Disclaimer: I make no claim to the series, ideas, or characters of Full Metal Panic.

Author's Notes: I want to thank all of those who reviewed my last chapter. I really appreciate you taking your time to read and review my story; it makes me feel as if there are those that take joy in my work that I take joy doing. Thank you, ShiniJekka, for pointing out something I left out. "Good premise and good characterization, thus far. Just one question, though - you mention Chidori as the one exception of the Whispered in dire danger of being captured. What about Tessa?" The protection of Tessa, as a leading captain of Mithril and one of the Whispered goes without saying. Of course, her protection would come before anyone else's, and she is probably under the best constant protection in the world. This was obvious to me, but you are right, I should have pointed that out before in order to prevent confusion. Thank you for pointing this out to me; I will have to be careful about making assumptions in my future writing. I hope everyone enjoys my story. Please let me know of what you think of the story by leaving a review. Is there anything that I need to fix? Is the story difficult to follow? Do I need to pay more attention to detail to something? Please let me know so I can make my story the best it can be. Thank you.

The Deathbringer

Chapter 2: The Eve of the Storm

By Adam Lakewood Copyright 2004

The rest of the night was just like Kaname had predicted it to be: restless. It was starting to become lighter outside as the sun attempted to pierce its way through the rain clouds. It was lighter outside, but the presence of the sun was missing. Even the brightness of the sun could not penetrate the darkness of the clouds. The rain was still pouring off of the roof of the mansion like thick walls of water.

Kaname was not one to be superstitious, but she was definitely going to take this as a bad sign. As if to make sure she would take it no other way, a large black crow flew past, back, past again and finally perched on her windowsill and glared directly at her. Black, soulless eyes bore into her like a drill.

The glare of the black bird of misfortune was not the one that promised bad luck, suspicion, or fear; but instead promised great suffering to those who may dwell into the dark unknown, symbolized by the bird's eyes. This chilled Kaname from head to toe, and decided it best to not look at it or even be where it could see her.

Kaname could not resist looking into those dark caverns once more before looking away. This time the eyes had a strange effect. No longer did she feel unnerved by the gaze of the crow, but felt more relaxed; almost as if being taken by the warmth of that darkness. This frightened her even more since she could not will herself to look away. She wanted to call out, but a part of her did not want to.

What Kaname needed at this point more than anything was a good luck charm, but even that would only be fueling superstition. Almost as if it were a miracle, one would have thought that the gaze was broken by divine intervention.

Souske was her good luck charm. He was not present in the room, but obviously from some other location he had taken disdain to the bird of death. There was a flash of white that Kaname would have first believed to be a lightning strike considering the rest of what was going on here.

A lightning strike it was not. Closer observation on the rebound off of the bird revealed it to be a baseball. There was a loud, short- lived squawk from the infernal creature before it was replaced by a space of black feathers. After getting over the initial shock of this, Kaname heard something shut.
Kaname quickly got out of her bed, not wanting to be in that place any longer for the moment and went to where she heard the sound. Sure enough, there was Souske standing by the hallway window just outside of Kaname's room. He quickly turned to see Kaname coming out of her bedroom.

"Good morning, Kaname. Did I wake you? I apologize if I did; I was not meaning too." he said to her with a somewhat of a smile on his face.
"No, Souske. I was already awake. I didn't sleep anymore last night." she replied looking at him curiously.
"I'm sorry to hear that, especially since it was I who was the cause of it."

His smile slowly turned into a frown.
"No, it wasn't your fault. Besides, I would have it no other way; I'm glad I could be there for you. I... kind of feel like I'm... repaying the favor in a small way. By the way, did you just throw a baseball at the bird near my window?"
Souske's eyes widened and his mouth gaped open.

"You... you saw that?!"
Kaname stared at him oddly.

"Yes, I saw it; what was that all about?" she asked, not that she was in the slightest bit unpleased that he had broken her from that bird's hypnotic gaze, or more so, broke the bird.
Souske swallowed hard. He almost looked embarrassed, but he told her anyway.

"Not that I am a superstitious person of anything, Kaname, but a large crow landing on your windowsill while it is raining like that outside and especially after what happened last night, cannot be a good sign."

He looked out the window before finishing his explanation in a mumbled voice.

