Disclaimer: I make no claim to the series, ideas, or characters of Full Metal Panic.

Defining Normalcy

Chapter 13: Seasons of Beatitude

By Adam Lakewood

Kaname and Jin came down the stairs outside the apartment laughing. They had cooked up some maniacal plans to get back at Kalinin and Sousuke while they were changing back into dry clothes.

"Yep, I do believe that'll work!" Kaname said with a laugh as she grabbed hold of the door handle of Kalinin's S.U.V.

As soon as she opened the door, her breath was almost taken away by the surge of heat which blasted from the inside of the vehicle. She actually had to take a step back before getting into the S.U.V. Jin also had to take the same steps Kaname did before entering.

Jin and Kaname got in, closed the doors, and buckled up. Jin was the first to inquire about the obvious.

"Jeez! What's with the heat?" she asked as she removed her jacket.

"We were cold." Kalinin simply stated.

"Yes." Sousuke instantly agreed.

Jin leaned forward between the two front seats and looked at the two.

"Wow! You're actually cold, Sousuke?" she asked with a mock gasp.

"Yes." he stated.

She immediately noticed that in both Sousuke's and Kalinin's hair there was bits of snow. She took it upon herself to dust it from its current entanglement in the numerous strands of grey and brown hair. She chuckled as she lifted up their ponytails and water immediately dripped onto their jackets.

"Soooo, what happened? Did you big, gruff guys decide to play in the snow some more after we went inside?" she asked in a teasing voice.

"No." Sousuke stated sharply as he crossed his arms.

"So what hap…" Kaname started before she was interrupted by Kalinin's sudden reply.

"Some snow fell off of a nearby roof onto Mr. Sagara, and…" he stopped, choosing his words carefully so he wouldn't be lying.

"There were children around. I got hit in the head with several snowballs."

Kaname raised an eyebrow at the response. Kalinin happened to see her questioning facial expression through his rearview mirror.

"Their numbers…" he started, unsure where he was going to go with the statement.

"… were tremendous." continued Sousuke.

"They definitely outnumbered us." added Kalinin, still being careful to keep his words in the boundaries of the truth while not divulging all information.

"Thousands…" Sousuke uttered, his mind obviously drifting somewhere else.

Sousuke was always great at subterfuge. That is, if he had the proper time to come up with a feasible explanation to whatever path of interrogation he may have been sublimated to. Unfortunately, he was worse at lying than a five year old when he had to make one up while under pressure.

This did not go unnoticed by Kaname, who had grown so accustomed to Sousuke she could read him like a book.

"You mean to tell me that we couldn't land a single snowball on either of you, yet you were both completely owned by children?!" she asked, sounding surprised.

Kalinin paused, not knowing how to respond. Thankfully, Sousuke had not problem with exaggerating the truth.

"They were very skilled." he simply stated as he pulled his hair loose from Jin.

"So, let me get this straight. These children, not adults, were…" Jin tried to interrogate but was interrupted.

"Very, very, skilled." Sousuke implied with a tone which politely said that he was finished talking about it.

Not another word pertaining to the subject was uttered during the trip to the airport.

The car trip to the airport had went by just fine. Unfortunately, it seemed as if there had been slight delays everywhere they went. Now, they would be waiting about three hours for the delayed plane to get there. Fortunately, none of them were on a strict time schedule.

Sousuke just hated waiting.

"You would think that with all the people who contribute in expenses for…"

"Yes, Sousuke. We know already." Kaname butted in impatiently.

"The amount of time it takes for an individual to…"

"You have told us that already too."

"But, I would imagine that an airline of this size would…"

"Yep." said Jin, paying only minor attention to him while reading her book.

"If I were really pressed for time, I would not hesitate to assert my…"

"But, Mr. Sagara, you're not in a big hurry. Why don't you just relax until our plane gets here?" Kalinin suggested while momentarily looking up from his newspaper.

Sousuke sighed as he quickly rose to his feet from the uncomfortable chair provided by the courtesy of the food court. He leaned over with a slight grunt and began trying to rub the numb feeling out of his knee. He paced for a few steps before turning around to face the others. He grabbed his jacket and threw it over his shoulder.

"I think I need to go walk around for a little bit."

