Valkyrian vignettes:

06/11/2036; Valkyrie; 22:41p.m.

Laying still in pitch black darkness, arms and legs tucked gently against her friend in the comfort of her bedding, Kamiko's passively furrowed brow relaxed, unseen by Suzuha, who remained in a light slumber beside her.

"Suzu."

Hearing the shift of her hair as her head turned, Kamiko remained still, heart thumping from a question on the tip of her tongue.

"Hm?"

"Back when you left... Right before, at least."

"At that park?"

"Yes. When we there there... When you kissed me back... What were you feeling then?"

Skin tingling from the question, a wash of overwhelming warmth crept along her extremities.

"Well... I kissed you, because you did it first."

"I figured that... But what made you do it, in your heart?"

The warmth, now taking form as blush, crept across Suzuha's cheekbones.

"I... I mean, at the time I was kinda freaking out... Not sure if the time machine would even work, or if I'd survive the journey. And if it did work, I was going to be leaving behind everything and everyone I knew, including you. So I think I wanted to do something for you that I figured you'd appreciate." ...Which you clearly did, because it was one of the first things you brought up when I ended up in here again, one whole accidental month later.

Young hearts hammered in the vacuum to follow, finally prompting Suzuha to revolve bodily, twisting the bed sheets around her waist. Eyes suddenly meeting in the dim glow of newly introduced floor light, reflecting off of the room's concrete-lined surfaces after sensing her movement, Kamiko's lips remained visibly parted.

"Are you sure?"

"As sure as I can be."

Trading flickers of interest, expecting the room to fade to darkness again, a teasing moment of waiting unsuccessfully passed, and Suzuha's mouth curled upward with a slight smile of irony, realizing Kamiko's eyes were gradually widening with a curious expression of her own.

"Um... Since you've gone and said that now..."

"Yeah...?"

Feeding the fire visible in her friend's irides with a teasing drawl, Suzuha's eyebrow rose.

"Would you care if I just..."

Ending her own sentence in a drawl, she reached higher and gently brushed a thick group of hair back behind her ear. Fingers curling around the soft mass, only to reopen and cautiously drift down along Suzuha's jaw, Kamiko's fingertips came to rest on the edge of her cheek. Then, in a bodily shift closer, noses nearly touching, Suzuha watched patiently as their bodies pressed together with sensual proximity.

Clearly you're already going for it so... "Go ahead." Silly.

Eyelids drooping in expectation, and then slamming shut as the space between their faces promptly vanished, the tender folds of her friend's lips tucked neatly against her own, settling squarely into a simple kiss.

Hah, hello. This is kinda... Oookay. Going after that bottom lip, huh? Alright you cute... Ass... Girl. What if IIIII just...

Capturing her upper lip in a bout of returning fire, puffs of passion and elation left their nostrils as the innocent connection became playfully competitive with squishy pushes back and forth. Then, with a jostle of the mattress and shuffling sheets, bare arms sank into the bedding near Suzuha's shoulder, and she found her face slowly orbiting upright, nudged and pulled by Kamiko's flushed facial features. Eyes flickering open and closed to glimpse the bodily silhouette that now was suspended over her head and chest, their lips suddenly separated, and an exchange of breath danced between their faces.

"Suzu."

"Mm?"

"Are you... Is this alright?"

"It is. I've just never really done it."

"Me neither."

"Besides that one time, kinda."

"Yeah, haha."

Peeking open from her quiet laugh, catching sight of a reflective twinkle on her hazel eyes, Suzuha waited wordlessly as a thought seemed to percolate in Kamiko's mind, veiled behind the unfettered admiration cast into her low-lit expression.

You know... I think the only other person to look at me like this, was probably my mom. And Ruka, I guess. When it comes down to it, being cared about by anybody is good. That's probably why I'm perfectly fine with everything that's going on right now. I mean, who even gives a shit if its a girl kissing me? I've literally never had any feelings for a boy in my life... Not with a quarter of it spent fighting and surviving world war three. No time for that crap... At least, not until I wound up here. Deep underground in a huge bunker complex where I'm not having to scrape through each day... God damn. Both of us have just been hanging out for days too, just so my sorry ass can heal up after almost dying. We sure are lucky, huh? Just wasting the days away, somewhere safe and warm... This shouldn't even be possible.