"The situation made me feel uneasy, so I decided it would be the most rational option to get rid of the cause of my unease."
Kaname put her hand over her mouth to stifle the laugh, but it still came out in the form of a giggle. It was ironic that Souske had the same track of mind that she did, which was actually kind of scary. Also, using a baseball to kill the Initial Threat: Crow, just seemed to be a funny way to do so. She had to ask his reasoning.
Kaname finished laughing and looked back up at Souske who was now smiling again.

"So, why exactly did you use a baseball as your... weapon of choice?"
"I thought you were sleeping, so I didn't want to wake you. I figured my Russian STP ML Sub-machine gun would startle you awake. Also, a full spray shot radius from the armor piercing ammunition of a machine gun would be a little bit overkill just to rid your windowsill of a bird. A baseball is a very accurate and stealthy weapon if used in the proper way. It was the perfect choice to annihilate the unwanted perpetrator. So, through means of accuracy and the stealth of the chosen weapon I was able to..."
Kaname couldn't take it anymore. This was absolutely hilarious. Very thoughtful, yes, but very hilarious. A slight chuckle soon turned into a giggle which then evolved into hysterical laughter. She found the concept of Souske annihilating a simple crow with a well placed pitch from a baseball to be absolutely hilarious. The mental image kept popping up of Souske in his sleepwear groggily walking over to the window muttering profanities under his breath, opening up the window, winding up for the pitch, and slinging a baseball full force at the noisy crow perched unaware on the windowsill. The sight of the baseball clocking the unlucky bird on the head and the quick replacement of the bird with a mess of black feathers also kept replaying itself in Kaname's mind. She was having a hard time to stop laughing.
Souske was still quite unsure as to what Kaname found so funny. He had simply diminished his target with a well placed improvised weapon. The entire ordeal seemed logical and rational to him, except for the reason of why he found the crow to be such a threat to need swift retribution. He was quite sure she was laughing at his logic behind his actions. This did make him feel slightly annoyed with her. But, still, seeing her laugh like that seemed to bring him an odd satisfaction, even if it was at his inconvenience.
He took satisfaction in standing there watching her laugh. He had always admired her beauty, but she was even more beautiful when she was happy. He felt as if he could stand there and marvel at her appearance all day, but that would not do; he still remembered what it was that made him stand guard outside her door all night. He knew that he had a problem, but he was always capable of handling it. Now, it was getting out of hand. She was going to hurt Kaname, given the chance. This alone was enough to pull him out of his moment of bliss. His smile slowly formed itself back into a frown as he looked out the window at the pouring rain.
Kaname stopped laughing when she noticed that Souske was no longer smiling.

"Souske, I wasn't trying to be mean. I'm sorry. I was just..." she said in a saddened voice before she was interrupted by Souske.
"No, trust me; you have nothing to be sorry about. It is not you that has me upset."
The way he emphasized on that part bothered her. She was pretty sure she knew what he meant, which made her worry that much more. Obviously, Souske had seen the dampening of her mood and decided to do something about, despite his own worries. He turned back to her and tried his best to smile; it was a hypocrite's smile, one that was truly empty.
"We laugh and joke all in good time, don't we Kaname?" She had to give him credit for trying to seem happy.
"Oh! By the way, I have breakfast ready, or at least something like it. I was waiting on you to join me when you woke up. You can come have some if you dare to eat it." he said with that same forced smile.

She figured she'd play along with it for now.
"Oh, Souske! You shouldn't say stuff like that. I'd say that you can cook very well; you do everything else very well. Let's eat! I'm kind of hungry."

She smiled and headed for the kitchen with Souske following behind.

"What is this?"

Kaname picked up what looked like an oddly shaped black and brown brick off of the kitchen counter. She looked at it with a quizzical look, trying to figure out what it was.
"I have decided to call it Bacon Brick. It was originally a quarter pound of non-cooked bacon, but then I attempted to fry it. The result is what you have in your hand." Souske said while pointing at the rectangle object in Kaname's hand.
Kaname hit it slightly against the countertop. Bits of bacon, or the crisp thereof, crunched and fell to the countertop.

"Maybe you should have thrown this at the crow instead of a baseball." she said in between laughs.
"Yes! I don't know why I didn't think of that. You... do not want to see the eggs, trust me. I... I didn't know... eggs were supposed to do that."
Kaname decided that she wouldn't press the matter of eggs any; there were even some things that she didn't want to know.

