Part 2 – Downtime
The Knights – a Special Forces group under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command. The group is made mostly of species that no one else wants, trusts, or species that are looked down upon. Most of them are good soldiers, but many of the other Special Forces groups won't give them much of a chance.
First stop after that mission was the showers – a good wash underneath warm water with soap is a very good morale booster for soldiers when they need it.
The debriefing went along smoothly, save for the fact that they needed to explain why they had to go hot towards the end of the mission.
Needless to say, the team was relieved climbing onto the C-130 that they would be heading back to America for some downtime.
As they climbed onto the C-130, Merlin was already stringing up his hammock, "There's our resident crop-burners," he said as he looked over to see them.
Merlin, or rather, Corporal Rock Lee, was a half-orc that was given to the Knights from Force Recon selection. Rock might have been half-orc, but he was one of the best intelligence operators you could ask for. His father was a Marine that served in the attempted invasion of America by Orc pillagers from Scandinavia. After the invasion, he found a single female Orc who was being held as a slave by the pillagers. He helped her gain citizenship, taught her English, and got her a job as a teacher of the orc language at a local school. They got married, had Rock, and trained him to be tough.
Being as he was half-human and half-orc, he would never be fully accepted by society. When he was looking for a part-time job when he was in high school, people didn't want to give him a job because of the jet-black hair, red eyes, Middle-Eastern human skin tone, and the two sharp teeth jutting out of his lower jaw. Naturally, the military was the best choice for him, and he gravitated toward the Marine Corps.
"Don't forget you helped us," Galahad said.
Galahad, or rather Sai was an average-sized elf who had very pale skin, and very shiny black hair like Rock's. Ending up in the Knights was the last thing in his mind, but he felt like joining them was the only way he could help fight injustice.
"Ah, leave him alone," Gawain said.
Gawain, otherwise known by his given name, Sergeant Shino Stonebearer Aburame was a 6'6 half-Goliath that was one of the best shots with a Machine Gun you could ever have watching your back. The big problem with Shino was that he was so damn tall, and the deep red tattoos he had stuck out like a sore thumb on his Caucasian-like skin. Because of this, no one wanted him on their squad because he was a walking wall, or as the Marines would describe it: a walking bullseye.
"Yea, they left him in the cave too long," Percival said.
Percival usually went by his given name: Petty Officer First-Class Naruto Uzumaki. One of the best Caucasian-skinned half-elf snipers you could find who was put into the Knights by mistake, but he still loved it just the same. Naruto was born to a human Navy sailor father and an elvish mother who worked at a clinic in Chicago. While watching his father work, Naruto knew instantly what his destiny would be. He would have originally gone to either a human or an elvish unit, but he ended up in the Knights when there was no other unit available (or so he thought).
"Anything to add, boss," Merlin asked.
"Yea," Lancelot said, "Where's my hammock?"
"Over there," Merlin said.
Lancelot, real name: First Lieutenant Sasuke Dharmos Uchiha. A Tiefling, one of the best friends you could ever have, and the worst enemy you could ever make. You look at the 6'3 height, the rusty-red skin, dark onyx eyes, horns that wrapped around the side of his skull and came to two upswept points in the back like a crown, and gorgeous black hair, and you'd expect him to tear you to pieces like an angry grizzly bear. But Sasuke was a very different kind of Tiefling: orphaned from birth, he was raised by an elvish father and a human mother, who taught him to respect those around him. Upon joining the Army, he was not liked as an officer due to his race, but he still excelled. But when he tried out for Special Forces and passed at the head of his class, but everyone else passed on him, so the Knights reached out, he accepted, and was welcomed with open arms.
As Sasuke strung up his hammock and settled in, he watched as Sai walked over to the end of the plane, took his seat in his regular position, and instantly started snoring.
Naruto simply sat back against the side of the plane, leaned his head back, and just relaxed in his seat.
A fourteen and a half-hour flight from Afghanistan back to America is very boring for soldiers, all there is to do is sleep, clean your gun(s), or indulge in a hobby such as writing fan fiction.
That was the last thing on Sasuke's mind right now as he thought back to his new (personal) mission.
It was early morning by the time they left Afghanistan, and it was late evening by the time they arrived back in Chicago.
