Now we take a nosedive into the Yandere territory :/ Good thing I watched a few Yandere shows just in case.

Briefing: Start

"Clarissa, are you there?" Laura sighed, staring at the static that responded to her call. It was to be expected, of course: Clarissa and the entire Haze were on that mission to Rook Islands, and keeping radio silent was proper procedure. Still, she would have a harder time doing this now that she didn't have her second in command's advice.

She sighed. Why was this so hard? Was she somehow wrong in what she was doing?...No, that was impossible. She'd formulated this plan and she could see no flaw in it. And after all, Clarissa had told her that she was right. What could go wrong?

Nodding to herself, she turned off the communication link and focused on the Holo-screen. On it were various images of Huang Lingyin; known to her friends as 'Rin'. She'd gathered up everything she could: Security feeds, magazine's of her modeling photo's, her IS data, and even some of her clothes. If she wanted to recreate everything perfectly, then she would need everything.

"Subjects name is Huang Lingyin, representative cadet of China," She removed her eyepatch in order to soak all the information in, "Files indicate that she was ostracized in middle school by her peers due to both her foreign heritage and the fact that her name was similar in terminology to the Japanese word for bamboo," She went ahead a few more files, "My wife was the first to save her and she fell for him soon after. The sequence of events are similar to the psychological phenomena known as the 'Suspension Bridge effect'.

It was similar to her in a way. Her wife had saved her from the Valkyrie Trace system (although Charlotte was there to help him) and she had found herself falling in love with him afterwards. A cynic would have told her that she was mistaking gratefulness for love, to which she would reply that they should mind their own business and let her do what she wanted. She knew her feelings.

But for all her research, she couldn't see a single thing about Rin that she could use. She was dishonest with her emotions, but so was Houki so that couldn't be used. She felt pride as a Cadet, but Cecilia had her beat in that department and her wife certainly didn't react positively to her actions. So the only other

"Need to focus on this so called Yandere syndrome," She clicked her tongue and grabbed for the hair ties at the table. If she wanted to do this right, then she would need the hairstyle. She narrowed her eyes and focus on Rin's ID picture. She needed to get the twintails just right so it would be a cross between how cute, feminine, and scary when angered she would be.

Her hair done, she began to playback the video's from the security feeds. Most of it was the same thing: her wife did something offensive - mostly looking at other girls - and Rin did something violent in response. But this wasn't enough. Violence was part of the process, but it wasn't the entire thing. She could see him exhibit fear when these moments happened, something he lacked when faced with enemies to be fought against. The pain wasn't important.

"Wait..." She activated the VT and looked closer. There was something else there; subtle, but it was recognizable- "...Ah," Okay, now she understood. It wasn't the pain of violence - her wife got that from everyone at some point - it was the small signs. Looking at the video again, she smiled as she recognized the signs.

There were many factors into making the proper Yandere. The first was making the eyes appear blank, removing the coloration of the iris and ensuring that only absolute one color remained. She marked something into her notebook before grabbing for her cellphone. When she was with the Haze she preferred to order by mail order, mostly because she found leaving the base for anything except a mission to be pointless. IS academy students got prime time delivery, after all: There in thirty minutes or less!

The second part was weaponry. While she could just pull out her IS whenever she wanted, the sight of a weapon that appeared out of sci-fi often took fear out of someone, especially since most IS were hardwired and programmed to avoid attacking civilians and other pilots unless they were attacking the pilots in return. She suspected this was the reason Rin hadn't gotten arrested yet. Still, she could probably pull out a few of her old combat knives. She also had an axe that she kept around for emergencies like fire or being trapped in a room.

The third part was expressions. In the video's, Rin and any other Yandere tended to have smile on their faces, and even laughter the closer they got to their target. This was one of the best distinctions: She'd faced enemy soldier's before, but calling them Yandere's would be extremely inaccurate. It wasn't hostility and intent to kill, but the idea that you're doing it for happiness and love rather than hostility or terrorism. The irony of the whole thing would cause anyone to be panicked. She would need to smile a lot when stalking her wife for this little operation.

