A/N: This chapter is Rated M due to containing Lemon (That's sex for any noobs.) If this offends you I recommend you skip this Chapter. You have been warned.
Ronin
Chapter Eight
Kohta's first month back in Japan had gone by in a flash, after the initial excitement of the Matsuzaki incident, and following the recent arrival of the second wave of contractors, and additional training for good measure.
For now, the world was relatively peaceful. His daily routine of dress, wash, PT, training, guard duty, more PT and more training had finally sunk in. Only interrupted by the occasional briefing, operation planning, and the occasional training session to teach the SDF to do their fucking job.
It was a little after three in the morning when Kohta was woken with a knock at the door.
"Up and at 'em mate!" Dino said as he stuck his head through the door. "You've got thirty minutes to have a shit and a shower and pack your kit. Mission briefing at five. Full recon kit. And bring Krieger."
"Copy that," Kohta said as he rolled out of bed. "This scheduled?"
"Nah mate, just dropped on us from above," Dino said as he departed.
Kohta grabbed a shower, got his kit together and headed down to the canteen for a full breakfast, stacking his plate with as much bacon, fried bread, fried eggs and sausage as he could get away with. It could well be his last good meal for a while. Dino, Mary and Skye were already down and had secured a table, not that there was anyone else eating at this godforsaken hour.
"Rough night Kohta?" Mary asked with a smile as she finished off her cereal.
"Yeah," he sighed before cracking a smile as he sat down. "I couldn't get this hot redhead outta my head." He paused as a slight flush flashed across Mary's face and passed Krieger a sausage under the table before shoving a one into his mouth.
"I think it was your sister," he added with a smirk, causing a laugh from Dino and Skye and Mary to give him a very unladylike gesture.
"Nice to see y'all in fine spirits this mornin'," Tex commented as he walked over and joined them at the table.
"Good morning boss," Dino greeted. "So, what's all this about then? We going on a recon patrol?"
"No, we are not," Tex replied with a sombre tone. He looked seriously at his fireteam. "This is a Black op."
Suddenly the bravado was gone. All the humour, all the light-hearted jokes, vanished. They knew what it meant. They were going in alone, probably doing something highly illegal, and if they got caught they were on their own. There would be no rescue. No cavalry coming over the hill. They would no longer exist. Japan and Spartan PMC would deny all knowledge of their existence, and leave them to either escape on their own, or die.
"What needs doing?" Kohta asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. Tex looked at him.
"Kohta, Mary. Sniper team." He said. "Bring your long gun, spotting kit, Ghillie suits. Everything. Full stealth and everything you need to kill from up to a klik."
"Roger that," Mary said. Kohta nodded in agreement.
Tex turned to Skye.
"Skye, Medkit. Pack out on tourniquets and painkillers. If we get stuck. We're it."
"Got it."
"Dino. Radio. Sat phone. You know the drill."
"You know it, mate." The Australian confirmed.
"Alright then," Tex nodded, speaking to all of them. "We're gonna finish our breakfast. Have our briefing, pack our kit, then move out. Clear?"
"Clear." They all resounded.
"All right then." Tex picked up his knife and fork. "Bon appetite."
…
They walked together into the small briefing room. There they were met by an unnamed Japanese man in a suit and by Colonel Lail.
They exchanged pleasantries and as they shut the door and took their seats. The unnamed man flicked on a projector, and a picture of a slender, spectacled man with long black hair tied back into a ponytail.
"This is your target," the man said. "Johnathan Penry. He's the leader of a group of survivors hiding out at this location." The screen changed to an aerial recon photo of a school, the ground floor was entirely barricaded. "He is the leader of a community of people, currently hiding out in the main building of Yamato International School. He was a teacher there when the outbreak came, and when it hit managed to secure the main building and keep 50 or so students alive and has since spent the last few years training them, being a former US Army Ranger himself.
"An SDF unit was sent to assist just after the outbreak but we lost contact. When we first found this group 3 months ago and offered them re-integration, they fired on our envoy and stated that if we ever returned they would kill all of us. Due to the fact that his group is entirely made up of adolescents and there are numerous infants on sight, we haven't returned. But we believe that if Penry was removed, the others might see reason.
"Your mission is simple. We need Penry dead."
"So why haven't you killed him?" Mary asked bluntly. "Any half-decent sniper could wait and shoot him. You don't need our expertise to do that."
"It's not our skills they need Mary," Tex answered. "They need us to do it so that if anyone asks, they can honestly deny that they did it."
"He's right," Lail said. "The Japanese government needs to maintain plausible deniability. If you fail and get caught, you're just a bunch of people with guns. If the SDF got caught, well that's a whole different kettle of fish."
