On his way home he received a message from Rei, saying he looked better in the pic Makoto shared.
He answered her that he actually was feeling better and that the dinner was great.
He also told her that he was on his way home because tomorrow morning he had training with the commandos.
Rei answered with a comment stating that that's how he has to pay the dinner to Makoto then with a lot of Emojis and he answered that he had the same opinion.
She let him know, that she had shooting training tomorrow noon because of the cross training they decided to do. She asked if he'd by chance be at the range too.
Hm, he probably could arrange that. He had flight training in the afternoon and promised Hotaru and Chibiusa a night training even before they left earth the last time. It would be a long, busy day but spending some time with Rei would make up for it. Play it cool tho.
He told he was trying to make things work out and that he would get back to her tomorrow morning after training.
Shooting Guns with Rei, how much better could it get?
Way to less time later his alarm sounded off and he got up, ready, smashed a small breakfast down and hit the base up in a taxi. Good thing that most parts of Tokyo sleep at night, or he probably wouldn't have made in time.
He got to the barracks at 6:28 and the Commandos were already waiting outside. He ran inside got his gear and rifle and rushed back outside, where Captain Kino mocked him, that he probably ate too much yesterday and was slacking now.
The next three hours they did a nice forced March in whole gear and heavy rucksacks, reminding him again, why he was a pilot foremost. Marching was interrupted by simulated enemy contacts and disengagement drills.
If it wasn't for the possibility to spent some time with Rei later he probably would have gone back home to sleep again.
He went for a shower, dressed in a fresh pair of combat clothes, opting for a fresh tacticool Multicam Black and Black Thermo-Shirt Look and headed over to the dining hall for a real breakfast and first and for all more Hydration. The days we're getting warmer now and yesterday's rain had already dried off completely.
Walking through the courtyard he wrote Rei that he made some time and they could meet at noon at the range.
He had a real breakfast and was joined briefly by Ami, who got some Coffee and sandwiches and left again soon. She was busy with something special she said. Intelligence Personnel, always the mystery.
Sailor Pluto was at the hospital today so he was safe from her drills today, the forced March made up for it tho. He spent the early noon checking in with the Flight Center, Ground Crew and AICA. Terra Squadron was still on pause, so right now the Spacefighter Capacity of the whole Taskforce were limited to AICA and the Voyager. Also he got some of his guns from AICA.
He did hear plans to fill up the squadron up again as soon as possible although. Good news were also, that Taego was awake now and probably would make it. At least that was something, the mood in the flight center was still grim though.
He left the Flight Center and took a Humvee and with a detour to the armory to get some Guns and Ammo he went to the training area, where the shooting range was also located at.
SunTzu arrived there and checked in for a lane at the range.
He brought some pistols and military shotguns with him, and after putting on Protection Equipment and a small chest rig he laid the weapons out on a table and also put the ammo on the table. He figured that special shotgun ammunitions should take out even Vong Armor, so it won't hurt to be trained with them too.
Rei dressed in Jeans, Top and a leather jacket, arrived with a van transporting Team 1 and Makoto too.
Makoto already gave her the safety briefing and a pair of ear protectors as well as safety googles.
A bit nervous she cautiously walked up to the range and stood there, watching soldiers shoot at some of the lanes. A nearby group lane was used by a squad of soldiers of the Royal Guard, shooting their service rifles.
He already noticed her and observed her nervous approach. Not often you'd see her like that. After a few moments of her trying to accustom to the surrounding she finally noticed him too. Her nervous facial expression changed to a smile and she waved and came over to him.
God, that fitted T-Shirt looked fine on him, she thought. Okay, calm down Rei. Don't let him know, that you're nervous.
"TopGun, I'm glad you could arrange it. Oh, and I see you already got everything ready."
"Hey, you good? You look a bit pale around the nose." Risky but when there will ever be a moment Rei Hino would be nervous with something.
"Oh… really? No, I'm good. Maybe it's because your dark shades." She tried to overplay her nervousness.
"Maybe." He smiled, a bit broader than usual. "You ever shot before?"
"Actually yes, we got basic handgun training a few months ago. Was a while till I went shooting tho." She explained.
"I was thinking we start with pistols and then slowly work up to shotguns. I thought someone that likes to fling around fire would be fine with those. Either way it fucks stuff up." He smiled. "You got the safety briefing yet?" Safety first.