The fourth part would be the mood. Lighting and music could affect a lot. Yandere's certainly weren't as scary when their targets of affection were standing in the middle of the crowd of students well-versed in IS combat and/or martial arts in the middle of a brightly lit hallway. She would need to disable or destroy the generator, in addition to barring the other students into their rooms. No doubt Sarashiki or Shinonono would interfere if they saw her trying anything. She would likely get fined for her actions, but that was fine. Those twenty million euro's were wasting away at her bank account anyway.

She'd also need some music. She could perhaps just add some loud music, but watching horror movies with her friends taught her that ambient music made things scarier than actual loud noises, especially when it came to to stalkings. She could probably get some piano recordings, classical music, or a girls nursery rhymes. 'Twinkle twinkle little star' and 'Rock a bye baby' would work well if she could get them.

The fifth, and most important part, was love- Scratch that, she was already perfect in that department. What she needed then was the opposite: Anger and Hate. Yandere's were classified by their subtle anger and hostility being paired with their not-so-subtle violence and possessiveness/obsessiveness. Right now she felt no hatred or anger for her wife - How could she? He was perfect - so she needed to think of something that enraged her and then somehow transfer those feelings to her beloved.

The only thing she could remember was that incident during that foreign treaty mission. The Haze, along with an American Platoon with experimental wannabe IS knock-offs, were sent in as a good luck charm to ensure that whatever was happening there would be successful (They didn't ask what exactly was happening; a soldier obeys their superiors without questions unless it was about betrayal of the country).

Things were going well till one of the UG's created (Bladewolf was its designated name, if she could remember) went AWOL and decided that it wanted to leave the mission. She distinctly remembered it killing the leader of the US platoon (A brute who went by the codename of Khamsin) and then fighting her when she attempted to stop it. While she wanted to say she beat it no problems, her younger age and inexperience with actually using an IS in combat or flight ended with her unit being destroyed and said UG slicing her arm off. It was only due to Clarissa and the squad's arrival that it was forced to retreat.

Good thing her body was made to heal from dismemberment, or she would've actually gotten traumatized by losing an arm.

But it did its trick. Recalling the wolfish monstrosity calling her a 'Machine that simply follows orders' and beating her caused a feeling of white hot rage to spread through her. Perfect, now all she needed to do was read those manga's she'd bought earlier. One depicted the picture of a smiling pink haired girl, her eyes blank and a smile on her face as she 'hid' an axe behind her back. The other was of a school, prominently advertising something about a 'NICE BOAT' on all caps at the previews on the back. This would certainly help her.

This plan was perfect. After she acted horrifying, her wife would realize that, despite his fear, he still loved her and they would live happily ever after. After all, what could push love more than fear itself? It was foolproof

Giggling to herself, she picked up the book and smiled cheerfully, as if she wasn't planning to horribly traumatize someone with an axe.

"That hurts~!"

Ichika suppressed the urge to cry as Shizune applied another injection to his already pin-cushioned arm. The helpful girl smiled in sympathy before pulling the back of the syringe up, absorbing more blood and - more importantly - the poison in his bloodstream. It was a good thing the detox was next to him, or there was a likely chance of him choking on his own blood and dying slowly as he lost breath and the overpowering taste of iron took over his taste buds.

...Boy that was dark.

"This is the third time I've helped you these past few days alone," She remarked lightly, applying a bandage to the slightly bleeding puncture wound, "First the form, then your wounds, and now even poisoning. Maybe I should start charging for my services," She half-joked.

"Please don't, I don't think I'll be able to pay you back," He attempted to smile, though he ended up coughing as his body started adjusting to the loss of the poison, "Damn, I have no idea what's happening with Laura. Its almost like she's gone insane."

"Why don't you tell the teachers or some of your friends?" She suggested, "They might be able to stop her from doing these things. Doesn't Laura-san listen to Orimura-sensei? I bet if you told her, all of this would be solved easily."

