Aruiteku Together Forever – Chapter Fourteen
Sousuke's alarm on his watch went off, and he groaned as he lifted his arms to turn it off. Kaname mumbled in her sleep and snuggled closer against him, wrapping her limbs around him to pin him down. He smiled softly at her, and carefully shifted their positions so as not to wake her. Though he knew he really should get moving, he took a few moments to stare down at her, enjoying the sight of her naked body underneath him.
The air was chill and it hit her skin, causing her to groan and reach out, searching for his warmth. Not wanting to make her uncomfortable any longer, he slipped out of the bed and tucked the covers in around her to seal in the heat. He kissed her on the forehead and stood up, walking to the bathroom to do his normal morning routine. He had no idea when the next time he would be able to bathe or clean up would be, since he had a short briefing, mission prep, travel time, and then the mission itself to look forward to.
Quickly finished up, Sousuke left the bathroom, put on his uniform, and went to the kitchen to find something for breakfast. Kaname yawned, standing at the threshold to the kitchen, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She had the sheets wrapped around her, though they were falling off her shoulder and giving him a rather nice view. "You should still be asleep, Kaname."
"Nonsense, I'll make you breakfast, you relax while you can," the sentence was punctuated by yawns, and Sousuke found himself biting his lip to keep from following suit. She giggled at him and shooed him to the table, going through the cabinets and fridge to fish out ingredients and start cooking. "Are you going to get a chance to eat lunch?"
He saw where she was going with the question and smiled to her though she couldn't see the expression. "I'll have to spend some time in transit; it's likely that will be my only other chance to eat."
Kaname nodded as she stirred the vegetables she had sizzling in the pan, "All right. I'll pack you a bento then."
"Thank you," he stood up and went over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck. "Should I grab you a robe?" he looked down at her with only the thin sheets draped over her.
She laughed and nodded, "Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Thanks!"
Sousuke left the kitchen briefly to fetch a yukata she had folded up at the end of the bed. Recently she had taken to keeping one nearby, as they had a tendency to sleep in the nude, and visitors showed up without notice often enough to warrant having something on hand. When he got back, he slipped the sheet off of her, taking another moment to appreciate the view. She laughed at him, leaning back to press her rear against his groin teasingly. He moaned and leaned down to nip her neck before helping her into the yukata, sloppily tying it shut.
Even though he knew he would be getting in her way, and prolonging the time it took him to get ready, he stayed with her at the stove, arms wrapped around her while she cooked. Kaname appreciated it, leaning back against him and enjoying the feel of his arms around her while she could. He was only going to be gone for a week, but it felt to her like he would be gone for far longer than that.
The information on the mission had come in while the submarine was out at sea, and the plan was that all personnel on Merida that was to be involved would be sent out by air transport and meet up with the Tuatha de Danaan. After the mission, personnel would be returned to the ship instead of the base; the submarine would finish its two week outing, which was half over, and then return to Merida. The only way someone would be returned to base sooner was if they were severely injured or dead.
Kaname desperately hoped it would be a week until she next saw Sousuke.
"All right, sit down Sousuke, I'll plate this and bring it over to you," Kaname ordered him with a more subdued voice than earlier. Her mind was racing with thoughts of Sousuke leaving to go into danger, and she wished that the mission could have been put off for another month or two when the new Arm Slave unit would likely be completed. She would have felt a whole lot better about him going if he had her design in his unit.
Sousuke nodded and leaned around her to kiss her cheek before taking his seat. She brought over his food, utensils, and a glass of water and then got to work on packing his lunch. She wished she had woken up earlier and could have made him a fresh meal, but all she could do for him now was to pack up leftovers. As she was taking the food out of the refrigerator, she felt her stomach churn again. She cursed the stress she was feeling at him leaving, and threw the containers on the counter then ran to the bathroom.
Concerned, Sousuke stood up and followed her. He repeated his actions from the night before, holding her hair for her and trying to soothe her. "Are you sure you're all right, Kaname? Maybe you should see one of the doctors today," he kept her hair back while she washed her face and rinsed her mouth, gently rubbing the small of her back with his free hand.
"No, I'll be fine, it's just stress. Nothing they can do for that, and they'll probably tell me not to work when getting my mind off you being gone will be the only thing that will work for me," she sighed and leaned back into his hold when she finished cleaning up. "I'm sorry, Sousuke. Worrying you like this right before your mission…"
He shook his head and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his face into the crook of her shoulder. "It's all right, as long as you're sure it's only stress. You'll feel better tomorrow when the mission is over, right?"