"Makoto just gave it to me on the way from the palace. Also I have you around to take care of me, no? Not even you would do something stupid here."
"Alright, then please, see which gun you wanna shoot first."
"That one, the small black one." She pointed at the smallest of them all, a subcompact Glock 26, basically the even smaller version of his already compact Glock 19.
All right, same gun just a little smaller than mine.
He checked if the gun was really empty and unloaded and handed it over to her.
"Here. Try it in your hands, does it feel comfortable to hold?"
She walked over to the lane and did some dry testing.
"Yeah, I think this works."
"Good, then let's load it, get back here."
He showed her which ammo to use and how to load the magazines. He brought two for that particular gun and let her load both.
"Alright, are you ready? Let's put some lead down that lane."
"I guess I'm ready."
She got to the shooting place, reloaded the weapon, cocked it and started shooting single shoots at the target twenty meters away. After the magazine was empty she checked the gun and laid it on the stand in front of her. He went for the target to see how well she shot.
He let out a small whistle after he took a look. All ten shots hit at least the target. Natural talent.
"Great, all ten shots hit the target. Not bad!"
He praised her while she took a look on her own.
"Comes from shooting bow and arrow. I learned aiming and how to breath through it. Shooting Guns is cool and stuff but you should try Bow and Arrows one day." She explained, happy with her hits.
"I don't know if Bob has bow and arrow in the armory, to be honest."
"No problem, I have everything you need at the shrine. Just let me know."
Was that an invitation to do something with her again?
"I'd be up for it. Actually I don't have duty for so long tomorrow, so afternoon I got time if you have time too."
"Tomorrow afternoon? You know I'm a really busy person and I probably have to cancel my afternoon tea with the Queen of England for this but if Topper Harley wants to visit me, who am I to leave him hanging."
"You're too kind my dear Moeru Shōjo. I can't wait to be introduced into the art of shooting bow and arrow. I promise I'll try to not kill anything with arrows."
She boxed his shoulder.
"Owww!"
"Earned! But very well then, tomorrow afternoon. And just for the record before you think of it otherwise. This is training not a date."
Yeah, yeah keep saying that to yourself, both of them thought.
"And now let's defame you a bit more with my shooting qualities." She got back and reloaded the Glock.
A few magazines later, he took over the lane and run a few magazines trough his pistol. Rei came very close to him In points of marksmanship. Also she was intrigued with his pistol so he let her shoot a few magazines with it too.
Soon they changed to the shotguns now and after seeing the effects of Sabot Rounds on Steel targets he was pretty sure to have found something he could bring down a Vong with. And probably the Vong behind the first one too.
Rei wanted to try them out too and he gave her a compact Mossberg and carefully instructed her how to load and use it.. She stood there aiming down the range when he got up behind her and corrected her stance slightly. His face was next to hers and his arms supported hers. She could feel his breath on her cheek.
"Okay, like that. Now turn the safety off and cock it one time."
She did and took aim at the nearest target.
"Shot when you're ready." He told her, still standing there.
She pulled the trigger and he helped her absorbing the recoil but she hit the target and smiled.
"Alright, now I let you do it on your own. Try to shot slowly to manage the recoil."
Rei shot another time, hitting the target and managing the recoil alone this time.
She smiled again, looking like she took a liking in it.
They shot all the ammo SunTzu brought and also trained some pistol drawing drills for Rei.
In a Galaxy like this even a diplomat should be ready to defend herself.
"Better keep that Thang on you Diplomat Hino." He joked.
"Stay strapped or get clapped." She laughed.
When they were finished, SunTzu loaded everything back up in the Humvee.
"Need a lift to the palace?" He asked her.
"Won't say no to that offer. About time for lunch also. I'll ask the girls, wanna tag along?" She asked and pulled out her phone.
"Food is always a good idea, he smiled and after she texted her message into the Senshi Group stating that she and SunTzu were heading for lunch now they left.
They brought back the guns to the armory and then walked off to the dining hall from there.
Inside Minako, Chibiusa and Hotaru were already sitting at a table, waiting for them.
They greeted each other and sat down on the opposite side of the three girls.
"Where you guys have been?" Chibiusa asked.
"TopGun showed me how to use shotguns at the range. That quarter part American in me is still cheering." Rei told with a grin.
"Sounds awesome. Don't forget tonight SunTzu, we already maintained our guns for it." The Princess said to SunTzu.
