Warning! Spoilers for Full Metal Panic, The Second Raid.
Rain, by kmf
The phone ringing loudly made Kaname jump slightly, and she stopped rocking, dropped the pillow and gripped the bat with both hands, peering towards her alarm clock. It was past time she normally left to go to school and for a moment she felt a twinge of guilt for not following her normally regimented routine. Even if she quickly dressed and ran, she would be late.
The phone rang again, its shrill tone demanding her attention. Lowering the bat, she picked it up, flipping it open to look at the illuminated display expecting to see Souske's caller id displayed.
It was caller unknown.
She stared at if for a moment, her hand grasping the handset tightly, before she hesitantly touched the answer key and lifted it to her ear.
There was silence.
"Hello?", she questioned, her voice low and tentative. She almost winced at the fear she heard in it.
A moment's more silence before a smooth voice questioned
"Why aren't you out in the rain? You look beautiful in the rain"
She blinked as memories of the Amalgam agent flooded back to her. His peculiarly pale eyes, his blond hair, his look of detachment as he ordered the death of the girl who had tried to assassinate Kaname.
"You said you would forgive me."
Kaname threw the phone from her, watching as it bounced off the wall and closed ending the call.
She stared at it, blinking and then almost screamed when it rang again. Lifting the bat she stalked towards it, jaw clenched, debating whether to answer it or to use the bat to smash the phone into small pieces. Crouching, she opened it again and blinked as she saw the ID showing it was Souske calling. Opening it, she lifted it to her ear and heard Souske's calm neutral voice stating:
"You are late."
Kaname bit her bottom lip and nodded, not trusting herself to speak without crying.
"Chidori," Souske questioned, his voice sounding a little louder than usual.
"I'm……I'm not feeling well", Kaname murmured, "I'm not going to school."
Both statements were fact. She felt like shit and she felt no guilt that she was lying.
"You should go though, you have missed a lot lately," Kaname continued.
"Negative," Souske replied and hung up.
Seconds later, before she had had even time to close her cell phone, a short sharp rap sounded on the door.
"Chidori, let me in," Souske's voice, slightly muffled by the door, sounded determined.
Kaname stared at the door before looking down at the bat she still grasped in one hand.
"Chidori," Souske's voice continued, "There is a high probability that you have been forced to stay home by malicious intervention as you have never taken time off ill before. You have five seconds to open the door before I force entry."
Kaname blinked.
"4"
"Go to school!" she called moving towards the door, "I'm ill!"
"You never miss school," Souske replied, "3"
"Of course I have, just not recently!"
"2"
"Souske! Don't you dare!" Kaname felt her eyebrows twitch in annoyance, one hand banging against the door to stress just how annoyed.
"1"
"Gah! Ok, ok!" Kaname dropped the bat and, fingers fumbling in her haste, unlocked the door and swung it open.
Souske had his gun out and his foot raised. They stared at each other before Souske fluidly pushed past Kaname to peer around the room. Not pausing to take his shoes off, he moved into the apartment, swiftly moving from room to room, cautiously looking behind doors before returning to the hallway where Kaname was still standing, her fists clenched.
His eyes fell to the bat that she had dropped in an effort to save her front door, before he clicked the safety back on his gun and returned it to his school bag.
"See, I'm fine," Kaname grated, "Now, go to school."
He moved towards her and she stepped back slightly to allow him passage out of her home. But instead of leaving, he reached out and closed the door before turning to look at her closely.
"Sous-"
Kaname's words were chocked off as he lifted a hand to gently touch her forehead, fingers lightly brushing her hair out of the way.
"You do not have a temperature, though your skin is clammy," his eyes lowered to her chest, "and your breathing is rapid."
She blinked as his cheeks suddenly went slighty pink, and she lowered her eyes to see that the top two buttons of her pyjamas were open and she was displaying a generous amount of cleavage. Growling, she batted his hand away from her face, before clutching the material close.
"Souske. Go. To. School, " she grated, turning from him and stomping back into her lounge.
"Negative," Souske said firmly, following her and placing his bag on the table, "My mission is to protect you. I cannot do that if I attend school. The best way for me to proceed-"
He stopped talking as a pillow sailed across and hit him in the face. Kaname glared at him from the couch.
"I can study here whilst providing you nourishment to aid your-"
Souske once again stopped mid sentence as a second pillow hit him squarely between the eyes.
"You are very energetic for someone who is ill," he observed, sitting down at the table and pulling his books out of his case.
Kaname tried to stop the growl that threatened to spill out of her mouth. Souske ignored her, instead glanced around the room, before standing and walking towards the curtained window. As he reached out to draw it open, Kaname leapt up and reached for his arm.
"Don't!"
Souske froze, his head turning slightly to regard her as she held firmly onto his arm, her face pale.
"The light is poor for reading," he said, looking puzzled by her actions and his body tensing in readiness for an attack of some kind.
Kaname bit her lip and nodded, but didn't let go of his arm. She should tell him, she thought. She should tell him how the rain made her feel frightened and alone. But she hesitated. Souske was an experienced fighter. He had been exposed to death and bloody conflict for many years. How could she maintain his respect when she fell apart by the memories rain inflicted on her.
