Disclaimer: I make no claims to the series, ideas, of characters of Full Metal Panic.
Author's Notes: I want to take the time to thank my readers who are still reading my story. I know that the story went downhill for the past few chapters, but I think that the story will redeem itself. I anticipate that this chapter will probably be extremely long, but it is necessary for the story because many questions, if not all questions, will be answered. I hope this story is redeemable. I do not what happened to my writing abilities in the last few chapters, but I will try on this one. If the story is so broken that it can't be fixed, I'll drop it and begin something new. As always, please review if you find my story worth the time; I haven't been getting very many lately. I hope you enjoy. Thank you.
The Deathbringer
Chapter 7: The Hollow of the Raven Moon
By Adam Lakewood Copyright 2004
Sousuke was alive? How could that be? She was there when he was horribly murdered by... whatever that was. Sister Meredith had spoke with him this morning? How could that be? What was going on?
A million questions swirled through Kaname's mind all at once. Kevin looked at her and quickly realized what was just said. He quickly took a look of shock on his face.
"K... Kaname? I'm sorry. Sister Meredith did not mean that he was alive and walking around."
Kaname immediately changed facial expressions to that of one of confusion. She quickly felt herself become agitated with the two. Were they trying to send her to an early grave? Were they trying to be funny? Was this some sort of sick joke? Sister Meredith immediately gave Kevin a questioning look, and then she realized exactly what she had said. She walked over to Kaname, took her hand in both of hers and lowered her head.
"I'm so sorry about that. I did not watch my words. I forgot that you wouldn't know what I was talking about."
"Then, exactly what were you talking about?"
Sister Meredith let go of her hand, held open the door, and motioned inside. She quickly put another warm smile on her face.
"Why don't you come on in? Our meeting is far overdue. I have a lot I want to tell you, and I'm sure you have a lot that you want to ask me. Correct?"
"Yes, definitely."
Kaname nodded her gratitude at Sister Meredith and went inside. Kevin remained on the porch and cleared his throat. Both turned their attention to Kevin.
"Excuse me, ladies. I have a feeling that your discussion may be better enjoyed without my presence. Besides, I have things that I must take care of. If neither of you good ladies have any immediate need for my assistance, I will take my leave." he said while imitating a British accent and doing a mock bow on the last part.
Meredith laughed slightly and Kaname smiled. Currently, Kevin should have been the only person that she would feel comfortable around, but for some reason she felt drawn to Sister Meredith as a close friend in the short couple of minutes that she had known her. Kaname shook her head, and Sister Meredith motioned towards the limo outside.
"We'll be fine; thank you, Kevin. If we need you, we'll call. You go ahead and go do whatever you need to do, and make sure to get some rest; you must be tired."
"Well, I might just do that exact thing. But, if either of you ladies need me for anything, and I mean anything, give me a call, I'll be right over."
"Thank you, Kevin. I know you will. But, we'll be fine. Go ahead and get some rest, I'll give you a call when I have dinner done tonight."
"That sounds all right! I have really been craving for one of your delicious, perfectly seasoned, and baked to perfection, baked potatoes." he offered obviously suggestively.
"You've got it! Now, go on!"
Kaname looked at Kevin and smiled at him. He had been so good to her, and he had been the one that got her here alive. She now felt safer than she had for the past couple of days. She felt an eternal gratitude to this man.
"Thanks, Kevin, for everything."
He smiled and tipped an imaginary hat at them.
"The pleasure was mine. You fine ladies have a great day, and I will see you both later tonight."
With that he closed the door behind him, and he could be heard whistling as he walked down the sidewalk. Sister Meredith smiled and laughed to herself. She closed the door and locked it. She walked back into the living area and motioned towards the couch.
"Please, make yourself at home. Would you like something to drink? I just brewed some fresh tea. I'll be back in a moment."
Without even waiting for a reply from Kaname, she went into what Kaname could assume to have been the kitchen. Obviously, she would be having a cup of the tea and she had no say-so otherwise. Sister Meredith would enforce her hospitality. Kaname smiled at the woman's kindness. She had nothing to do while she waited for Sister Meredith so she looked around the room. The house, she could tell on the outside and now even more on the inside, was not very large. It was actually kind of small, but it was cozy. She was always one for the larger homes, but for some reason, she actually liked this house. The room that she was in, the living room, reminded her of the living room of an old lady's house. This was not to say that she didn't like the room; she liked it very much. The room was small, had quite a bit of stuff in it, but was well kept. There were a lot of different ornaments in the room, all of which did not seem to have a speck of dust on them. The walls were a tan color, and the carpet was of a yellowish tint. The couch and chair in the room had a throws over them that matched the room perfectly with a pattern of yellow and dark green leaves. The couch and the chair were formed in an 'L' shape against the walls. Beside the couch was the entrance to the kitchen which also looked very small. The walls of the living room were covered with pictures; some of which were a little bit older than the others. They were of many different people. Some were of Sister Meredith at different ages and stages in her life. Others were probably of her family. She even had a few pictures that had Kevin in them.
Kaname smiled at the pictures that she saw that had her and Kevin in it. A lot of them seemed to be vacation pictures of Sister Meredith and Kevin. She recognized in a lot of pictures many of the land marks of America: The Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, etc. They both seemed to be smiling and having a very good time. One of the pictures that caught Kaname's eyes was that of Kevin and Sister Meredith walking on a tightrope, or at least Kevin was. Sister Meredith was on his shoulders looking down at the crowd below with a horrified look on her face.. It was obviously taken by someone in the huge crowd looking up at them. They seemed to be at a festival of some sort. These two reminded her of a lot of recent memories she had of her and Sousuke. That actually seemed like something that she and Sousuke might have done. She then looked down towards the console television in front of her. It had a stand-picture frame lying face down on top of it. The picture seemed to be the only thing in the room that had a speck of dust on it. Kaname sat it up to take a look at it. She was slightly surprised to see that it was the same picture of Sousuke and Sister Meredith that Sousuke had in his wallet. Sister Meredith returned into the room carrying a tray with two steaming cups of tea on it.
"Yes, I like pictures, so I take them or have them taken constantly. Did you see the one of..."
Sister Meredith looked at the picture that Kaname had in her hand. Her smile immediately dropped and her eyes went to the floor.
"Sousuke." she said, but not finishing her previous sentence.
"He had this same picture in his wallet."
Sister Meredith looked back up trying to hold back her tears. She thought she had finished shedding her tears yesterday, but it seemed as if she hadn't. This happened every time she thought about Sousuke. She smiled at little at Kaname's statement. She thought Sousuke had forgotten about her.
"Really?" she asked in a quite voice.
"Yeah, I never would have thought that Sousuke would have any pictures; it was the only one I saw, so you must have been very special to him."
"Yes, I believe I may have been."
"Were you his girlfriend?"
Sister Meredith hesitated before answering Kaname's question. She remembered all the time she and Sousuke had spent together. They did everything. She remembered that he had even invited her to go see her first opera with him. They had been very close; closer than any other two people at the Mithril base.
"Everyone considered me to be. But, we knew better. Though, I had sometimes wished I could have been."
Kaname actually felt somewhat relieved. She was afraid that she had been interfering with Sousuke's love life. But, now she understood.
"You really loved him didn't you?"
"With all my heart. More so than anyone except you would ever understand, for you shared the same kind of love with him that I did."
Kaname should have been surprised by that statement, but she wasn't. She was only curious.
"How did you know?"
"You have experienced for yourself that the powers of the Whispered extend beyond the understanding of Black Technology. Each of the Whispered has different powers. One of my powers allows me to know more than I should about people and what goes on in their minds. Uncontrollable Telepathy, if you will. Plus, your eyes give you away."
"I see. So, what did you mean when you said that 'Sousuke told you this morning?'"
"Another one of my powers. Clairsentience, if you will. The Mithril caravan arrived this morning with Sousuke's body. They immediately began cleaning him up and putting him in his coffin. I... went to see his body with my own eyes. I couldn't believe that he had died, so I had to confirm this with my own eyes. A part of my Clairsentience allows me to 'trace a line' to the past when I am in contact with a strong presence. Obviously, the soul, spirit, or whatever you want to call it of Sousuke was a very strong presence. I was originally going to find out and tell everyone what the cause of death was, that is, until I found out. I, like you, understand that no one would believe me. But, when I came within about five feet of his coffin, it was like his entire life's history flashed before my eyes. Somehow, I am able to tap deeper into those flashes. I know exactly what happened at his moment of death; I know what he has been doing for the past year since he left me here, and I know who you are. He cared a lot about you; I know that too."
Kaname didn't quite know what to say. Now that she had experienced the advanced powers of the Whispered, she actually believed that Sister Meredith was capable of these things. Since Sister Meredith was obviously capable of knowing much more than she did about Sousuke, it would be the smartest thing to try to find out as much as she could about what happened to Sousuke and who killed him.
"So, Sister Meredith, what happened to Sousuke? Who killed him?"
Sister Meredith sat down in her seat and motioned once again to the couch.
"Have a seat and enjoy some of my tea. You already know a lot of the answer, but I will help you fully understand it. I'm sure you want to know more about Sousuke also, so I will start from the beginning. This is a very long story, so make yourself comfortable. By the way, please call me Meredith. I'm not a nun; it's only a façade to protect my identity."
Kaname obliged. She kicked off her shoes and pulled her legs up onto the couch. She took a sip of tea and placed it on the table beside of her. That did not take her by surprise; she was starting to understand just how Mithril went about protecting the Whispered.
"Where would you like for me to start?"
Kaname gave the question a little bit of thought before replying. She wanted to know everything, no matter how long the story.
"How about from when you were first assigned to be his advisor?"
"Good, so you know that much already?"
"Yes, Sousuke told me."
"That's a surprise. He never told anyone that. This allows me to skip a lot of the story, but it will still be a long story."
"That's fine; I don't exactly have any place I need to be right now."
"All right. Let me start off by explaining how I first met Sousuke four years ago. Let's see..."
She paused for a moment and did some quick calculating in her head.
"That would have made him thirteen and me sixteen. I had just joined with Mithril to be one of their diplomat's. I had to settle for that since I failed the physical tests to be a soldier. I was still young and not exactly of what one would consider being the greatest of health. For those reasons also, I was not able to be a traveling diplomat, so I was assigned to the 4th Mithril Branch as an advisor because of my incredible leadership and people skills. They said that I was above what most of the soldiers needed, so I was assigned to the 'special case.'"
"So, exactly when did Mithril start employing children?" asked the young lady in a stern and demanding voice to the man out in the hall.
The girl was rather short. She had long, red hair and piercing green eyes full of determination. She was wearing civilian clothing as compared to everyone else's military BDU's. The man standing before her looked as if her were at least twice her height and over quadruple her weight, but he was sweating from the interrogation. He received snickers and teasing looks from his fellow privates as they passed by. The scene did look humorous to just about everyone in the room.
"No, ma'am! Mithril normally does not employ anyone under the age of sixteen, but this boy was an exception. This request was made by Major Kalinin himself a while back."
"You mean to tell me that this boy was brought here when maybe he wasn't yet a decade old?!"
"Yes. That is quite possible."
"This is sad." she grumbled to herself before walking towards the room with he file in hand.
"Have a good day, Miss Rily."
"You too, private."