Kaname nodded and turned in his hold to kiss him. "Go finish breakfast. You're going to be late enough because of me," she wanted to keep him there and not let him go, but she knew that being concerned about his tardiness was one of the only ways she could show her support of him. Just because she did not want him to leave did not mean that she should not give him encouragement when doing so. He would be in danger. He might not come back. The last thing she ever wanted was for what could be their last time together to be marred with negative feelings and anger.
"All right," he slowly released her and returned to the kitchen with her following. Sousuke quickly finished his meal while she packed up his lunch, and before either of them knew it he was at the door and prepared to leave. He stood on the threshold of the open door, looking down at her with worry. Kaname scuffed at the floor with the balls of her feet, staring at the ground. He gently cupped her chin with his hand and lifted her face to meet her gaze.
Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears, and he leaned in to press his lips against the corners of her eyes before enfolding her in his arms. "Sou-suke-," she whined against his chest, pressing herself completely against him. He tightened his grip then pulled back to get a better look at her. He gently urged her to look up at him again, then leaned in and kissed her. The kiss started as a gentle pressure that melted her heart at the emotions she could just feel pouring through him. Soon enough it became more desperate, Sousuke pushing roughly against her, his tongue slipping between her lips to war with her own.
Kaname moaned, completely surrendering herself to the onslaught, her trembling legs threatened to give out on her until Sousuke wrapped an arm tightly around her waist to support her. They had no idea just how long they stayed like that, gripping each other close and tight – neither willing to release the other. A car horn beeping caused them to come apart, Sousuke steadying Kaname as he let go and had her resting all of her weight on her legs again. Kurz waved from the car, grinning, and Mao spoke up from the driver's seat, "Sorry to interrupt you guys, but we really gotta get going, Sousuke!"
With a sigh, Sousuke nodded and then looked back down at her, stroking her cheek softly. "I love you, Kaname."
"I love you too, Sousuke. I'll, I'll see you in a week then?" she bit her lip nervously, glancing up at him from lowered lashes. He nodded and leaned down to kiss her once more, then turned and left, never looking back. She watched the car speed off, fighting back tears. He was getting into the mind set he would need to be in for the mission, she knew that. It would have just made it harder on him if he had turned to see her one last time. She needed him in top mental condition. She needed him to come back to her.
Watching after him for several long moments, Kaname finally turned and walked back into their home. She took her time in preparing for work, it was still early, and even with taking so long she still left far ahead of schedule. It was going to be a long and miserable two days while she waited on finding out the mission results.
Kurz decided not to tease Sousuke too much on their drive to the complex where the briefing room was. Mao had reached over to punch him, swerving the car towards a row of trees in doing so. She had driven like that on purpose. She could beat him easy enough without looking, so accustomed to doing so as she was, but the intimidation factor worked wonders. When he had gotten the courage to do it again, the sullen expression on Sousuke's face made him stop completely.
They arrived and rushed into the building, running to the briefing room they were supposed to be at ten minutes prior. It wasn't until they had reached the doors that Sousuke realized it was odd for his two teammates to have been late as well. And just how exactly had they figured he would be late and so showed up at his place to give him a ride? He watched the two carefully as they entered before him, curious. It was something he would have to wait to ponder though as the moment he walked through the door Kalinin handed him another folder for his examination.
The three took their seats in the back where they normally sat and flipped through the papers they had been handed. Sousuke was given another sheet describing his objective, and was satisfied to see nothing new in his folder. Another copy of the images of the zone in case he had not taken the time last night to memorize it. Though he had, he took another look through, glad to see his memory was true to the maps. Kalinin gave the group another brief rundown, though by now all of them were well aware of exactly what to expect, then sent them off to ready what they would need.
Arm Slave pilots reported to the hangar where their units were kept, and they all found their engineers to go over all the details and decide what settings to use, as well as what weaponry to bring. Sousuke decided to sacrifice mobility early on, and had the Arbalest loaded down with all of the weapons and ammunition it could carry that he would use. He was taking no chances with running out again. He decided that when he got there, he would find a place to stash some of his weapons, and do his best to sneak up on Venoms and take them out with his monomolecular cutter, rather than any of his limited weaponry.
The next few hours flew for the crew, working so intently on making sure everything was perfect. High-stress and high-danger mission, no one was taking any chances. While the Arbalest was being loaded down with equipment, Sousuke sat in the hatch talking to Al, reviewing the few details they had managed to acquire on that new Arm Slave he had encountered. Eventually he was kicked out of his machine and sent to the transport waiting for him and the others.
