Battle Front: Chapter 6
Sano wrapped his hand around the chilled bottle of wine and began to pour it into the two long stemmed glasses on the coffee table. Kaoru sat beside him on the couch and using the remote to the mp3 player started some light rock. She leaned back on the couch, accepting the glass her friend offered while closing her eyes in relaxation.
Sanosuke leaned back as well, propping his feet onto the coffee table in front of him. "Ah, this is what I'm talking about." He sighed and then turned his head towards her while reaching over and clinking glasses together. "Here's to enjoying my last night of inactive duty in the company of a gorgeous woman." He wagged his eyebrows suggestively.
"Hear, hear," Kaoru agreed as she took a healthy sip of her wine. The two sat in relative silence, drinking casually while listening to the soft rock music. "Do you know what your assignment will be yet?"
"Yeah, but I can't talk about it," Sano joked as he stretched his arm across her shoulders casually. "It's one of those hush-hush top-secret type missions."
"I'll miss you," Kaoru confided, meeting his dark eyes with her bright blue ones. Sano grinned, reached up and ruffled her hair. "Hey! You can't go around and…"
Sano leaned over and kissed her quickly on the lips, silencing any further protests. Kaoru shoved him roughly in the chest, spilling some wine in the process. "Will you quit kissing me?"
The man with the wild hair smirked rakishly. "Dunno, you planning on turning ugly?"
Kaoru's nose scrunched at the suggestion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly! As long as you look like that and as long as today might be my last I plan to take any opportunity to kiss pretty girls that come my way." Sanosuke lifted his glass and drained its contents.
"You need a girlfriend," Kaoru told him in a huff.
"Aw, Kao you ain't jealous because I said girls in the pleural are you?" His arm fell back over her shoulder and he leaned down, his lips brushing against the shell of her ear. "You're the only girl I've been kissing around base."
"That's only because Megumi won't give you the time of day," Kaoru retorted. The kitchen timer went off. Kaoru rolled her eyes, shoved his arm off her shoulder and stood up. "You're impossible!"
"Nah," Sano disagreed, reaching for the wine bottle and filling his glass again. "I believe the word you're searching for is irresistible." He watched her carefully over the rim of his glass as she walked back towards the kitchen to pull their dinner out of the oven. "So have you heard anything new from your doctor friend?"
Kaoru looked up over the counter at him, holding a dish towel to take the hot pan out of the oven. "Just that one letter, it takes too long for mail to come. I'm hoping when Soujiro comes he can catch me up on him."
"Any phone calls?"
Kaoru placed her hand on her hip, forgetting about the dinner still in the oven. "Now Sanosuke Sagara, why are you asking such questions?"
He stood up, and jumped over the backside of the couch to approach her. "I just want to make sure that when I come back you won't suddenly be engaged to someone. What will I do then for fun? I'll have to make some girl fall in love with me and then subsequently break her heart, all for the sake of keeping my kissing skills in tact! This arrangement I have going with you is so ideal!"
He ducked laughing as Kaoru threw the dish towel at him. He sniffed the air. "Is something burning?"
"Crud!" Kaoru opened the oven and reached for the hot pan, forgetting she wasn't using the towel as a buffer. "Dang it!" she shouted, snatching her hand away immediately. She turned on the faucet of the sink, putting her hand under cold water to sooth the burn.
"Are you okay?" Sano asked, standing behind her, wrapping his arms around her and trying to inspect her burn.
"Yes stupid!" Kaoru hissed frantically. "Get the food before it burns!"
"Oh!" Sano rushed towards the stove and pulled the pan out himself, also forgetting to use a towel or oven mitt. He cursed wildly as he set the pan on the stovetop.
Kaoru couldn't help it. She burst out laughing at her friend. She grabbed hold of his arm and tugged him toward the sink, sticking his hand under the cold water. "Not only did we both get burned, but our dinner is burned too!" She kicked the oven door shut and turned off the heat. She then walked into the bathroom and rummaged through the medicine cabinet for burn ointment. She brought it back into the kitchen. "Good thing I'm a trained professional and can patch us both up, no?"
"Good thing," Sano agreed. He looked over at their dinner with a pained expression. "How do you feel about ordering pizza? Again."
