the voice of the A.I. again, "the palm print and the blood sample are required in order to have the highest level of security. The blood sample will not be required again after password creation, unless there is doubt as to the identity of the user. Do you wish to create a password at this time? It is not required, however without it you will be required to submit a DNA sample every time you wish to log into this unit."

"Can I change it later?" she asked through clenched teeth while looking at Sousuke.

"If you wish, however you must be logged in to do so or SGT Sagara must log in as a level 1 administrator in order to update the password list." the A.I. replied.

"OK, how about this." She typed in a password and because she had taken some basic computer classes she knew how to make a password secure.

Ki!!5ou5ukeLA ER

All Sousuke saw was the fact that she used proper procedures for password creation. Meaning he didn't "read" it.

Kaname just sat there with a smirk muttering to herself "Bet I don't forget that password." She started thinking to herself 'OK I have to stay calm and not let his OTAKUness get me mad. It's not his fault and he is doing all this for me'

Sousuke shut the door for her and she started to take a look around the car. It was then that she noticed some things. Like the roll bar, the VERY thick glass for the windows, the fact that the backseat was nearly nonexistent (guess we won't be getting in the back soon. WHAT Where the HELL did that come from? Never mind, don't worry about that now. ) Everything she saw set off a new line of thought. 'Just how much did this car cost?'

Sousuke climbed into the drivers' seat and fastened his own harness. He then restarted the motor and Kaname once again felt the powerful bass rumble of the engine. Sousuke slipped the car into gear and pulled away from the curb and headed into the light traffic. He had an idea that he should head for an area that he could drive without too much interference from the traffic or law enforcement.

Kaname looked over at the young man driving the car and asked "Sousuke, just how much did this car cost you?"

Sousuke glanced at her with his normal professional neutral look. But she could see the barest hint of a smirk that no one besides her and maybe Mao and Kurz would be able to detect.

"More then the Bonta-kun A.S and less then the Arbalest, Kaname." He replied.

Now that answer threw her for a loop for a couple of reasons. First, she had an idea of how much went into the mini A.S. known as Bonta-kun from how despondent Sousuke was when they didn't sell like he thought they would. 'Whoa, this car cost more then that damn thing did.' The second was the idea that he would even consider spending so much on her safety. WHOA

Sousuke proceeded to maneuver the car towards the outskirts of Tokyo again, grateful that Eleanor had reminded him that he needed to get fuel before he returned home and showered and changed clothes. It was quiet in the car except for the sound of the engine purring under the long hood and music set to a low level that allowed you to hear it but still be able to converse if you wanted to. And right now Kaname wanted to. The only problem she had was working the conversion around to what it was she wanted to talk about. The two of them. So she decided to start off with something else.

"Sousuke, what did you mean by me being a primary operator?"

He glanced over at her for a second then returned his gaze to the road. "If needed you will be able to use the car to evade and escape an enemy, Kaname. We just have to get you checked out on the car's systems and performance first." He then queried the A.I. "Eleanor?"

"Yes, Sergeant" came the instant reply.

"Please access the internet and see if one of the local tracks has time available."

Now Kaname knew how to drive and didn't think she needed to be "Checked out" on the car and proceeded to inform the driver of said car. "Sousuke, you know I already have my drivers' license, so I don't need to be 'checked out' on the car."

He again turned to look at her for a just moment. For anybody else the look was a blank one, but experience had taught her different. He had looked at her like she had grown a second head. 'What was that look for?'

Sousuke looked back at the road with his contemplative face on, quickly coming to a decision. The look on his face was one she had seen before and it was never a good thing. Game Face. Because, as Mao had put it one time, the fecal waste matter was about to impact the atmospheric rotary oscillator.

"Eleanor?" It was time for a lesson, Sagara Style.

"Yes, Sergeant?"

"Are we under observation by any law enforcement?"

"Not at present, Sergeant. There are no active law enforcement vehicles within scanner range. Through triangulation all law enforcement radio transmissions read as at least 1.5 kilometers (.9 Miles)

"Very well, Engage Level 3 Evasion protocols, full engine power available, all active evasion and avoidance systems active, no offensive systems, defensive systems only"

"Understood, Level 3 Evasion protocols engaged, all active evasion and avoidance systems activated, radar and laser suppression systems up and running, offensive systems offline, defensive systems available on request. Tightening Passenger Passive Restraint Systems, be advised that both operator and primary protectee are secured to only 90 due to missing straps." At this statement the straps at her hips drew tighter pulling her deeper into the seat.

"Kaname, have you ever heard that actions speak louder then words?"

When his look had dropped into "Full Otaku" she knew it was bad news. "UHHH Yeah."

He looked back at her with a look in his eyes that told her his was angry and upset. She could barely see it but it was there. "I have informed you before that this is not a normal automobile and you do not seem to be taking this seriously. In order to be able to operate this automobile safely you have to have more training then is provided by normal drivers training classes. Just like I would not hand you a loaded handgun without going through safety procedures with you, I will not let you behind the wheel of this car without proper training. Under those conditions you could die and that is unacceptable. "

He then downshifted from fifth into second and hammered the throttle.