"Did I mention I'm glad that you're here and alive?"

Blinking out of her train of thought, Suzuha's nose flared in exhale.

"Yes. A few times now."

"Right... I'm just, I can't help it."

"Hey, I'm glad to be alive too. The feeling's mutual."

Grinning from the giggle issuing from Kamiko's throat, Suzuha chest rose with a deep intake. Then, reconnecting in another collision of moist lips, tickled briefly by the brush of her friend's messy curled hair on her face, Suzuha's body drooped into the mattress beneath in a flutter of elation and utter relaxation.

After all the nightmares I've been through... You'd better believe it, Commander.

06/13/2036; Firearm Target Range; Valkyrie; 11:17a.m.

Walking away from the munitions kiosk, with rolled-up paper targets held in one hand, and firm grasps of hefty firearms maintained in the other, both Kamiko and Suzuha wandered into the concrete tunnel leading away from the facility, muffled reports of gunfire growing faint behind Suzuha's slower limp-laden pace.

"Your groupings seemed rather high, Commander."

"Yes, well, your snorting demon of a machine-pistol has untamed recoil."

"And yet your rifle seeks to damage my shoulder with its own kicks. What was that about being untamed?"

"Once you fire it enough, you get used to it."

"Cause your scarred shoulder loses nerve endings."

Rolling her eyes with a smile, Kamiko lifted the PM-9 in her grasp further upright, twisting it and inspecting the foregrip mounted beneath the barrel.

You'd think with something so stubby and low caliber...

"If its too much to handle, I can hold it for you."

Nose wrinkling, and then peeking aside, seeing the muzzle of her wood-stocked semi-automatic rifle peeking out behind Suzuha's head, Kamiko eyed her brunette friend pointedly.

"Says the one resting my rifle on her shoulder."

"Easier to carry this way."

"You could just wear the sling."

"Nah."

"Reliving the days of the JSDF marches?"

"Hardly. Those Howa eighty-nines were lighter anyway."

"We have dozens of those in the armory."

"I remember."

"So if you feel like operating with something a bit bigger in the future..."

"No thanks. My snorting demon has served me well, thank you."

Grasping both handles of the machine pistol, Kamiko eyed the circular profile of the empty drum magazine kept in the weapon's receiver.

...And that. I've never seen a drum cartridge for any of the other PM-9s we have. This must be something custom... Which means Suzu probably wound up with some odd one-off modification, done by SERN or whoever else... Fifty rounds of nine millimeter for one little gun. I think I can see why she fared as well as she did, out there in the ghetto... A whole lot of firepower with the most common ammunition in the world.

Letting go of the receiver, she then pulled open the weapon's action with a tug of gloved fingers, peering into the dirtied steel internals with an upward tilt.

...And to think this thing was almost never cleaned for two years of service. Doused by whatever oil she found to boot... A testament to design, surely. Probably luck, too. I'm sure it jammed on her many times.

Releasing the action, her vision wandered aside once more to the braided ponytail swaying behind Suzuha's uneven pace.

You're one lucky girl. I can't even begin to imagine some of the terrible situations you've experienced... Even after all my own battles and close calls.

06/18/2036; Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan; 17:57p.m.

Listening to brief crackles of radio chatter, binoculars pressed against her brow, Urushibara Kamiko observed the nearby movement of half a dozen tanks through the city street just below, from a third-story perch in an office building.

"For all the firepower those things have... You guys almost never use the main guns."

"Hasn't been any need so far. If anything, they're mobile cover and a distraction."

Standing with arms crossed, a short distance away at an adjacent window, Suzuha observed a cluster of camouflaged troops and armed civilians move in organized motions among the armor, pushing further through the city towards the distant reports of gunfire only a kilometer away.

"Right." Plus tank shells aren't to be wasted, just like everything else big and badass we have. I know.

"...However, if there's a bunch of enemies in one particular spot, we could reason a little high velocity depleted uranium."

Smiling from the commander's drawl, Suzuha reached back with a stretch of her arms, her own binoculars rising up along her bosom.

"That'd be cool."

"I've been expecting some showing of opposing vehicles but... Not a one has appeared since we started this journey."

"No choppers ain't a bad thing."

"Agreed. However, the lack of aircraft seems odd. Either they're holding out, or they don't have anything to throw at us."