"Getting restless, Sousuke?" Kaname asked with a slight smile.

"No, not entirely. I would just like to go out and get some fresh air. Anyone want to come along?"

Jin looked out the large window next to where they were sitting. She saw the thick flurry of snow which was delaying travel. She shivered from just thinking about how cold it must have been outside in that monstrous flurry.

"Uh… no thanks, Sousuke. I think it just might be a tad bit chilly out there for me." Jin said as she pulled her arms into the sleeves of her coat. "I get cold just thinking about how cold it must be out there." she said with a laugh.

"Yeah, that's fine. Care to take a short walk, Kaname?" Sousuke asked.

"Nah, I think I'll have to…" she began to refuse his invitation until she happened to catch a fleeting look in his eyes when he slowly turned to look back out the window.

It was a look that no one would ever be able to identify, but she knew him too well. He was in a good mood, just like he was everyday. But, he seemed to have something on his mind. Whatever it was, it seemed to be bothering him. She changed her mind about her previous reply and reached behind her to get her coat.

"Well, I guess I'll…" she said before she was interrupted when Kalinin stood up with his characteristic grunt.

"I'll accompany you, Mr. Sagara. I was just getting ready to do the same thing. Besides, I think Ms. Chidori and Ms. Lain wanted to take a look around the gift shop. I guess now would be a pretty good time to do that since we're all waiting on the plane to get here."

Kaname was about to inform them that she would accompany them on their walk until she was met with a quick glance from Kalinin which suggested otherwise. Obviously, Kalinin had caught onto the same thing she had. There had been many times in the past several months she and Sousuke had 'talked' before. Sousuke was probably happier than anyone else in the world, but sometimes… he had his days. He still had a lot of things which he seemed to still be trying to get over a few things which he didn't want to, if not refused to talk about. Granted, he would talk to her, but he would usually talk to her by asking her opinion about a lot of obscure and open-ended questions. On several occasions, she would go to Kalinin for help or suggestions about how she could talk to him or get him to talk. Every time he had told her that she would know better than anyone. So, she trusted that Kalinin was correct in deciding that he should be the one to talk to Sousuke. Kalinin had a wisdom that she dared not look at as humble.

Sousuke turned a smile to her, somehow telling her it was alright.

"Hey, while you're there, Kaname, get me one of those chocolate bars with the gold and red wrapper. Jin knows which ones I'm talking about; I love those things." he said as he held his fingers apart giving an approximate measurement of the object of his desires.

Kaname returned the smile and began walking towards the gift shop. Jin got up and followed along behind her.

"Sure thing!" said Kaname. "I guess we'll just meet back here, then."

Kaname and Jin spent the most of an hour browsing over the items in the uniquely large gift shop. Kaname would hold up some sort of odd shaped, pewter figurine, and Jin would reply by holding up some sort of candle of equal individuality.

Kaname laughed quietly when Jin held up a candle which was carved to look like a cartoon moose she had seen on television before. Jin brought it down and returned it to its rightful place on the shelf once she guessed Kaname had seen it. The shelf came up far over her head, so she couldn't see Kaname over them.

Kaname saw a snowglobe which caught her eye on the bottom of the shelf and bent over to get a better look at it. She accidentally nudged somebody on her way down, causing him to stumble slightly against the shelf behind her.

"I'm so sorry, sir! Please, excuse me." she said.

Kaname immediately felt queasy when she heard an accusatory grunt she knew all to well. The voice confirmed her fears.

"Yeah, you better be, woman." said the man behind her.

She didn't need to turn around to know who the voice belonged to.

"Miru." she simply said with a sound of disappointment in her voice.

"The one and only! You don't have to sound so absolutely disgusted when you say my name, now do you?" he said with that characteristic, obnoxious laugh.

"Maybe I am." Kaname grumbled as she slowly rose from her crouched position.

"Hey, I heard that!" Miru said, obviously losing his patience quick.

She had several bad memories of Miru. Most of which were from the single date they had been on almost a year ago. He had seemed like a nice guy at first, but it didn't take long for her to find out that he was nothing more than an obnoxious pervert with an unearthly pride with no foundation to it. Needless to say, that date had not ended well.

"I'm glad you were capable of comprehending my words." she said with a sneer as she turned around to face him.

