Contrary to popular belief, I haven't been abducted by aliens. Unfortunately, no one got ahold of David Duchoveny in time. My apologies – I slacked, and I'm sorry, but I'm getting back in the groove slowly! Eternal thanks to my faithful readers – you are ALL the best. For real.
OH! Um. Slash. OOC, if you're going exactly by the manga and the anime, but I'm having fun with it. Especially now that they're locked in a room together. HEE.
Sousuke
I hit the wall unceremoniously and flinched a little bit, still weakened with painkillers and feeling distinctly like I'd been stabbed. I had a righteously indignant lecture on the tip of my tongue, but Gauron spoke first.
"I don't know how you got the impression that I was taking advantage of you," he sneered, "but trust me – if I'd taken advantage of you, you would have known it. And don't think you wouldn't have enjoyed it," he added warningly. "Or have you forgotten all the good times? I think a few of those constituted as being taken advantage of."
"Stop bringing that up," I snapped. "It was in the past."
"I'll stop saying it if you'll stop pretending like it doesn't count now that time has passed," he shot back, advancing on me. "I hate to burst your bubble, Kashim, but it did happen. Frequently."
"I'm not denying any of it," I argued. "I'm merely saying it was a mistake that I've accepted responsibility for, and it won't be happening again. Don't busy yourself with ensuring that I don't forget, because that won't happen. But don't pretend that it could happen again, either."
He rolled his eyes. "The next time I have some sort of pointless drama, remind me to call you. You're certainly a buzz-kill, aren't you?"
"I suppose so."
Silence stretched awkwardly – or, I was awkward. I was fairly certain that he was incapable of letting himself feel awkward, frightened, or anything else unpleasant, present situation included.
I cleared my throat. "So where does that leave us?" I asked, clipped and professional.
His eyebrows rose. "All honesty?"
"Ideally."
"I think it leaves us locked in a room with at least five people standing outside wondering what's going on, with a certain amount of mounting sexual tension making it a little crowded in here."
My brain skipped like a broken record. "We're not locked in here."
The doorknob clicked as he remedied that. "Aren't we?"
"Unlock the door," I ordered, trying to keep any uncertainty out of my voice.
"You're not the one giving orders in here, Kashim," he said, voice pitched low.
Retreat and abandonment of my pride seemed ideal at the moment, and would have worked well if there hadn't been a wall between myself and my escape. "Wait a second – there are no mounting tensions of any sort in –"
My body connected solidly with the wall again, not as hard this time, but hard enough that pain shot through my side. "Like it or not, Kashim," he growled, "this isn't going to vanish just because it gets in the way of your boring daily routine. So maybe you should quit deluding yourself."
"I'm not the one –"
"Shut up."
His mouth silenced any further protests, swift and firm and –
Well.
There were no excuses for my actions. What I should have done was shove him off of me and walk away – that was the right thing to do, and if it had been anyone else, that's exactly what I would have done.
But it wasn't anyone else, and so instead of doing what I knew was right, and smart, all rational thought flew out the window (along with my honor, my reservations, and my pride). It might have been the fact that I hadn't had any real contact with anyone in so very long – an awkward kiss with that girl at school, but nothing like this. Nothing this raw and unyielding, nothing like him. Maybe that was the entire problem... it was him.
So instead of doing the right thing by pushing him away, I grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him down to me, any resistance in my brain driven out by his scent, his taste, his hands ghosting down my sides and gripping my waist, as though ensuring I didn't get away. Thoughtlessly, foolishly, I let myself drown in him, dragged down in sensation as he slid powerful arms around me and nearly crushed me to him.
I don't know how long it was like that – and frankly, I'm grateful. But it couldn't last, and thanks to a pounding on the door, it didn't. "Sergeant?" called one of the soldiers outside. "Are you all right in there? The captain asked us to check on you –"
I pulled away long enough to gasp out a, "Fine, everything's under control, I'll be out in just a –" I fell short for a moment as his mouth descended on mine again – whether he did it on his own or I pulled him down again, I wasn't sure. " – Just a minute," I finished, drawing in a much-needed breath and shuddering as his lips ran down my neck, biting at the exposed skin lightly.
"Do you need any help in there, sir?" one of them offered.
"NO. I – I mean, no thank you, I'm almost –"
"Sergeant, is this door locked?"