As Souske named off the failed attempts of many different breakfast items, she started to realize what he was trying to do.
"Souske. Are you asking if I will cook breakfast for us?" she said as she smiled at his odd attempt to ask his question.

He may have been beating around the bush to ask the question, but he did not hesitate to answer her question.
"Yes, Kaname. I know that you can cook well; I'm hungry, you're hungry, and... I cannot boil water without... burning it."

He softened his voice on that last part, but he was still heard.
Kaname laughed in response to his joke and set about making breakfast while Souske went to take a shower.

Soon, breakfast was done, and though they had a fine dining table to sit at, they decided they would prefer to eat in the den, and watch the television. The rain made it impossible to do anything outside or go anywhere for that matter.

Neither Kaname nor Souske had seen it rain like this before, especially since it hadn't let up all through the night before.

The den, probably the coziest part of the mansion, was the only room with carpet in it. The carpet was of old design and color, but was obviously new. All of the furniture in the room matched the carpet, as did the texture on the ceiling. There was a fire place on the furthest wall to the right. Of course it wasn't being used though since it was mid spring. It still added as a beautiful decoration that also added to the coziness of the room. The room was smaller than all of the rest, but that just added to the theme. The couch was very comfortable and was obviously made for extended periods of sitting or lying. The room had many shelves in the corner of the rooms with many orient decorations, and the grandfather clock in the corner of the room would make its presence known every hour with a melodic rhythm of chimes.

As of right now though, the television was the main concern of the two. After much channel surfing, Kaname finally brought it to a stop on an old, un-dubbed, Chinese martial arts movie. It wasn't exactly Kaname's number one choice of TV programs, but it certainly had Souske enticed. She decided to leave it there since Souske didn't watch the television that much.

She couldn't understand what they were saying in the movie, but Souske acted as a translator when he wasn't completely engrossed in the martial arts. All throughout the movie, Souske named all of the martial art styles, and even the maneuvers they were using. He acted as a referee for the movie like any other man would act like a referee during a ballgame.

Soon, though, when Kaname looked over to ask Souske what one of the men just said to the young lady of the movie, she saw that he was out like a light. It seemed as if the restless night had finally caught up with him.

She reached out to get her glass of water off of the table in front of the couch, but accidentally knocked Souske's wallet off onto the floor. When it hit a few of its contents spilled out: business cards, driver's licenses (all twenty-one of them), and what caught Kaname's attention the most was what looked like the back of a picture.

Souske had pictures? Of who? She knew she shouldn't prowl through the contents of his wallet, but her curiosity had been sparked. She looked over to the other side of the couch to see that Souske was still sleeping soundly. Now was her chance if she were going to see it. She carefully picked up the picture so as to not wake Souske. She flipped it over to look at the front of it.
The picture was that of Souske, obviously not that long ago, with a very beautiful woman. Beautiful was not the word for this woman. If there were a better word, then this woman would be the epitome of it. The woman looked a few years older than Souske. She had shoulder length red hair and piercing green eyes. She looked to be American. She was dressed in a beautiful blue dress with matching high-heel shoes. She was wearing a necklace with a green stone in the middle of it. Standing beside her with his arm around her was Souske. Souske was dressed up in a very nice tuxedo. The both of them looked very happy. Kaname was envious of the woman in this picture. Who was she? How did she know Souske? Was she Souske's girlfriend? Why hadn't Souske mentioned her before? She had to mean a lot to him in order for him to have a picture of her in his wallet. Kaname stared at the picture for a good while trying to take in every detail of the picture.
"Her name is Sister Meredith Rily."
Kaname jumped in surprise at the sound of Souske's voice. She had been caught, and Souske was sitting there staring a hole through her. He did not have a very genial look on his face. As a matter of fact he looked somewhat upset. Kaname could not bring herself to speak. Souske began picking his stuff up off the floor. Perhaps he was doing so because he didn't like the mess in the floor, or maybe he did it as a way to manage his anger at the moment. Yes, he was angry, but that did not stop him from talking about the source of Kaname's questions and curiosity.
"She is a nun of the Credence Catholic Church in Denver, Colorado of the United States. She is, or was, a part of Mithril. She wasn't a soldier, but she was an... advisor. " Kaname finally found the ability to speak again.
"An... advisor, Souske?"
"Yes, Kaname. The soldiers of Mithril, like myself, would see some horrible things while on duty. Some of these things were too horrible for most average people to even comprehend. Mithril only employed those of strong will, but even they could not deal with these things sometimes, or at least not alone. That's where the advisors would come in. Each soldier was assigned an individual advisor. This advisor would be that specific soldier's doctor, psychiatrist, and even friend. An advisor was to assist a soldier through health conditions and even more so, mental conditions. The advisor was to be around the soldier, if at all possible, a minimum of three hours a day. This was in order to help the soldier out mentally by knowing that he was not alone and would always have someone to turn to if something was bothering him."