Sitting in his seat, Sousuke leaned back and sighed, closing his eyes and taking the time to let his old familiar calm wash over him. Kurz and Melissa sat close to him and talked to each other for a few minutes, letting him be until he was ready. They all had their pre-mission rituals and respected their space until the other was ready. After some time, he opened his eyes and looked at them, blinking slowly. They turned and grinned at him, and Kurz leaned forward with a laugh, "So, Sousuke, Kaname send you off with anything?"
Sousuke nodded. It was common knowledge by this time that whenever he was sent somewhere, Kaname would pack him a meal. Some teased him for it because of his age, tauntingly asking if mommy had made it for him. The first time that happened, he had corrected the person, saying he had no family and that it was his girlfriend who had sent him off with the food. Of course, that just opened him up to a whole new realm of teasing, and he opted to just ignore them and keep his mouth shut. It worked for him in the past, no reason it wouldn't now.
It really didn't bother him when his friends commented on it. He knew it was all in good fun where they were concerned, and that really they were just happy for him. Kurz had even said so on several occasions – he wouldn't be joking with Sousuke if he had thought it was a bad thing. If Kurz were being serious, that would be when Sousuke should worry about what his friend thought of the situation.
Reminded of his lunch, Sousuke reached under his seat for his bag that was strapped down and took it out. He was pleased to see that Kaname had packed up all of the leftovers in several boxes along with a note that said the extra was for Melissa and Kurz. He mentioned it to the two, who happily took the food from him and wolfed it down, while he did the same with his own. It was almost surprising just how much energy preparations could take, and the three refueled themselves greedily.
"Thanks, Sousuke! I'll have to make sure to thank Kaname when we get back," Melissa handed back her box with a smile. Kurz did the same along with a similar comment though accompanied by an exaggerated wink that earned him an elbow under the ribs. Sousuke nodded to the two and packed everything up, then leaned back to watch his closest friends bicker with each other from half-closed eyes.
It took him some time, but finally it dawned on him exactly what it was about their behavior that had him wondering what was different. He lowered his head and grinned, pretending to take a nap while they argued and teased each other. Like a married couple, as they say.
It was hot in the cockpit of the Arbalest, Sousuke noted. He wasn't usually this uncomfortable, but he had been running the unit for so long that it had shut down the less necessary functions just to maintain power to keep in reasonable operating condition. The mission was FUBAR, a good chunk of their ground units in the infiltration team had been wiped out. The remaining soldiers were rushing to leave, but at the same time they had to take the time to be cautious and not lose anyone else.
Arm Slave opposition had been high. The numbers were staggering, really, and it was a very long and difficult battle thus far. His friends in the M9s were trying to take out the more conventional weaponry, as well as any opposing ground forces they came across, but it seemed at every turn there was a squad of Venom-types. There had been a lot of retreat orders issued, and Sousuke had been sent in to dispatch each unit quietly and effectively before the M9s could advance again. Even with his cache of weapons and his efforts to use as little ammo as possible, he found himself running low regardless. Several hours of fighting would do that, though. He also had to be conservative in his use of the lambda driver, not wanting the system to overheat and become useless.
Finally, he got the notice that their ground forces had been successfully extracted, and now the Arm Slave team just had to make it back to the Extraction Point, where the AS transports were waiting for them. He made sure the M9s had the head start before working on his own retreat, rushing after them in hopes that they were going as fast as their units would allow and not running into any more forces. That was when, as in the last mission, that new machine appeared before him.
"Shit, Uruz Seven to all, I've encountered that strange enemy AS unit again," he muttered the words through gritted teeth, bracing himself for an impact he could not evade.
Melissa's channel opened to him, "Can you outrun it, Sousuke?"
He ran a check on all of his equipment, and swore when he saw the state the joint shocks were in, "Unlikely, the legs would fall apart if I put that much pressure on them now."
Sousuke heard Kurz swear in German over the line, something he had never done before, "I'll be there as soon as I can!"
"Kurz! What are you doing?!" Melissa screamed after him. "Oh, you idiot, can't even wait for a plan or orders?! All units, retreat as planned, Uruz Six and I will retrieve Uruz Seven!"
Sousuke tried to outmaneuver the enemy to retreat, but with decreased functionality and the high heat output from his machine, it was proving far too difficult to hide and make an escape. A bullet came from somewhere above the forest to hit the machine chasing Sousuke. The enemy's lambda driver operated perfectly, however, and the pilot did not even bother to slow down. Shots came from both sides now, the same as before was the sniper rounds Kurz preferred, and the opposite side had Melissa with her shot cannon blasting on full auto.