"Correct," the Japanese man said. He flashed up another slide, a map view of the area surrounding the school, it was heavily forested with a number of hills surrounding it. "We will give you a civilian car to insert and extract with. We shall leave the rest to you to decide how to proceed. There will be no radio contact during the operation. Is that understood?"
The contractors nodded.
"Over to you Tex," Lail announced. Tex nodded and stood up.
"You know your jobs. You know the dance," he said. "Draw kit and Rations for four days, maybe five. We can stash in the car if need be. RV to leave at 12:30. Get it done."
The fireteam stood and filed out. Tex shook the Colonel's hand and left a moment later.
"What do you think Tex?" Dino asked.
"You don't wanna know," Tex replied, he glanced at Kohta. "You gonna be ok buddy? This goes south you could be shooting Jap kids."
Kohat shrugged, "Fuck'em boss. Just another target."
Skye sighed, "And he used to be such a gentleman…"
"I blame Dino," Mary added. "He's a bad influence."
…
The fireteam pulled over about 5km from the target in a small clearing just off from a country road. The 'civilian vehicle' the Japanese government had been a tiny Suzuki barely capable of carrying four partying teenagers, let alone five fully kitted combat operators and their dog, so instead they'd taken one of Spartan PMC's plain dark green Ford F-150 pickup trucks. They parked next to a large hedge and killed the engine. Tex jumped out and ran around to the back to swap the number plate.
"What's he doing that for?" Mary asked.
"In case we were spotted on the way out," Dino replied. "Gives another layer of anonymity. Then when we pack out, we swap back."
"Good thinking," Kohta replied, making a mental note to remember that for future ops.
Dino and Skye took out a large camouflage net from the back of the truck and draped it over the car, finishing with throwing any loose leaves and branches on top to complete the camouflage. Tex checked the map as Kohta and Mary unpacked their sniper gear. It was a little after 7:00 pm local time, the sun would be going down around 9:00 pm. Generally speaking, being out past dark was a death sentence for most people; sound carried further and the undead, with their grey mottled skin, blended in better in the dark. But for a team of experienced contractors in full assault kit, it would be a minor inconvenience at best.
"Ok, we'll grab a quick bite and then we'll head off to the FOP here, then the sniper team will move forward after dark and wait till the target shows himself," Tex said, gesturing to the map he had over the hood of the truck. "Call in when you have the target, drop him, then we get out quick and quiet."
"Fall-back plan if we get spotted?" Kohta asked.
"Scatter yourselves and get back here by your own means," Tex said. "Failing that; make your own way back to Tokyo."
The team reviewed one or two more minor points before heating up some MREs and gathering for an early dinner. The banter and jives that usually accompanied dinner were conspicuously absent, although it was more to do with noise discipline than actual lack of willingness to banter. They were, after all, still in zombie country, a fact reinforced by the occasional zed that wandered into their camp, only to be dispatched by a suppressed pistol shot without the shooter bothering to getting up.
With their MRE dinner finished and the sun beginning its final descent to the horizon, they moved out in a single line into the dense forest. With roughly five kilometres of rough terrain to cover, they had a hard time finding the best route to the target. They were sticking off-road, avoiding the hiking trails that crisscrossed the foothills around Tokyo. Their target maybe hostile, but was not an idiot. There may be traps or watchmen covering the trails. It made for tougher going, but with their NVGs, and full combat equipment, it was nothing they couldn't handle.
They reached their FOP at around 9:00 PM, just as the last light was beginning to fade.
Kohta and Mary set down their equipment and started stripping their kit down while everyone else formed a perimeter. They were the sniper team and would be the ones going forwards to make the kill. They didn't need full fighting gear for the shot and would be coming back this way to RV with the team unless things went tits up. They shed their body armour and went down to their webbing belts and donned Ghillie suit jackets with hoods over their combat shirts before applying camouflage cream to their faces. Mary then went to check her spotting gear while Kohta prepared the rifle.
It was an Accuracy International Arctic Warfare Super Magnum. The large sniper rifle featured OD green folding polymer furniture, a 5-25 X magnification scope, bipod, a large suppressor, and was chambered for .338 Lapua Magnum. It was more than adequate, bordering on overkill, for the task.
Kohta wrapped the rifle carefully in a dark green scrim scarf, which helped to break up the outlines of the rifle and its scope as well as reducing the risk of detection from light reflection off the scope lenses. It would be him taking the shot. Mary was arguably a better shot than him, but it was a tradition among sniper teams that the less experienced shooter took the shot.
"All set?" Tex asked quietly. Kohta and Mary exchanged a glance and nodded. "Alright, see you later. Good luck."