"I wish I could," He sighed, grabbing wearily for his uniform, "Orimura-sensei and most of the teacher's left for a meeting and won't be back till next week. Houki's at her Kendo meet, Cecilia's doing some business with her family fortune, Rin's been recalled to China for IS research, and Charlotte's with the Home-ec club with that field trip. I don't really have anyone to talk to about this."

"Right, forgot about Houki-san mentioning that last night. Well, what about Sarashiki-senpai or her younger sister?" She took pity on him and picked up his uniform top from the opposite chair. Since she needed to pump the poison from his body, it would've been inefficient if he kept his uniform. While normally he would object to stripping in the same room as a girl, the fact that he would have died dampened on any shame he might have.

"Kanzashi's busy with getting her official unit, and I doubt she can help me since she was scared of Laura the last time we had lunch together?" He sighed, "And Sarashiki-senpai?...Telling her might make things worse. Last I checked, she and Laura didn't really get along, and getting her involved might agitate things more than they already are," Laura was already scary enough, he didn't want to see what would happen if she turned angry.

"Alright, I hope you know what you're doing," She sighed as she took a few more pills out of the medicinal storage, "We need to give you a couple of painkillers and then another dose of the detox to make sure you don't have any more spasms. Sleeping pills might help, but take them only when its absolutely necessary. We don't want you to die of overdose in your sleep."

Ichika nodded and downed the painkillers and (foul tasting) detox without a word. Thinking back on it, he really did owe a lot to Shizune-san for all she did in helping him these past few incidents. Whenever one of the other girls attacked him - Which was becoming more frequent the past few weeks - the others tended to ignore it in favor of scolding him for being a 'pervert'. He had to admit that having someone help him without blaming him felt...nice.

"Thanks for everything, Shizune-san. I think-" Another bout of weakness overtook him as he stood up, causing him to fall forward. Shizune saw this and attempted to catch him, which was met with a lack of success if the resounding crash was any indication.

"Ouch~!" She shook her head to get rid of her dizziness, "Ichika-san, are you alright?"

"Huh?" He mumbled confusedly, "Uh, yeah, just weak. Sorry for...falling on you," God, she was so close, and he was naked from the chest up. This looked like a scene straight out of a romantic comedy. And this was usually the time where he would get punched or smacked, along with being branded as a pervert.

"No, its alright," She sighed, "You really shouldn't be walking in your condition, but there's nothing much you can do about it," She started pushing at his chest lightly, "Can you stand? Its almost curfew time and the others are probably already going back to their rooms. If you want to go back to your room without answering questions, now would be the best time."

Ichika was stunned into inaction for a few seconds before he realized that he was still on top of her, "S-Sorry," He scrambled of her clumsily. He was honestly surprised. No violence? No acting like they were about to copulate? No accusations of him doing it on purpose? Surprising. He'd gotten so used to that treatment the past few months that he gave up on explaining.

"Its alright," A slight blush tinged her cheeks despite her words, "Ichika-san, put on your clothes quickly and make sure to take all the required medicines on time. It won't do any good if you collapse on the hallway," She pushed her uniform back at him, "And make sure to wear your clothes, too. We don't want to give anyone the wrong idea."

Ichika coughed awkwardly at her words and accepted the uniform hastily. He still needed to think of a way to take care of Laura's little psychotic episodes, and he couldn't rely on Shizune-san to help him forever. He needed to last till next week, and by then Chifuyu-nee would be back and everything would be alright with the world again.

"Ichika-san-"

"Just call me Ichika," He interrupted before he realized what he just said, "I mean, you've saved my life twice at this point, so there's no need to be so formal."

"I guess," She nodded, "Then call me Shizune-chan or Shizune. Its not really fair when only I do it, right?" She tapped him on the shoulder playfully, "And be careful going back. Check your room first to see if anyone's there and make sure to have an escape route just in case you have to run again. Your IS is still being repaired, so you need it."