He stopped and looked outside at the rain as it cascaded over the large windows. Souske really hated talking about this. He had tried his best to avoid the subject, but seeing the concern in Kaname's eyes made him want to confide in her.

Her brash nosiness made him feel as if he wanted to render her unconscious right there on the spot. But, of course he could never do that to Kaname; she was after all, only concerned and wanted to know more about him. Maybe he shouldn't keep her in the dark about him if she really was that concerned about him; maybe she should stop trying to pry into his past; maybe he should give her a reason to not feel concern for him. No, Kaname was being nice to him; he had no reason, no right, to act rude toward her. It was so easy to talk to her, yet it pained him to talk to her.

She reminded him so much of Meredith. If she was going to show such concern for him, the least he could do was talk to her. That was the least he could do. She was...

"Sister Meredith was my advisor. I was so different from everybody else in Mithril that I had no friends. For months, she was my best friend. We did everything and talked about everything. She just seemed to be highly educated in everything. She could talk to me about military aspects and give me just as much knowledge as I could her. That is where I got a lot of my military knowledge that I have today. As I said, we did everything together. We would discuss military topics, go fishing, go to movies when we had the free time, everything. She was the only person that I could talk to about my personal problems. She was my only true friend for a while, until I met Kurtz. She seemed to be the only person who understood or even believed me about my main problem. Yes, I would even talk to her about little Kar..."

He withdrew from his conversation right then like a demon walking on holy ground.

He had almost forgotten who he was talking to. This was not his Meredith. He couldn't talk to her about that problem. His problem must be getting worse; the secret is trying to get out. Either that, or he was slacking; that makes twice that he had almost let it slip. Once last night in the bathroom, and once just now. He would have to be careful from now on; he just relaxed way too much around Kaname for his own comfort.

Also, he couldn't tell her; she liked him and he didn't want that to change.

"Please, Souske, tell me more. I want to know more about you." she asked him with a tone of interest in her voice.

She could tell he was still mad, but maybe it was helping him to talk about it.

"I don't... think I should." he said as he got up to go into the kitchen.

But, Kaname would have none of this.

"Oh, no you don't!"

She said in a playful manner as she quickly latched to him and pulled him back down on the couch. He wanted to choke her again. He decided it would be best if he weren't to do that and comply with her wishes for the moment. He would not let his aggravation go unnoticed, though. He sat back down on the couch and let out a long, exhausted sigh.

"What?" he asked in a tone that would scare small children.

He made sure to glare at her for added affect. She was stalwart.

"I want you to talk to me some more." she said as if it were casual conversation.

Normally, it would have been to anyone but the two people present in the room. She was hoping that if she acted casual he might speak as if it were more casual conversation between friends. But, he was silent. He looked pained, as if he were in deep thought.

"You really miss her don't you?" she asked him, dropping the casual tone.

This was definitely not casual conversation; this was obviously a serious matter, or at least for Souske.

"Yes, very much."

His answer came sooner than she expected, but she had her next question ready.

"You really cared for her didn't you?"

She knew she was once again treading on thin ice; she hoped it didn't break like it did last time. He was very calm, and he no longer looked upset with her.

"I loved her dearly. I still do."

That answer was totally unexpected. She didn't think she had ever heard Souske mention the word before. She had to admit though, the truth hurts sometimes. But, that's what she gets for asking. She hadn't treated him as kindly as she should have before, so maybe she was getting what she asked for. It didn't help that he decided to talk more about the topic. She had finally got him to open up to her, but now she was wishing that he would keep quiet.