Without a word the two snipers set off, disappearing into the forestry with barely a sound.
They moved slowly and carefully, taking slow deliberate steps and pausing every few meters, rustling the undergrowth under their feet, and then moving again. It was the way animals moved. They weren't silent, they did make some noise and unless panicked or startled, they didn't move quickly. The two were so well versed in their craft, that not even the birds made their alarm calls when they approached.
That was good. It meant that if they did do an alarm call, something else was with them.
Generally, infected weren't much of a problem off road in the mountains. They usually followed the path of least resistance unless there was food or noise to chase. That didn't mean they weren't unheard of, and with their darkened, dead skin, they were better camouflaged than people would expect.
They were also far less active at night than during the day. Even though sound travelled further and it was easier to attract the undead during the night, they tended to become more sluggish, less energetic. They'd even seen zombies just standing still, usually in remote areas or in a sealed room where they'd had no sensory input and entered a sort of hibernation to conserve energy.
Mary was on point, picking out their path while Kohta was watching their rear and surroundings. He didn't focus directly on his surroundings, but instead on the middle distance, watching for movement and signs of change.
They were creating a trail. It was faint, almost invisible to the untrained eye. But it was there, and clearly human, not infected. There were a few bent blades of grass, and the trail was in a roughly straight line, clearly people in single file, not an ambling infected. You wouldn't see it unless you had special ops or tracking experience, but it would give them a path to follow back to camp if they needed to extract quick.
They found a firing point that would serve further down the hill. It was a large moss and grass-covered rocky outcrop that jutted out of the hill. It was wide enough that they could lay down comfortably side by side with all their kit, had an excellent view of the school in the valley below, and the overhanging trees came down low enough to give them cover from sight while also giving them a clean shot.
The two went to work and set up their kit. Kohta laid down a camo matt so dust wouldn't interfere with his sights Next he lay the rifle down on its bipod before arranging a small cleaning kit, a notepad, rangefinder and other essential bits of sniper kit around before going prone behind his rifle. Mary did much the same as she set up her spotting scope along with some other odds and ends.
Kohta removed the magazine from his rifle, checked the top round was seated correctly and reinserted it into the mag well before cycling the bolt.
"Shooter up," he whispered as he peered through the scope.
"Spotter up," Mary replied as she turned on her spotting sight with a slight whine of microprocessors spooling up. "And now we wait."
It would be a long time until dawn, so they had plenty of time to get ready. They spent some time range finding, getting their sights set for range, and going over the school buildings for any points where they might see their target.
"Jesus," Mary chuckled quietly as she looked through her night vision binoculars. "Check it out. Third floor, fourth window from the right."
Kohta panned the rifle over to the window Mary had indicated. He could see something, but it wasn't clear, he upped his scope's magnification and adjusted the focus until it became clearer…
"Ah," was all Kohta was able to say. The room indicated was a classroom. And in the aforementioned classroom were a boy and a girl. And this young lady and gentlemen were… busy…
"Well glad to see the end of the world is working out for someone…" Kohta was finally able to say as he shifted his sights back to look for something more productive.
"Like it hasn't worked out for you?" Mary snarked, glancing sidewise at Kohta before going back to watching the couple. "You're a Special Forces trained scout sniper getting paid to hunt the world's lands and seas for zombies and the enemies of humanity. Because of the apocalypse! How has that 'not worked out' for you?"
"I'm the one lying out in the cold with a sniper rifle and he's the one getting laid," Kohta replied with a smile, glancing back at the couple through his scope. "Though I am spending the night with the prettier woman."
Mary chuckled slightly, happy that her camouflage paint was hiding her blush.
"So why haven't you had sex yet Kohta?" Mary asked bluntly. "You're not gay, are you? Not that there's anything wrong with that if you are…"
Kohta chuckled, "No, not gay. Just waiting for the right woman."
"You know if you asked Skye she'd probably say yes."
"I know."
"So why haven't you?"
"I want my first time to be special." Kohta shrugged. "And let's face it; I'm not the best catch in the world."
"Don't sell yourself short Kohta," Mary advised. "Girls don't look for a dumb footballer these days. Now they look for a nice guy who can handle himself when the shit hits the fan. You could fill all three of those categories."
There was a moment of silence between them before Mary sighed.
"Look, if it's alright with you I'm gonna crash. Wake me in three hours of if something happens," she said.
"Copy that," Kohta replied. "Sleep tight."
…
"Kohta… Kohta…"
Something was out there, calling his name.
"Kohta… Kohta…"
He looked around the forest, but couldn't see anything between the black trees that leeched red sap like blood.