"Thanks, Shizune-chan."

Mission: Start

Ichika walked slowly down the halls of the dorm, making sure to look behind his shoulder every few seconds to make sure the crazed super soldier wasn't prepared to stab him with a syringe and drag him off to play a game with a bear trap. Now all he needed to do was make it to his room and barricade the door for a few days and he would be-

...

Did all the lights just go out?

Ichika looked around nervously, his heart rate spiking as he realized that he wasn't hallucinating: The lights had gone out, drowning the entire hallway in inky darkness. He could feel his breath hitch up and his hand twitch as he heard the soft, barely noticeable sounds of shoes clicking on the ground. Okay, he needed to calm down. It was probably just one of the students.

The speakers on the walls suddenly turned on in a blare of static, nearly giving him a heart attack. An announcement at this time? "Twinkle twinkle little star! How I wonder what you are~" The children's song blared all around him, sending uncomfortable shivers down his skin. Usually he would find the song relaxing and cheerful, but standing in the darkness by himself, he couldn't see anything cute about it.

"I~chi~ka~" A soft voice whispered through the darkness. Ichika almost broke down then and there; he recognized that voice, and the sweet way she was speaking reminded him eerily of a certain flat chested childhood friend. Oh whatever God was out there, please let him get out of this alive! He didn't deserve this!"

"Ichika~ Where are you~" The footsteps became louder. Damn it, he couldn't see anything in this blackout! He was finding it hard to breath. What the heck was going on? She was acting too oddly. What was going to happen to him now? He didn't want to die, there were so many things he didn't get to do yet!

"You can't hide from me~" Oh God, he could hear scraping sounds on the walls. He could recognize the friction: The sound of a knife being dragged against a wall painfully. And if he had learned one thing, it was that Laura with knives was a very horrible thing. He once found her running through the halls looking for a medic with a picture of him that was stabbed though with her combat knife. He didn't ask.

The footsteps were close now, almost too close for comfort. As much as he didn't want to, he found himself inching forward, if only to try and put some distance between her and him.

"Found you~"

But it was futile. Ichika found himself crashing to the ground at the sound of Laura's voice. She was right next to him; he could feel her breath tickling his ear. Trying to keep conscious he, found himself backing away slowly until his back hit against the wall. A dead end. He was trapped, and the only thing in front of him was Laura.

And what a sight she was. She was covered head to toe in (fake, but he didn't know that) blood and her hair was styled in twintails that he would've found cute if she didn't look like she'd just finished robbing a blood bank, "What's wrong, Ichika, were you entranced by my beauty?" She twirled around, splattering even more blood on the white dress she wore, "But what are you doing over there?"

Laura gave a serene smile, walking forward slowly and dragging the knife against the wall. Ichika shivered as the trail of (fake) blood smeared against the wall like a miniature timer. Once she reached him, that would be it. He could kiss his life goodbye- Did she just lick the knife!? Ichika cringed as he saw her tongue slither's up the knife's flat side, licking up blood in the process and smearing her lips with them. She was completely insane.

He did the only thing he could as a respectable man.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" He ran, faster than he knew he could, pushing past Laura and screaming into the hall. Laura's smile vanished briefly before she giggled. The chase was always one of the best parts.

But first she had to get her axe.

He continued to run, uncaring of where he was going or where he would eventually end up - He just wanted to get out of there. The lights flickered on for the briefest of moments, but it was enough for him to see: Laura stood there silently, a large blood covered axe in her right hand. She looked up and smiled when she saw him, her blank eyes flickering with the barest traces of life.

And then she ran towards him.

Ichika doubled back and ran faster, adrenaline the only thing keeping him going. He could hear her; her axe was being dragged through the floor like a jagged broom. He noted at the back of his head that the floor was going to be thoroughly messed up after this.

"I~see~you~"

Okay, he needed to think about the floor later! He tripped down onto the stairway and he found himself crashing down down the stairway, "Ah!" His arm was aching, and possibly broken. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to stand and nearly fell onto the floor again. Damn, his leg was sprained. Great, now his running speed was about halved.