Meredith continued her way down the hall to the room she was supposed to be going to. This was degrading. She was the top advisor that the 4th Mithril Branch had, possibly the best that Mithril had period. She had been an advisor to even some of the leading officials of Mithril. Now, her greatest challenge was some kid. She had always talked to children a lot before; it was just something she enjoyed doing. Children and early teens were easy to get to open up, so what was the problem here. All kids Sagara's age wanted was someone to talk to. She would soon find out that it was the exact opposite for Sagara: he didn't want anyone to talk to. He was having an advisor forced on him.
She slowly approached the door to the young man's room. She took in a deep breath to make sure her composure was what it should be. For some reason, she was slightly nervous about this; perhaps it was all the hype from the other advisors that made failed attempts on him.
She quickly put on one of her trademark smiles and pushed open the door. The room was different from the rest of the base. The room was made with comfort in mind instead of security. There was actually velvet colored carpet on the floor instead of gray concrete. The walls were painted a brownish color that blended well with the many fake, green, plants. There was actual furniture in this room. It consisted of two black leather sectional couches and three chairs that were arranged into a circle. There was a large, well polished, perfectly clean glass top table in the middle of the circle of furniture. There was even a television build into the wall. It had a kitchen which looked like it had never been touched before, but was still quite clean. This actually looked like what was previously the lounge area of the base. It was turned into a room for Sagara since policy stated plainly that he couldn't share quarters with the other men for at least another two years. Many of the men were unpleased with loosing their lounge, but they were soon appeased when another room was made into their lounge. Sagara had obviously not rearranged the furniture since the room was made his; it looked exactly like the lounge that was used now. The only thing that was different about this room than the lounge was the presence of a thirteen year old kid sitting on the couch facing towards the door.
Meredith immediately took note of the middle table which was cluttered with what seemed to pieces of multiple guns. The couches were covered with open books and magazines. There was a large line of weapons beside the couch that Sagara was sitting on that looked like they had just come off of an assembly line, or in this case, getting ready to go on a disassembly line.
The boy known around the base as Sagara looked up when he heard the door open. He saw the young lady in front of him and took a look of surprise in his eyes. He quickly stood up, his eyes not leaving hers. He had obviously taken notice to her pleasant appearance. She noticed that his eyes began to wander downward from her slightly. As soon as he noticed where his eyes were going, he shook his head slightly and wiped his eyes. He immediately refocused his attention on her eyes. They were green. He noted this as an oddity for the base of the 4th Mithril Branch. He had never seen her before, so she must have been his new advisor sent over from the 12th Branch. The other four had given up on him; his plan couldn't have been going any better. She was pleasant to look at. The 4th Mithril Branch did not have women with such a great pair of... ... ... shoes. Yeah, that's it... shoes.
Despite his hopes, Meredith had noticed his wandering eyes, and where they were wandering. She was rather impressed. This teenager was able to control his eyes... and hands better than the men she had been an advisor to previously. She looked down to where his eyes were wandering to confirm what exactly he was looking at. She looked back up at him and smirked. This seemed to cause the blood to flow to his head all of the sudden. At least that would be a way to start conversation. An odd way to start, but at least it was a way to start.
"Hello, Sousuke. What's wrong?"
She turned her head slightly sideways in question.
"Looking at something you shouldn't have?"
His face reddened once again. He put his hand on the back of his head and scratched an imaginary itch. His eyes went away from hers and to the ground.
"Uh... no, not really. Well... maybe. Actually, yes. Except... uh... no. But, I could have."
He looked back into her eyes with newfound determination. His face was stoic.
"I will not deny the possibility."
She laughed a little at his odd reply. He had guts. He was the only person to ever answer truthfully to that type of interrogation. She did not understand why the others had quit on him. This wouldn't be impossible; it would just take a little work. She decided she would have a little bit of fun with the boy that had given the others such a hard time.
"So, you were looking at something that you shouldn't have. What kind of grand soldier are you?!" she asked mockingly.
She had expected him to blush, but it seemed as if he was done with that nonsense. He had a determined spark in his eye as he gave his reply. An unexpected one due to his words and his immediate response.
"Yes, I was. Forgive me, ma'am. As for what kind of soldier I am: I am one far better than you or anyone else in this base. Now, if the only thing that you wish to do is attempt to embarrass me, then you may show yourself to the door. You were not supposed to be here for another hour and seventeen minutes. If this is the kind of conversation I can expect from you, then I do not want your company any longer than is required of me to endure. Excuse me, ma'am, I need to clean up this mess before your scheduled arrival."
"No, I'm sorry. I did not mean to embarrass you. I was..."
"Yes, you did. Now, please leave, ma'am."
Sagara walked back over to the couch and began closing and stacking his books and magazines. He walked over to a closet where there was a bucket beside the door. He opened the door and moved to bucket in front of the open closet with his foot. He stepped up on the bucket so he could reach the top shelf and placed the books there.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said any of that. I was just trying to start conversation with you. Please, don't be angry with me. We won't get anywhere if you are mad at me."
Her sympathy play seemed to work on everyone, so she expected it to especially work on this boy. Unfortunately, it did not seem to work on him. He came away from the closet for another stack of books. He picked them back up and took them back over to the closet.
"You're still here? Perhaps you didn't hear me the first two times I asked you?"
He came back over from the closet for another stack of books. He had many stacks to take over there. It seemed to Meredith that she had really insulted him. She could not have this.
"I heard you the first time. But, since I'm here, how about I help you straighten up your mess. Which may I say; this is the cleanest room I have ever seen before."
She walked over to the couch to pick up a stack of books. Still no response.
"It will go by much faster, besides..." she said letting out a playful laugh.
"You seem to be struggling a little with that top shelf, Sousuke."
That obviously struck a very sore nerve in Sousuke. He did not bother setting down the books, but instead dropped them from his arms. The books and magazines hit the ground and scattered into a semi-circle on the floor. His face reddened, but this time he wasn't blushing. He quickly and harshly pointed his finger towards the door.
"This will be the third and last time that I ask you politely to leave."
She rose back up from the stack of books and planted her hands on her hips persistently. She tossed her long red hair to the side and looked back over at him with a playful smile.
"And, what will you do if I don't? What if I want to stay here?"
The door opened from the inside of Sagara's room. Men had gathered around outside because of the yelling of a man and woman inside the room. Out of the doorway came advisor Rily walking on her tiptoes. She had a pained expression on her face, and her arm was behind her back. Behind her was Sagara holding the arm behind her back in a German arm lock of sorts. Meredith winced and hissed in pain before speaking.
"All right already! I'll leave! You don't literally have to twist my... OW! OW! OW!" she whined in pain.
Sagara had tightened his grip on her arm and lifted further upwards.
"No, it would be polite if I didn't, and politeness isn't something you seem to respond to properly."
He quickly released her and gave a quick shove which sent her stumbling forward and onto her knees. Sagara threw her file which slid to a stop to her right.
"I'll see you in one hour and fourteen minutes. Hopefully, my place will be much more presentable for your scheduled arrival." he said to her before heading back inside and closing the door.
She got up and attempted to rub the soreness out of her shoulder. She picked up her file and walked over to Sagara's door in a hastened pace and banged her hand against it. A resounding "Clang" echoed up and down the hallway, followed by her shout.
"Sousuke, that hurt, you little twerp!"
She kicked the door once for added effect and the people in the hallway parted like the Red Sea as she neared them. This indefinite amount of time she would have to spend with him seemed like it would be a lot longer if it were possible. She now understood why the other advisors gave up on him. But, she had too much pride to quit. He seemed to be stubborn in his ways, but so was she. The following escapades of the two could possibly be reenacted by having two goats square off and constantly ram their stubborn heads together.
Kaname couldn't help but smile at the way Meredith was telling her story. She talked about it in such an amusing manner.
"So, the first encounter didn't go so well."
"That is the understatement of the century!"
Both let out a bit of full-hearted laughter.
"So, did you go back at the 'scheduled time.'?"
"But, of course! I wasn't about to give up or show any weakness to him!"
"So, did that encounter go any better?"
"A lot better. We didn't get very far. He didn't talk much, and he only answered my questions with minimal information, usually in the form of one word sentences. He never once smiled, laughed, or showed any sort of emotion, no matter how far I probed. But, at least I wasn't requested to leave, or almost have my shoulder dislocated."
Meredith laughed slightly and Kaname smiled. She reached over and got her cup. She took another sip of the tea; it was quite good. It was actually the best she had ever had. She set the cup back on the table, and looked back up at Meredith.
"Was he always that mean?"
"No, usually he was very quite, polite, and conservative. But, he turned completely ferocious when someone brought up anything relative to his young age including his height, which seemed to be the reason that I got my swift punishment on our first encounter. He never liked for people to refer to him as kid, boy, etc. He had this thing about people of lower rank than him calling him 'Sir.' He told me a couple of months after our first meeting that he did not want all of these much taller and larger adults having to literally look down at him and address him as 'sir.' He said that he did not want them to refer to him in such a way until he was at least able to almost look at them eye level. The age and size thing was what set him off the most. I remember he assaulted my superior for calling him 'this punk kid' while playfully ruffling his hair."
Kaname laughed at that part. She could get the image of a young Sousuke attacking someone in brass for being genial with him. She saw a young Sousuke standing there with Commander Kalinin who would be over twice his size. Suddenly, Sousuke latches onto his leg with his teeth and begins growling furiously like a rabid dog. She laughed even more when she pictured the other men having to make him let go by spraying him with soapy water. She found this absolutely hilarious. Meredith did also. Perhaps she was laughing because something similar did happen. Kaname finally stopped laughing after a minute or so.
"So, you guys did finally start getting along?"
"Yeah. It took about four months, though. He was persistent in not opening up to me, but I was persistent in having him open up to me. I finally realized that he was not like other teenagers his age. So, I started doing what people still refer to as 'stalking' him. I followed him everywhere he went for about a week to find out what he did and what he had interest in. Well, he had an interest in everything military. So, for that entire week, whenever I had free time, I studied up on everything military. Soon, I actually knew more about military works than most of the Sergeants did. I was ready to take him on!"
The room of Sousuke Sagara was the same as it was when she first met him. He made it a point to keep the place sparkling clean, but he did not care about the interior design of the room. Meredith had just opened the door to see him sitting on his couch reassembling an assault rifle. She was a little bit early today, but she had plans that might require a bit more time. Their usual appointment was from 9:00 a.m.- 11:00 a.m. The time was 8:27 and Sousuke was still cleaning up from his 'hobby.' It made her feel good that he would clean up every morning before her arrival. He wanted to make sure that the room was perfectly clean for when she arrived. He called it making the room appear 'presentable.' He heard the door open and looked up at her. He gave her a nod and went back to his work.
"Good morning. You're here earlier than I expected." he said stating the obvious.
"It'll take me a little while to put all of these back together. I'll try to hurry."
She walked over to the couch across from his and looked at all of the pieces on the table. There were many different pieces from many different guns. She reached for a piece of one of the guns.
"Here, let me help you." she said as she picked up one of the pieces.
Sousuke quickly reached out and placed his hand over hers gently pushing her hand and the piece back towards the table.
"I'd rather you not. I have them all in separate piles and besides, that's my..."
"Glock 17 9mm autoloading custom pistol." she said finishing his sentence for him and in the process identifying the gun.