"Kohta!" The voice said again, much louder this time. Kohta spun and a shroud stood before him. The roiling black smoke shifted and churned as it first turned white, then formed into a figure, and then a person.
"Shizuka-Sensei?" he said, greeting her with both a smile and suspicion. She smiled and continued towards him, looking him up and down as naked as the day she was born.
"Kohta-san," She said lovingly, pulling him into a tight loving embrace. "I missed you."
"I…" Kohta stammered, he was about to go into his 'I had to leave' rhetoric but just couldn't do it this time. "I… I missed you too Shizuka-Sensei."
"Hmmm," She purred, running a hand up and down his spine. Kohta's his face heated as she pulled his face into her cleavage and shivered at her touch on his bare skin. She shuddered as he breathed into her chest. A lustful moan escaped her mouth and Kohta felt his manhood tighten.
She loosened her hold on him and he backed away from her chest. Her golden butter eyes melted into his. He could feel her breath on his face. Their lips were paused just an inch away… before she pressed hers onto his with a wet, lustful moan.
She forced her tongue past his lips and started to explore inside while her arms explored his combat toned body. Kohta, realising he'd been caught off guard, fought back; his tongue meeting hers and duelling inside their mouths while his arms explored her curvaceous body. One of his hands found its way to her firm, round behind, while the other took a handful of one of her large breasts and squeezed.
"Ohh Kohta!" She moaned happily, breaking the kiss and pulling away from him. She looked him in the eye again with renewed lust and slowly pushed against him, pushing him down to the forest floor and lying on top of him among the leaves. One hand took hold of his manhood, Kohta yelped at her firm grip as her hand rubbed along his shaft and pressed it against her moist, wet womanhood. Before He could say anything, she dropped on him. Kohta groaned and Shizuka moaned as her wet tightness enveloped him.
"Miss Shizuka…" he breathed. She chuckled slightly before taking his lips again and began bouncing up and down on him. After the euphoric surprise began to fade, Kohta's instincts took over. He grabbed her waist started to move his hips in sync with hers.
"Oh Kohta," She breathed. She repositioned and straddled him, placing her hands on his chest to steady herself as she began to bounce on him faster and faster. Her breathing became ragged, deeper and her voice became louder and louder.
"Kohta. Kohta! Kohta! KOHTA!"
…
"Kohta! Kohta wake up!" Mary hissed into his ear.
Kohta's eyes flashed open with a start. He looked around, looking for Shizuka, but she was gone, and he was not naked.
"Man you're a heavy sleeper," Mary murmured. "Get on the gun, we've got movement."
Kohta shook off the last vestiges of grogginess from his rapid awakening and shoved the memory of his wet dream aside for later dwelling as he rolled over back onto his front and settled in behind his rifle, once again setting the stock into his shoulder and setting his eye to the scope.
Morning had come while he'd been asleep. An orange sky was forming over the tree and treetops on the far side of the valley. The sun wasn't high enough to interfere with Kohta's sights or make it hard for Mary to spot for him, but it wouldn't stay like that for long.
"What have we got?" Kohta asked as he flicked the sight covers off his scope.
"Target plus adolescent male on the roof of target building," Mary reported, eyes glued to her spotting scope. "Seem to be having an argument."
"Confirm that it is the target?" Kohta replied, focusing on the roof and the older of the two males.
"Confirm. It's him. Calling it in."
"Roger."
Kohta focused on setting up his sights and making calculations for the shot while Mary contacted Tex and the others back at the fall-back point. He took his range finder and lased the range to target: 775 meters. His sniper rifle was rated for headshot accuracy at 400 meters and had a first shot hit range of over 1,200 meters. The .338 Lapua Magnum round it was chambered for was highly accurate and lethal at even the most extreme ranges. The rifle was up to the task, and Kohta had made harder shots.
"…Roger. Out," Mary finished speaking into the radio and turned to Kohta. "They're packing up on the hill. We're cleared to fire."
"Copy that," Kohta replied. He took a deep breath and began to methodically control his breathing and slow his heart rate. "Final read?"
"Target hasn't moved," Mary replied, peering through her spotting scope. "Range to Target; seven hundred and seventy-five meters. Angle of elevation minus six, negligible wind, no correction needed."
Kohta nodded, he'd drawn the same conclusions but Mary was the more experienced sniper, hearing it from her was reassuring.
The target was still arguing with the teenager on the roof, from the look of it it was fairly heated. This was their chance, it could be over any minute and then the target would head back inside and they'd have to wait for another day. Another day with the chance of discovery. Another day where the infected could find them. Another day they could catch some sickness that could potentially kill them. This was their chance, and his time to die.
