I awoke the next morning to find that Kagamine had been correct. My vision was now better than I had ever imagined. I again dressed quickly for PT, and met with my team. "Hey Adams, how'd the surgery go?" asked Rogers who was my "WARRIOR buddy." "Great! I can see much better now. What'd I miss yesterday?" I asked. "Just some range time. I hear we're shootin again today too, but then some FTT shortly there-after." He said. "Cool, I'm lookin forward to seeing what we can do as a team." I responded. Rogers then got quiet, and then finally asked, "Hey Corproal, can I ask you something on the level?" "Yeah, shoot." I said. "Well I know it sounds strange, but you ever get the feeling that those android assistants of ours are a little more than androids?" "So you've noticed it too then?" I asked in surprise. "Yeah, I could almost swear Teto acts WAY too much like a real girl at times it's kinda freaky. Just yesterday, I caught her staring at me and then she blushed really bad when I looked back at her. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind her doin' that, she's gorgeous, but, it's just kinda strange for an android isn't it?" he said. "Yeah, it is." I said though I ultimately knew the real reason behind this. "Hey Corporal, would it sound kinda crazy though if I said I liked Teto as more than just, you know, as my assistant? Like I wanted to go out with her? I know, I know, it's crazy, but damn she's amazing! I've never met any chick like her! She's like the chick I've been waitin' to find forever!" "I dunno man. Hell, whatever floats your boat I guess." I said. "Hey c'mon man I've seen Rin lookin' at you just like Teto looks at me, I think she's got the hot's for you for sure!" Rogers teased. "Yeah I know. Matter of fact I know exactly what you're talkin about." I said. "Hell yeah! Sometimes I wonder though if it's just part of their programming to like us automatically, or if they're crazy about us for real. Maybe they were all human at some point though, wouldn't that have been cool as hell?" Rogers said. "Yeah it would." I replied as I already knew that it was already true. I wasn't sure I could tell Rogers or the rest of the team the truth however. Kagamine had trusted that information to me, and I couldn't bear the thought of accidentally hurting the girls with the truth, Rin especially. I further pondered these things in my mind all throughout pt, and the time I had for a shower and chow. I had grabbed my assault pack, body armor, and helmet and was on my way to the Humvee when I realized I hadn't seen Rin all day. Where was she? Was she ok? I was relieved when I found her in the motor pool waiting by my Humvee. "Hey, I wondered where you were." I said greeting her. "Hey! I was wondering the same thing!" she said catching me for a hug. "So what are we doin' today?" I asked as I hopped in the Humvee beside her. "Dr. Kagamine said you all would be qualifying with your respective weapons in your fire-team role." She replied. "Which means I'm shootin' machine guns today then." I said as a smile crossed my face. "Yep! You guessed it!"Rin said with a tone that was almost as excited as I was. "Oh, I almost forgot! This is your new weapon, pretty neat isn't it?" she said as she handed me a very tricked out M-60E4 machine gun. My eyes got wide, and I felt like a kid on Christmas. "Yeah, I'll say! Thanks!" "You're welcome!" she said pleased. "Oh yeah, and Dr. Kagamine also said he had something for us both a little later on. I don't know what it is, but he said to make sure you were with me when he gives it to me or us I mean." "Did he mention what it was?" I asked. "He wouldn't tell me, but he said we would really like it!" Rin said warmly. I was still caught up in that beautiful smile she always wore. Even though I knew of the terrible tragedy she had been through, it seemed as though nothing could ever taint that pure and innocent form of happiness she had. The rest of the ride we spent talking about anything and everything. I found out that she and I had more in common than I had realized even before. She shared my love of anime, heavy metal music, gaming, and even Cajun food! "How exactly does that work?" I asked. "When you eat I mean?" She giggled and said, "Well I can eat and taste food just like you can, I just don't really need it to survive like you do." She explained. "But how'd you get into Cajun food in the first place?" I asked. "I really don't know. I just kinda knew I liked it from the start, but hey who doesn't love fried food in general right?" she said with a laugh. "I know that's right!" I said as I joined her in laughter. Finally we arrived at the range. I was eager to see what I could do with this new weapon and my recent surgery. I was just about to head to my position to shoot when the range cadre said, "Hold up Adams, you're missing you're AG." I had forgotten all about needing an assistant gunner. "He's right John. Pick someone to AG for you quickly." Dr. Kagamine said. Without thinking twice I motioned Rin over to be my assistant gunner. "Why am I not surprised." Kagamine said with a laugh. As soon as Rin had been given body armor and a helmet with the proper eye and ear protection we were finally ready to shoot. Interestingly enough, Miku was spotting for Specialist Howard, and Teto for PFC Rogers. Only SGT. Wilkens was left without an assistant. It seemed strange, but I later found out why. "Firerers lock and load your weapons at this time." The tower loudspeaker sounded. I loaded the belt of 7.62mm rounds into the 60 and closed the feed tray cover as Rin checked and readied the rest of the ammo. "Ready to make some noise?" I asked as I turned my head to her with a grin. "You bet! I'll call out the targets for you as I see them" she replied. We then heard "Firers, rotate your selector levers from safe to fire and scan your lanes." From the tower. The first target then appeared, and I quickly locked onto it. RAT-TAT-TATA-TAT roared the 60 as I fired a burst into the target. It quickly dropped, and I waited for the next to appear. As the targets got increasingly more difficult I seemed to notice how much the surgery had helped, but even more amazing was how good Rin was at directing my fire. Whenever I was slightly off and missed, she always had exactly the right adjustments for me to make, and I hit the target every time before it went down following Rin's adjustments. We were like a team made in Heaven I concluded by how well we worked