Their first stop upon leaving the plane was to change out of their military gear.
"I can't wait to get home," Rock said as he removed his TRU-SPEC shirt, and pulled on the black short-sleeve button-up shirt he put in his locker when they left.
"Why," Shino asked as he removed his boots to change into his sneakers, "Your mom press your sheets?"
"Fuck you, Shino," Rock said as he fixed the button on his jeans, "Me and my sister are trying to keep her kids in line now that her divorce is finalized."
"How's she dealing with that by the way," Naruto asked as he changed into the khaki shorts he left behind, "I'm sure it'd probably be stressful, being a single parent."
"She's fine," Rock said, "And why are you curious? You're getting married in three months!"
"Come on, leave him, alone guys," Sasuke said as he fastened the belt on his jeans, "Poor kid's got enough to worry about without you two making it hard on him."
"Thanks, boss," Rock said.
"After all, he has to make sure the kids end up better than he did," Sasuke said as he walked over to slap the team's intel officer on the back.
The team then walked over to their vehicles to drive back to their houses.
The 2018 Forge Fusion Sasuke had bought and paid for on deployment was sitting in the parking lot waiting for him.
Shino climbed into the F-350. It was Ingot Silver, with an angular step-bar, a tailgate step, and a custom aftermarket bumper with a winch.
Naruto meanwhile had a custom soft tail Harley painted black, and had a custom red-leather seat.
Rock meanwhile had a Honda Metropolitan painted white.
Sai lived on base so he didn't need to drive to his house because his house was on station.
Sai simply walked over to his barracks, and as he arrived, he saw his human girlfriend, Ino standing outside the barracks waiting for him.
"Welcome home," She said as she walked up to him, and pulled him into a loving kiss.
Twenty minutes later, a group of celestial healers was leaving Chicago Central, among them was a small group of holy maidens: a human, a gnome, and a half-elf.
The human was about five-foot-eight, middle-eastern skin-tone, auburn brown eyes, long, flowing black hair, and a simple beauty mark above the upper-right corner of her lip.
The gnome was three-foot-two, Caucasian skin-tone, deep green eyes, thinly cut brown hair, and a very thin, long nose.
The half-elf was five-foot-five, Caucasian skin-tone, amazing emerald green eyes, long bubblegum pink hair that was tied in a long ponytail, and she had a small green diamond tattooed on her forehead.
"I'm telling you Jossa, he's into you," the human said.
"He's a dwarf," Jossa said, "I'm a gnome. Really Lucy, how would that honestly work?"
"You make it work," Lucy said as she held her hand out to the half-elf, "Look at Sakura. She's the product of a mixed relationship. She's in a mixed relationship."
Sakura S. Haruno, one of the strongest women you would ever meet, and one of the best holy healers you could ask for if you had suffered a serious injury. Her father was an American human who was a serious military man that pushed his kids to join the military. Her mother was a British elf that fell in love with Sakura's father and immigrated to the U.S. when she and her newly-wed husband learned she was pregnant with Sakura's older brother.
"Speaking of which," Jossa said as she looked up to see Sasuke standing beside his car, looking at her, "There's the military man."
"I'll see you tomorrow," Sakura said as she walked toward Sasuke.
"The kind of relationship we all strive for," Lucy said, "You see Jossa? Mixed-race couples can work."
As Sakura walked up to Sasuke, she reached out to grab the front of his long-tailed black tee-shirt and yanked him down to her level so she could attempt to turn his lips inside out with her own.
When the pulled apart, Sasuke smiled down at her, "That's a nice way to say hello," he said.
"You've been gone for a week," Sakura said, "I want you all to myself tonight."
"How about dinner first," Sasuke asked.
"I know a nice place," Sakura said as she opened the door to Sasuke's car, and put her bag in, "It's called Veils'."
"Sounds nice," Sasuke said, "Dress-code?"
"Just come as-is," Sakura said as she walked around to the other side of the car, "We'll be welcome there."
As they climbed in and set off, Shino was arriving at his house: a nice one-story house that was supported by both him and his wife's paycheck.
As Shino exited his truck and walked up to his door, he heard the sound of the TV on.
Unlocking the door, he walked inside to see the TV on, after closing it, he walked into the living room to see his wife and daughter sitting down to dinner.