"I know she loved me also. I wish I could still see her today, but my job keeps me busy."

That hurt. It hurt very badly. Of course, he probably didn't mean it the way she was thinking, but she was his job right now. It sounded as if he were saying that it was her fault. Normally, she would have been angered by that, but how can she be angry with the truth: she was his burden. He had a loved one that he could not go to because of her. She knew that Souske didn't mean it that way, but she did.

"She could help me with... my problem; she always did. I'm a soldier, though. I should be able to deal with it on my own. I guess I will."

Whether or not he was trying to be rude, it just rubbed Kaname the wrong way. This made her slightly angry at him. He had cried on her shoulder last night, and now he was acting as if that didn't matter. She had been trying to help him, but all he was doing now was talking about how he was on his own. She couldn't take it anymore.

"Souske, I have been trying to help you, but you won't let me! If you were to let me, I could help you!" she practically yelled at him.

This seemed to get his attention for a moment, but then he went back to the way he was.

"No, Kaname. It is not your place to attempt to help me."

He had replied in that cold voice that she knew all to well.

"I know it's not my part, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to help you. I'm worried about you, Souske! Please, let me help you."

"No. There is no reason to be worried. After all it is none of your concern."

He stated that so "matter-of-factly" that it made her want to erupt like a volcano.

"'None of your concern?' Damn it, Souske! I am concerned! Why won't you tell me this secret of yours? I swear that I won't betray your trust. Please, why won't you tell me!?"
This seemed to get an immediate response from him. He quickly jumped up from the couch and pointed his finger at her. He involuntarily raised his voice at her. All of this kind of startled her, but what unsettled her most was what he said to her.
"Because I know that if I were to tell you, you would hate me, Kaname!"

He slowly dropped his finger and slowed his breathing. He was not angry; he was making what he thought to be a strict fact.
This had her worried. Souske knew that she would never hate him for anything, so what was so bad that he thought she would. And, how could Souske think that she would ever hate him for something; hate was a very strong word, especially coming from the mouth of Souske; he had used the word only when he was talking about Gauron. Had she given him a reason to think she would hate him? She smiled at him which kind of took him by surprise.
"Souske, don't be silly; I wouldn't hate you for anything. Sister Meredith wouldn't hate you for anything would she? I won't either. I..."
She had a talent for saying the wrong things to him when she thought they would be the right thing. That seemed to light a match under his latent anger.

His eyes widened as soon as he was about to get a drink of water out of his glass. In one quick motion he brought it away from his mouth and slung it against the wall with all of his might. The glass broke into hundreds of pieces as it fell to the floor. Kaname shrieked and curled up on one end of the couch clutching her pillow to her. Souske approached Kaname quickly. He jerked the pillow out of her grasp and threw it across the room. He roughly picked Kaname up by the shoulders and slammed her back against the wall. She gasped half out of fear, half from pain as she hit the wall. He leaned in close so that he was right up in her face.
"You see, in that lies the problem. You are not Sister Meredith, you are Kaname Chidori. You are not her, and you will never be her. So, just shut up, and stop prying into my business!"
He screamed that last to make sure to get his point across.

This was not the Souske she knew at all. He gave her one last forceful shove against the wall before releasing his stern grip on her and walking out the front door into the rain. Kaname stared at Souske's departing figure as his image was replaced by the rain pouring over the windows and the tears pouring over her eyes.

She rested against the wall and slid down to the cold, hardwood floor. She pulled her knees up close to her and began to cry, wondering what she had done wrong. She stayed like this for hours, and Souske stayed outside in the malicious rain. Kaname's mood was not improved at all when the thunderstorm started, nor did it when the dream came to her.

To Be Continued

Author's Notes: I actually have a good bit of fun writing this story. I never would have thought that writing fanfiction could be so fun. I guess I was wrong. I want to again thank all of you who reviewed my last chapter. I believe that a person's time is the best gift a person can receive, and I greatly appreciate your reviews since you have obviously taken your precious time to not only read but also review my story. I am greatly inspired by your reviews. I think I will continue this story for as long as there are those out there to read it. I hope you enjoy, and please review; I enjoy writing, but a guy still needs inspiration. Thank you.