She nodded again and turned despondently away.
"I don't feel well," she said. "I'm going to bed".
Souske watched Chidori scuff her way back to her bedroom, her head bowed and her normally straight back hunched. She was acting in a very unlike Chidori way. He had expected her to be cross about his forced entry into her home, but being smacked with two pillows fell well short of the punishment he had been expecting, even taking into account that she was ill.
Souske watched as she shut the door and then turned his attention back to the curtain. She had been almost distressed by his actions to open them, her face had been pale, her breathing rapid as if she was expecting something bad. He lowered his hand and looked at the curtains in disgust. Glancing around the room he spotted her discarded bat and walked over to pick it up.
He had noted that she had been holding it near the door during their initial conversation. The sound of it clattering to the floor when she had been opening the door had alerted him to the possibility of real trouble and his bluff to kick open the door had almost become reality as he had pulled out his gun and had raised his leg ready to act. It occurred to him now that she had already armed herself prior to his arrival that morning and he wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing. Half of him was pleased that she was proactive with her safety by arming herself when opening the door, and half was disturbed that she had armed herself against him.
Considering the implications he picked up the bat and walked back to the curtains. Extending it out, he used the length of wood to lift the material away from the glass, testing for booby traps. Satisfied there were none, he pulled back the curtains and scanned the balcony and surrounding area.
The rain was still falling steadily. Nothing looked amiss.
Frowning, he turned and looked at Chidori's door, which was fully closed against him. Her eyes when she had held his arm to prevent him opening the curtains had been dull and reminded him all too much of the young Whispered woman he and his team had recovered from the Soviet Union prior to the Chidori mission.
Haunted.
Afraid.
Souske looked around the room again. Chidori's cell phone was discarded on the couch; two pillows were on the floor and a bat in his hand. Nothing else was out of place.
Ill at ease, Souske did another sweep of the apartment and found nothing to cause concern. Pressing an ear against Chidori's door he detected no movement and surmised that she had done as she said she would; gone back to bed and was asleep.
Souske ran through her symptoms in his head wondering what illness she had contracted, considering what steps were needed to restore her health. Cold clammy skin, rapid breathing, dull eyes. His eyes narrowed.
These signs were symptoms of fear.
She had seemed perfectly fine yesterday; energetic, fiery. He had monitored her home carefully during the night, as was his normal routine. He had several taps around her home, which he set up to play on audio in his room at night. He always woke at the slightest noise to indicate forced entry. In fact, he was so attuned to her he woke even if she murmured in her sleep.
Nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Was it possible that something had occurred during the time he vacated his house and his arrival at hers? There was limited time for anything to happen; only someone closely observing Chidori's routine would know this.
Souske ran his hand through his hair as he analysed all the data available to him and came up blank. She had not been dressed for school when he arrived, which tended to suggest that her story of feeling unwell was correct. However, Souske couldn't get rid of the niggle in his gut that told him something else was going on.
He glanced over at the couch again, the phone attracting his attention. Picking it up he flipped it open, hesitated for a moment, then proceeded to check incoming text messages and pone calls. Chidori would pommel him to a pulp for invading her privacy but her safety was his primary concern. And what she didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
Text messages were a negative threat unless the one from yesterday from a girlfriend about how the lead in a boy band was 'hawt' was in code that Souske couldn't decipher.
Looking at calls he saw his number listed, and immediately prior was an unknown caller id, number withheld. He frowned, staring at the illuminated screen. Wrong number? His gut told him no. Chidori's strained voice on the phone, her eyes and demeanour told him that this was something to worry about.
He carefully placed the phone back on the couch and stared at her bedroom door again. Pulling out his own phone, Souske hesitated for a moment then swiftly hit the short cut key for contacting Wraith. As much as he hated dealing with that agent, Wraith may have detected something in the short period of time that Souske's surveillance had been interrupted.
"What?"
Even though the device used to disguise Wraith's voice, Souske could tell that the agent was pissed. Glancing out the window, Souske felt his mouth twitch into a slight smile. Wraith was not based in a safe house; he was probably getting exceedingly wet.
"Something is wrong," Souske forced himself to grate out the words. "Have you detected any activity to be concerned about?"
Wraith snorted.
"I wondered when you would catch on," came the response.
Souske gripped the phone tighter, his eyes again darting to scan the balcony and beyond looking for any sign of danger.
"Is there a threat?" he questioned as he moved away from the window, placing his back against the wall to the side of the window and looking towards the table where his gun lay in his school bag.
"No more than usual," came the unhelpful reply.
Souske tried not to grind his teeth together in frustration and remained silent awaiting further clarification. Wraith exhaled then continued.
"You are dense, Sergeant," he said, "Shall I give you a clue?"
Souske blinked. Clue?
"Rain." Wraith breathed, and then terminated the call.
What the hell? Souske blinked again and remained motionless. Chidiori's life was at risk and all he was getting from a fellow specialist were clues? Grunting in frustration, he closed his phone and bent his head.
Rain.
R.A.I.N?
Was there a new terrorist organisation targeting whispered that he hadn't been informed about?