"Yeah, I thought that after that one night, the only way you were able to talk was through grunts and moans!" he said, raising his voice to an unnecessary level.

That obviously struck a nerve. As much was obvious when Kaname clenched her fists together as her face turned red with anger.

"That's a lie, and you know it! I would never even think about doing such a thing with…" she yelled, unintentionally getting the attention of everyone in the store.

"Finish that sentence and I'll put you in your place, woman!" he yelled as he fiercely thrust his finger out in front of her face.

"Just like you did at the restaurant?!" she snapped as she batted his finger away from her face.

"That was an accident! I never intended for that plate to flip up and hit you in the nose! I just thought it would flip upside down when I hit it on its side!"

Not to mention he was very immature.

"What kind of idiot would even consider trying to flip a plate in a…"

"Hey, watch it you bitch! Don't think you have too cute of an ass for me to thoroughly kick." he threatened, once again raising his voice.

Jin finally managed to push her way through the crowd that was gathering around. She made her way to Kaname's side and gave the both of them a curious look.

"Hey, Kaname, what's going on?"

Kaname either ignored or was too caught up in her anger to notice her friend beside her.

"Wow! Your wit absolutely astounds me, you chauvinist pig!"

"Now you're insulting my intelligence?!" he said with a completely offended tone of voice.

"I don't think so. She can't insult something which is nonexistent." said a voice from behind him.

Miru turned around quickly to see a small, Chinese man standing behind him. The man looked up at him with a smirk.

"Yo!" he greeted as he flashed him a peace sign with the same hand he was holding a snowglobe.

"Hey, who the hell do you think you are?!" Miru yelled.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't get offended. I was just kidding. It just figured it would be something cool to say. Besides, I'm not here to pick a fight with anyone; I'm just picking up a present for my little cousin." he said as he rose up from his kneeled position on the floor, examining the snowglobe.

He held the snowglobe out in front of Miru.

"What do you think about this one? Do you think she would like it? She's a little seven year old girl; I think I'm asking a pretty reliable source." he said with a huge smile.

"You little shit! Are you trying to pick a fight with me?!" Miru yelled even louder.

"Oh, no! Of course not! That would be insane of me; you'd probably clean my clock! I mean, look at the size difference here!" he said with a laugh.

"Then why are you insulting me if you know I could beat you up?" he asked with another proud smirk as he tightly clenched his fist.

The smaller man simply motioned to the outside of the glass wall at a security guard leaned up against the side.

"Because, I wouldn't hesitate to yell for his help if you were to jump on me." he said with a smile.

Miru unclenched his hand when he saw the security guard. He simply let out his trademark grunt and walked toward the exit of the store.

"Take it easy, woman." he said as he walked past Kaname.

"Glad to meet you, sweet cheeks." he said as he walked past Jin.

Jin immediately turned red from complete embarrassment and turned around to look at the jerk as he walked out the door of the gift shop.

"What a jerk!" she said with a sneer.

"Yeah, that's Miru for you. I can't stand that man. He doesn't have a single good quality about him."

"You really might want to be careful what you say to that man, Ms. Chidori. He seems to have a rather fiery temper." said the Chinese man. "How are you, Jin?"

Jin and Kaname both turned around when they heard the man say their names. Kaname didn't recognize him, but Jin did.

"Shin! Glad to see you again! I didn't recognize you at first!"

"Yeah, I know, all of us Chinese look the same, right?" he said with a laugh.

All three let out a bit of a chuckle at his joke. Kaname looked at the man strangely. He looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn't remember seeing him anywhere.

"I'm sorry, sir. You seem to know me, but I'm afraid I don't know you." she said.

"Oh, you don't remember me?!" he said as he placed his hand over his heart. "I'm crushed!" he said with another laugh.

"I'm Shin. We've met once before; I go to the same college as you and Jin."

Jin walked over beside Shin and patted him on the shoulder.

"You remember Shin, don't you? He's going to be my partner on the psychology field work. We're both going after the same degree, remember?"

Kaname took on a surprised look when she suddenly immediately recalled meeting Shin.

"Oh, yeah! I remember him now! I'm sorry about that Shin, I guess I'm just not that good with faces."