"And got fitting helmets for the Night Vision Googles!" Hotaru chimed in.
These two girls were still way to hyped for shit like that.
"Don't worry I won't forget. And don't forget it's not for fun we're doing this." He told them with a fatherly tone.
"Yeah, yeah. The expectation of tonight at least made school today more bearable." Chibiusa told and Hotaru nodded approvingly.
"You should take school more serious, girls. It's important to learn." SunTzu told them.
What's next, Dad jokes?
"But it's still plain boring. I'm sure Ami or Setsuna could teach me more and better than our teacher." Chibiusa responded.
Minako and Rei observed the conversation in silence, internally amused by SunTzu's tries to educate the two teenagers.
After some more discussion and SunTzu dropping the inevitable "You learn for yourself and not for school" the two elder Senshi couldn't hold in anymore and decided to intervene with leaving for food.
Minako and the two younger girls went first, while Rei stayed and mocked SunTzu a bit.
"Hahahaha. TopGun, you're such a dad dad. You learn for yourself not for school, what the fuck." She laughed some more as he just sat there with a sour expression.
"Hey, if that isn't our favorite non dating couple not being on a date again." Haruka said as she and Michiru approached the table.
This was getting out of hand, now there were two of the Senshi that mock him all of the time at the table.
"If that isn't my British Nemesis. Hey Haruka, you actually did survive. I haven't heard from since I went to bed yesterday."
"We're not on a date, Chibiusa, Minako and Hotaru are here too. They are over there in the line." Rei angrily explained and pointed to the three girls. "I was just nice enough to stay with Topper Harley here so he doesn't feel alone and starts thinking about doing stupid things. Plus someone has to mock him because he's Superdad now."
Haruka jumped to the table and sat down next to her.
"Tell me everything!"
Rei, laughing furiously all the time, told Haruka and Michiru, that sat down also the whole thing and how SunTzu tried to educate the two teenage girls.
At the end both of them were laughing and even Michiru had to chuckle.
Hey, he had completely forgotten about Dathomir. Maybe it still wasn't too late for a transfer request. Especially if he'd ask directly at the top of the food chain. He was sure the royal couple would honor his educational service too.
Rei had Company on the table now so he guessed it was okay to queue up for food too. Standing up without saying a word he got into the line to get some food, leaving the three Senshi staring after him.
Why was he so annoyed? Especially with the comment Haruka made and Rei's answer. Oh well, maybe he was just hangry.
When he came back with a tray of food the two younger Senshis and Mina were already eating. He started eating too, and noticed the three girls were observing him while eating.
"Is something wrong?" He asked them, while he was eating a Miso Soup.
Minako defensively put up her hands.
"No, no. The others just meant you're in a bad mood."
"I am not." He said that maybe a bit more harsh as he meant it, making Mina twitch.
Not my fault they don't like the responsible custodian here.
He wolved down his food and was done with it when the other three Senshi appeared with their food at the table.
He just remembered Hotaru and Chibi-Usa to be on time and all geared up and ready tonight and left with a nod.
"What's gotten into him today?" Chibiusa asked when he was gone.
He left the dining hall and took the Humvee back to the Air Base, parking at the Aircenter. He changed into a flight suit and went over to AICA's Hangar.
He ignored AICA's remarks that for one time he was over punctual and performed the necessary checks before starting.
Today's training was about navigating with landmarks. He was too early but already checked in with flight control and requested to push up the exercise to now.
The Request got denied and he waited in the cockpit with a sour mood.
The day was going well but now everybody seemed to have the target to drag his mood down.
So he waited for quite some time till he got his take off clearance.
A few seconds later AICA was out of the Hangar and shooting up vertically into the sky, making her way to a remote island for the navigational training.
He flew AICA, who commented how much she liked it, on the limit and arrived a few moments later in the Area of Operations.
He kept flying on the limit and bit by bit his mood got better again. It was just him, AICA and the sky. And an early death if he would hit one of the mountains or hills he was navigating through way too fast and too low. YOLO, even tho flight command reminded him about his risky speed and altitude by the minute till he broke out between two hills on the other side of the island. Flight Command let him know that he beat the record time for the exercise but they also reprimanded his flying, telling him they won't count the time.
He just shrugged it off, his mood was better again after pushing up his adrenaline and he told Command that he'd go for another pass. This time he was more cautious and kept in the parameters Command demanded.
