Resolution

I don't own Full Metal Panic or any of its characters.

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Chapter 13: Questions

It was another peaceful day in peaceful Japan. The Tokiwa family however was anything but peaceful. "Where the hell are you!" screamed Hiroshi Tokiwa completely forgetting his usual peaceful attitude. His daughter has been missing two days straight and that was more than enough to turn the withdrawn family man in a steaming centre of wrath. And how mad he was.

On the other end of the line Kyouko shuddered she knew her father well. Once he was mad there were only a few things that could calm him down. Her mother was the only thing that was there on her father's end, who could have such an affect, but at this moment she was also far away from her sweet and shy self. "Where are you my baby?" she cried into the telephone.

"Sorry mommy I can't tell you, but please calm down I'm safe." reassured Kyouko. Her attempts were pretty in vain but at this moment she couldn't think of anything better. If she told her mother that she was on a submarine and in fact had no idea where she was than fainting would be the least thing that would have happened.

"Where are you!!!" demanded Kyouko's father with newly found ferocity.

Kyouko gulped and tried to stay calm. She didn't know how to respond. She didn't want her father to know in what she got herself into. She should have understood the situation Shunya and Ayame were in and simply left, but instead of that she played with her life staying around to comfort the two. "I'm sorry dad I really don't know. I... I don't even know what's going on.

"Don't lie to me!" hollered the enrage father.

Kyouko sighed knowing well that her father won't give in till she tells him everything she knows. "All right dad. I'll tell you everything. It looks like Kaname's dad got into something bad, and he had to run for it."

"You mean the dad of your best friend? I thought her father was killed!" asked Mr. Tokiwa with his voice still dripping with venom.

"No, he outwitted the killer. I bumped into him and Kaname's little sister when they came to look for Kaname. They were really shaken up and I thought it's for the best to comfort Ayame..."

"Then what!" yelled the raging family father.

"Well some special operation people stormed Kaname's apartment." explained Kyouko. "They took me along, because they didn't know why I was there. Right now I'm on their base sub, so I don't even have the slightest idea where I am."

"You're where!!!" screamed Mr. Tokiwa threatening to overload the link. It was at this point that Tessa decided to interfere.

"Kyouko could you please?" she asked politely as possible.

The schoolgirl nodded and handed the receiver to the captain. Tessa held the phone away from her ear waiting for the man on the other end to stop yelling. When that finally happened she placed the receiver back on her ear, so she can talk again. "Mr. Tokiwa, I'm the captain of the ship where your daughter currently is. I assure that she's in good hands. I won't let anything happen to her, but for your and her own safety it's for the best..."

At this point Captain Testarossa was once again forced to take the phone away from her ear. She waited for a few seconds, before returning to what she originally wanted to say. "Sir, I know that my words sound as if I'm lying, but you have to understand. Chidori Shunya had made deals with international terrorists. He resisted our team and there were gunshots fired. My people were forced to take Kyouko along, if the police found her there you and your daughter would have been in serious trouble. Please try to understand. "

"And now my little girl is God knows where! On a SUBMARINE of all places!!! I won't let my daughter stay in such a place!!! Between men who didn't see a woman within months!!!" hollered the panicking father.

"You're talking with a female captain to begin with! Do you think that there is one person would be crazy enough to touch her with me around? They would be admiring my submarine's hull from the outside sooner than they would prefer if anyone would do such a thing!" responded Tessa also starting to get irritated with all the yelling, but she held back understanding what things were going through that head of the poor father.

"Do you know how it is to be a parent?" hollered the male Tokiwa into the phone. Even his wife was starting to think that he's overdoing a bit.

"Sir I do understand! I'm responsible for several hundred people here! Do you know how it feels to send any of them into battle! Unlike your daughter they are not safe when I have to make such an decision!"

At this point Mrs. Tokiwa had enough and did something that she usually likes to avoid, she ripped the phone from her husband's hand to resolve the matter herself. "Ms. Captain are you sure nothing is going to happen to my daughter." she asked practically begging.

"Don't worry I'm taking care of her myself." reassured Tessa. "There also are a few female officers who I asked to keep an eye on her just in case."

The door of the communication room of the De Danaan flew open revealing Melissa Mao who was bearing a huge scowl on her face. "Weber! I heard you were flirting with someone who you should really leave alone!" she yelled. Kurtz, who was giving Kyouko company visibly paled.

"Come on Mao I was only cheering her up, I didn't have anything like that in mind!"

"Yeah right! Tell someone who believes!" yelled Melissa as he pulled the struggling Weber off to his doom.

"I really do mean it!" yelled the sniper hoping to avoid his fate. It was no use.

"You hear what I mean!" responded Tessa laughing. "I think you want to talk with your daughter. Please make it short we don't want our ship pinpointed. I hope next time we talk it will be in much simpler circumstances." with that said Tessa placed the phone into Kyouko's hands and headed out, to save what was left of the unfortunate sergeant.