He raised an eyebrow at her. She saw that she had managed to spark his curiosity. He actually smirked.
"How did you know that? I can barely tell what that is when it's taken apart."
She let out a sigh and gave him a smirk of her own.
"Time me."
Without another word she picked up two pieces of the gun and began assembling them. Sousuke stared on in amazement that she actually knew how to put it together, and with pretty good speed at that. He watched carefully to make sure that none of the pieces were warped in case she were to try to force them into positions that they were not meant to fit. She made no such mistakes. The assembly was careful and flawless.
"Time!" she exclaimed handing him the gun.
Sousuke looked down at his watch while shaking his head in astonishment. He stuttered out a few 'um's before looking back up at her. He had the most astonished and bewildered look in his eye. And, for the first time she actually saw him smile. The smile was a mixture mostly between astonishment, curiosity, and confusion, but it was a smile.
"Wow! That's amazing. 47 seconds! My Drill Sergeant's record was only 39 seconds! How did you do that?!"
"Well, you see. First, I placed the locking hatch grain underneath the..."
"I know how you did it; I want to know how you know how to do it."
"I work for Mithril too. So, it's not completely unusual for me to know how to completely assemble and disassemble a gun in under 50 seconds." she said in a bragging voice.
Sousuke looked the gun over and checked every mechanism looking for flaws or areas of improvement. There were none that he saw. He looked back at her after setting the hammer back into place.
"That was flawless! I still can't believe that you put my sidearm back together and handed it to me in perfect working condition. And, in just 47 seconds! Wow!"
"Well, thank you, Sousuke! I don't think I have ever received a compliment from you before! I bet you can't beat that time!"
"Well, I would have to try pretty hard."
"Then, how fast can you put one together?"
"My record is 29 seconds on assembly and 28 seconds on disassembly."
Meredith's eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of her head. She had practiced about twenty times since this morning taking apart her sidearm and putting it back together so she could get the time she did.
"There is no way! It takes me longer to disassemble a gun! You can't be capable of disassembling a gun in 28 seconds! That would shatter a world record!"
Sousuke looked at her and smirked. His smirk slowly turned into smile as he looked his gun over and placed his hand on the top of it. It was a true smile: one of happiness and of fun. Meredith had achieved a major task today. No one had ever been able to make Sousuke smile since he had been brought to Mithril. The smile remained on his face as he stood up and cleared his throat. He held the gun by the bottom and top in a strange position.
"Specialist FC, Sagara Sousuke of the 4th Mithril Branch looking to set or break a world record. Time me."
The smile remained on his face for hours.
Kaname laughed a little about the sense that made. That did seem like a logical way to get close to Sousuke.
"Hey, whatever works, huh?!"
Meredith smiled and leaned further back in her seat.
"Yeah, I guess so. It seemed to be the best way at the time. And, it worked, so I don't regret it. After that we met more often and spent more time together. I was required to be around him at least three hours a day, but it soon turned more into about twelve hours a day since he wasn't quite on active duty, and it was my job to try to spend as much time as possible with him. I think that for about two years I was his only friend. It was easy for us to be friends because of our similar ages. Almost everyone else at the base was almost double our ages, so it was somewhat hard to become more than acquaintances with them. After I revealed that I knew something about military knowledge, we quickly became friends. We started talking whenever we wanted instead of at scheduled times. Within about a week we started spending a lot of time just hanging out. I had the power to give him the right to leave the base if I saw the need, so I did. We started going to the movies quite often. He was one of the harshest movie critics I've ever known. Nothing slipped past his eye unnoticed, and he didn't hesitate to point out the illogical in the middle of the movie to those around him. We were actually kicked out of he movie theatre twice because of that. We both spent a lot of time at the public library since we both had an interest in reading. The only thing that we didn't do was go fishing; that was the one thing that he always preferred to do alone."
Kaname thought about that for a moment. Meredith had spent over half of her time with him for almost two years and he never took her fishing. Kaname had known him for even less time before he took her to his private fishing spot just after the last encounter with Gauron. She now felt kind of honored about that. But, he never did talk to her much about his past. He had said himself that he had told Meredith a lot about his past. She was curious.
"So, did he ever talk to you about his past?"
"Yes, he did. But it took about a year before he started telling me about his past. He would let a minor detail slip every once in a while before that, but nothing major. His past was just as his file said, and there was nothing more to it. He just went into a lot of his war stories. Horrible details that made me feel very sorry for him. But, by this time, he was a completely different person than he was from our first meeting. He actually laughed, joked, and all together had fun. I mean true fun that boys his age should have had. At one point he even joined a football team. He actually started watching the television in his room, and we found him a variety that he enjoyed. He even took up playing the piano and got pretty good at it. Oddly, he enjoyed opera and classical music. That was one thing that didn't change about him. Pretty much, he started acting like a fourteen year boy should. During this time, he talked to me about everything. First, his past. Then, he started telling me about the present, details that I didn't know. He gave me a lot of classified missions that he would be sent on, who was going with him, how long he would be gone, etc. And, that picture over there..." she said pointing at the picture of her and Sousuke.
Kaname looked at the picture and nodded in acknowledgement. She didn't have to look at the picture very long; she already knew every detail of it since she studied the one that was in Sousuke's wallet.
"Yes?"
"That was taken at the military ball by Kurtz Webber. He had only been there for about a month, and he and Sousuke were really good friends because of their common personalities and similar ages."
Kaname cringed at that thought: Sousuke being a lot like Kurtz. Meredith laughed at the look on Kaname's face.
"So, I see you've met Kurtz before. Excuse me, Kurtz's special personality trait was something that Sousuke did not share with him, thank goodness! But, back to the picture; it's a tale worth telling. It was the night before that mission."
Kaname did not like the tone in Meredith's voice or the expression on her face when she said 'that mission.' She would ask about this once Meredith was done telling about the picture.
"It was time for the annual military ball. I was going with an older 'gentleman.' At that time I would have just turned 18 and he was 24 I do believe. I was looking forward to it since I was the attention of jealousy among the women at the base. The man was probably the most handsome, well built man at the base. He was very popular and a good soldier at that. He seemed to have no flaws at all. So, I couldn't wait to go to the ball with him."
'So which should I wear?' Meredith asked herself mentally. It was a mental struggle choosing between the red, blue, and green dress. She decided she would get another opinion.
"If you were me, which of these would you wear?"
"I wouldn't wear a dress, period. I'm afraid it would clash too much with my... gender."
"All right, Sousuke, now you're just being a smartass!"
Sousuke covered his mouth and tried to cover his laughter with a cough, but failed miserably. The laughter came out in full spring.
"I would much rather be a smartass rather than a dumba..."
"Sousuke!"
His laughter increased by multiples from the way she looked at him. It made her happy to hear him laugh. He was now acting almost like a normal fifteen you old boy. She had accomplished a lot; he had accomplished a lot. He was almost a completely different person than their first meeting almost two years ago. They were now officially best friends. Sometimes though, it was hard to get him to be serious except for when he was on a mission or around his superiors. He was now having fun just like any other boy his age, but he did seem to be much more mature at heart than those ten years older than himself.
"I'm serious. Which of these do you thing I should wear?" she said while holding up the dresses one at a time for him to look at.
"Any of them but the red one." he said like it was the most obvious answer.
"And, why not? I like the red one."
"I don't."
"Why not?! I think it looks great on me!"
"I do too, but that's the problem. It does look good on you, but it shows too much..."
"...skin?"
"Yes."
Meredith smirked at him. She had that odd look in her eye that he didn't particularly enjoy.
"But, that's the great thing about it. At least that way I may turn a few heads. It makes a girl happy to see a guy looking at their body sometimes."
"It's not the person looking at you that bothers me; it's what thoughts go through that person's mind that bothers me."
"Well, that's sweet of you; over protective, but sweet. But, you sound like my father."
"Then your father is a good man."
"Hey, you don't know what goes through other men's minds! They may just think that I look pleasant."
"No, I know what they think. I just think about what I would think if I saw you in that and it makes me want to shoot every man in this base, and then turn the gun on myself."
Meredith dropped her expression of annoyance and put on a caring and warm smile.
"So, what you're saying is that you're afraid that other guys will look at me; is that it?"
"Yes. To put it simply."
"I'm just curious; how would you have me dress?"
"Like a gorilla."
Meredith folded over in half laughing. Sousuke soon followed suit once he got the mental picture himself. Every time he looked up at her he started laughing again. This went on for a couple of minutes before they regained a little bit of their composure. Meredith was the first to resume the conversation.
"No, Sousuke. I will not dress as a gorilla. Besides, if I did, do you have any idea how many people would stare at me then?!"
"Well, at least the stares would be justified."
"No! Out of the question!"
"I was only kidding."
"I know, but still, no! I think I will wear the red dress."
"I only offered my opinion. Do as you wish."
Sousuke turned away from her and looked in the mirror to adjust his perfectly adjusted tie and to straighten the nonexistent creases on his shirt and tuxedo jacket. She noticed that something was bothering him, but his face was otherwise unreadable as always. She had no idea as to what had him so upset. She wanted to know, but she didn't want to pry into it out of chances of ruining the entire night for them both by bringing up a bad topic. She walked over to the bed and picked up the blue dress.
"I think I'll wear the blue one. You seemed to like it rather well, didn't you?"
He looked at her through the mirror. He was checking out all angles of the tuxedo he was wearing. Meredith had taken about an hour to help him get ready and properly dressed in the tuxedo. She had brought him back to her room and gave him a hair cut and styled it for him. She had insisted that he stay to provide her with company until her date arrived.
"You should wear what you want. I'm not the one that you are dressing to please."
"I know, but I see wisdom in your words, and I trust your judgment. Besides, who better to tell me what men would like than a man himself."
He liked the way she referred to him as a man. He now considered himself grown up enough and tall enough to be addressed as 'sir' by his subordinates. He was now even height with some of them, and not too much shorter than the others. He smiled at her comment more so than her.
"Thanks. But, whatever your choice is, you better hurry. Your date will be here in what, twenty-three minutes?"
Meredith looked up at the clock on the wall and let out a gasp of surprise. She quickly snatched up her clothes, hastily removed her socks, and ran into the bathroom to get changed. Sousuke laughed quietly to himself when he heard a crash in the bathroom followed by a curse. He shook his head as he walked towards the bathroom door.
"Are you alright in there?" he said with a little bit of laughter still in his voice.
"No, I'm going to be late! I don't want him to have to wait on me!"
"Well, I guess I'll be leaving. I'd say that Kurtz and my date are already waiting on me."
The door opened and Meredith poked her head from around the corner. Her shoulders were bare, but the rest of her was hidden by the wall.
"So, who is your date?"
Sousuke quickly turned his back to her and scratched his constant occurring imaginary itch on his head.
"I... I... uh... don't know. It's just someone that Kurtz told me I needed to meet."
"Sousuke, for crying out loud, you don't need to freak out because you saw my bare shoulders!"
"I... I know that. But, uh... there is a mirror behind you."
There was a shriek followed by the slamming of a door. Sousuke smiled evilly and let out a long whistle of approval.
"Wow! What an eyeful! Wait till I tell Kurtz about this!"
"All right now, you smartass!"
"I would rather be a..."
"Sousuke!"
"I was just kidding; I didn't see anything. I'll be going before I have Armageddon released on me!"
