Part Three; Her Story - Dreams or memories?

I awoke early as it was my turn to prepare breakfast for the four of us. Just as the rice cooker beeps, the sliding door to the back opens and I lean around the corner to see Amagi walking in. I can see that she has sand on her knees and I tilt my head to the side as I ask her in our native language, "Sister, be sure to brush off that sand before you come in, you know how Tosa feels about it on her cleaning days."

After a few moments I hear the door close before my elder sister joins me in the kitchen, and starting to work the fish for breakfast and I ask her, "What has you up so early? You are not the type to be up without reason."

Amagi smiles at me over her shoulder as she says, "You know me well, Akagi. But I had a reason to be up, Major White was jogging along the beach and I was curious as to why he was up so early."

I look down at the soup I'm starting to ladle into the bowls, I'm a little conflicted at the idea of Amagi being close to Major White, but I know by our strings that she is not destined to be with him, rather I am. I know that I can trust Amagi not to try and do anything with the Major, still, it doesn't sit well with me that he is willing to talk to her before me. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Amagi slide some salmon onto the trays as she says to me, "You said to me, that you would tell me about what you see one day, are you willing to share that now?"

I had almost forgotten about that, I stop with the soup and sigh out, "I can see red strings that are tied to the fingers of most people and kansen."

My sister is quiet for a moment before she asks, "Do you know where yours goes?"

I nod while keeping my head down as I whisper, "It leads to Major White, I can follow it to him. But the strangest thing happened last week."

"What happened?" she asked me, I can tell from her voice that she is being careful with her questions.

I look up, I know that my brow is furrowed as I say to her, "After I left the office one night, I touched my string and I could smell gunpowder, but I couldn't hear any weapons going off."

Amagi puts down her knife, resting her palms on the counter as she asks a follow-up question, "Has that happened since?"

I shake my head and say to her, "No, I've tried every day since but it hasn't happened since."

She turns around to look at me, her hands cupping my face and she strokes my cheeks as she asks, "What happened that day that you could smell gunpowder?"

It takes me a moment to think about it before I say to her, "I touched his hand with my own and one of my tails touched his cheek."

I can see the gears turning in her mind before she lets go of my cheeks and suggests, "Then perhaps you should try and touch him again to see if you can get the same sensation again."

I nod to her and finish getting the breakfast trays ready as I say to her, "I will try to do so, sister."

XXXX

I make it a point today to be at my desk long before he arrives, I want to have to chance to greet him, and perhaps I will get a chance to touch him and then touch the string to see if anything happens. I had settled into my work when my ears twitch towards the door moments before it opens and I greet him in my native language, "Good morning, Shikikan-sama."

I curse at myself, I can't be sure he'll understand me, but he nods and greets me back in an almost pleasant, if distracted tone before he hurries into his office, "Good morning"

I sigh and turn back to the computer, bringing up the logo search system. I hadn't gotten anywhere with his name, but I could maybe find something on that patch he had on his bag. Sadly, I hadn't gotten anywhere with it, but I know this symbol is important and it feels familiar the more I think about it. As I go from unit markings to unit markings, I'm still not seeing it. There must be a really good reason for it, I look to the clock quickly and see that I should get on ordering lunch. As I bring up the menu, I start to chew on my right thumb a little, everything looks good but my mind is still grinding on who Major White is, the fewer answers I find, the more I want to know. I almost jump when I hear him clear his throat, turning my attention to him, I can see bags under his eyes and his voice is a little sharp as he directs me, "Could you locate Amagi and have her come up here? I want to discuss something with her."

I tilt my head to the side and I offer out, "Akagi could help you to Shikikan-sama."

He shakes his head and his tone of voice is still sharp as he tells me, "Not with this task."

I bow my head to him, I'm disappointed that again I cannot help him when he needs it, but my elder sister can. Without meaning for it, my disappointment creeps into my voice as I sigh out, "Of course Shikikan-sama."

He closes the door again, leaving me on my own again. I take out my phone and call my elder sister and let her know that Major White wants to talk to her about something, I also ask about what she would like for lunch.

XXXX

Once she arrived, I show her into his office right away, I want to know what's going on in there, but Amagi closes the door behind her with her tails and gave me a very pointed look over her shoulder, making it clear whatever was going to go on did not concern me in any way. With a defeated sigh, I return to my desk and wait for lunch to arrive.

It honestly didn't take that long, once I had the three trays, balanced in my hands I open his door. The two of them get very quiet when the door opens. I look at them sitting on the couch so close and Amagi looks like she was in the middle of saying something, but stopped when I arrived, I can't help but wonder what it was the two of them were talking about. I move and place the trays down in the right locations; I had even managed to find something that might remind the Major of his homeland, a strange dish made of fried potatoes, a thick brown sauce, and bits of cheese. As I take a seat at his desk, Amagi joins me, but I just see the Major move to his window with a mug of coal water and he looks out at the docks. I lean over and whisper to Amagi, "Is everything alright?"