Kaoru shook her head sadly as she placed the ointment over her friend's burn. "We should have just started with the pizza in the beginning. Should have known we wouldn't be able to cook dinner without it getting burned."
"Yeah, I suppose the first ten times we tried to do that should have been our hint to give up, huh?"
oooooOOOOOooooo
He glanced at the various flying instruments on his dash. He was at 10, 000 feet and needed to descend quickly. The announcement over his radio expressed the dire situation and he really didn't need any more added pressures. It was his fifth time out to this area in the past four hours. The damage to the fighters was barely comprehensible to him. He loaded up his helicopter, took off, flew the injured to the base, and then returned to the scene of battle. Only this time, it wasn't his base; his assistance had been requested by emergency.
"Captain," his co-pilot pointed towards the landing pad that the most recent desert storm had obscured only moments before.
"I see it," Enishi informed him, not relying on visual clues as much as the mathematical ability of his instruments. He was used to flying blind; a little sandstorm was hardly going to prevent him from doing his duties. He landed the helicopter on the make-shift landing pad. He left the blades whirling and waited in the cockpit as more injured soldiers were placed in the back of his chopper.
The medic crawled into the helicopter and set up his patients. He walked to the front of the bird and tapped Enishi on the shoulder. "Captain Yukishiro, this is the last of your loads." Enishi gave a brief nod before redirecting his attention to his controls. He waited until he was given the signal that everyone on board was secured. Then he took off, heading back towards the base.
He was somewhat relieved that this would be his last trip of the day. He had already flown more hours that day than was actually allowed. He didn't mind. He would have gladly volunteered to fly the rest of the night. However, he knew that if he were to lose his concentration for even a minute that he could easily kill all those on board that had entrusted their lives in his flying skills.
Base came into view quickly. He landed the bird with ease and hopped out, intent on helping with the transportation of the injured men from the back of the helicopter to the medical unit. It was the first time he had been inside the facility. He was struck by the atmospheric difference between this facility and the one he was normally assigned. There was chaos here. There were so many injured men. Few of the injuries were light—certainly no four year olds with rhinorrhea. He surveyed the medical staff, trying to decide where his assistance might be most appreciated.
His dark eyes landed upon the form of a tall, young man whose white coat had been tossed aside. His dark blue scrubs had stains of fresh blood as he worked at suturing a rather ugly laceration on an unfortunate soldier. Enishi approached the doctor. "Might I be of assistance?"
The man briefly looked up to meet Enishi's eyes with his startling blue-green irises. "We have no more numbing anesthetics, so I'll need you to hold him down as I try to finish," he requested, his voice surprisingly quiet. Enishi gave a nod of his head, indicating his understanding. He ignored the moans of the man on the table, his attention falling upon the quick moving, dexterous hands of the doctor.
The doctor finished suturing the laceration and placed a warm hand on the soldier's shoulder. "You're going to be fine. The knife did not hit anything vital and you were given a Tetanus shot in case the metal was infected," he explained. "Do you have any questions?" he asked in his soft-spoken voice. The fact that he even bothered to ask the patient something like that shocked Enishi. With all the chaos in the room he certainly wouldn't have blamed the doctor for fixing this man then quickly moving on to the next injured soldier.
"Thank you, Dr. Shinomori," the soldier said with a ghost of a smile. "I'm sure I'll be playing baseball again in no-time, right?"
A barely perceivable smile lifted the corners of Aoshi's lips. "Indeed," he agreed. He then gestured to a nearby medical assistant that the solider was ready to be moved out of the trauma room. He quickly walked over to the sink and began to scrub his hands, preparing for his next case. Enishi walked alongside him, scrubbing as well.
"Thank you," Aoshi said, flinging the water off his hands and drying them with paper towels. He then squirted on fast drying alcohol to clean his hands further. He glanced at Enishi's uniform stripes and badges. "Captain," he acknowledged, not seeing the name tag.
"Captain Yukishiro," Enishi introduced.
"Aoshi Shinomori," the doctor replied in turn. He walked towards the next patient on his triaged list and began assessing the situation. He was seeing a great many victims of bombings that day. He quickly waved down another assistant and shoved the man's chart into her arms. "He needs to be taken to surgery immediately. Find Dr. Bombay." He used the quick alcoholic wash of his hands once more before moving on to the next patient. It was another laceration.
