[FIC] Whispered Reign (pt. 10)
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 8:11 am
Whispered Reign: Part 10
November 5th, 1615 Hours (Japan Standard Time)
Choufu-shi, Tokyo, Japan
The rain continued to pour heavily, almost mercilessly as Sousuke and Kaname made their way back home.
Soaking through the material of the jacket Sousuke was holding up over their heads, it drenched them both and still it rained, as if trying to strand them. Their wet clothes hanging onto them like a second skin, they jogged quickly, realizing that they need not actually hurry since they were already soaked to the skin.
Kaname’s apartment was in sight. Just a few more steps and they would finally be out of this downpour.
A couple more meters.
They rushed through the door and stopped immediately, afraid they might slip on the marble floor. The security guard who was sitting behind a small desk folded his newspaper and looked at them with some pity in his eyes.
“Caught in the rain?” he asked the two teenagers who were trying to squeeze excess water from their clothes.
“Affirmative.” That reply was of course from Sousuke.
“You kids should know better to at least bring a raincoat along. It tends to rain a lot this time of the year although it’s really heavy this year.”
“I agree. Although, I personally would prefer that an unarmed civilian carry an umbrella. It can be used quite effectively as a baton or a -”
Kaname had gotten quite fed-up of Sousuke’s otaku-ness and in addition of being wet, cold and tired, she just couldn’t bear to listen to anymore of Sousuke’s lecture on self-defense. She pinched his arm hard and dragged him along as he grimaced in pain.
“We’ll keep that in mind. Thank you,” she said politely to the aging guard while walking to the elevator.
“Couples these days.”
That had Kaname frown a little. She actually more annoyed at Sousuke than that particular comment but she brushed it off as a small nuisance.
The guard returned to his previous activity – catching up on Hollywood gossips and world politics.
Kaname continued to pinch Sousuke’s arm all the way till they reached her apartment. Sousuke’s arm was already feeling quite numb by then.
Entering her apartment, she finally released Sousuke and went to get a couple of towels for them to dry themselves off. Sousuke waited by the door, massaging his bruised upper arm.
A small puddle had formed around Sousuke when Kaname came back with a towel for him to dry his hair.
She handed the towel to him and invited him in. “Come on in. Don’t just stand by the corridor. I’ll find you an umbrella.”
Kaname hung her towel by a chair and set about to look for an umbrella. After the last time she used it, she just left it somewhere and now she couldn’t remember where she had put it.
“Darn. Just hold on for a while, Sousuke. Take a seat. I can’t seem to remember where I had left it.”
“It’s alright. I’ll wait.”
Kaname felt extremely cold. Her hands were freezing. She was shivering badly but she moved around a lot so that it would not be so obvious. But even that could not hide the fact from Sousuke’s eagle eyes.
“Chidori, are you alright?” His voice was one of concern.
“Yeah, sure. Why do you ask?” She was trying to hide the stutter in her voice but failed.
“You’re shivering.” His voice was soft.
“I… I’ll be alright. I’ll just be a minute. Let me check in my room. The umbrella should be there.” The fact was, her knees were feeling so weak, and they are just about ready to give way.
Sousuke walked over to Kaname and put a hand over her forehead. Kaname tried to push Sousuke’s hand away insisting that she was fine.
“Don’t move.” Sousuke held his hand over Kaname’s forehead and realizing that he was persistent, she let him.
“Just as I suspected. You have a fever,” Sousuke deduced.
Kaname wasn’t surprised. “Yes, walking in the rain can do that to you. It’s not a big deal. I’ll be fine in the morning.”
“Don’t be stubborn. You’ll get sick. Why don’t you go take a hot shower? I’ll wait here.”
“Me? Stubborn? Why you…” She regretted not having her halisen by her side to club Sousuke with but her fist would be sufficient. Then, she noticed the serious look on Sousuke’s face. Sousuke was right.
She sighed and relaxed herself. “Oh alright.”