"Them pesky Japanese keep blowing up their toys, huh?"

"Probably."

Squinting with continued interest as the first tank in the line rumbled around a distant street corner, Kamiko sat back in an old office chair, squeaking from a backwards tilt as she lowered her binoculars.

"Alright. We're changing positions."

"Again? Where to?"

"Anywhere on the far side there. That building with the red billboards on top, maybe."

"Hmm. Copy that."

Peering aside as the dark-haired commander quickly scribbled into a notebook, only to slap it shut and stow it into her backpack, she rose to her feet, motioning towards a nearby stairwell with a nod of her head. Whirling away from the door and keeping just behind Kamiko's movements, no longer ailed by a sprained leg, Suzuha eyed the young woman's authoritative stride with interest.

Went from a pesky rebel, to being the bodyguard of Valkyrie's commander... I guess that's a promotion of sorts. Master Kyouma wants both of us alive more than anything, so the best way to go about that was have us watch each other's backs. Makes sense. I'm not really fit to do much else, honestly.

Peering past her shoulder, hand resting readily on the receiver of her PM-9, an exhale left her nose as they wound down the building's central stairwell.

Hah. That's putting it lightly. Whatever. I'd rather do this, than have to blunder through that time-traveling crap again. At least we're making progress on this southwest march. Hell, we're halfway through this city already. Our objective is to secure the capitol of Aichi, and then we can turn back and head home, on a freight train of all things... Not first class, but at least it won't take a week to get back to Tokyo.

Stepping through the structure's wide open doorway, with its doors long-since blasted free from their hinges, both young women glanced in various directions at their surroundings, before continuing onward past numerous rusting and flat-tired vehicles.

That strategic blockade-line-thing Kyouma planned out seems to be shaping up nicely. Probably helps too that people are coming out of the woodwork. Literally. The countryside seems to be where everyone fled to, and now they're all returning with guns in their hands. Ready to take back the homeland.

Smiling from the thought, Suzuha glanced aside to a group of civilians hurrying past, readily toting shotguns and pistols, and Kamiko discreetly nodded with approval from the sight.

Funny to think we used to be a gun-free nation... And now everyone that's able, has one in hand or in a holster. Ready to fill any of SERN's grunts full of lead.

Brow narrowing with a hint of a smirk, her eyes rose into the hazy sky above.

We should start broadcasting our own daily death report... So SERN can see us exterminating their forces for a change. That'd be hilarious.

03/14/2039; Tokyo Dockyards, Shinagawa Resettlement Zone, Japan; 16:16p.m.

"You know, three years ago I would never have thought I could just stand here, out in the open... And not have to worry about anything happening."

Seated on the top of an empty shipping container, among several thousand occupying one of several storage yards lining the city's southern wharf, Kamiko's fingers remained intersected, patiently watching the movements of an ex-JMSDF destroyer, cutting through murky waters among a dozen other operational warships that now guarded Tokyo Bay.

"I mean, obviously I dreamed of Japan being liberated someday. I didn't know how or when it would happen, but here we are, practically in control of our whole nation again... The main island, at least."

"All that remains of it."

"And more. We have our people, and we have the motivation. That's why we've come this far, after everything."

Smiling from Suzuha's optimistic speech, her shadow cast onto the ribbed steel just beside her, Kamiko looked aside, through the silhouettes of harbor cranes and industry, towards the dusty high-rise-dotted skyline of greater Tokyo.

"I know. We still have a long ways to go before we're back in order... And that's assuming SERN doesn't bother us in the meantime." Though by this point, I'm fairly certain they won't. So much for invading the capitol two years ago... Guess SERN wasn't expecting our shaky government to be forward-thinking enough to construct an underground arcology fortress. Valkyrie became our salvation, and now Tokyo has officially survived the end of the world.

"Yeah. Your papa Kyouma put it best though. We've risen from the dead, and anyone that steps foot on our land to complain, is gonna get their ass kicked."

"Right back into the ocean."

"Hell yes."

Chin rising, reviewing snippets of her father's recently broadcasted declaration of war towards all who comprised SERN, a trace of a wistful smile lifted the corner of her mouth as a wayward coastal breeze flicked tufts of her hair.

Finally ridding ourselves of a regime after our own apocalypse... If only it didn't cost sixty million lives to get this far.