"All right; I'll probably see you at the ball! Have a good time!"
"Yeah, you too. I'll keep an eye out for you."
With that he left out the door snickering to himself at his own joke.
"What's wrong? Haven't you ever been told that you were hot?!"
"Not in that way precisely."
"Well, excuse me for not being so proper and stuck up! Jeez, are you going to be like this all night?!"
"The possibility is high."
"Oh, great! Kurtz left me with a stick in the mud!" she said playfully.
Sousuke found no amusement in her comment.
He had been there for about two hours now. He looked up at the clock. It was now 10:11 p.m. The ball would last till 2:00 p.m. but it was odd for Meredith to not be here yet. She had planned to be there at 8:00 once her date picked her up. Sousuke scanned the hall for her, but he did not see her. Something was wrong since he saw her date standing near a table conversing with other people. She was not with him. He did not want to interrogate him for fear of drawing suspicion. He glanced out the window to see if she was outside. April was busy looking at other men to notice what he was looking at.
"Wow! Look at that hunk! What I wouldn't do to take him home with me! I would ravage him like a wild animal!" she said referring to about the twentieth guy that she had made a similar statement about before.
She seemed to have an increasingly wittier way of stating her sexual desires each time. Sousuke didn't notice most of the time. She had also taken the liberty to point out at least five other guys that she had previously slept with at the ball. Sousuke motioned to Kurtz when he saw him. Kurtz immediately came over to see what his friend needed of him.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Have you seen Meredith? She should already be here."
"No, I haven't seen her all night. Are you sure she didn't have the times confused?"
"I'm sure. That is all I needed; thanks."
Kurtz patted his shoulder before walking back over to Trish. Where was Meredith? He was getting slightly worried about her.
"Looking for Meredith, huh? What's the matter? Are you too much of a man for just me to... handle?" she asked him in a suggestive voice.
He quickly turned his head towards her and glared. He had had just about enough of this woman. Her thoughts, mind, and mouth were so dirty that he felt unclean just walking near her. He curled his lip into a sneer and looked at her like she was a piece of trash.
"Don't talk to me."
Without another word he left out the door of the hall and into the lobby. He left April staring after him with her mouth gaped open. Obviously, she hadn't been used to blunt rejection. Obviously, she hadn't been used to Sousuke.
Meredith sat in her room reading a book. She was still wearing her dress, and she still looked like she had just got ready to go to the ball. In reality, she still had. This was because her date was supposed to be there at 7:45 to pick her up. The ball started at 8:00 and he still hadn't shown up at 8:45. She had reached him on his cell phone. He had told her that he thought she was just kidding when she asked him if he wanted to go with her. He also said that he was kidding when he told her he would go with her. His reason for 'only kidding' was because she was too young for him and he already had a girlfriend that he was going with. Of course, she didn't believe that for a moment. She had been stood up, and she felt like a fool. All of the sudden, her phone rang. It was Sousuke. He was wondering where she was and if she was alright. She told him everything that happened, and how the man told her that he was 'just kidding.' She felt slightly embarrassed when she started crying to him over the phone, but she was comforted by him. He explained to her that his date didn't go so well either. He said that he would be their shortly.
Sousuke hung up the phone in the lobby. He felt bad for Meredith since she felt so bad that she was crying over the phone. He wanted to go see her, but he had to do something first. He smiled evilly as he walked to the man who was supposed to be Meredith's date. He knew the man personally. He was in a platoon with him. As a matter of fact, Sousuke had been his Drill Sergeant. He also knew something about this man that no one else did. People do strange things when they think people aren't watching.
"Hello, private. How are you tonight?"
The man stopped talking with the people at the table immediately. He quickly rose to his feet almost knocking over the chair he was sitting in. He quickly snapped to attention and saluted his Sergeant.
"Sir, I am doing fine, sir!"
"At ease, private."
The man relaxed and reached his hand towards the woman who had been sitting beside him. She smiled at Sousuke as she rose and said her greeting to him. Sousuke smiled and bowed slightly to her.
"Sir, this is Ziliey, my fiancée. Ziliey, this is Sergeant Sagara, my Drill Sergeant."
"Glad to meet you, ma'am. But, I am sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news."
The man looked at him with confusion on his face.
"Private, I saw you in the bathroom three days ago with an empty heroine injection. Now, I told you that if you got rid of the drugs, I would not report it. But, it seems as if you took my warning lightly. This would put you up for a major demotion, but since you are only a private, that means that you will be set up for a dishonorable discharge."
"But... but, sir! You said that you didn't care as long as I did not distribute it or let it interfere with my training!"
"Oh, I'm sorry about that! I didn't think you took me seriously... I was only kidding."
He smiled at the man. His fiancée looked at her future husband in utter disgust and walked away. Sousuke did a mock salute to the man, did an about-face, and walked out the door.
"We were never more than good friends, but that night everyone thought we were. I think that Sousuke made a lot of men jealous that night." she said with a quite laugh.
Kaname felt kind of bad that Meredith had expected more out of Sousuke than being just friends, but she also felt somewhat relieved. That meant that she had been no hindrance to Sousuke's love life. Perhaps Sousuke really did have feelings for her. But, it was too late to find that out. She decided that would be the last thing she needed to talk about now.
"So, you managed to get some human behavior out of Sousuke?"
"Yeah, for almost an entire year he had been acting normal, but that all changed when he went on 'that mission.' And, get this; Sousuke actually influenced normal behavior into those that were similar to those that were once the way he was."
This took Kaname by surprise. She never would have thought that Sousuke would have ever been able to fill in the role of a semi-advisor. This had her attention sparked.
"So, who exactly did Sousuke influence into normalcy, or are you not at liberty to tell me that?"
Meredith motioned her head in the direction of one of the pictures on the wall. Kaname looked over to the picture she had motioned to and then turned around and looked at her with a hint of surprise in her eyes.
"Kevin?!"
"Oh, yes. He probably influenced him the most. Father Kevin Jacobs, infamously known as "The Priest." Kevin was drawn to the service of God from an early age. He grew up in the Vatican after his parents abandoned him. He soon gained physical abilities that surpassed man's maximum capabilities. I've asked him how he got those abilities, but he only says that he is a man of God with the abilities to carry out God's assignments. I'm actually starting to believe him a little since he has Mithril completely baffled about that also. Anyway, there was a period in which the certain branches of the Vatican fell into corruption. Kevin followed this branch without question and without knowing that it was corrupt. He had been ordered to kill a countless number of people in the name of 'God.' And, he did exactly that. I can not give an exact body count. What ended up happening was that no one was able to bring him down, so Mithril sent in one of their teams. Sousuke was in that team. I don't know any details about how it happened, because neither Sousuke nor Kevin would tell me about it, but Sousuke had managed to talk some sense into him. Kevin may not admit it, but it truly troubles him that Sousuke is no longer with us. He told me before he left to get you that he wished that he could have helped Sousuke. It is also because of Sousuke that Kevin helped Mithril when he heard about them needing to protect those that he calls 'God's Gifted.' He is not technically a part of Mithril, he refused to join, but Mithril would have been crazy to refuse his help. I was relocated to this church as a part of my protection under Kevin."
"I understand. That's amazing that Sousuke was able to change Kevin in that sort of way."
"Yes, I don't know if I could have done something like that in only the few minutes that Sousuke talked with him. Kevin only explained to me that he and Sousuke could 'see on the same, even, level.' I guess that he meant that he and Sousuke had had similar loyalty problems."
"I see. You mentioned before about 'that mission.' What exactly happened during 'that mission.'?"
"'That mission,' I believe, had something to do with Sousuke's death. 'That mission' is what caused Sousuke to revert back to his old militirisic self after we had made so much progress in his personality. But, to tell you everything about 'that mission' I would have to start from the beginning and tell you about 'that night:' the night after we got back from the ball. And, that can be a very long story."
Kaname tilted her head slightly, motioned her hands, and gave an awkward smile of confession.
"Well, I don't have anything else to do with my time. So, why don't you go ahead and tell me. That is if it doesn't bother you too bad to tell me."
"No, not at all. Well, that would be a lie to say that it doesn't bother me to remember. But, it is a lot easier to talk about something painful when the other person understands why it pains me."
Kaname nodded her head in understanding. She felt as if she were digging up sacred ruins. She felt a shiver go down her spine. She knew that now she would find out the answer to her questions, no matter how horrible they may be. It was the tone in Meredith's voice.
Or, perhaps it was the imposing shadow cast by the treacherous storm clouds she could see forming outside the window. The rain had once again followed her.
"I had no idea what to expect that night, but I wish I had done or said a little bit more to him. It would be the last time I ever saw him alive."
TO BE CONTINUED
Author's Notes: Yes, that was actually a bit longer than I expected. I had to cut it short so that way it wouldn't span on for twice as long. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it was long, but bear with me; this is all essential to the plot. I hope it doesn't get too boring for all of you reading my story, but I'm trying to get the story out in the open so everyone knows what is going on. Hopefully, most of your questions will be answered by this chapter and the next. The story will pick back up hot and heavy after the next chapter or two, and I promise that this utterly depressing story will all work out by then. Please, I need some reviews so I know if this story is decent, or if I'm just wasting my time. Hope you enjoyed. Thank you.
Author's Notes: I want to take the time to thank my readers who are still reading my story. I know that the story went downhill for the past few chapters, but I think that the story will redeem itself. I anticipate that this chapter will probably be extremely long, but it is necessary for the story because many questions, if not all questions, will be answered. I hope this story is redeemable. I do not what happened to my writing abilities in the last few chapters, but I will try on this one. If the story is so broken that it can't be fixed, I'll drop it and begin something new. As always, please review if you find my story worth the time; I haven't been getting very many lately. I hope you enjoy. Thank you.
The Deathbringer
Chapter 7: The Hollow of the Raven Moon
By Adam Lakewood Copyright 2004
Sousuke was alive? How could that be? She was there when he was horribly murdered by... whatever that was. Sister Meredith had spoke with him this morning? How could that be? What was going on?
A million questions swirled through Kaname's mind all at once. Kevin looked at her and quickly realized what was just said. He quickly took a look of shock on his face.
"K... Kaname? I'm sorry. Sister Meredith did not mean that he was alive and walking around."
Kaname immediately changed facial expressions to that of one of confusion. She quickly felt herself become agitated with the two. Were they trying to send her to an early grave? Were they trying to be funny? Was this some sort of sick joke? Sister Meredith immediately gave Kevin a questioning look, and then she realized exactly what she had said. She walked over to Kaname, took her hand in both of hers and lowered her head.
"I'm so sorry about that. I did not watch my words. I forgot that you wouldn't know what I was talking about."
"Then, exactly what were you talking about?"
Sister Meredith let go of her hand, held open the door, and motioned inside. She quickly put another warm smile on her face.
"Why don't you come on in? Our meeting is far overdue. I have a lot I want to tell you, and I'm sure you have a lot that you want to ask me. Correct?"
"Yes, definitely."
Kaname nodded her gratitude at Sister Meredith and went inside. Kevin remained on the porch and cleared his throat. Both turned their attention to Kevin.
"Excuse me, ladies. I have a feeling that your discussion may be better enjoyed without my presence. Besides, I have things that I must take care of. If neither of you good ladies have any immediate need for my assistance, I will take my leave." he said while imitating a British accent and doing a mock bow on the last part.