Kaname, following Sousuke’s advice, huffed over to the bathroom while Sousuke sat down at the dining table.
Soon after, he could hear the shower turned on and water droplets hitting the tiled floor.
Sousuke got up and headed towards the door. He figured that while Kaname was still in the shower, he should go back to his apartment, get changed and pack some extra supplies. Kaname coming down with a fever reminded him that he forgot to include medical supplies in his small inventory.
Back at his apartment, he changed into a black turtleneck and jeans of the same color. Most of his clothes were in dark colors anyway.
After packing the first-aid supplies, he wondered if he should take a couple of extra flash grenades and some smoke grenades.
Yes, he could always do with more grenades.
And so, a couple of each grenade went into the bag before it was closed.
Having put on a raincoat, Sousuke rushed back across the street over to Kaname’s apartment.
By the time Kaname had finished changing into some loose clothings, Sousuke still has not returned. She looked around, saw no one and figured that he had left. It was a little unexpected for him to leave her without even telling her. Of course, he always left without notice whenever he was called in for a mission.
Kaname felt slightly hurt. She had a fever. How could he have just up and left like that? She knew that she had persisted that she was okay but still she couldn’t help but feel disappointed at him. She let herself fall onto the couch because she was feeling so tired.
Resting her head on a pillow, she decided to forget about Sousuke for a moment. Warm and comfortable, she nearly drifted off to sleep when she heard someone fiddling with the doorknob.
Who could it be? Could they have waited for Sousuke to leave before making their move?
She got up immediately and took her baseball bat and ran to the front door. Holding the makeshift weapon in a defensive position, she got herself ready.
The door swung open. The bat was smashed the side of the door, missing the perpetrator totally. The man at the door evaded the shot, grabbed the bat and disarmed Kaname.
Jerking Kaname’s arm forward, the assailant spun her around and crossed her arms against her chest locking it in place. With the attacker behind her, his arms holding hers in place, she could not even see his face.
Her instincts told her to keep struggling. She shook about wildly hoping that she could break the embrace.
“Chidori? Calm down.”
The voice. It sounded familiar.
Kaname stopped at once. The attacker – he was actually Sousuke.
Sousuke released Kaname when she had calmed down. She turned around to see if it was really Sousuke. It was.
“It’s you. I thought you left.” She honestly didn’t expect to see Sousuke again after he had left.
“Well, I did. I had to go home and change.”
“Oh, right.” She felt foolish then. She was not the only person who got wet in the rain.
Her knees wobbled. She had used up any energy left and now, she was feeling very weak. She leaned onto Sousuke knowing that he would support her.
Sousuke helped her over to the couch so she could rest. After that, he checked her temperature again.
“You shouldn’t be moving too much. You know that you have a fever.”
“But I thought that… When you left… I… You…” She didn’t want to admit that she had been so foolish as to mistake Sousuke for a bad guy.
“Errr… Chidori?” Sousuke had trouble understanding her incoherent speech.
“Ohh, I thought you were a thief or something.”
“But a thief wouldn’t have had your spare key.” Sousuke jingled the keys in front of her.
“I know. I know. I was just confused.”
Sousuke went over to the table to put his bag down. “That is understandable.”
“Just let me rest a while and then, I’ll fix us some dinner.”
“Negative. You should be resting more in your current condition.”
“You? Cook?” She did not know that Sousuke could cook, being a soldier and all. And even if he did know how to cook, would it edible?
“Affirmative. As a soldier, we had to learn to take care of ourselves. But I have had not been to kitchen for some time now considering the last time; the school janitor had gone berserk when we put his carp on a plate.” As he said this, he went to the kitchen and began preparing dinner.
“Oh, right. Was it the time when we had found you and Tsubaki mumbling to yourselves? We didn’t really know what happened then.”
“Yes. The janitor was a formidable enemy.”
After that, Kaname had kept quite while she watched Sousuke bustle about in the kitchen. It was nice to have someone cook for her for a change. Sousuke wasn’t familiar with the kitchen and so it took him some time to find certain things.