She looks down at her hands before smiling at me as she says, "It will be."

I nod and turn my attention to the Major as I ask him, "Shikikan-sama, are you going to join us?"

He doesn't answer or acknowledge that I even asked, he just keeps looking out the window. I look down at my right hand and see the string there, and I take note that it is looking a little duller in color right now. Amagi places her left hand over my right hand and she whispers to me, "Do not worry about this right now, Akagi, his mind is elsewhere right now."

I nod and turn my attention to lunch.

XXXX

After lunch I had bid Amagi a good day and cleared away the lunch trays, taking note that he didn't eat. I'll admit I feel a little down that he ignored me when I tried to engage with him during lunch, but all he did was look out the window and drink that coal water. I tried to spend the rest of my day busy, but I was feeling down that I wasn't being allowed to know what was going on. That said, however, when I look at the clock on my computer again I saw that the day had managed to disappear and that it was already eighteen hundred. I get out from behind my computer and open his door; once it's open I can see that he's leaning back in his chair, looking very frustrated. I bow to him as I inform him, "It is eighteen hundred Shikikan-sama, I am going to turn in for the day."

I note the dismissive tone he has as he tells me, "Sure, that's fine."

While I have my head down in this bow, I spot a crumpled-up paper at my feet, with a raised eyebrow I kneel and pick it up as I say to him in a slightly defeated tone of voice, "I'll dispose of this for you, Shikikan-sama."

Just as I get it in my hand he's still not looking in my direction and he says to me, "Thanks." He pauses for a moment and looks off to the side as he says, "Lucas."

My ears twitch a little and my head tilts to the side as I ask, "I'm sorry Shikikan-sama, I don't understand."

He pushes himself from behind his desk, stopping to grab his laptop on his way to his jacket and beret as he says, "That's my name, you asked about it last week."

I absent-mindedly brush some hair with my free hand as I feel a little heat come to my cheeks, how could I have forgotten that I asked him that in a note? I try to avoid eye contact with him as I reply with a little more of my normal tone of voice, "Thank you for sharing that with me, Shikikan-sama."

He gets his beret on his head and asks me, "So, I've been here for about two weeks now, is there anything to do here?"

I shrug a little, I've been here for a few years now, but I rarely venture outside of the Sakura Empire quarter. After a moment I let him know, "Aside from the onsen? Not that I've really explored."

It takes him a moment and I can see he's working on figuring out the word I used for the hot spring before he asks, "Do they have spate sections?"

I'm impressed with his knowledge of my native language, not something I'd expect of someone from the Monarchy, let alone the understanding of the customs of my homeland. I shake my head at his question and he sighs before hanging his head as he says, "Thanks, have a good evening then."

I tilt my head to the side as he leaves the office; once he's gone I open the paper to see what was on it. My eyes going a little wide when I see that he drew my flight deck, as far as I knew he hadn't seen it before. I wonder if by him drawing this, he might be wondering if we are linked together via our red string. I take out my phone to call Amagi, when I see the alert on the banner of it, reminding me of the beach party tomorrow. I blink a few times, I had been so wrapped up in this stuff with Major White, that it had slipped my mind. I hang my head as I recall all the work myself and Kaga had put in for what was to be the end of night show in the air with our planes. I look back to the paper and sigh, perhaps I should invite the Major to the party.

XXXX

Once I'm back in my shared dorm room, I head to my personal room and place the picture he drew on my dresser. I tap it with my right hand before I open my closet and take out that new bikini I had ordered in, a contrast to Kaga's. As I lay it down on my bed I take out my phone and message the Major about the party.

A few moments later I get a message back from him, asking about the details for the party and I send them along to him and hold my phone close to my chest, a smile on my face as I think about going to the beach with him. Then it hits me and I ask myself in a low whisper, "Did I just make a date?"

XXXX

I had gotten to the beach early, put out my red towel on the sand to show where I'd be camping out. As I lay on it in the sun, I take note that Amagi, Kaga, and Tosa had put theirs out beside me before they either lay down to enjoy the sun or go off and take part in the festivities. As I lazily doze in the sun, I start running yesterday over in my mind again, I had gotten information out of Major White. And yet, right now I felt really nervous at the idea of him actually showing up. I wonder if it is due to me being interested in him beyond this curiosity of his past I've developed.

