Interlude 03

Nanashi yawned rolling onto his side as he rode along in the truck with the scared-eye man. He had been thankful the elderly man decided to give him a ride.

As far as walking went he wasn't sure where he was going or how long he would have lasted with the cold air blowing around him. He scratched his side reliving it of its itch before looking up at the man with curious eyes. He had a hard time staring at anything else on the man besides his scar on his eye. It was quite the attention grabber for Nanashi and it made him wonder about the old rough scar on his back. Pulling the sheet the man had given him tightly around him, Nanashi sighed knowing he would not find the answer to this pestering question. He had no clue to his past or his family, just the shadowed outline of a woman who held him lovingly in his dreams he believed to be his mother.

"Can you talk kid?" Came the man's gruff voice. Nanashi looked up in question not quite understanding what he had meant by that. The man sighed and repeated what he said in a more clear tone of voice. Nanashi then nodded in response. "What was your name again kid?" The man asked. Nanashi shook his head. "I have no name, if you must call me something, call me no-name," Nanashi replied softly resting his head back down on the chair.

The man stared at the young boy with a saddened eye. He must have be an orphan to have said that to me, the man thought distressed by the young boys words. He noticed something about the boys that held a certain wisdom and unfazed attitude of his lost of innocence that the child pretended to be unaware of. It frightened him to say the least. "There's an orphanage somewhere along this road, I-------,"

"If its all right I'd like to stay with you. An orphanage is not a place I want to be. I'd just be forgotten there," Nanashi replied dryly. "But I'm a rebel, kid. A soldier. Where I'm going isn't a place for childr---." Nanashi cut him off once more, this time with a simple angry glare. The man abruptly closed his mouth. Nanashi sat up and buckled himself into the seat with a look of determination. He would not simply be shoved aside because he was a child and this man did not want to take care or look after him. He could do that himself. He had been through that all his life despite that the fact that he could not remember most of it.

But the nasty scar on his back could vouch for his speculations. "If you are going to accompany me ... your going to have to learn how to fight in a mobile suit and use a gun. I should be trying to stop you but you look as though you've made up your mind about this," The man said dully. Nanashi nodded in response never taking his eyes off the world passing by his window. "I have," He replied. The man began uneasiness rising with him. "You do know you could die and your just a child. You should be playing with children your age----."

"Children my age are mourning the deaths of their parents or vice versa. I know I may die, but I have to have some sort of purpose in my life," Nanashi said curtly. "If not, you might as well stop this vehicle and let me die on the side of the road." The man brought the subject up no more and the two continued to ride in silence, nothing more to say to each other.

"This is no-name, I've destroyed the rebel camp and are retreating now," Nanshi said calmly dealing out the last devastating blows to the enemy. "Roger that no-name!" Came the reply on his comlink. His Leo retreated into the forest hastily. He was now two years older. He learned and mastered the ways of using a mobile suit (more particularly, a LEO ground battle mobile suit) and other weapons that everything to do with warfare. He was also taught the art of stealth operations, but they ooporunity to use these skills were few and far between. But it didn't bother him. he had a purpose and he would live out this purpose until the day he died or so he thought.

When he returned he parked his Leo in a shadow of a mountain's cliff surrounded by a considerable amount of trees. He slid down on a cable and left the camouflaging of his mobile suit to the other soldiers. He made his way over to the camp, he was greeted by many young soldiers that were several years his seniors but they treated him like he was an equal. One young soldier in particular liked to speak to him on normal terms when there was nothing going on. He was obviously of Asian decent and had small but thoughtful navy blue eyes that didn't match his talkative personality.

Nanashi usually listened to what the teenager had to say to him while at other times he ignored him. But it never deterred the teenager from talking to Nanashi at all, day after day Nanashi found himself confronted by the chatter box and wished he would go away. Bringing himself out of his thoughts, Nanashi sat himself down in front of the camp fire to warm his soot covered hands. The Asian teenager looked up at him with concerned eyes.

Nanashi tried his best not to take notice of the boy's eyes and continued to warm his hands. "So how was your mission uh.....?" The Asain teenager always trailed off in all his sentences because he never knew Nanashi's name. "If was fine, thanks for asking," Nanashi replied tiredly rising from his place. The Asian teenager sighed and bowed his head, his friends watched the young boy walk away from their group before starting up their spiteful chatter. Nanashi stopped in his tracks for a moment to listen to what they had to say about, he pondered on where the sudden interest of what other people said about him came from.

"That kid is a major weirdo,"

"Yeah, he hardly ever talks and spends all his time by himself...,"

"I can't see why you bother to even make friends with him Ralph,"

A chorus of 'Yeah's' followed after the comments. Ralph narrowed his eyes in anger. "Because, I envy him. I envy everything about him. He so perfect and he just a child....!"

Scoffs followed the Asian's comment. "Your out of mind Ralph. That kid is a major werid-ass. I heard a rumor that he got nasty scar on his back from his mother beat---."

"That's enough Bryan! You don't know a damn thing about him to make such an assumption!" Nanashi's heart leapt in surprise at Ralph's sudden need to defend him from his fork tongued friends. He turned his head and gazed upon Ralph who was standing above his friends, his fists clutched tightly. "He's not perfect Ralph, he's just like us with acceptation that he's got no family and no name. Maybe your not like us----- yeah---- maybe your just like him. Werid." Bryan retorted, his voice full of spite.

Nanashi watched Ralph jump over the fire and stormed off toward his tent leaving his friends in complete and utter bafflement. Slowly Nanashi headed over to his tent wishing he had never stopped to eavesdrop. He was unaware of the tears that ran down his cheeks. I have no family, no friends, and no name. That's an empty way to live. I'm not perfect......, Nanashi entered his tent and fell onto his sleeping bag crying silently.

[fin]: Interldue 03