Still, though, the enemy continued on, bearing down on Sousuke who was trying to use the foliage to his advantage. With the lambda driver, the bullets meant nothing, and it was clear to all three that the person piloting this unit was exceptionally skilled with the odd device. Far more so than anyone they had encountered before. He heard his teammates swearing over the line, wondering just what it would take to slow the enemy down.
He would have used the same tactic he had last time, laying a claymore mine out to be tripped and slow him down for even a moment, except he had used his supply up earlier setting traps. Now, he cursed his idiocy, wishing he had thought to save even one for this inevitable battle. He barely managed to dodge a shot aimed at him, but the explosion of the tree beside him caused the Arbalest to rock unsteadily, warnings sounding and flashing on his screen.
Leg functionality had reached nearly zero, and with every motion he felt the reaction time slow down more and more. Sousuke relayed his situation to his comrades, who worked to keep up with his retreat without getting close to the enemy. They had been lucky thus far, that their opponent did not seem to deem them worth his time, though in many ways, that was also bad. They stood no chance in holding their own in a fight against it, but they wanted it to take its attention away from Sousuke long enough for him to escape.
"Do you think you can abandon the Arbalest and get away on foot for one of us to pick up?" Melissa asked, though she had a feeling the answer would be no.
"Negative, the enemy would destroy this unit before I could make it a safe distance away," he had been thinking the same thing, but there had been that problem to consider. Even with all these decreased functions, he was still safer inside the Arbalest than out.
It was inevitable, really. The warning bells chimed again, the entire cockpit was red with signals, lights blazing in and out, and it was a nauseating effect, making him feel like he was having a red-out. The last thing he heard was both Melissa and Kurz screaming his name over their link before a loud roar. Al reported activation of the lambda driver before going silent, and he felt something akin to a wave of fire engulf him before there was nothing.
Kaname leaned back in her chair and sighed, rubbing her eyes. Staring at the computer screen for hours on end was drying out her eyes and giving her a headache. She had gone back to sleep for a few hours, but without Sousuke there, she had found rest impossible. The stress was really getting to her, though she had managed to hide getting sick from the people she worked with. Sarah was a close call, walking into the public restroom in their building just as she finished cleaning up.
She glanced at the clock and sighed. It was lunch time now. A full day had passed since Sousuke had stepped onto his transport to Russia. The mission should be over by now though, and she wondered if she would hear from the Tuatha de Danaan anytime soon. It would be nice if Tessa could let her talk to Sousuke, though she knew the chances of that were slim. Kaname sighed again and stood up to stretch; thinking a walk in fresh air would do her good. The door opened and Sarah walked in with two people very familiar to Kaname following her.
Melissa and Kurz looked troubled, and she took a step away from them, afraid. She started shaking her head, not wanting to hear what they had to say, she covered her ears and closed her eyes. Sarah looked between the three, confused and concerned. She had not heard just what it was the two she had accompanied had to say, just that they needed to speak to Kaname and had clearance to go to her.
Scooping her into a hug, Melissa patted Kaname's head and slowly drew down her hands. "He's alive, still, Kaname. He's in bad shape though. I don't think you'll be able to see him, but we wanted to bring you to him, so you could be there for him," she spoke softly, returning to smoothing down her hair. Kaname cried into her shoulder, choking on harsh sobs that tore through her entire body. Tentatively, Kurz reached out and placed one arm around Melissa, who fought back tears of her own, and the other around Kaname, drawing both girls to him.
After a few moments, Melissa won the battle and drew back with a grateful nod to Kurz. Gently, they coaxed Kaname into leaving with them, giving a brief explanation to Sarah on their way out. The drive to the medical buildings on base seemed unnaturally long with an eerie silence filling the vehicle. Kaname had stopped crying and was just staring at the back of the seat in front of her blankly. The two up front exchanged worried glances, seeing what condition the girl was in.
It had shocked both of them when Kaname spoke up, her voice low and dull, lacking any strength. "You said he's in bad shape? How bad?" she had a feeling she knew. He wouldn't have been rushed back to Merida if it wasn't something serious.
It took a moment, and Kurz was the one who answered, Melissa tightening her grip on the steering wheel and staring ahead. "It's… very bad. If he had been in a normal AS like the M9s, he'd have died. The lambda driver saved his life, but the Arbalest was completely destroyed. He inhaled a lot of smoke from the explosion, and his body is covered in lacerations and burns. Most of the burns are superficial, but he has patches on his back, where the fire came at him from, that are severe.