Meredith laughed slightly and Kaname smiled. Currently, Kevin should have been the only person that she would feel comfortable around, but for some reason she felt drawn to Sister Meredith as a close friend in the short couple of minutes that she had known her. Kaname shook her head, and Sister Meredith motioned towards the limo outside.
"We'll be fine; thank you, Kevin. If we need you, we'll call. You go ahead and go do whatever you need to do, and make sure to get some rest; you must be tired."
"Well, I might just do that exact thing. But, if either of you ladies need me for anything, and I mean anything, give me a call, I'll be right over."
"Thank you, Kevin. I know you will. But, we'll be fine. Go ahead and get some rest, I'll give you a call when I have dinner done tonight."
"That sounds all right! I have really been craving for one of your delicious, perfectly seasoned, and baked to perfection, baked potatoes." he offered obviously suggestively.
"You've got it! Now, go on!"
Kaname looked at Kevin and smiled at him. He had been so good to her, and he had been the one that got her here alive. She now felt safer than she had for the past couple of days. She felt an eternal gratitude to this man.
"Thanks, Kevin, for everything."
He smiled and tipped an imaginary hat at them.
"The pleasure was mine. You fine ladies have a great day, and I will see you both later tonight."
With that he closed the door behind him, and he could be heard whistling as he walked down the sidewalk. Sister Meredith smiled and laughed to herself. She closed the door and locked it. She walked back into the living area and motioned towards the couch.
"Please, make yourself at home. Would you like something to drink? I just brewed some fresh tea. I'll be back in a moment."
Without even waiting for a reply from Kaname, she went into what Kaname could assume to have been the kitchen. Obviously, she would be having a cup of the tea and she had no say-so otherwise. Sister Meredith would enforce her hospitality. Kaname smiled at the woman's kindness. She had nothing to do while she waited for Sister Meredith so she looked around the room. The house, she could tell on the outside and now even more on the inside, was not very large. It was actually kind of small, but it was cozy. She was always one for the larger homes, but for some reason, she actually liked this house. The room that she was in, the living room, reminded her of the living room of an old lady's house. This was not to say that she didn't like the room; she liked it very much. The room was small, had quite a bit of stuff in it, but was well kept. There were a lot of different ornaments in the room, all of which did not seem to have a speck of dust on them. The walls were a tan color, and the carpet was of a yellowish tint. The couch and chair in the room had a throws over them that matched the room perfectly with a pattern of yellow and dark green leaves. The couch and the chair were formed in an 'L' shape against the walls. Beside the couch was the entrance to the kitchen which also looked very small. The walls of the living room were covered with pictures; some of which were a little bit older than the others. They were of many different people. Some were of Sister Meredith at different ages and stages in her life. Others were probably of her family. She even had a few pictures that had Kevin in them.
Kaname smiled at the pictures that she saw that had her and Kevin in it. A lot of them seemed to be vacation pictures of Sister Meredith and Kevin. She recognized in a lot of pictures many of the land marks of America: The Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, etc. They both seemed to be smiling and having a very good time. One of the pictures that caught Kaname's eyes was that of Kevin and Sister Meredith walking on a tightrope, or at least Kevin was. Sister Meredith was on his shoulders looking down at the crowd below with a horrified look on her face.. It was obviously taken by someone in the huge crowd looking up at them. They seemed to be at a festival of some sort. These two reminded her of a lot of recent memories she had of her and Sousuke. That actually seemed like something that she and Sousuke might have done. She then looked down towards the console television in front of her. It had a stand-picture frame lying face down on top of it. The picture seemed to be the only thing in the room that had a speck of dust on it. Kaname sat it up to take a look at it. She was slightly surprised to see that it was the same picture of Sousuke and Sister Meredith that Sousuke had in his wallet. Sister Meredith returned into the room carrying a tray with two steaming cups of tea on it.
"Yes, I like pictures, so I take them or have them taken constantly. Did you see the one of..."
Sister Meredith looked at the picture that Kaname had in her hand. Her smile immediately dropped and her eyes went to the floor.
"Sousuke." she said, but not finishing her previous sentence.
"He had this same picture in his wallet."
Sister Meredith looked back up trying to hold back her tears. She thought she had finished shedding her tears yesterday, but it seemed as if she hadn't. This happened every time she thought about Sousuke. She smiled at little at Kaname's statement. She thought Sousuke had forgotten about her.
"Really?" she asked in a quite voice.
"Yeah, I never would have thought that Sousuke would have any pictures; it was the only one I saw, so you must have been very special to him."
"Yes, I believe I may have been."
"Were you his girlfriend?"
Sister Meredith hesitated before answering Kaname's question. She remembered all the time she and Sousuke had spent together. They did everything. She remembered that he had even invited her to go see her first opera with him. They had been very close; closer than any other two people at the Mithril base.
"Everyone considered me to be. But, we knew better. Though, I had sometimes wished I could have been."
Kaname actually felt somewhat relieved. She was afraid that she had been interfering with Sousuke's love life. But, now she understood.
"You really loved him didn't you?"
"With all my heart. More so than anyone except you would ever understand, for you shared the same kind of love with him that I did."
Kaname should have been surprised by that statement, but she wasn't. She was only curious.
"How did you know?"
"You have experienced for yourself that the powers of the Whispered extend beyond the understanding of Black Technology. Each of the Whispered has different powers. One of my powers allows me to know more than I should about people and what goes on in their minds. Uncontrollable Telepathy, if you will. Plus, your eyes give you away."
"I see. So, what did you mean when you said that 'Sousuke told you this morning?'"
"Another one of my powers. Clairsentience, if you will. The Mithril caravan arrived this morning with Sousuke's body. They immediately began cleaning him up and putting him in his coffin. I... went to see his body with my own eyes. I couldn't believe that he had died, so I had to confirm this with my own eyes. A part of my Clairsentience allows me to 'trace a line' to the past when I am in contact with a strong presence. Obviously, the soul, spirit, or whatever you want to call it of Sousuke was a very strong presence. I was originally going to find out and tell everyone what the cause of death was, that is, until I found out. I, like you, understand that no one would believe me. But, when I came within about five feet of his coffin, it was like his entire life's history flashed before my eyes. Somehow, I am able to tap deeper into those flashes. I know exactly what happened at his moment of death; I know what he has been doing for the past year since he left me here, and I know who you are. He cared a lot about you; I know that too."
Kaname didn't quite know what to say. Now that she had experienced the advanced powers of the Whispered, she actually believed that Sister Meredith was capable of these things. Since Sister Meredith was obviously capable of knowing much more than she did about Sousuke, it would be the smartest thing to try to find out as much as she could about what happened to Sousuke and who killed him.
"So, Sister Meredith, what happened to Sousuke? Who killed him?"
Sister Meredith sat down in her seat and motioned once again to the couch.
"Have a seat and enjoy some of my tea. You already know a lot of the answer, but I will help you fully understand it. I'm sure you want to know more about Sousuke also, so I will start from the beginning. This is a very long story, so make yourself comfortable. By the way, please call me Meredith. I'm not a nun; it's only a façade to protect my identity."
Kaname obliged. She kicked off her shoes and pulled her legs up onto the couch. She took a sip of tea and placed it on the table beside of her. That did not take her by surprise; she was starting to understand just how Mithril went about protecting the Whispered.
"Where would you like for me to start?"
Kaname gave the question a little bit of thought before replying. She wanted to know everything, no matter how long the story.
"How about from when you were first assigned to be his advisor?"
"Good, so you know that much already?"
"Yes, Sousuke told me."
"That's a surprise. He never told anyone that. This allows me to skip a lot of the story, but it will still be a long story."
"That's fine; I don't exactly have any place I need to be right now."
"All right. Let me start off by explaining how I first met Sousuke four years ago. Let's see..."
She paused for a moment and did some quick calculating in her head.
"That would have made him thirteen and me sixteen. I had just joined with Mithril to be one of their diplomat's. I had to settle for that since I failed the physical tests to be a soldier. I was still young and not exactly of what one would consider being the greatest of health. For those reasons also, I was not able to be a traveling diplomat, so I was assigned to the 4th Mithril Branch as an advisor because of my incredible leadership and people skills. They said that I was above what most of the soldiers needed, so I was assigned to the 'special case.'"
"So, exactly when did Mithril start employing children?" asked the young lady in a stern and demanding voice to the man out in the hall.
The girl was rather short. She had long, red hair and piercing green eyes full of determination. She was wearing civilian clothing as compared to everyone else's military BDU's. The man standing before her looked as if her were at least twice her height and over quadruple her weight, but he was sweating from the interrogation. He received snickers and teasing looks from his fellow privates as they passed by. The scene did look humorous to just about everyone in the room.
"No, ma'am! Mithril normally does not employ anyone under the age of sixteen, but this boy was an exception. This request was made by Major Kalinin himself a while back."
"You mean to tell me that this boy was brought here when maybe he wasn't yet a decade old?!"
"Yes. That is quite possible."
"This is sad." she grumbled to herself before walking towards the room with he file in hand.
"Have a good day, Miss Rily."
"You too, private."
Meredith continued her way down the hall to the room she was supposed to be going to. This was degrading. She was the top advisor that the 4th Mithril Branch had, possibly the best that Mithril had period. She had been an advisor to even some of the leading officials of Mithril. Now, her greatest challenge was some kid. She had always talked to children a lot before; it was just something she enjoyed doing. Children and early teens were easy to get to open up, so what was the problem here. All kids Sagara's age wanted was someone to talk to. She would soon find out that it was the exact opposite for Sagara: he didn't want anyone to talk to. He was having an advisor forced on him.
She slowly approached the door to the young man's room. She took in a deep breath to make sure her composure was what it should be. For some reason, she was slightly nervous about this; perhaps it was all the hype from the other advisors that made failed attempts on him.
She quickly put on one of her trademark smiles and pushed open the door. The room was different from the rest of the base. The room was made with comfort in mind instead of security. There was actually velvet colored carpet on the floor instead of gray concrete. The walls were painted a brownish color that blended well with the many fake, green, plants. There was actual furniture in this room. It consisted of two black leather sectional couches and three chairs that were arranged into a circle. There was a large, well polished, perfectly clean glass top table in the middle of the circle of furniture. There was even a television build into the wall. It had a kitchen which looked like it had never been touched before, but was still quite clean. This actually looked like what was previously the lounge area of the base. It was turned into a room for Sagara since policy stated plainly that he couldn't share quarters with the other men for at least another two years. Many of the men were unpleased with loosing their lounge, but they were soon appeased when another room was made into their lounge. Sagara had obviously not rearranged the furniture since the room was made his; it looked exactly like the lounge that was used now. The only thing that was different about this room than the lounge was the presence of a thirteen year old kid sitting on the couch facing towards the door.
Meredith immediately took note of the middle table which was cluttered with what seemed to pieces of multiple guns. The couches were covered with open books and magazines. There was a large line of weapons beside the couch that Sagara was sitting on that looked like they had just come off of an assembly line, or in this case, getting ready to go on a disassembly line.