together. Finally the iteration was over, and I cleared my weapon. "Nice shooting!" Rin complimented me. "Thanks! But I sure couldn't have done it without you! I would have missed a few of those further targets if you hadn't given me those adjustments!" I said. She smiled, and we walked back to the ammo point to receive our scores. They then went down the line reading off each team member's scores. SGT Wilkens had shot 38 out of 40 targets with his M-4 rifle, SPC Howard had hit 36 out of 40 with his rifle, and 6/6 with his grenade launcher. Rogers, with Teto spotting for him, had hit a whopping 39 out of 40 with his sniper rifle. Finally it came to mine and Rin's score. We had hit an astounding 40/40 targets and still had ammo left at the end! We smiled approvingly at each other. I knew this only further proved that we were meant for each other. Dr. Kagamine then spoke to us all and said, "That was some fine shooting Shadow team! Now, I mentioned I needed to see each of the team members with their assistants after the qual. Rin and Adams, if you will follow me please, I'll begin with you both." We followed the doctor back to his equipment truck and waited for instructions. "John, Rin, I hope you know how lucky you two are to have each other as friends. I've never seen two people working as closely as you both. But now, I'm going to help you both take this a step further. John, your combat chip increases all of your mind's functions, but did you know that it can also sync to Rin's neuro-processor?" Rin and I looked at each other in surprise. "No-one ever fights alone in Shadow team. While you are in the field John, Rin will be back on base relaying intel, and updating your mission objectives. The beauty of this however, is that no radio, or even satellite communication will be necessary to do this. All the information will be sent directly from Rin's neuro-processor to your combat chip. This information will then be fed into your armor's systems, and will allow you to see all intel from friendly forces." Rin and I were astounded by this. "Remember when I said that there was a reason why you were assigned to each other? Well this is it." The doctor said. With that he withdrew the same device with which he had activated my combat chip. "This should only take a moment." He reassured us. With that, he flipped another switch, and I felt a strange sort of telekinetic connection form between myself and Rin. Finally when it was done, the doctor said, "Alright Corporal, put on your helmet again, and let's see if this worked." With that he handed me my GATR helmet, and I once again donned it. Once more, it came to life as I put it on, and I again picked up Rin's heartbeat. How I wished I could tell her that it was there, but I knew that as much as I wanted to it would do her more harm than good. All I could do was simply love her as Kagamine had instructed. "Alright Rin, now I want you to concentrate, and set a way-point for John to that tree over there." Kagamine said as he pointed to an oak tree not too far from where we stood. "Ok." Rin said as she took a deep breath and focused. "Corporal, you should see that way-point now." He said. Sure enough, there it was. "Solid copy Doc. Waypoint acquired." I said. "Excellent!" he said pleased. "The same will now be done with the other two androids and team members save for SGT Wilkens. His chip will be tied directly into Central Command. That is why he was never given an assistant." Kagamine explained. Rin and I again exchanged pleased smiles. "That is all for now. Please send SPC Howard and Miku over if you will please." He said. Rin and I walked back together in a newfound bond we knew that we now had. "It's really amazing isn't it?" she said wide-eyed. "You said it!" I said in response. "Who would have ever though that our minds could literally be synced to provide vital information on the battlefield? I mean this changes everything! No more worrying about the enemy listening in on radio chatter, no more…" "I was also kinda hoping it would change things on a bit more personal level too.." I heard her say suddenly. Had I heard right? "Sorry, I didn't catch that?" I asked. "Oh….uh…nothing…" she said with a disappointed tone. "Everything ok?" I asked worried. "Yeah, I'm fine." She said flashing a smile. "You sure? You know you can talk to me about anything." I said. She smiled at this and said, "Thanks. But if I told you you'd think I was just some silly girl…" she said. "No I wouldn't Rin. You are so much more than that!" I said reassuringly. She smiled again, and replied, "Ok, well can I talk to you about something maybe a little later? Now isn't this best time." She said with a hopeful tone. "My door is always open for you Rin. Day, night, rain, shine, a frigging nuclear war, you need me, I'll be there for you. You're my best friend, and I take care of my friends no matter what." I said smiling. She smiled and took hold of my hand at this. That was how we walked back to the group, hand-in-hand like it should be. We spent a few minutes just talking while Kagamine synced the rest of the team to their respective androids. I then ran through an urban ops course with my team once without power helmets, and then once with them and with the girls pin-pointing objectives for us. It all went extremely well, and everyone seemed satisfied with the results. We then headed back to our barracks and cleaned our weapons, ate chow, and bunked down. A long day on the range had exhausted us all, and we needed our rest. Then it donned on me. What was it Rin had wanted to speak to me about? I layed in my bunk and stared at the ceiling for a while wondering what she could have wanted to say to me. What was it she had said before that though? About being more connected on a personal level? I could only guess what it meant, but I truly hoped it meant what I thought it did. I was already deeply in love with Rin, but just couldn't seem to actually say it. Here I was a top-secret super-soldier in training, and I couldn't even tell the girl I loved how I felt about her. I felt ashamed, but I decided to wait until the right time to tell Rin how I truly felt. After all, she said she needed to talk to me about something, and so I could only assume she felt the same way. After all there were plenty of signs we had both picked up on, why couldn't it be love? Finally I fell asleep from drowning in my own thoughts about Rin, but the one word that kept echoing in my mind was "Kokoro…."