At the same time a sergeant major and his girlfriend were busy on the Canadian roads trying to get a ride to Toronto. They had three days and hundred and fifty miles left before their plane arrives. The problem was that they had yet to bump into something that will get them to their destination faster. One really big problem was that the two only stumbled across a secondary road that had practically no traffic. To add to all this they really were in need to get out of the area before the tree policemen wake up and tell their pals what took place in the river and in the barn.

As for Kaname by now she started to speculate, that Sousuke is some kind of avatar of war and destruction, wherever he goes trouble follows him so to say.

Another truck got close to the teens and this time it was Kaname, who started to thumb after Sousuke finally gave up. Considering that the boy's tactics were so to say not really conventional this was not a wonder. Who in his right mind would have stopped when he saw that the guy trying to get a ride was using a machine gun to enforce his request.

Kaname's more civilian approach immediately worked and the lorry stopped at the side of the street. The driver opened the door and carefully investigated the girl. "So how much does it cost?" came the question.

Kaname stared for a few seconds not getting what the question was for, then it all came to her. Her reaction was pretty normal. At first her head became beat red from embarrassment. Then from anger. She turned around and walked back to Sousuke, she yanked up his T-shirt and before the boy could protest she took the boy's UZI from its hiding spot. "You PERVERT!!!" she hollered arming the weapon at the driver.

The trucker's eyes widened and he barely avoided the round that Kaname fired into the lorry's cockpit. Sousuke just stared forward not getting why Kaname was so mad. There was one thing he knew. If he tries to stop Kaname he may end up on the receiving end of the weapon, he had couple of experiences of that and he didn't want to repeat that anytime soon.

Once Kaname emptied the content of the weapon she threw it to the ground and jumped onto the diver with a lion like scream. As the poor guy started to let out screams that were begging for mercy Sousuke decided that his girlfriend is starting to go too far. He quickly ran over to the two and grabbed Kaname's hands she kept fighting but soon gave up. As the boy pulled her from the now trembling driver she gave the poor critter one last kick. "Make offers like that to your mother you ...!" she hollered.

Sousuke partly understood Kaname's feelings and would have loved to give the lorry driver a piece of his mind, but Kaname did more than enough to explain that she isn't one of those girls. She was starting to overdo and things were already bad enough, the two of them already left behind enough corpses. Kaname kept on struggling trying to get out of Sousuke's hands but luckily for the poor driver she wasn't strong enough.

Sousuke moved closer to the driver still keeping his grip on Kaname not wanting her to get away. The driver's face became pale despite the fact the he was really strong built. He has never seen a woman who had such strength hidden in her body. To say the least this scared the man. "We were just wanting to ask if you could give us a ride. We are trying to get to Toronto." explained Sousuke.

The lorry driver didn't answer. He practically trembled as he jumped up and stepped on the gas not caring that the door of his vehicle was still open. The car shot off like the wind and within a few seconds it left the area leaving behind nothing but dust. Kaname was still raging, but at least she didn't turn that rage against Sousuke who was for once completely innocent. "Let me go!" she hollered at him.

The boy did as told and let go of the girl fast as possible. "I'm sorry." he blurted out.

"I think I overreacted a bit." she apologised.

"It's all right." responded Sousuke lightly stroking her side. "But I can't understand why such a simple question can upset you in such a manner." he remarked.

"Sousuke don't tell me you didn't understand what he asked!" answered the shocked Kaname.

"Actually I don't know what was there to make you so mad." answered Sousuke not having the smallest clue.

Kaname almost groaned "Come here." she said. Sousuke stepped closer. But this wasn't enough for her. She grabbed Sousuke's ear pulling him all the way to her mouth, before whispering into his ear as if saying it would be already a crime. Once she was done she leaned away from the boy and waited for some reaction. Sousuke didn't pull out his gun to run after the driver to kill him. He jus stood there not moving, he was an overly lifelike stone statue, the only thing that signalled that he's not a wax figure was his rising and falling chest. "Hey, Sousuke are you all right?" she asked starting to get nervous.

"No problem." responded the boy calmly, in fact too calmly. Then Kaname looked down and saw that his hands were clenched into fists, and his muscles were ready for action. More exactly he was ready to tear apart any person around who could threaten his girl. Kaname gulped at this she was more than happy that by now the lorry and it's driver were not even close she had a few ideas what might have happened to that guy if Sousuke understood the question.

At the same time Shunya, and Ayame Chidori finally arrived in Sendai. It was a long time since he last came to the town of his birth. He never thought that something like this would happen, he hated this place because it reminded him of his long dead wife. He even ended any contact with his old friends in the city just so he can forget everything. He didn't want to remember one single thing abut his past, not one thing after the death of Shizu. This was not hard considering the parents of his wife were also against the marriage.

