Another long one for ya'll! This is such an interesting time to work with, cause the characterizations are totally different… anyway.
The rain was still falling. In proper order for a soldier, they had laid out the two dead men; the American and English commander grim faced and looking somewhat humiliated. Batou couldn't blame them; after all, they'd completely lost control, only to have it regained by a Japanese woman.
Frankly, he was a little mystified himself. Where was she, anyway? It had been nearly forty-five minutes since she had run into the hospital, and he knew from the bottom of his circuits that there was no way she had been killed. He glanced at Ishikawa, who shrugged, looking fairly unconcerned.
"What the fuck?" the American commander suddenly exclaimed, surging to his feet. The rest of the unit followed suit, most of the echoing the sentiment.
'The Major' had finally emerged from the ruins and fog, face set in a frown and two guns slung over her back. Beside her was a young man, head shaved, tall but slouching. As they drew nearer, it became apparent what had taken so long. The right side of his face was slathered in blood, and his right eye was covered over with a patch Batou recognized from their medical kits.
They were ten feet away when the commander suddenly advanced on them, growling. "What the hell were you-," he swung his rifle butt up to strike the man in the head when the Major stepped in front of him, catching the rifle with her bare hand.
"Don't touch him," she said, "he's mine."
"My ass he's yours! That bastard killed two men just from this unit!"
Batou almost stepped back from the look in the woman's eyes. As it was, her contempt did force the leader back a step – albeit a small one. "And your ineptness in sniper combat was the root cause," she said directly, not moving an inch from her position beneath the rifle. "He has agreed to join the team; and will be working under me from now on."
He almost fancied that a small electrical spark ran between the two before the American relaxed his rifle and turned away, growling. "Fine," he said, "But he's your responsibility." As if to gloss over his obvious defeat, he quickly gathered his things. "All right, move out! We're going back to base to regroup and plan further."
The night was tense and uncomfortable for all of them. Most of the group fell asleep instantly though, exhausted by the excitement of the day. Batou, however, was too busy studying the new man and the Major under the practiced pretense of sleep. The sniper had fallen asleep almost as soon as they had stopped; obviously in great pain but saying nothing about it. Batou couldn't blame the man; any complaint would have no doubt been met with nothing short of pure venom.
The major sat over the man like a hawk, elbows rested on her knees as she leaned forward. He could tell she was protecting him from a vengeful team member, if anyone dared contest her claim on the prisoner. Her gaze never moved from the small fire they had started, but there was the distinct feeling that she knew exactly what was going on around her. Suddenly, her eyes flicked up and met his.
"Don't even think about it," she said.
He shifted, surprised at being caught in his observation. Previously, no one had ever called him on his sleeping act - unable to tell because of his eyes. "I wasn't," he replied, "he had to do what he had to do."
Her head jerked in acknowledgement and her eyes returned to the fire. For a minute, Batou simply allowed himself to be surprised, and then he couldn't stand it anymore. "How did you know?"
She glanced up, glowering slightly. It seemed to him a long time before she finally said, "You're breathing pattern and movement mimics sleep, but the ultrasonic waves from your cyberbrain don't differ enough from normal wakefulness to indicate that you are truly asleep."
He nodded. It was the only thing he couldn't change without actually going to sleep or installing a sonic filter. "No one's caught me since I figured out how to superimpose sleeping breathing patterns on my waking ones," he said.
"Not surprising," she replied, "I'll be sure not to tell the others."
He snorted in slight amusement and instead of thanking her, leaned back against a boulder and allowed himself to get some shut eye.
Doot da doo. Think of this as your TGIF present.