He didn't beat the record this time but he didn't care much as he went back to Crystal Tokyo Air Base.
On the way home Stinger Jordan chewed his ass off for risky flying already.
SunTzu didn't really listen tho, in his mind he was already preparing for the night training with Hotaru and Chibiusa and how he could drill them.
He got a message from Rei, asking him what his sudden departure was all about. And if Bow and Arrow was still up for tomorrow afternoon. Looks like leaving angry worked.
He sent her a voice message from the way back to the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, stating that he would still be up for it. He didn't cater about her first question.
A sorry if they overdid it followed as well as a confirmation for tomorrow afternoon.
Did he finally begin to learn how to handle the Princess of Mars?
Soon he was back over the Air Base but Commander Jordan just left him for senselessly turn loop after loop over the base and not giving him clearance to land.
Well, if the Commander only knew, that duty wasn't over for him anyway.
He turned on music and let AICA do lap after lap. The view over the palace and it's Crystal Tower and over Tokyo Bay wasn't the worst either. His mood was back to good again.
They let him wait for another ten minutes, till he was allowed to land. On the way to the hangar he saw the Voyager getting ready for it's take off to do same exercise. Haruka was checking the Solar Panels right now, he brought AICA to a hold and let her hover on the spot and opened the canopy.
Haruka turned around waved her hand.
"Can you imagine, I broke the record but because I was too low and too fast they didn't let count it?" He told her.
"Stinger Jordan was about to get a stroke with you in there. That whole standby for landing clearance. He'll probably will let you do this for the rest of your career." She laughed, but not because he earned but because he made the superior Officer so mad. "That was pretty ballsy Mate."
"Yeah, well had to blow some steam off." He shrugged. "I'm out now, I'll have to teach two teenagers how to own the night. See you around and say Hi to Michiru."
Haruka gave him a quick two finger salute and SunTzu hovered over to AICA's Hangar while Haruka finished her inspection.
He said his Goodbye to AICA and went to the Flight Center. After ten minutes of receiving a dressing-down from a certain commander, which he used to think about what clothes would be fitting for tomorrow's occasion, he left, dressing in an uniform. He brought the Humvee back to the car pool and took a civilian car instead.
He rushed over to Tokyo to buy a nice but simple Kimono for tomorrow. The shop clerk also recommended a Yukata for him, so he got one too. After a quick dinner in a fast food restaurant he hasted back to the Base.
He changed into Combat Clothes again and loaded his weapon and gear into the car, before driving off to the training area of the base.
It was dark already on this early evening and he passed Team 3, marching back from training.
He parked near one of the Killhouses, opened the trunk and geared up.
Then he went into the kill house and got the targets ready, as well as to two nearby lanes on the shooting range, preparing them as well.
Shortly afterwards a vehicle was approaching, but no lights were visible. There was definitely something approaching and soon he could make out a Humvee with canvas cover in the back but no Doors, heading towards him.
Why would someone drive around without lights on?
The vehicle came to a halt next to him and from the driver seat a helmet and Night Vision Googles wearing Hotaru was grinning at him. Next to her Chibiusa leaned over to him.
"Moons out, goons out Lieutenant!" Chibiusa greeted him and made a „Hang Loose" sign with her hand.
"Wait, did you two just drove here from the palace without lights on?"
"No, not all the way. Just when we didn't see people anymore." Hotaru stated as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Do you even have a driver's license yet?" He asked her.
"Why do I need one on base?" She asked, not getting the question.
„Wha… how do you even got this Hummer?"
„Helps to be the princess if you need to obtain something." Chibiusa answered from the passenger seat.
Maybe if he'd just steal AICA now and went off planet immediately, nobody would take notice till he already was on Dathomir.
After needing a moment to collect himself he took a deep breath and told the two girls to get out of the car and in a line.
He gave them a safety briefing the two followed more or less interested.
Then he told them that they would start with shooting with Night Vision on on the range.
The girls let him know, that they already did that before.
"How? And when? Where did you get the guns and Googles?" He asked.
Chibiusa leaned forward while the both were standing in line.
"Like I said, it helps to be the Princess to obtain stuff."
He took another deep breather.
"Please tell me, that you at least took safety serious."
"Of course, Guns are not toys. Who do you think we are?"
Thank you Hotaru, please don't tell your mom anyway. Not before I'm safe in a cave where a pack of Rancors has their home.