"Don't worry about it. I can completely relate. So, where are the both of you headed to? Or, I would guess you're heading somewhere since this is an airport. I'm just having to wait around for a while; it seems as if the planes are being delayed."

Jin nodded in understanding at his comment.

"Yeah, ours is delayed for a while, too. Kaname and I as well as a couple friends are heading to Colorado in the United States." she informed him. "We're going skiing!" she made sure to add.

Shin took on an immediate look of surprise and then put on a smile.

"Wow! That's amazing! I'm going there as well! What a coincidence! So, what part of Colorado are you going to?"

"Aspen." answered Kaname.

"You have got to be kidding me; that's exactly where I'm going!" he exclaimed.

"Well, what do you think of that?! We might just end up seeing quite a bit of each other on this trip since Aspen is such a small place." said Jin.

"Hmmm. We just might! I'll actually be looking forward to that!" he said with a smile. "Jin, Kaname, it has been a pleasure seeing the both of you again." he said as he bowed slightly and started to make his way towards the door.

"Hey, Shin. Since we're going to be riding the same plane, how about you come with us to meet our other two friends?" asked Jin.

"Well, I since we're heading for the same place anyway, I don't see why not." he said as he held open the door for them. "After you."

Neither Jin nor Kaname noticed when Sousuke and Kalinin approached. They were too busy exchanging jokes with Shin. Kalinin finally got their attention when he let out a fake cough. Jin and Kaname both looked around in surprise when they heard Kalinin clear his throat, and Shin looked around with a smile. All three rose to their feet so they could introduce Shin.

"Welcome back, guys." Kaname greeted first. "Have a nice walk?" she inquired.

"Yes." answered Sousuke as he nodded is head at Shin. "All except for the fact that it's very cold out there."

Jin placed her hand on Shin's back and gently moved him closer up to meet Kalinin and Sousuke.

"Shin, this is Andrea Kalinin." she said as she motioned her hand toward Kalinin who shook his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you again, Mr. Kalinin."

Kalinin gave him a strange look.

"I'm sorry. I don't recall us meeting before." he said.

Shin only laughed in response.

"Don't worry, I get that a lot. I've been told before that I'm the majority of the face in the crowd." he said with a light chuckle. "You're the owner of the A&D Music Haven. I bought a flute from you no more than a week ago."

Kalinin immediately took on a surprised look as he remembered seeing him before under the circumstance he described.

"Oh, yes! I do remember now. Mr. Shin Wu Chang if I do recall correctly?" he asked.

"That's right, you have a very good memory."

"Only with names." he replied with a gruff chuckle.

"And, this is Devin Letrus. But, we all call him Sousuke; it's his nickname."

Sousuke reached out and shook Shin's hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I would like to say that I've met or at least heard of you, but I'm afraid I haven't. Regardless, I am pleased to meet you, Mr. Letrus."

Jin immediately turned to Kaname to see the confused look on her face that she expected to see. She leaned over close to Kaname while Sousuke and Shin were introducing themselves.

"I'll explain later. But, his name is Devin Letrus. Or, at least that's what his new records have on them."

Kaname partially understood the meaning behind it and nodded her understanding.

"Jin has told me of you, however. I had the idea that you had gone back to China and she was needing to find a new partner for her field studies. So, what brings you back to Japan? Are you just her for the Christmas holiday?" Sousuke asked.

Shin for the first time broke eye contact with him. He turned his head to look out the window to look at the snow.

"No, I'm here for a while, I do believe. I'm afraid my home country is going through some difficult times. The Old Republic has risen again, and I have to say that I disagree with their methods of doing things."

This immediately caught Sousuke's undivided attention. How would he know about such a thing?

"Really?" Sousuke questioned, feigning ignorance. "Such information, I would imagine, would not be readily available to the general populace. How, may I ask, did you happen across this information of this new rise?" Sousuke said as he unintentionally raised an eyebrow.

"I am privy to such information, Mr. Letrus, since…" he hesitated, as if remembering something he wished not to.

"… I was a part of their first rise no more than three years ago."

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's Notes: I want to apologize for having taken so long to update this. Finals have been over for a while, but I'm just now winding down my semester. Hopefully for the next week or two, I will have plenty of time to update. I want to thank all of you once again for all of the reviews I have received. Thank you and I hope you enjoy. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.