I go to stretch a little in the sun when my ears suddenly pick up movement on the sand, I turn them in the direction to get a better idea of how close this sound was and I feel a little surprised when I figure out it was almost beside me. I roll to my side and feel a shiver run down my spine as I see Major White was almost close enough to touch with my foot! How did he get so close without me noticing? I look to his eyes and see that they seem to have stopped at my chest; I wonder if he sees something that is holding his interest there? After a moment his eyes move up to meet mine and I smile at him as I get up off of my towel and brush an errant hair to the side as I ask him, "This is a new bikini, do you like it Shikikan-sama?"

I see it for only a second, he's calculating how to respond before his left hand rubs the back of his head and he says, "It looks good on you."

I feel my cheeks get a little hot and I smile shyly at him before I take his right hand in my left hand, pulling him towards the water as I say to him, "Be sure that you stay the whole day, Shikikan-sama, Kaga, and I are going to be putting on a special show tonight with our planes."

We were halfway to the water, when I stop and change my mind as I suggest to him, "Shikikan-sama, perhaps we should put some sunscreen on you first, I would hate for you to burn."

He nods at me and I sit him down on my towel beside Kaga and I help him pull his shirt up. I get some lotion in my hands and start to rub it in, as I do so; I take my time to really look at the scars. They look like they were caused by heat and punctures. Kaga decided this was the moment to say something when she looked him over, "It looks like you've been through a lot, Shikikan."

I roll my eyes and he shivers a little before responding in what has become his trademarked tone to shut something down, "I have."

XXXX

Later in the evening, I'm getting ready at the edge of the water with Kaga, I look up the beach to see Major White with Amagi and Tosa. I hope the Major finds my rigging to be as impressive in reality rather than on paper. Looking to Kaga I nod and she returns the nod as we both summon our rigging together while we take our plane papers in the hands opposite our rigging, tossing two each into the air and willing them to be our planes. As the papers twist around and become the energy planes, I risk a glance up the beach and I see Major White hurrying up the beach to the tree line. I give a subtle hand motion to Kaga letting her know we need to hurry this display along. She gives me a nod and we speed through the display, allowing me to follow the string to the Major.

As I follow the string, I note that it's a really bright red this time, rather than the dull one I saw yesterday, I can hear him breathing in and out deeply like he's trying to catch his breath for some reason. When I get over to him, he's bent at his hips, his hands on his knees, chest heaving in and out. I touch his left shoulder with my right hand as I ask him, "Shikikan-sama, are you okay?"

I see it in his eyes when he looks at me, something is really wrong. But rather than giving me a true answer, he shakes his head and says, "I think got too much sun, I'm going to turn in for the night."

There isn't anything I can do, if he doesn't want to be honest about it, I sigh inwardly as I nod and say to him, "I will see you Monday then, Shikikan-sama."

He nods and me and hurries off into the night.

I run a hand through my hair and look down at my bust before I squish them between my arms and sigh out, "At least he seemed interested."

XXXX

XXXX

It was the middle of the night and I'm sitting bolt upright in my bed, my chest is heaving in and out. I had just had the strangest dream or was it a memory from during the war? I put on my kimono and leave my room, heading out the koi pond.

As I get out there, Amagi is sitting there; she looks over her shoulder at me and gestures to the shogi board she had set up. I take a seat across from her and she asks me, "Trouble sleeping?"

I nod slowly and brush some hair back as I try to get my head around the memory, I look at my right hand as I think about that memory and I say to Amagi, "I wonder if I met Major White before?"

My sister doesn't say anything for a moment before asking me as she makes a practiced move, "Why do you wonder that?"

My brow is still knitted as I say to her, "I remember a night in Sanctuary, where I was being hunted and I saw my red string going to a building. I didn't understand what the string meant then, but I know it saved my life that night." I pause and move a piece to try and counter her move.

Amagi makes a second move, again well practiced and well thought out as she asks me, "How so?"

"I saw it pulse with brightness for a moment and it drew my attention to the building and I saw a glint in the window before the roar of a weapon and the wall beside me exploding." I pause to make my move as I add, "I then launched an airstrike on the building, sending it crashing down."

"Then what happened?" she asks me, not making her move.

I look back at the string as I feel a tear roll down my right cheek as I say to her, "The string became very frayed, I thought it might snap."

I feel Amagi's hand on mine as she asks, "And what brought this memory to the surface?"

My eyes go wide as I recall that I was touching Major White today, and looking at the scars on his back and Amagi says to me, "I think you have your answer on meeting Major White before."

XXXX

XXXX

A/N: Now they know they've met each other before, on opposite sides of the war, the question is, how will this shake out? A note about the coal water, if you don't understand it, during the Polaris event, Akagi made her hatred of coffee clear when she makes her objections to it known by asking why anyone would like coal water. Also in Crosswave she spits out coffee and in Slow Ahead she tries to put milk in it to try and make it taste better.