The boy known around the base as Sagara looked up when he heard the door open. He saw the young lady in front of him and took a look of surprise in his eyes. He quickly stood up, his eyes not leaving hers. He had obviously taken notice to her pleasant appearance. She noticed that his eyes began to wander downward from her slightly. As soon as he noticed where his eyes were going, he shook his head slightly and wiped his eyes. He immediately refocused his attention on her eyes. They were green. He noted this as an oddity for the base of the 4th Mithril Branch. He had never seen her before, so she must have been his new advisor sent over from the 12th Branch. The other four had given up on him; his plan couldn't have been going any better. She was pleasant to look at. The 4th Mithril Branch did not have women with such a great pair of... ... ... shoes. Yeah, that's it... shoes.
Despite his hopes, Meredith had noticed his wandering eyes, and where they were wandering. She was rather impressed. This teenager was able to control his eyes... and hands better than the men she had been an advisor to previously. She looked down to where his eyes were wandering to confirm what exactly he was looking at. She looked back up at him and smirked. This seemed to cause the blood to flow to his head all of the sudden. At least that would be a way to start conversation. An odd way to start, but at least it was a way to start.
"Hello, Sousuke. What's wrong?"
She turned her head slightly sideways in question.
"Looking at something you shouldn't have?"
His face reddened once again. He put his hand on the back of his head and scratched an imaginary itch. His eyes went away from hers and to the ground.
"Uh... no, not really. Well... maybe. Actually, yes. Except... uh... no. But, I could have."
He looked back into her eyes with newfound determination. His face was stoic.
"I will not deny the possibility."
She laughed a little at his odd reply. He had guts. He was the only person to ever answer truthfully to that type of interrogation. She did not understand why the others had quit on him. This wouldn't be impossible; it would just take a little work. She decided she would have a little bit of fun with the boy that had given the others such a hard time.
"So, you were looking at something that you shouldn't have. What kind of grand soldier are you?!" she asked mockingly.
She had expected him to blush, but it seemed as if he was done with that nonsense. He had a determined spark in his eye as he gave his reply. An unexpected one due to his words and his immediate response.
"Yes, I was. Forgive me, ma'am. As for what kind of soldier I am: I am one far better than you or anyone else in this base. Now, if the only thing that you wish to do is attempt to embarrass me, then you may show yourself to the door. You were not supposed to be here for another hour and seventeen minutes. If this is the kind of conversation I can expect from you, then I do not want your company any longer than is required of me to endure. Excuse me, ma'am, I need to clean up this mess before your scheduled arrival."
"No, I'm sorry. I did not mean to embarrass you. I was..."
"Yes, you did. Now, please leave, ma'am."
Sagara walked back over to the couch and began closing and stacking his books and magazines. He walked over to a closet where there was a bucket beside the door. He opened the door and moved to bucket in front of the open closet with his foot. He stepped up on the bucket so he could reach the top shelf and placed the books there.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said any of that. I was just trying to start conversation with you. Please, don't be angry with me. We won't get anywhere if you are mad at me."
Her sympathy play seemed to work on everyone, so she expected it to especially work on this boy. Unfortunately, it did not seem to work on him. He came away from the closet for another stack of books. He picked them back up and took them back over to the closet.
"You're still here? Perhaps you didn't hear me the first two times I asked you?"
He came back over from the closet for another stack of books. He had many stacks to take over there. It seemed to Meredith that she had really insulted him. She could not have this.
"I heard you the first time. But, since I'm here, how about I help you straighten up your mess. Which may I say; this is the cleanest room I have ever seen before."
She walked over to the couch to pick up a stack of books. Still no response.
"It will go by much faster, besides..." she said letting out a playful laugh.
"You seem to be struggling a little with that top shelf, Sousuke."
That obviously struck a very sore nerve in Sousuke. He did not bother setting down the books, but instead dropped them from his arms. The books and magazines hit the ground and scattered into a semi-circle on the floor. His face reddened, but this time he wasn't blushing. He quickly and harshly pointed his finger towards the door.
"This will be the third and last time that I ask you politely to leave."
She rose back up from the stack of books and planted her hands on her hips persistently. She tossed her long red hair to the side and looked back over at him with a playful smile.
"And, what will you do if I don't? What if I want to stay here?"
The door opened from the inside of Sagara's room. Men had gathered around outside because of the yelling of a man and woman inside the room. Out of the doorway came advisor Rily walking on her tiptoes. She had a pained expression on her face, and her arm was behind her back. Behind her was Sagara holding the arm behind her back in a German arm lock of sorts. Meredith winced and hissed in pain before speaking.
"All right already! I'll leave! You don't literally have to twist my... OW! OW! OW!" she whined in pain.
Sagara had tightened his grip on her arm and lifted further upwards.
"No, it would be polite if I didn't, and politeness isn't something you seem to respond to properly."
He quickly released her and gave a quick shove which sent her stumbling forward and onto her knees. Sagara threw her file which slid to a stop to her right.
"I'll see you in one hour and fourteen minutes. Hopefully, my place will be much more presentable for your scheduled arrival." he said to her before heading back inside and closing the door.
She got up and attempted to rub the soreness out of her shoulder. She picked up her file and walked over to Sagara's door in a hastened pace and banged her hand against it. A resounding "Clang" echoed up and down the hallway, followed by her shout.
"Sousuke, that hurt, you little twerp!"
She kicked the door once for added effect and the people in the hallway parted like the Red Sea as she neared them. This indefinite amount of time she would have to spend with him seemed like it would be a lot longer if it were possible. She now understood why the other advisors gave up on him. But, she had too much pride to quit. He seemed to be stubborn in his ways, but so was she. The following escapades of the two could possibly be reenacted by having two goats square off and constantly ram their stubborn heads together.
Kaname couldn't help but smile at the way Meredith was telling her story. She talked about it in such an amusing manner.
"So, the first encounter didn't go so well."
"That is the understatement of the century!"
Both let out a bit of full-hearted laughter.
"So, did you go back at the 'scheduled time.'?"
"But, of course! I wasn't about to give up or show any weakness to him!"
"So, did that encounter go any better?"
"A lot better. We didn't get very far. He didn't talk much, and he only answered my questions with minimal information, usually in the form of one word sentences. He never once smiled, laughed, or showed any sort of emotion, no matter how far I probed. But, at least I wasn't requested to leave, or almost have my shoulder dislocated."
Meredith laughed slightly and Kaname smiled. She reached over and got her cup. She took another sip of the tea; it was quite good. It was actually the best she had ever had. She set the cup back on the table, and looked back up at Meredith.
"Was he always that mean?"
"No, usually he was very quite, polite, and conservative. But, he turned completely ferocious when someone brought up anything relative to his young age including his height, which seemed to be the reason that I got my swift punishment on our first encounter. He never liked for people to refer to him as kid, boy, etc. He had this thing about people of lower rank than him calling him 'Sir.' He told me a couple of months after our first meeting that he did not want all of these much taller and larger adults having to literally look down at him and address him as 'sir.' He said that he did not want them to refer to him in such a way until he was at least able to almost look at them eye level. The age and size thing was what set him off the most. I remember he assaulted my superior for calling him 'this punk kid' while playfully ruffling his hair."
Kaname laughed at that part. She could get the image of a young Sousuke attacking someone in brass for being genial with him. She saw a young Sousuke standing there with Commander Kalinin who would be over twice his size. Suddenly, Sousuke latches onto his leg with his teeth and begins growling furiously like a rabid dog. She laughed even more when she pictured the other men having to make him let go by spraying him with soapy water. She found this absolutely hilarious. Meredith did also. Perhaps she was laughing because something similar did happen. Kaname finally stopped laughing after a minute or so.
"So, you guys did finally start getting along?"
"Yeah. It took about four months, though. He was persistent in not opening up to me, but I was persistent in having him open up to me. I finally realized that he was not like other teenagers his age. So, I started doing what people still refer to as 'stalking' him. I followed him everywhere he went for about a week to find out what he did and what he had interest in. Well, he had an interest in everything military. So, for that entire week, whenever I had free time, I studied up on everything military. Soon, I actually knew more about military works than most of the Sergeants did. I was ready to take him on!"
The room of Sousuke Sagara was the same as it was when she first met him. He made it a point to keep the place sparkling clean, but he did not care about the interior design of the room. Meredith had just opened the door to see him sitting on his couch reassembling an assault rifle. She was a little bit early today, but she had plans that might require a bit more time. Their usual appointment was from 9:00 a.m.- 11:00 a.m. The time was 8:27 and Sousuke was still cleaning up from his 'hobby.' It made her feel good that he would clean up every morning before her arrival. He wanted to make sure that the room was perfectly clean for when she arrived. He called it making the room appear 'presentable.' He heard the door open and looked up at her. He gave her a nod and went back to his work.
"Good morning. You're here earlier than I expected." he said stating the obvious.
"It'll take me a little while to put all of these back together. I'll try to hurry."
She walked over to the couch across from his and looked at all of the pieces on the table. There were many different pieces from many different guns. She reached for a piece of one of the guns.
"Here, let me help you." she said as she picked up one of the pieces.
Sousuke quickly reached out and placed his hand over hers gently pushing her hand and the piece back towards the table.
"I'd rather you not. I have them all in separate piles and besides, that's my..."
"Glock 17 9mm autoloading custom pistol." she said finishing his sentence for him and in the process identifying the gun.
He raised an eyebrow at her. She saw that she had managed to spark his curiosity. He actually smirked.
"How did you know that? I can barely tell what that is when it's taken apart."
She let out a sigh and gave him a smirk of her own.
"Time me."
Without another word she picked up two pieces of the gun and began assembling them. Sousuke stared on in amazement that she actually knew how to put it together, and with pretty good speed at that. He watched carefully to make sure that none of the pieces were warped in case she were to try to force them into positions that they were not meant to fit. She made no such mistakes. The assembly was careful and flawless.
"Time!" she exclaimed handing him the gun.
Sousuke looked down at his watch while shaking his head in astonishment. He stuttered out a few 'um's before looking back up at her. He had the most astonished and bewildered look in his eye. And, for the first time she actually saw him smile. The smile was a mixture mostly between astonishment, curiosity, and confusion, but it was a smile.
"Wow! That's amazing. 47 seconds! My Drill Sergeant's record was only 39 seconds! How did you do that?!"
"Well, you see. First, I placed the locking hatch grain underneath the..."
"I know how you did it; I want to know how you know how to do it."
"I work for Mithril too. So, it's not completely unusual for me to know how to completely assemble and disassemble a gun in under 50 seconds." she said in a bragging voice.
Sousuke looked the gun over and checked every mechanism looking for flaws or areas of improvement. There were none that he saw. He looked back at her after setting the hammer back into place.
"That was flawless! I still can't believe that you put my sidearm back together and handed it to me in perfect working condition. And, in just 47 seconds! Wow!"
"Well, thank you, Sousuke! I don't think I have ever received a compliment from you before! I bet you can't beat that time!"
"Well, I would have to try pretty hard."
"Then, how fast can you put one together?"
"My record is 29 seconds on assembly and 28 seconds on disassembly."
Meredith's eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of her head. She had practiced about twenty times since this morning taking apart her sidearm and putting it back together so she could get the time she did.
"There is no way! It takes me longer to disassemble a gun! You can't be capable of disassembling a gun in 28 seconds! That would shatter a world record!"
Sousuke looked at her and smirked. His smirk slowly turned into smile as he looked his gun over and placed his hand on the top of it. It was a true smile: one of happiness and of fun. Meredith had achieved a major task today. No one had ever been able to make Sousuke smile since he had been brought to Mithril. The smile remained on his face as he stood up and cleared his throat. He held the gun by the bottom and top in a strange position.