"They're going to keep him knocked out on morphine for at least a week with his burns being what they are. It's safer for them to do that and wean him off an addiction later than to let him wake up in his condition," Kurz was repeating everything the doctors had told him and Melissa. It wasn't a pretty picture, and he knew he had to be hurting Kaname with his words, but she needed to know the truth. Better to hear it from a friend than a complete stranger.
Kaname sighed and wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. She had known something would go wrong, but she had managed to convince herself this is Sousuke. He always comes out all right, no matter what the odds. The only thing comforting about the situation at all was that he was alive, and that was hardly any consolation given his condition.
They pulled up in front of the building and walked in. Since they had been the ones to accompany Sousuke and hear the initial diagnosis, Kurz and Melissa knew where he would be. They brought Kaname to Sousuke, and talked to the doctors about what they may have missed while gone.
Sousuke was in the process of having his burns scrubbed clean to prevent infection; they had stopped the bleeding and got him into stable condition. He was heavily sedated to avoid risk of him waking up and going into shock from the severe pain. He would need to be bandaged before he could have visitors. For the first day or two he would have his bandages changed and the burns scrubbed every two hours or so, the time increasing over the days as the risk of the bandages healing into the wound as well as infection grows less and less.
His airways had been cleared on the way in as they did what they could with the sparse medical equipment on the transport. They had been able to risk the time to drop off the equipment that was loading down the chopper as well as most of the people onboard. One of the medical experts on board, Peggy, had been the only addition to the flight, along with what she felt she might need to care for him that she was actually able to bring. The stop had not slowed them down; in fact, it made their trip to Merida go much quicker since they could move much faster without so much extra weight.
Thanks to their initial treatment, Peggy's subsequent, and the Merida Base's hospital crew last, Sousuke's odds were looking very good. As long as he stayed out for the worst of the healing process, he would be fine; though pumping him with so many drugs was worrisome. They would be monitoring his liver and kidney functions carefully just in case. It would not be until they could allow him to wake that they would find out if he had suffered any brain damage from smoke inhalation. Their monitors looked as good as one might expect from a person so heavily injured that they could not make any accurate guesses on that for the time.
By the time the doctor had finished going over the charts with them, explaining every last detail to Kaname at her insistence, they were finally allowed to see Sousuke. Kaname let out a strange noise from the back of her throat when she saw him, the strangled high pitched sound making Melissa, who had her head close, wince and pull away. Kaname ran over to Sousuke's side and stared down at him lying prone on the bed. She lifted her hand to reach out to him, and then let it fall to her side. Touching him did not seem like it would be a good idea at the moment, so she found a chair and yanked it over to his side instead.
She sat down and rested her head on the edge of the bed, staring up at his sleeping face. They had him on his left side, keeping him off the severe wounds on his back and in a position that made his circulation even just a little better. He was hooked up to several machines, the morphine drip, vitamins, antibiotics, and fluids being given to him intravenously as well as what was needed to monitor his condition.
It almost seemed as though he were a mummy, though they assured her the majority of the bandages would be removed soon enough, they just wanted to minimize the risk of infection in his lacerations. Someone gave her a pillow to rest her head on, and in the buzz of background noise she could hear people talking about the chances of setting her up with a bed in the room with him. By the time Sousuke was taken away for another round of burn care, she had been told they would be able to let her stay there, and before he was returned a bed had been brought in.
Later on in the day, Melissa came in with a bag of clothes for Kaname, saying that she would come around and do the laundry for her whenever it was needed. Kurz brought in some food for the three to share, thinking that the odds of getting Kaname to eat would be higher if they took their meal with her.
Over the course of the next week that was the pattern that had been set. Kurz, Melissa, and – when the Tuatha de Danaan returned – Tessa would bring meals to Kaname, making sure the girl kept fed. When Sousuke was taken for care, Kaname would tend to her needs such as showering or relieving herself. The only times she left the room with Sousuke present were when she could not hold it in, or when she had to throw up. The latter occurred far too often for her liking.
At the end of the week they decided it was safe to take Sousuke off the sedatives completely, having decreased the amount as less was needed to cover the pain. They would monitor him closely to know whether or not they would have to put him back on, due to either pain or addiction. They had never gotten their answer however. He did not wake up as they had expected him to. His brain functions seemed normal, and they could only conclude that his body had ordered itself to maintain the recessive state until more healing had occurred. Their explanations and assurances did little to make Kaname feel better.
AN: Why yes, I am evil.