Another flicker of light and he saw something that caused actual relief: His dorm room! Looking behind him briefly, he smashed open the door before closing it behind him with a loud slam. Just to make extra sure, he activated all the locks and pushed the chair against it. That should keep her out, right?

"Ichika...why is this door locked?" He saw the doorknob shake slightly as Laura tried to forcefully open it, "Is there another girl there? There is, isn't there? I'llkillherI'llkillherI'llkillherI'llkillherI'llki llherI'llkillherI'llkillherI'llkillherI'llkillherI 'llkillherI'llkillherI'llkillherI'llkillherI'llkil lherI'llkillherI'llkillherI'llkillherI'llkillheI'l lkillherI'llkillher!"

The doorknob's shaking had gotten stronger and more chaotic. Ichika stepped back shakily and hid under his blanket. It was pathetic, but it was the only thing he could do at this point. The only other option would be to jump out the window, and he wasn't sure suicide by falling was the best option right now. He still had a lot to live for.

The shaking stopped. Ichika looked up in relief. Did she give up? Maybe she got tired and he would be safe for tonight. It would at least allow him to barricade the door and make a supply run to the cafeteria. He would be able to survive this!

A crack on the wooden door dashed all those hopes to the ground. He could see the edge of her axe at the door, "Hey, Ichika, I think we should get married, don't you? Just a small wedding with the two of us, the priest, and your perverted friend as the witness. No one else should be there, not even the instructor. It wouldn't do for you to get distracted now, would it?"

The door began to splinter as she continued to slash into the wooden material. She brought the axe down one last time before she cutting the door cleanly in half. Ichika continued to shiver in his head, hoping beyond all possibilities that she wouldn't notice his obviously shivering body from under his blanket.

And based on the giggle she gave when she looked at his bed, she evidently did.

Ichika nearly wet himself when Laura pulled the blanket off of him. He didn't even have a chance to try and run away before Laura was on top of him, pinning him to the bed and with one hand and brandishing a knife with the other, "I want to have lots of kids. Do you want to have lots of kids?" He nearly crapped his pants when she slit his belt. A subtle threat, but a threat nonetheless.

"Yeah...yeah!" He nodded quickly, trying to ignore the (fake) blood beginning to fall on his forehead and cheeks, "Whatever you say! Now why don't you just get off me and we can-"

"I'm glad you approve," She giggled and hugged him tightly, "I want to have lots and lots of kids. We're going to live in a big house on the hill, with a garden, a little dog, the perfect place just for us and our kids. But our kids shouldn't love you too much, for their own sake of course," She giggled and slit the button off his pants, "Yes, for their own sake. And you would never cheat on me, right? You'll love me forever and ever~"

Her hands slithered down his trousers, just barely making contact with his boxers. That was all he was capable of taking: He fainted, barely even feeling the knife nearly hitting against his skin. Laura looked down, confused as she saw the rapidly spreading stain between his legs. That wasn't how she thought this would go.

He was supposed to hug her and let her he loved her. Maybe pushing down his pants wasn't such a good idea? Damn, she thought teasing him would stimulate him. Didn't danger and flirting go hand in hand? Clarissa told her that flirting during a gunfight was the best time.

She sighed. This was obviously mission failed. Her wife fainting and losing control of his kidneys certainly wasn't the best of results. Frowning, she stood off of him and began to wipe the (fake) blood off and grimaced at the stickiness. Didn't she appreciate the effort he took into wearing this embarrassing dress and smearing all this blood? And carrying that axe was so annoying.

So being a murderous and crazy lover obviously didn't work. She needed a new strategy. Obviously violence wasn't working at all.

Mission: Failed

This wasn't too scary, but I need to keep to my T rating here. Cookie for anyone who can guess all the easter eggs for this chapter. I'll update either Reversal or The Soldier and the Bride next. You guys decide.