"Nice Kit by the way, you look fucking tacticool." Hotaru told him further.
He looked down at himself and then shook his head.
"Okay, then my always a step further than me being Junior Senshi. Please head over to the range with me. Let's see how good you shoot in the dark." He told them and they fell in behind him.
Of course they already were loaded up and ready to shoot. He just hoped that they showed the same eagerness when it came to school.
They got ready, turned on their IR-only Lasers, only visible with their Night-Vision and when he gave the signal they unloaded their first magazines with steady but semi shots.
He waited till the two girls checked and secured their weapons and then went to get the targets.
He brought them back and gave them to the girls to check their results. They were really good considering their age and given their state of training.
They were comparing each other almost immediately.
"Ha, i shot better than you bitch." Chibiusa remarked.
"Wait till the next magazine, and please don't start crying again." Hotaru responded.
"Language!" SunTzu chimed in.
The next magazines were let off and this time Hotaru shot a grain better.
"Who's laughing now, bitch?" He mocked her best friend now.
"Okay, next magazine decides then."
They both shot another magazine and then secured their weapons.
SunTzu let out a small whistle when he saw the results. These girls were really good, he thought when he walked back.
"I call this a draw", he said as he gave the target paper to the girls.
They both shot almost identically good and called it a draw too, sportswomen they were.
He cleaned up the range a bit and then lead the girls over to the kill house.
He gave them a small briefing and asked who wanted to start. Hotaru wanted to go first and Chibiusa was okay with that.
They did a small radio check and then lined up for the sweep. Chibiusa was to watch from a balcony while SunTzu followed Hotaru inside, monitoring her run.
She loaded her weapon and got ready.
"Go Bestie!" Chibiusa came over the headsets.
"3… 2… 1… Go!" SunTzu started the exercise and Hotaru rushed off, SunTzu following in close behind.
A few minutes later the exercise was cleared, for the fact that she didn't know where the targets were and how the house was built up, totally acceptable.
Next up was Chibiusa, loading a new Magazine in her German SMG and cocking it with a slap on the charging handle.
She knew how to do the show part already.
"Oh yeah, slap dat Bitch!" Hotaru came over the radio.
"Language!" SunTzu chimed in over his headset.
They started the exercise and Chibiusa took a little bit longer than Hotaru but still in a totally acceptable time.
He let them ran the exercise as single person two more times, and their times got more than acceptable.
When the finished the third time, he went in again and changed the position of the targets a bit, while the two young Senshi waited outside.
He came over the radio and told them that this time they'll go together and he would observe them from the balcony above.
He told them to really take care to not shoot themselves but he somehow knew that he had to see how good they really were especially as team. This would stay between them he told and the girls promised they would stay quiet.
He let them start and goddamn, they were fucking effective as team. It was kind of creepy how soundless they cleared the kill house. They even changed to subsonic ammo for this run, so their suppressed guns made nothing much of a sound than the click of the bolt. They went methodical from room to room and cleared the house in quite a good time. They assembled outside and secured their guns.
"Girls, I have to admit that was great work for the first time running an exercise like this."
The girls fistbumped each other satisfied.
"We own the night!"
"Some more training and you two will probably break some records in there. Also great work on being soundless."
"We're fucking Ninja's Hotaru!" Chibiusa commented.
"Fuck yeah. Don't fear the reaper, fear the silence." Hotaru replied.
"Girls! Language!"
They packed up and SunTzu drove the Humvee back to the Palace Motor Pool, delivering the girls to the palace.
"Do I need to bring you home Hotaru?"
"No, I'll sleep at the Palace. Mom had a sixteen hour shift at the hospital today, I don't want to wake her, when I come home. She knows I'm good at the palace."
"Alright. Good work girls. I'll see you around. And please, no more roaming around tonight."
"Okay, but just because we were allowed to run the exercise in a pair." Chibiusa winked at him.
He told them goodnight and let one of the night guards drive him back to the car he brought to the range. He went over to the AirBase and locked up his stuff before he took the car and went home.
After another way to short night he was back at the base in the early morning, getting some time in the gym in with Haruka.
"You better today?" She asked him, as he spotted her when they were lifting weights.
"I guess. Talking with Makoto helped a lot. How about you and our favorite teal haired copilot?"
"It's getting better. Still fucking hurts tho. At least Michiru is not crying all the time anymore. Everything was a bit too much for her."