"Specialist FC, Sagara Sousuke of the 4th Mithril Branch looking to set or break a world record. Time me."
The smile remained on his face for hours.
Kaname laughed a little about the sense that made. That did seem like a logical way to get close to Sousuke.
"Hey, whatever works, huh?!"
Meredith smiled and leaned further back in her seat.
"Yeah, I guess so. It seemed to be the best way at the time. And, it worked, so I don't regret it. After that we met more often and spent more time together. I was required to be around him at least three hours a day, but it soon turned more into about twelve hours a day since he wasn't quite on active duty, and it was my job to try to spend as much time as possible with him. I think that for about two years I was his only friend. It was easy for us to be friends because of our similar ages. Almost everyone else at the base was almost double our ages, so it was somewhat hard to become more than acquaintances with them. After I revealed that I knew something about military knowledge, we quickly became friends. We started talking whenever we wanted instead of at scheduled times. Within about a week we started spending a lot of time just hanging out. I had the power to give him the right to leave the base if I saw the need, so I did. We started going to the movies quite often. He was one of the harshest movie critics I've ever known. Nothing slipped past his eye unnoticed, and he didn't hesitate to point out the illogical in the middle of the movie to those around him. We were actually kicked out of he movie theatre twice because of that. We both spent a lot of time at the public library since we both had an interest in reading. The only thing that we didn't do was go fishing; that was the one thing that he always preferred to do alone."
Kaname thought about that for a moment. Meredith had spent over half of her time with him for almost two years and he never took her fishing. Kaname had known him for even less time before he took her to his private fishing spot just after the last encounter with Gauron. She now felt kind of honored about that. But, he never did talk to her much about his past. He had said himself that he had told Meredith a lot about his past. She was curious.
"So, did he ever talk to you about his past?"
"Yes, he did. But it took about a year before he started telling me about his past. He would let a minor detail slip every once in a while before that, but nothing major. His past was just as his file said, and there was nothing more to it. He just went into a lot of his war stories. Horrible details that made me feel very sorry for him. But, by this time, he was a completely different person than he was from our first meeting. He actually laughed, joked, and all together had fun. I mean true fun that boys his age should have had. At one point he even joined a football team. He actually started watching the television in his room, and we found him a variety that he enjoyed. He even took up playing the piano and got pretty good at it. Oddly, he enjoyed opera and classical music. That was one thing that didn't change about him. Pretty much, he started acting like a fourteen year boy should. During this time, he talked to me about everything. First, his past. Then, he started telling me about the present, details that I didn't know. He gave me a lot of classified missions that he would be sent on, who was going with him, how long he would be gone, etc. And, that picture over there..." she said pointing at the picture of her and Sousuke.
Kaname looked at the picture and nodded in acknowledgement. She didn't have to look at the picture very long; she already knew every detail of it since she studied the one that was in Sousuke's wallet.
"Yes?"
"That was taken at the military ball by Kurtz Webber. He had only been there for about a month, and he and Sousuke were really good friends because of their common personalities and similar ages."
Kaname cringed at that thought: Sousuke being a lot like Kurtz. Meredith laughed at the look on Kaname's face.
"So, I see you've met Kurtz before. Excuse me, Kurtz's special personality trait was something that Sousuke did not share with him, thank goodness! But, back to the picture; it's a tale worth telling. It was the night before that mission."
Kaname did not like the tone in Meredith's voice or the expression on her face when she said 'that mission.' She would ask about this once Meredith was done telling about the picture.
"It was time for the annual military ball. I was going with an older 'gentleman.' At that time I would have just turned 18 and he was 24 I do believe. I was looking forward to it since I was the attention of jealousy among the women at the base. The man was probably the most handsome, well built man at the base. He was very popular and a good soldier at that. He seemed to have no flaws at all. So, I couldn't wait to go to the ball with him."
'So which should I wear?' Meredith asked herself mentally. It was a mental struggle choosing between the red, blue, and green dress. She decided she would get another opinion.
"If you were me, which of these would you wear?"
"I wouldn't wear a dress, period. I'm afraid it would clash too much with my... gender."
"All right, Sousuke, now you're just being a smartass!"
Sousuke covered his mouth and tried to cover his laughter with a cough, but failed miserably. The laughter came out in full spring.
"I would much rather be a smartass rather than a dumba..."
"Sousuke!"
His laughter increased by multiples from the way she looked at him. It made her happy to hear him laugh. He was now acting almost like a normal fifteen you old boy. She had accomplished a lot; he had accomplished a lot. He was almost a completely different person than their first meeting almost two years ago. They were now officially best friends. Sometimes though, it was hard to get him to be serious except for when he was on a mission or around his superiors. He was now having fun just like any other boy his age, but he did seem to be much more mature at heart than those ten years older than himself.
"I'm serious. Which of these do you thing I should wear?" she said while holding up the dresses one at a time for him to look at.
"Any of them but the red one." he said like it was the most obvious answer.
"And, why not? I like the red one."
"I don't."
"Why not?! I think it looks great on me!"
"I do too, but that's the problem. It does look good on you, but it shows too much..."
"...skin?"
"Yes."
Meredith smirked at him. She had that odd look in her eye that he didn't particularly enjoy.
"But, that's the great thing about it. At least that way I may turn a few heads. It makes a girl happy to see a guy looking at their body sometimes."
"It's not the person looking at you that bothers me; it's what thoughts go through that person's mind that bothers me."
"Well, that's sweet of you; over protective, but sweet. But, you sound like my father."
"Then your father is a good man."
"Hey, you don't know what goes through other men's minds! They may just think that I look pleasant."
"No, I know what they think. I just think about what I would think if I saw you in that and it makes me want to shoot every man in this base, and then turn the gun on myself."
Meredith dropped her expression of annoyance and put on a caring and warm smile.
"So, what you're saying is that you're afraid that other guys will look at me; is that it?"
"Yes. To put it simply."
"I'm just curious; how would you have me dress?"
"Like a gorilla."
Meredith folded over in half laughing. Sousuke soon followed suit once he got the mental picture himself. Every time he looked up at her he started laughing again. This went on for a couple of minutes before they regained a little bit of their composure. Meredith was the first to resume the conversation.
"No, Sousuke. I will not dress as a gorilla. Besides, if I did, do you have any idea how many people would stare at me then?!"
"Well, at least the stares would be justified."
"No! Out of the question!"
"I was only kidding."
"I know, but still, no! I think I will wear the red dress."
"I only offered my opinion. Do as you wish."
Sousuke turned away from her and looked in the mirror to adjust his perfectly adjusted tie and to straighten the nonexistent creases on his shirt and tuxedo jacket. She noticed that something was bothering him, but his face was otherwise unreadable as always. She had no idea as to what had him so upset. She wanted to know, but she didn't want to pry into it out of chances of ruining the entire night for them both by bringing up a bad topic. She walked over to the bed and picked up the blue dress.
"I think I'll wear the blue one. You seemed to like it rather well, didn't you?"
He looked at her through the mirror. He was checking out all angles of the tuxedo he was wearing. Meredith had taken about an hour to help him get ready and properly dressed in the tuxedo. She had brought him back to her room and gave him a hair cut and styled it for him. She had insisted that he stay to provide her with company until her date arrived.
"You should wear what you want. I'm not the one that you are dressing to please."
"I know, but I see wisdom in your words, and I trust your judgment. Besides, who better to tell me what men would like than a man himself."
He liked the way she referred to him as a man. He now considered himself grown up enough and tall enough to be addressed as 'sir' by his subordinates. He was now even height with some of them, and not too much shorter than the others. He smiled at her comment more so than her.
"Thanks. But, whatever your choice is, you better hurry. Your date will be here in what, twenty-three minutes?"
Meredith looked up at the clock on the wall and let out a gasp of surprise. She quickly snatched up her clothes, hastily removed her socks, and ran into the bathroom to get changed. Sousuke laughed quietly to himself when he heard a crash in the bathroom followed by a curse. He shook his head as he walked towards the bathroom door.
"Are you alright in there?" he said with a little bit of laughter still in his voice.
"No, I'm going to be late! I don't want him to have to wait on me!"
"Well, I guess I'll be leaving. I'd say that Kurtz and my date are already waiting on me."
The door opened and Meredith poked her head from around the corner. Her shoulders were bare, but the rest of her was hidden by the wall.
"So, who is your date?"
Sousuke quickly turned his back to her and scratched his constant occurring imaginary itch on his head.
"I... I... uh... don't know. It's just someone that Kurtz told me I needed to meet."
"Sousuke, for crying out loud, you don't need to freak out because you saw my bare shoulders!"
"I... I know that. But, uh... there is a mirror behind you."
There was a shriek followed by the slamming of a door. Sousuke smiled evilly and let out a long whistle of approval.
"Wow! What an eyeful! Wait till I tell Kurtz about this!"
"All right now, you smartass!"
"I would rather be a..."
"Sousuke!"
"I was just kidding; I didn't see anything. I'll be going before I have Armageddon released on me!"
"All right; I'll probably see you at the ball! Have a good time!"
"Yeah, you too. I'll keep an eye out for you."
With that he left out the door snickering to himself at his own joke.
The hall where the ball was taking place was shined to immaculate perfection. Everyone was dressed nice, and there was a live orchestra. Wine was being served around by waiters, and people were standing around conversing. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Everyone, except for Sousuke. There were far too many people here and he was having a hard time finding Kurtz. But, he didn't have to find him, he was soon found by Kurtz.
"Yo, Sousuke!"
Sousuke jumped in surprise as he felt a playful slap on his back. That must have been none other than Kurtz Webber. He looked behind him to see his friend and two other ladies beside him.
"Hey, Kurtz! Glad you found me; I was about to get lost in this crowd. So, you couldn't settle with just one fine lady, huh?" he said as he nudged Kurtz in the side.
"Nah, Trish here is just fine for me!" he said pulling the blonde haired woman to his side.
The blonde girl, now known as Trish giggled as he leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek. He took his arm from around the other lady. He motioned her towards Sousuke.
"This one is yours! April, meet my best friend, Sousuke. Sousuke, meet April."
Sousuke bowed slightly to the woman before him. She was a bit shorter than he was. She had short, black hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a very revealing black dress, and high-heeled shoes.
"Glad to meet you."
"You too, Sousuke. Damn, you are hot!"
Sousuke was taken back by her comment. He had been told that he was handsome before, but not in such a way like that before. The way that she complimented him did not make him feel very appreciative for some reason. Oddly enough, he did not reply. Kurtz broke the silence.
"Well, you guys have a good time! See ya later!"
April looked up at Sousuke oddly. Most boys had blushed profusely when she laid that line on them."What's wrong? Haven't you ever been told that you were hot?!"
"Not in that way precisely."
"Well, excuse me for not being so proper and stuck up! Jeez, are you going to be like this all night?!"
"The possibility is high."
"Oh, great! Kurtz left me with a stick in the mud!" she said playfully.
Sousuke found no amusement in her comment.