"Daddy," five-year-old Hine Steel Aburame exclaimed as she jumped out of her chair to run up to Shino.
Shino knelt down to pick up his daughter as his pregnant human wife, Tenten Aburame walked up to him.
His daughter was mostly human, but she was 1/4 Goliath. So she had inherited a very pale, almost white skin tone, her mother's deep brown hair, and his brown eyes. Right about now she was five-years-old, but she looked like she could be an eight-year-old, she was four-feet tall. Being mostly human, but somewhat Goliath, she would probably grow up to be almost as tall as Sasuke.
His wife, Tenten Charlotte (Hastings) Aburame was a very beautiful five-foot-three Caucasian/Japanese human with rich brown hair, and brown eyes you could get lost in.
Tenten walked up to Shino who knelt down to give her a kiss. It must suck when your significant other is much taller than you.
"Welcome home," Tenten said as she looked up at her skyscraper of a husband.
"Good to be home," Shino said before looking over at Hine, "You been a good girl while I've been gone?"
"Yes," Hine said, "You know I have."
"Ok then," Shino said as he noticed the smell coming from the kitchen, "Something smells good."
"Momma made dinner," Hine said, "We saved some for you in case you'd be back tonight."
"Fantastic," Shino said as he walked into the dining room, "Cause I'm hungry. Those MREs they fed us in Afghanistan were disgusting."
"Well now you're home so you can enjoy my cooking once more," Tenten said as Shino set their daughter at her seat, she sat at her seat, and Shino walked over to place a huge slab of his wife's lamb and potatoes onto a plate he pulled out of the nearest cabinet.
He sat down with his wife and daughter and began eating as Rock was pulling up in front of his sister's house.
After turning off his scooter, and placing his helmet down, his niece and nephew swarmed him like dwarf miners wanting their payment.
"Ok, ok," Rock said as he stopped himself from falling.
His nephew and niece were strong: his sister had married an elf, so her three children were 1/4 human, 1/4 orc, and 1/2 elf. His nephew, Arund had some semblance of an orc with his square jaw, but mostly he looked like a half-elf with his middle-eastern skin tone and his pointy elf ears. If he opened his mouth, however, and you saw his pointy meat-shredding orc-like teeth, you'd know he had a little Orc in him. His niece was the same, save for the fact she had a more rounded jaw, less-pointed teeth, and she had orc-like patterning around her chest and abdomen.
Rock's sister, Zunagu stood in the doorway with her one-year-old son, and as her brother walked up to her, she spoke up, "Good to have you home."
"Likewise," Rock said as he looked down at his nephew, and held out his arms to offer to take him.
Zunagu placed Barben in his arms, the family walked back into the house.
It was at this time that Naruto was arriving where he needed to be. An elvish community that had to be reached by climbing a series of steps that looked like stairs leading into a heavenly realm.
The various vehicles that ran on magical fuel instead of fossil fuel were parked around the trees were all painted either white, grey, or black, and were all owned by elves or humans that lived with the elves.
As he climbed the stairs, he could see the gentle light from the white path lights that hung above the pathways. Naruto walked down the pathway to a single house that was made of wood, had a green roof that came to several points, but then sunk back into the rest of the roof. The door was stained black and had a thick glass window.
Naruto went into his pocket, fished out his keys, unlocked the door, and walked inside to see the one person he had missed the most waiting for him: his fiancée, Hinata.
Hinata Hyūga, a gorgeous five-foot-three Moon Elf with fair skin, dark purple (almost black) hair, and faint grey eyes. Hinata was involved in an accident several years ago in which her eyes were damaged. The healers were able to save most of her vision, but she still had residual effects from the accident. She could see, make out the shapes and colors of things, but tiny details were completely invisible to her.
Naruto and Hinata met in elementary school and had been in love ever since. After the accident, Naruto took five days of unpaid vacation to attend to her. It was during that time that Naruto confessed his love for her, and they started dating. Two months prior to our current period, Naruto asked Hinata to marry him, and they had already had their wedding all planned.
"Welcome home," Hinata said as she looked over to see her fiancé shut the door behind him, and lock it.
"Sorry I'm late," Naruto said as he walked up to Hinata, sat down next to her, and allowed her to lean on him.
How was that…