"I can imagine. I'm still saying she's afraid of me."
"No, absolutely not. You know how much she's attached to you. It was just the shock that her vision became reality."
"Hope so."
"Don't worry. Let's have breakfast together. If you don't want to run away again all angry."
They traded places and Haruka spotted him.
"I wasn't angry, just busy."
"Yeah, yeah, of course. By the way, what's up with you and Rei? You two are always around each other lately."
SunTzu tried not to blush or act caught.
"Pure Coincidence. Maybe I have a masochistic side and just like to be mocked. You tell me."
"Mhm, why would I bet that I get a similar sidestepping answer from her If I'd ask her the same."
"Sidestepping? It's the truth. As if I had a chance at all." SunTzu tried to play it down.
"You're right. Not a maniac like you. After all she's smoking hot."
They finished their workout, showered and went for breakfast where they met Michiru and Setsuna.
Setsuna was quiet as usual. But Michiru was basically the same as always. SunTzu was glad that Haruka was right.
After Breakfast Setsuna told SunTzu that it's been quite a while since their last training and if he was up for it. She told him that they wouldn't spare today but rather train fighting together again. She seemed to be a bit sad and absent-minded today.
"Are you okay, you seem sad."
She twitched and forced a smile.
"No, no. I'm good. Just a bit in thoughts because a case at the hospital, that's all."
"Okay. Let me know if I can do something, okay?"
She needed a moment before she answered.
"Sure, I let you know." Another forced smile.
"Up for training?"
"Sure, just let me change." He replied.
A few minutes later they met in the training area. Today it was all about changing from defensive to offensive attacks and working together. She made him part of her deadly dance, rolling over him, fighting back to back and he even gave her assistance with jumping higher. Slowly they were growing into a deadly team. If only he had a light sword to attack with strikes too.
They trained for over a hour and the exercising actually seemed to lighten up Setsuna's mood slightly.
He sat down after they finished and drank a big sip from a bottle of water, towel over his head because he was sweating like crazy.
Even she seemed to be exhausted this time. She was also having a bottle of water.
Their gazes met and both shared a smile. They really killed it today.
"Lieutenant, I have to go and see after Hotaru, her training should be done too. That was a good training today. You're finally getting there."
"Thank you Pluto. I appreciate it. Say Hi to Hotaru to me." She nodded with a smile and left.
He couldn't help but let his gaze follow her outside. What a woman.
He sat there, taking energy from the force and finishing his water when he remembered that he should get going if he wanted to meet Rei in the afternoon.
After a shower he got to the AirBase, checked on AICA and Karlena and finished his many organizational tasks for today.
Time to go home.
He took a cab home and changed into his newly bought Kimono. He needed some time to got it right but thank god there was a tutorial video for everything on a certain video website.
SunTzu took a cab to the temple and arrived there and he walked up the stairs to the temple.
Then he walked through the shrine's Tori-Gate and stopped on the main square.
He didn't see Rei but two black haired girls in Miko Outfits were outside the shrine, doing chores. They looked identical, just like twins.
He stood there looking like a lost sheep till the two Mikos came over.
The two young women, maybe in their early twenties, bowed and greeted him.
As it was local manners he bowed too and greeted them back.
From near it was even more clear, that they looked identical, except for the eyes. One had blue eyes and the other had red eyes.
They asked what it was he was looking for and he told her that he had an appointment with Miss Hino.
The two girls bowed again and rushed off into one of the buildings. He didn't see the two crows flying around today, he noticed.
A few moments later Rei came out of the main building, also wearing her Miko-Outfit, the other two falling in behind her.
Sailor Mars approached him with a broad smile.
She couldn't believe what she saw. He really wore a kimono fitting the occasion and even wore it right. Yomi, he was looking good.
He didn't know why, but he loved that Miko Outfit on her. It gave her a certain specific class.
"Hey TopGun, nice outfit. Usually I'm against tourists in traditional clothes but you actually seem to care about what you wear." She said, still smiling.
"Well, I thought I should dress for the occasion. Hope you don't mind."
"No, actually it's really fitting." She turned around to the other two Mikos. "Girls do me a favor and take care of the shrine. I'm at the archery range if you need me."
The two raven haired girls bowed and got back to their chores while she let SunTzu on to a side building.
"Better mood today?" She asked him, Arms crossed in her sleeves, slowly walking over to the wooden building.