Enishi assisted him in the procedure. Aoshi injected some of the numbing anesthetic into the man's flesh. "I thought there was no more anesthetic."
"We can not spare more than one shot per patient," Aoshi explained. He placed on latex free surgeon gloves and threaded his needle while Enishi cleaned the wound of blood that kept obscuring his field of vision. "What base are you at normally, Captain?" he asked casually.
"I'm generally stationed at the Gamma base," Enishi answered, surprised when Aoshi looked up at him with wide eyes. The doctor looked as if he were about to ask him more upon the manner when the patient moaned.
"The anesthetic is wearing off," Aoshi mumbled, concentrating on his task.
Hours passed, and though the doctor's shift had ended he had continued to work diligently. Enishi had been so impressed that he continued to aid him on his procedures. Finally, things had calmed down and the young doctor was finally able to call it a night. Enishi walked alongside him towards the mess hall.
"You really did not have to help me," Aoshi said.
"It was no trouble," Enishi assured him. "Those men needed all the help they could get. I was able to help so why wouldn't I have stayed?"
Aoshi didn't answer, but continued to lead the way to the mess hall. Enishi would be leaving in an hour to return to Gamma base soon. He had refused to stay over-night, but did consent to eating before he left. The superior officer at the base had ordered him to eat so his acceptance of the invitation might have been swayed by that minor detail. Aoshi and Enishi sat across from one another after receiving their meal. "Tell me about Gamma," Aoshi said.
Enishi didn't take well to demands, but decided it would be easy enough to answer the request. "The fighting in that area is minimal compared to here," he began.
"Good," Aoshi muttered, slicing his meat with the precision he showed in his procedures earlier.
Enishi frowned at being interrupted. "The medical personnel are not nearly as adept as the personnel here." That comment earned a dark look from the doctor, piquing Enishi's interest. "I seriously doubt that if something more serious than a runny nose came into that department that the patient would be doomed." No doubt about it, that comment caused the man in front of him to narrow his eyes dangerously. "You don't happen to know anyone there?"
Aoshi didn't answer his question. "You exaggerate."
Enishi shrugged. "Somewhat. There are a couple of doctors there that are rather competent," he begrudgingly admitted, thinking of the two female physicians.
"It is good that the fighting is not as intense there," Aoshi said after several minutes of silence had fallen over the pair as they finished their meal. He stood abruptly when his pager went off. "It was good to work with you. May you have a safe trip."
Enishi watched as the talented physician walked away. Something was certainly odd about the whole business between that doctor and his interest in Gamma. He shrugged, standing up and taking his tray to the receptacle. Perhaps it was just the behavior of a doctor defending his own.
oooooOOOOOooooo
Sanosuke ripped off the bandage from his hand, satisfied to see that his skin had not blistered. Kaoru knew how to take care of him, that was for sure. He tossed the wrappings in the trash before he knocked on Saitou's door. He walked inside, saluting his superior officer. His eyes flickered towards the small-statured man sitting in one of the two chairs across from Saitou's desk.
"Sit down Sagara," Saitou commanded gesturing to the vacant chair with his cigarette. "You're on active duty and I'm sending you out on a covert operation. Sagara, this is special agent Himura. He'll be the one leading this mission."
Sanosuke sat down on the empty leather chair and shook hands with the special agent. Internally, he wondered what exactly 'special agent' meant. Perhaps the red-head was some sort of spy.
"We will leave in the next half hour," Himura informed him. Sanosuke continued to stare at him wondering how come he didn't become a spy, being called special agent was much more exciting then being a Lieutenant or Captain. "It's a small operation utilizing a fifteen men team. I'll tell you what you need to know as you need to know it."
"O-kay," Sano said slowly. "That translates into you shoving me from the foxhole when the bullets fly and saying defend yourself, right?"
Himura grinned ever so slightly. "Something like that."
"All right, now get out of here. You're interfering with my smoking," Saitou called out when his phone began to ring. He waved the two away as he answered his phone. "Hello, Mr. President?"