Shunya knew well that it's only a matter of time before his enemies find him and then he's a goner. This way he can at least spare his child from any further harm. His elder daughter was already in big trouble and most probably she would be either killed or caught sooner or later, at this thought the hardened man barely could hold back his tears, but he knew that crying has no use. He was sure that even if his in-laws hate him they will let Ayame stay at their house, as for him, he'll go and help Kaname. Or at least he'll die trying to help.

The train finally halted at the old dusty station with a loud screech. The night wind took the sound far away, but nobody really cared. There were only a few people who exited the train. They quickly headed off going after their own business. This was the main reason why the ex-diplomat decided to travel at night. In this time of the day people are mostly concerned about themselves and leave more things unnoticed.

Shunya grunted and he fell to one knee after he got off the train, the wound in his shoulder didn't look too good. To his luck it didn't get infected, but because there was no way to remove the bullet without endangering his life he had to settle for getting used to living with more iron in his body than he would prefer. At least he was happy that lead bullets are not used anymore like in the old times.

Ayame was immediately at her father's side ready to help him. Before she could say anything Shunya lifted his hand to signal her to leave it. "It's all right princess I'm all right. Let's go."

"But daddy! You were shot!" whined the girl.

"Ayame after what I did the wound is the least punishment I deserve." responded Shunya, as he slowly regained his composure. "Let's go princess, I still have to save your sister." he said to her.

Ayame shook her head. She was only thirteen, but she wasn't stupid, she knew many things about the world. "Dad you are sure you're all right?" she asked concerned about her father's state. I mean grandmother would let you stay for a few days. I'm sure of it."

Shunya shook his head. "I don't think so." answered the man. "My little Ayame do you know why I never talked to you about your grandparents?" the little girl shook her head. "Your mother and I, we eloped. After that we barely had any contact with them..." at this point Shunya couldn't continue.

Ayame didn't say a word but her eyes clearly gave away that she understood what her father meant. "Dad." she said gently touching her father's face. I don't want to stay here I want to help you save Kaname! Only I have the right to make her life hard!" declared the little girl, Shunya smiled.

"My little Ayame, you and Kaname are the only things that I have left of your mother. I only live to make you two girls happy." explained the man. The little girl became a bit embarrassed by her father's words and looked to the side. "It's for your own best if you stay here."

"But I don't even know who they are! Besides if there are two of us we have a much bigger chance to save Kaname. And besides I think she's all right she's got her boyfriend to protect her!"

"Like a teen aged runt would be able to do anything for her! He'll run at the first sign of danger!" spat Shunya as e stood up completely.

Ayame shook her head she knew that there's nothing she can do for now. Her father was a very tyrannical person, even of he wanted the best for his family he always achieved his goal by commanding the people around him. This is why Kaname left America in the first place. She couldn't stand her father's nature.

The gigantic body of the train behind the two slowly started to gain sped once again as it started to continue it's voyage in the night. Even the ground seemed to tremble under the weight of the huge steel wheels, as the vehicle first started to move slowly and then shoot off like a bullet.

There were no more words exchanged between father and daughter and the two silently headed out of the train station. The night was silent, no words were said between the two as they walked across the city. The suburbs of the small city were silent only the barking of the local dogs or a couple stray cat's interrupted the peace of the night.

The two finally arrived in the street where the Chidori's in-laws lived and Shunya came to an immediate halt. A house, a very important one, at least to him, was missing. It was the house of the in-laws. The middle aged man stood as if he grew roots into the ground. "This isn't good!" he said to himself over and over again.

"What's wrong dad?" asked Ayame turning to her father.

"The house, the house of your grandparents. It's missing!" he said, then as if shot out of a cannon he ran over to the nearest door and started to storm ring.

He continued so till the owner of the house finally crawled out if his bead and threw an old shoe at the ex-diplomat. The projectile landed right in the face of it's target. "Get lost will ya!" yelled a masculine voice before the sound of a window being slammed shut could be heard.

Shunya didn't care and continued ringing the bell. Half a minute later her received the other half of the shoe. "Wait I just want to ask something!" he yelled, before the owner could once again close the window.

"What do you want? And make it fast I don't have time! I've got some serious sleeping to do!" yelled the man.

"What happened to that house?" asked Shunya pointing at the open lot.

"To that one? The old folks living there died six months ago in a car accident! Too bad they were really nice. Now get lost!!!" this was followed by another slam as the window was once again closed. Hearing this Shunya fell to his knees looking forward with an unreadable expression on his face. Now he had no idea what to do or where to go.

"Dad are you all right?" asked Ayame with a concerned face. Shunya shook his head.

"No, everything went wrong. What have I done! Those bastards are after me, Mithril is after me, and if the police find out that I'm alive they will be also after me." he whispered, tears started to fall from his eyes for the first time in years.

"Kaname, Ayame I'm so sorry."