When he was finally done, he brought a bowl of hot porridge to the table.
“Chidori, dinner is ready.”
Kaname walked over to the table and took a seat.
“Sousuke… Thank you.”
“It’s not a problem.”
She sampled the porridge. She expected the worst but got a shock when she found out that actually, it wasn’t too bad. In fact, for a bowl of plain porridge, it was quite good.
“Wow, this is quite good. Are you sure this is just plain porridge?”
“I’ve added some scallops in it to give it a sweet flavor. I’ve learnt this during survival training in Cambodia.”
“I see. Looks like you’re nearly as good as me.” She had meant that as a joke and a compliment.
“Probably not. My expertise is still in combat.”
“Err… That was a compliment.”
“Ahhh… Thank you.”
Sousuke joined her and had a bowl of porridge himself.
After dinner, they did the dishes together. Initially, Sousuke was the one cleaning up but Kaname felt guilty and decided to lend a hand. She was already feeling much better and her strength had returned to her.
She took a couple of paracetamol before going to bed. But Sousuke was still hanging around. Usually, he would’ve gone home by now.
“Erm… Aren’t you going to go home?”
“I can’t leave you like this. You might need someone to care for you.”
Just the two of them in the house. What would her father think if he knew about this? She never figured that Sousuke had the guts to request permission to stay. Or perhaps he just didn’t know what this meant to spend a night over at a girl’s house. But, this was Sousuke. What could he possibly do? She actually felt more secure having him around instead.
“Where will you sleep?”
“I won’t be sleeping tonight.”
“You can’t do that!” Taking care of her was one thing. Not sleeping was a bit too much.
“I’m still adjusting to the differing sleeping pattern from my last mission.”
“Oh, okay then.” She was still not too convinced.
“I really appreciate it, Sousuke.” She was touched by Sousuke’s efforts.
“It’s not a problem.”
Then, she went to her bedroom feeling safe having Sousuke looking over her. Her guardian angel.
November 5th, 1615 Hours (Japan Standard Time)
Choufu-shi, Tokyo, Japan
The rain continued to pour heavily, almost mercilessly as Sousuke and Kaname made their way back home.
Soaking through the material of the jacket Sousuke was holding up over their heads, it drenched them both and still it rained, as if trying to strand them. Their wet clothes hanging onto them like a second skin, they jogged quickly, realizing that they need not actually hurry since they were already soaked to the skin.
Kaname’s apartment was in sight. Just a few more steps and they would finally be out of this downpour.
A couple more meters.
They rushed through the door and stopped immediately, afraid they might slip on the marble floor. The security guard who was sitting behind a small desk folded his newspaper and looked at them with some pity in his eyes.
“Caught in the rain?” he asked the two teenagers who were trying to squeeze excess water from their clothes.
“Affirmative.” That reply was of course from Sousuke.
“You kids should know better to at least bring a raincoat along. It tends to rain a lot this time of the year although it’s really heavy this year.”
“I agree. Although, I personally would prefer that an unarmed civilian carry an umbrella. It can be used quite effectively as a baton or a -”
Kaname had gotten quite fed-up of Sousuke’s otaku-ness and in addition of being wet, cold and tired, she just couldn’t bear to listen to anymore of Sousuke’s lecture on self-defense. She pinched his arm hard and dragged him along as he grimaced in pain.
“We’ll keep that in mind. Thank you,” she said politely to the aging guard while walking to the elevator.
“Couples these days.”
That had Kaname frown a little. She actually more annoyed at Sousuke than that particular comment but she brushed it off as a small nuisance.
The guard returned to his previous activity – catching up on Hollywood gossips and world politics.
Kaname continued to pinch Sousuke’s arm all the way till they reached her apartment. Sousuke’s arm was already feeling quite numb by then.
Entering her apartment, she finally released Sousuke and went to get a couple of towels for them to dry themselves off. Sousuke waited by the door, massaging his bruised upper arm.