"N-no – I mean, yes it is, but – don't –" I tilted my head back, giving his mouth complete access to my throat and shivering as he took full advantage of the position. "Enough," I hissed, but my hands gripped his shoulders in a way that didn't exactly scream enough. "I – I have to –"
"Have to what?" he purred against my ear.
Even if the words wouldn't come, I knew what it was I had to do: get out of there. Now.
With what willpower I could muster, I pushed him away from me, breath coming in ragged bursts as I tried to get control of myself. His eyes locked on mine, shining with amusement but darkened with passion and heat and a thousand other things I didn't want to think about.
I didn't need to say anything – it would have been pointless to try and speak, and the sly curl at the corner of his mouth showed that he was just waiting for me to run. To my credit, I didn't run out of the room.
But I did get out of there as fast as possible.
I could feel his cocky grin burning into the back of my head as I unlocked the door and stepped into the cool corridor, and I slammed the door behind me and resorted to dashing down the hall.
"Sergeant!" one of the men called. "The captain wants to see you in her quarters –"
"Tell her I'll be there shortly," I said over my shoulder. My first priority was a shower.
A cold one.
88888
Kaname
Tessa bit her lip and ignored the hot tea that she was gripping in her hand. "This is bad, Miss Kaname," she said anxiously. "This is really bad."
I hesitated. "Yeah, it is," I finally agreed.
"I hadn't… I hadn't really understood what you were talking about until – well, just now," she admitted. "It was one thing to be involved with him back in the beginning, but with all he's seen and done since then… I honestly thought he knew better. Sergeant Sagara, I mean," she added quickly.
"Maybe we're jumping to conclusions," I suggested. "I mean – maybe they beat each other up or something. They've always had something to argue about, every time I've seen them around each other. Although... it's kind of obvious that they have something hanging between them, you know?"
"He should know better," Tessa reiterated. "He does know better. I'm sure of it."
"What do you think is taking him so long?" I fretted.
"One of the men said he was going to shower before he came in," she said absently, still lost in thought.
"He's not still with Gauron, right?"
"No," she assured me.
We were quiet for a long moment. "He's not going to get in trouble if something is going on, right?" I asked uneasily.
She bit her lip harder, and I could see blood blossom. "That depends on who finds out. On this ship, I have jurisdiction and I decide who gets in trouble. That's why Sergeant Sagara isn't in trouble for letting Gauron survive this long in the first place. As long as he's under my command, he won't get in any real trouble. But if any of my superiors found out… I don't know if you know, but they've been looking for an excuse to pull Sousuke off of his current assignment, which is guarding you, and have him work with Arbalest so that the LAMDA driver can be further understood."
"I knew about that," I said grimly. "Sousuke mentioned it earlier last week."
"If anyone outside of this submarine found out about any sort of indiscretions between Sousuke – it would be bad," she worried. "I'm not sure if they've run into a situation quite like this, but at the very least, he would be quietly reassigned, or even discharged."
"What's the worst-case scenario?"
"He's put in prison for treason," she groaned. "Mithril doesn't have any single country that it swears allegiance to, but if people discovered that Sergeant Sagara was illicitly involved with a terrorist as high-profile as Gauron, they would react swiftly and harshly. He would be dishonorably discharged, and if they suspected that he was passing along information, even if it was accidental, he would be jailed for treason and possibly exiled."
"Exiled?" I repeated. "To where?"
"To a correctional facility down in Antarctica," she almost whispered. "It would either be life in prison for treason, or a twenty-year exile to –"
"SOUSUKE!" I shrieked the absolute moment I saw him standing in the doorway. "I – uh – how long have you been there?"
He stepped into the room, jaw set and face unusually pale. "Long enough."
Tessa looked positively miserable. "Sergeant… I assume you heard what we were talking about."
"I did, madame Captain."
"I didn't want to burden you with all of that," she wailed unhappily. "I – was just – we were just worried. And we might have been jumping to conclusions," she added hopefully.
"We were just being paranoid, right?" I pressed.
His eyes lowered to the ground. "I would rather not divulge any personal information when it comes to him," he said, words carefully chosen. "But I can assure you both that everything is under control."
"Do you promise?" Tessa nearly begged.
"I can't make any promises," he admitted, "because I'm only half of the problem. But I can promise that I'll try to do my absolute best, should the need arise."
He was fidgeting with the collar of his uniform – why was he messing with it? I could see… something… peeking between his fingers, but I wasn't quite sure of what I was seeing.
Then it hit me.