"I don't have any idea what you mean." He said crossing his arms behind his head and looking skywards, searching for the crows again.
"Of course not. Anyways, how was your day? Are you fit enough for shooting Bow and Arrow?"
"Well, I didn't sleep enough, did a workout with Haruka before the sun was really up and did tons of paperwork. Nothing too fancy you see. But at least Setsuna praised me today after she rolled around on top of me for like a hour and we both ended up completely drenched in sweat."
Rei stopped in her tracks and turned around with raised eyebrows.
"What did you do?" She seemed to be angry. Wait, was that smoke rising up from her hand?
"What? Ah, we trained together. I think we become quite the good team now."
Rei took out a deep breather and suddenly turned around again, rushing on.
"Hey, wait. What did I do now? Rei-Chan, wait for me, I can not walk so fast in these shoes!"
This prick, no empathy for the feelings of a woman. What did he think he was saying?
And why was she so bothered by it. Not that Topper Harley had any chance with the Guardian of Space and Time anyway. But still, sometimes he acted like an idiot.
She opened the door to the building and entered. She took another deep breath.
Easy now Rei. Don't get bothered with this stupid guy. Let's just defame him with Bow and Arrows to show him his place.
He arrived also and entered the building.
"Hey, what was that about? I'm not used to walk in these Shoes."
"We're on a schedule today TopGun, not my fault if you hang behind." She said with a stern look on her face.
In the long stretched building there were two targets built up and she got a traditional longbow, called a Daikyū, and a quiver with arrows from hooks on the wall.
She told him about the story and the meaning of shooting bow and arrow in Japanese history. It was the embodiment of discipline and purity she told him.
He curiously followed her explanations and he really admired how she got caught up in these explanations.
"I'll show you how to do it first, okay? So watch me close." She told him as she lined up and took the stance.
As if he would do something else. Or ever did when he was in the same room she was.
She took an arrow, aimed and let it fly. It almost hit bullseye. Pretty impressive he thought.
"The first one is usually my worst." She said with a pouted mouth.
She took another arrow and shot it, hitting bulls eye now. He started clapping.
"That was great! Good shot!" He cheered for her.
She looked at him with a sly grin and took another arrow, this time she hit bulls eye again, just a few millimeters apart from the second arrow.
"Wow!" Was all he could say, she was an expert at this.
She handed him the bow.
"Thank you. Now it's your turn." She handed him the bow and quiver and he tried to copy her stance.
Spanning an arrow in the bow, he took aim. Everything was way less gracile than with Rei but at least he was eager to try.
Rei could see SunTzu was trying extra hard to do it right.
He shot the first arrow and and barely hit the target.
He grimaced and took another arrow from the quiver.
"Wait a moment." She walked over to him and stepped behind him.
She put her hands on his shoulders and corrected his stance. She had to concentrate because the feel of his tensed muscles distracted her. He could feel her breath in his neck and tried his best not to blush. Her hand glided down his arm and corrected his grip on the bow.
She took her other hand and corrected his grip on the arrow too.
"Now, breathe in and breathe out as you know from shooting." She whispered in his ear. "Aim. Yes, exactly like this."
He took aim, the bow was spanned to the maximum.
"And shoot."
He let the arrow fly and it hit near the bullseye.
"Very good." She aspirated in his ear and clapped his shoulder.
She took a step back and got of his way.
"Now shot the third one, just like I showed you."
It was hard for him to concentrate, because right now, after that close encounter with Rei, he needed a cold shower.
Countenance SunTzu, countenance.
He started breathing from deep within, lowering his pulse. Then he took aim and shot.
The shot hit the upper verge of the bullseye.
"See, you can do It. A few more years and you could maybe keep up with me."
He looked at her and smiled.
They took their time and in turns shot more.
As the evening began they stopped.
Rei told him, that she had to get her grandfather from the train station now.
"Thank you for the nice afternoon Rei, I really enjoyed it."
"I enjoyed it too. Let me know if you need more training one day. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah. Although this was the second time I did something outside the base and I wasn't attacked nor did a war break out. So I don't guarantee for anything on the way home." They both laughed and Rei shook her head. Never without a stupid patter.
"Let's also train together soon again. So we're ready the next time a robot cockroach wants to grill us."
If Setsuna made you sweat, wait what the fires of the burning girl will do with you.
He left, saying goodbye to the two Miko Twins on his way out and left for home.
Today has been a good day.