He had been there for about two hours now. He looked up at the clock. It was now 10:11 p.m. The ball would last till 2:00 p.m. but it was odd for Meredith to not be here yet. She had planned to be there at 8:00 once her date picked her up. Sousuke scanned the hall for her, but he did not see her. Something was wrong since he saw her date standing near a table conversing with other people. She was not with him. He did not want to interrogate him for fear of drawing suspicion. He glanced out the window to see if she was outside. April was busy looking at other men to notice what he was looking at.
"Wow! Look at that hunk! What I wouldn't do to take him home with me! I would ravage him like a wild animal!" she said referring to about the twentieth guy that she had made a similar statement about before.
She seemed to have an increasingly wittier way of stating her sexual desires each time. Sousuke didn't notice most of the time. She had also taken the liberty to point out at least five other guys that she had previously slept with at the ball. Sousuke motioned to Kurtz when he saw him. Kurtz immediately came over to see what his friend needed of him.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Have you seen Meredith? She should already be here."
"No, I haven't seen her all night. Are you sure she didn't have the times confused?"
"I'm sure. That is all I needed; thanks."
Kurtz patted his shoulder before walking back over to Trish. Where was Meredith? He was getting slightly worried about her.
"Looking for Meredith, huh? What's the matter? Are you too much of a man for just me to... handle?" she asked him in a suggestive voice.
He quickly turned his head towards her and glared. He had had just about enough of this woman. Her thoughts, mind, and mouth were so dirty that he felt unclean just walking near her. He curled his lip into a sneer and looked at her like she was a piece of trash.
"Don't talk to me."
Without another word he left out the door of the hall and into the lobby. He left April staring after him with her mouth gaped open. Obviously, she hadn't been used to blunt rejection. Obviously, she hadn't been used to Sousuke.
Meredith sat in her room reading a book. She was still wearing her dress, and she still looked like she had just got ready to go to the ball. In reality, she still had. This was because her date was supposed to be there at 7:45 to pick her up. The ball started at 8:00 and he still hadn't shown up at 8:45. She had reached him on his cell phone. He had told her that he thought she was just kidding when she asked him if he wanted to go with her. He also said that he was kidding when he told her he would go with her. His reason for 'only kidding' was because she was too young for him and he already had a girlfriend that he was going with. Of course, she didn't believe that for a moment. She had been stood up, and she felt like a fool. All of the sudden, her phone rang. It was Sousuke. He was wondering where she was and if she was alright. She told him everything that happened, and how the man told her that he was 'just kidding.' She felt slightly embarrassed when she started crying to him over the phone, but she was comforted by him. He explained to her that his date didn't go so well either. He said that he would be their shortly.
Sousuke hung up the phone in the lobby. He felt bad for Meredith since she felt so bad that she was crying over the phone. He wanted to go see her, but he had to do something first. He smiled evilly as he walked to the man who was supposed to be Meredith's date. He knew the man personally. He was in a platoon with him. As a matter of fact, Sousuke had been his Drill Sergeant. He also knew something about this man that no one else did. People do strange things when they think people aren't watching.
"Hello, private. How are you tonight?"
The man stopped talking with the people at the table immediately. He quickly rose to his feet almost knocking over the chair he was sitting in. He quickly snapped to attention and saluted his Sergeant.
"Sir, I am doing fine, sir!"
"At ease, private."
The man relaxed and reached his hand towards the woman who had been sitting beside him. She smiled at Sousuke as she rose and said her greeting to him. Sousuke smiled and bowed slightly to her.
"Sir, this is Ziliey, my fiancée. Ziliey, this is Sergeant Sagara, my Drill Sergeant."
"Glad to meet you, ma'am. But, I am sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news."
The man looked at him with confusion on his face.
"Private, I saw you in the bathroom three days ago with an empty heroine injection. Now, I told you that if you got rid of the drugs, I would not report it. But, it seems as if you took my warning lightly. This would put you up for a major demotion, but since you are only a private, that means that you will be set up for a dishonorable discharge."
"But... but, sir! You said that you didn't care as long as I did not distribute it or let it interfere with my training!"
"Oh, I'm sorry about that! I didn't think you took me seriously... I was only kidding."
He smiled at the man. His fiancée looked at her future husband in utter disgust and walked away. Sousuke did a mock salute to the man, did an about-face, and walked out the door.
Meredith opened the door when she heard the knock. She knew it was Sousuke. He had called her at close to 10:30 and now it was only a little after 11:00. He stood there before her and gave her a solemn smile. She wasted no time throwing her hands around his waist and giving him a warm embrace. He was somewhat surprised by her sudden action, but then let his hands rest in the middle of her back. He looked down at her and rubbed his hand over her back.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I'm just kind of embarrassed and disappointed."
"You shouldn't feel that way; I'm quite sure that the private is feeling enough of that for a dozen people right now."
She released her grip from him and wiped the tear from her eye. She sat down on her bed and looked up at him.
"Oh, dear! What did you do to the man, Sousuke?" she said with a stern, yet playful look on her face.
"It is not a problem. I didn't beat him up or anything."
"Good. Well, excuse me for a few minutes, let me change clothes. You can change clothes if you want, I think yours are still over there in the corner." she said as she got up off of the bed and headed for the bathroom.
She was stopped when she felt Sousuke reach out and grab her arm. She turned around to look at him. He smiled slightly as he let go of her arm.
"No use in that. We are both dressed up really nice already, so let's go to the ball. There will still be about two hours left when we get there, and Kurtz and his date are already there."
Meredith noticed that Sousuke was blushing. He was scratching that imaginary itch on his head again also. She smiled warmly at him, which only made him blush a bit more.
"Sousuke, are you asking me if I will go to the ball with you?"
"No."
He smiled as he looked back up at her.
"I'm telling you to go to the ball with me. I'm sorry if it sounded like you had a choice in the matter."
Meredith laughed at his remark. Sousuke did the same, though his sounded a bit nervous. He reached into his coat and pulled out a rectangle box. He handed it to her while once again scratching that bothersome itch.
"Here. I picked this up along the way. You should have received something from private jackass, so I figured I would have to make up for him. I hope you like it."
Meredith smiled at him as she opened the box. Inside was the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen. It was adorned with diamonds and had a large, beautiful sapphire stone in the middle, perfectly polished. This seemed to be one of those necklaces that only the movie stars wore. She stared at it with her eyes wide and her mouth gaped open. She was speechless; she didn't know what to say.
"Wow, Sousuke! Thank you, but I can't accept this."
"You better be able to accept it! I've been paying on it for the past year. I meant to give it to you for your next birthday. I hope it makes up for all the other birthday presents that I missed out on getting you. I figured that it seemed appropriate to give it to you tonight since I figured it might cheer you up a little. So… uh… will you go to the ball with me?"
She looked up at him with a tear in her eye. This was the greatest gift anyone had ever gotten her before. She threw her arms around him and gave him a quick hug.
"You are so sweet! Of course, I will!"
"Good. But, let's not be telling people how 'sweet' I am. I do have a reputation to uphold."
Meredith smiled as she looped her arm through his and headed for the door.
"Sure, whatever you say, Sousuke."
"We were never more than good friends, but that night everyone thought we were. I think that Sousuke made a lot of men jealous that night." she said with a quite laugh.
Kaname felt kind of bad that Meredith had expected more out of Sousuke than being just friends, but she also felt somewhat relieved. That meant that she had been no hindrance to Sousuke's love life. Perhaps Sousuke really did have feelings for her. But, it was too late to find that out. She decided that would be the last thing she needed to talk about now.
"So, you managed to get some human behavior out of Sousuke?"
"Yeah, for almost an entire year he had been acting normal, but that all changed when he went on 'that mission.' And, get this; Sousuke actually influenced normal behavior into those that were similar to those that were once the way he was."
This took Kaname by surprise. She never would have thought that Sousuke would have ever been able to fill in the role of a semi-advisor. This had her attention sparked.
"So, who exactly did Sousuke influence into normalcy, or are you not at liberty to tell me that?"
Meredith motioned her head in the direction of one of the pictures on the wall. Kaname looked over to the picture she had motioned to and then turned around and looked at her with a hint of surprise in her eyes.
"Kevin?!"
"Oh, yes. He probably influenced him the most. Father Kevin Jacobs, infamously known as "The Priest." Kevin was drawn to the service of God from an early age. He grew up in the Vatican after his parents abandoned him. He soon gained physical abilities that surpassed man's maximum capabilities. I've asked him how he got those abilities, but he only says that he is a man of God with the abilities to carry out God's assignments. I'm actually starting to believe him a little since he has Mithril completely baffled about that also. Anyway, there was a period in which the certain branches of the Vatican fell into corruption. Kevin followed this branch without question and without knowing that it was corrupt. He had been ordered to kill a countless number of people in the name of 'God.' And, he did exactly that. I can not give an exact body count. What ended up happening was that no one was able to bring him down, so Mithril sent in one of their teams. Sousuke was in that team. I don't know any details about how it happened, because neither Sousuke nor Kevin would tell me about it, but Sousuke had managed to talk some sense into him. Kevin may not admit it, but it truly troubles him that Sousuke is no longer with us. He told me before he left to get you that he wished that he could have helped Sousuke. It is also because of Sousuke that Kevin helped Mithril when he heard about them needing to protect those that he calls 'God's Gifted.' He is not technically a part of Mithril, he refused to join, but Mithril would have been crazy to refuse his help. I was relocated to this church as a part of my protection under Kevin."
"I understand. That's amazing that Sousuke was able to change Kevin in that sort of way."
"Yes, I don't know if I could have done something like that in only the few minutes that Sousuke talked with him. Kevin only explained to me that he and Sousuke could 'see on the same, even, level.' I guess that he meant that he and Sousuke had had similar loyalty problems."
"I see. You mentioned before about 'that mission.' What exactly happened during 'that mission.'?"
"'That mission,' I believe, had something to do with Sousuke's death. 'That mission' is what caused Sousuke to revert back to his old militirisic self after we had made so much progress in his personality. But, to tell you everything about 'that mission' I would have to start from the beginning and tell you about 'that night:' the night after we got back from the ball. And, that can be a very long story."
Kaname tilted her head slightly, motioned her hands, and gave an awkward smile of confession.
"Well, I don't have anything else to do with my time. So, why don't you go ahead and tell me. That is if it doesn't bother you too bad to tell me."
"No, not at all. Well, that would be a lie to say that it doesn't bother me to remember. But, it is a lot easier to talk about something painful when the other person understands why it pains me."
Kaname nodded her head in understanding. She felt as if she were digging up sacred ruins. She felt a shiver go down her spine. She knew that now she would find out the answer to her questions, no matter how horrible they may be. It was the tone in Meredith's voice.
Or, perhaps it was the imposing shadow cast by the treacherous storm clouds she could see forming outside the window. The rain had once again followed her.
"I had no idea what to expect that night, but I wish I had done or said a little bit more to him. It would be the last time I ever saw him alive."
TO BE CONTINUED
Author's Notes: Yes, that was actually a bit longer than I expected. I had to cut it short so that way it wouldn't span on for twice as long. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it was long, but bear with me; this is all essential to the plot. I hope it doesn't get too boring for all of you reading my story, but I'm trying to get the story out in the open so everyone knows what is going on. Hopefully, most of your questions will be answered by this chapter and the next. The story will pick back up hot and heavy after the next chapter or two, and I promise that this utterly depressing story will all work out by then. Please, I need some reviews so I know if this story is decent, or if I'm just wasting my time. Hope you enjoyed. Thank you.