Oh. My God. He totally had – okay, maybe it was a bruise on his neck, but I was pretty sure I could spot a hickey when I saw one. Had Tessa seen? She couldn't have – she hadn't said anything about it – oh, she absolutely could not see it. No way in hell. If she noticed, she would… ooh. I didn't want to think of what she'd do.
A little desperately, I faked a huge yawn. "Man, all this talk is depressing me," I said brightly. "And I'm totally worn out. You know? Sousuke, do you think you could escort me to my quarters?"
"I – um. I suppose," he said uncertainly.
"Great," I declared. "Let's go. Tessa, I'll be back later, but right now I've gotta get some shut-eye." At that, I grabbed Sousuke by the arm, not the one that was trying to cover the mark on his neck, and dragged him out of the room.
"I hadn't realized you were so tired," Sousuke was saying stupidly. "It was very inconsiderate of Kurz to drag you around the ship all morning instead of –"
WHACK.
"YOU'RE AN IDIOT!" I exploded. "WHAT IF TESSA HAD SEEN THAT THING? THAT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE YOU'RE CONTROLLING THE SITUATION!"
"What thing?"
"Don't play stupid with me," I warned, taking another angry swipe at him with my sandal. "You've got a hickey on your stupid neck the size of my fist, and you didn't even think to try and cover it up! God," I grumbled, sliding my shoe back on and ransacking my purse. "Here, put this on," I sighed, handing him a compact of make-up. "It's concealer. It won't cover that thing up entirely, but it won't jump out like it is right now."
Sousuke stared at the little compact. "I'm not sure I understand."
I poked his neck, and he jumped away from the touch. "There. You have a really big, really obvious hickey on your neck that you didn't have before."
His hand flew to the spot. "I – I just knew it tingled, I didn't know that you could see anything."
That warranted another hard swing with my purse. "Idiot. Here, look – I'm going to put some concealer over it so that it's not as obvious. I'm assuming you got that within the last half-hour?"
He didn't meet my glare. "Yes."
I patted the powder over his skin carefully, making sure to blend as I went. "Go somewhere and put ice on it. Like, now. If you do it in time, it will help the mark fade faster, but if you don't do it soon enough, you can just have my stupid concealer. Is there anything else I should know about?" I nearly threatened.
"No, Miss Chidori, that's about it."
I sighed. "I won't tell anyone. I promise. But – will you promise to be honest with me about what's going on with him? He's dangerous, Sousuke. I didn't think I had to remind you."
He cringed. "I'd hoped to keep everyone out of this, but… I can't tell you what's going on, because even I don't know. Today was the first incident recently, however."
"And the last?" I pressed.
He hesitated. "If I have anything to do with it, then yes. But it will be difficult, as I'm only half of the problem."
"I've heard. Will you be honest if anything else does happen?"
"I'll try."
I offered a weak smile and handed him the compact. "Here. You need this more than I do."
Sousuke nodded swiftly. "Thank you, Miss Chidori."
"Kaname."
"Very well then, Miss Kaname."
I sighed, without irritation. "I think you do that on purpose. I'm going to take a nap and pretend like this was all a bad dream. As for you – go ice that thing. I'll see you at dinner?"
"I believe so."
And so we went our separate ways… only I didn't go directly to my room. Instead, I detoured down a hallway I'd been in not too much earlier that day.
The guards were still posted at either end of the corridor, weapons at the ready and this time, they had communicators that went right to the control room. Anything that happened would be caught on tape.
I flashed the soldiers a bright smile. "I've just got one thing I have to do really quick," I assured them. "Then I'll be out of your hair."
"You shouldn't go down there unarmed," one of the guys suggested.
"So come with me. I'm just going to turn around and walk right back the way I came."
Whether they followed me immediately or not was beyond me; I made a beeline for the makeshift holding cell and didn't even break stride when Gauron saw me coming.
What he didn't see coming was the blow I landed, square in the face. It wasn't anything impressive, and I didn't even draw any blood, but it surprised the son of a bitch, and that's all I was after.
"Isn't this just the season," he snapped, kept in his place only by the automatic weapons that peeked over my shoulders. "I'm getting sick of people punching me."
"Then stop being a jackhole," I shot back. Then, just low enough that I knew he heard me, "If you hurt him again – if you touch him – I'll totally make that last punch look like a handshake."
And at that, I turned on my heel and stomped off to my own room, too wired and too exhausted to nap. Someone would pay for that.