"Firing…" Kohta breathed out, emptying his lungs. The sights on his rifle stabilized, hovering over the man's chest. All Kohta could hear was his heartbeat as he slowly applied pressure to the trigger.
Ba-bum… breathe out… Ba-bum… breathe in… ba-bum… breathe out… click!
The rifle jumped back into Kohta's shoulder with a muffled crack as the round left the suppressor shrouded muzzle. For a moment nothing happened. The .338 Lapua Magnum round had a muzzle velocity of 936 meters per second, it would take just over a second for the round to reach its target. Kohta and Mary watched. The target jerked, placed a hand over his heart, and crumpled.
The boy twisted around, frantically looking for the shooter. Rather than move Kohta and Mary stayed, at this range their camouflage would conceal them, but drastic movement could have given them away. Instead, Kohta only moved enough to slowly remove the spent casing from the chamber and jack a fresh round into the chamber, ready to drop the boy if they were detected.
After a few moments of frantic searching, the boy ran inside, no doubt shouting for help. By the time he and other armed and confused residents of the school returned to the roof, Kohta and Mary were gone. Vanished into the forest with scarcely a trail to betray their having been there.
…
Saya Takagi glared at the stack of papers that littered her desk, and let out a sigh and slumped back in her chair in frustration. She looked over at the large map of Japan that was pinned to the wall of her office, upon which the location and name of every known survivor settlement, government-aligned or otherwise, was pinned. Every one of those aligned settlements contributed something to the greater whole of the nation, and everyone had specific needs and supply demands, and it was her and her staff of four's job to coordinate the delivery of supplies between the settlements and to see that their tithes were delivered in full, on time.
Saya checker her watch. She reluctantly turned off her lamp and shrugged on her business suit jacket as she left the office.
Thirty minutes later Saya arrived at The Jasmine Dragon, full of people enjoining an evening drink and chat. She spotted Saeko, Rei and Shizuka at their usual table in the corner, chatting away while nursing various alcoholic drinks. She walked over and groaned apologetically as she dropped into her seat. "Sorry I'm late. The Niko settlement sent a request for a new generator, but are still refusing an SDF presence."
"Here, this should help," Rei said as she slid Saya's usual drink order, a large Cherry Sourz with coke. Saya accepted the drink with a thankful sigh and proceeded to take a large, prolonged sip of it before removing her jacket.
"So how was anyone else's day?" Saya asked.
"Quiet," Saeko said, "No one tried to assassinate your father today." Saeko granted herself a small smile at her own humour before taking a sip of her drink. "Rei?"
"Just another day at school," Rei shrugged, then smiled. "Although I think Mr. Tani maybe about to ask me out."
"About time!" Saya declared with an amused snort. "You said he's been watching you for ages! Took him long enough to finally get off his ass and ask you."
"I think it's kind of sweet. The way he's nervous about asking you out," Shizuka chuckled. "Besides, Mr. Tani is cute…"
Rei leaned over and swatted the buxom blond on the forehead. "Ow! What was that for?!"
"Eye's off! He's mine!" Rei shouted half seriously, half playfully. Saya facepalmed at her friend's actions while Saeko snickered behind her hand.
On one level, Saya was happy for them. But, on another level, Saya was deeply jealous of her friends. Saeko had Takashi, Shizuka had Rika, and now even Rei had someone. Saya didn't. A few people had tried to date her, but they'd either been political climbers trying to get closer to her father, or just stupid people she couldn't stand.
The only person she'd ever liked that way was Hirano. And he'd left her.
Idly she wondered where he was, what he was doing, and if he'd ever forgiven her for chasing him away.
…
Across the bar, Kohta watched his old friends at the table. They were laughing. Shizuka had said something and Rei had bopped her on the head and told her that someone was off limits. He was glad to see they were happy. He would normally go over and say 'Hi', but she was there.
Saya was more beautiful than he remembered. She'd kept her hair the same in pigtails, although they were slightly shorter than he remembered. She'd grown a bit too and her body had taken on a shapelier appearance.
Kohta weighed up the risks of saying hello, but then he remembered the pain. The pain she'd caused him when she stabbed him in the back and chased him away for wanting to make a man of himself and be of service to others.
He dismissed the memories of 'the good times' that started to rear their heads before finishing his drink and departing the bar without her noticing.
Slightly shorter chapter than normal due to essays, but still wanted to keep the story rolling.
Also first attempt at a lemon, so there was that. Oh, and Saya's back!
Next chapter is basically one big battle, shit starts blowing up!
As ever, please review/favorite/follow, all constructive criticism is welcome.
Jango