A small puddle had formed around Sousuke when Kaname came back with a towel for him to dry his hair.
She handed the towel to him and invited him in. “Come on in. Don’t just stand by the corridor. I’ll find you an umbrella.”
Kaname hung her towel by a chair and set about to look for an umbrella. After the last time she used it, she just left it somewhere and now she couldn’t remember where she had put it.
“Darn. Just hold on for a while, Sousuke. Take a seat. I can’t seem to remember where I had left it.”
“It’s alright. I’ll wait.”
Kaname felt extremely cold. Her hands were freezing. She was shivering badly but she moved around a lot so that it would not be so obvious. But even that could not hide the fact from Sousuke’s eagle eyes.
“Chidori, are you alright?” His voice was one of concern.
“Yeah, sure. Why do you ask?” She was trying to hide the stutter in her voice but failed.
“You’re shivering.” His voice was soft.
“I… I’ll be alright. I’ll just be a minute. Let me check in my room. The umbrella should be there.” The fact was, her knees were feeling so weak, and they are just about ready to give way.
Sousuke walked over to Kaname and put a hand over her forehead. Kaname tried to push Sousuke’s hand away insisting that she was fine.
“Don’t move.” Sousuke held his hand over Kaname’s forehead and realizing that he was persistent, she let him.
“Just as I suspected. You have a fever,” Sousuke deduced.
Kaname wasn’t surprised. “Yes, walking in the rain can do that to you. It’s not a big deal. I’ll be fine in the morning.”
“Don’t be stubborn. You’ll get sick. Why don’t you go take a hot shower? I’ll wait here.”
“Me? Stubborn? Why you…” She regretted not having her halisen by her side to club Sousuke with but her fist would be sufficient. Then, she noticed the serious look on Sousuke’s face. Sousuke was right.
She sighed and relaxed herself. “Oh alright.”
Kaname, following Sousuke’s advice, huffed over to the bathroom while Sousuke sat down at the dining table.
Soon after, he could hear the shower turned on and water droplets hitting the tiled floor.
Sousuke got up and headed towards the door. He figured that while Kaname was still in the shower, he should go back to his apartment, get changed and pack some extra supplies. Kaname coming down with a fever reminded him that he forgot to include medical supplies in his small inventory.
Back at his apartment, he changed into a black turtleneck and jeans of the same color. Most of his clothes were in dark colors anyway.
After packing the first-aid supplies, he wondered if he should take a couple of extra flash grenades and some smoke grenades.
Yes, he could always do with more grenades.
And so, a couple of each grenade went into the bag before it was closed.
Having put on a raincoat, Sousuke rushed back across the street over to Kaname’s apartment.
By the time Kaname had finished changing into some loose clothings, Sousuke still has not returned. She looked around, saw no one and figured that he had left. It was a little unexpected for him to leave her without even telling her. Of course, he always left without notice whenever he was called in for a mission.
Kaname felt slightly hurt. She had a fever. How could he have just up and left like that? She knew that she had persisted that she was okay but still she couldn’t help but feel disappointed at him. She let herself fall onto the couch because she was feeling so tired.
Resting her head on a pillow, she decided to forget about Sousuke for a moment. Warm and comfortable, she nearly drifted off to sleep when she heard someone fiddling with the doorknob.
Who could it be? Could they have waited for Sousuke to leave before making their move?
She got up immediately and took her baseball bat and ran to the front door. Holding the makeshift weapon in a defensive position, she got herself ready.
The door swung open. The bat was smashed the side of the door, missing the perpetrator totally. The man at the door evaded the shot, grabbed the bat and disarmed Kaname.
Jerking Kaname’s arm forward, the assailant spun her around and crossed her arms against her chest locking it in place. With the attacker behind her, his arms holding hers in place, she could not even see his face.
Her instincts told her to keep struggling. She shook about wildly hoping that she could break the embrace.
“Chidori? Calm down.”
The voice. It sounded familiar.
Kaname stopped at once. The attacker – he was actually Sousuke.
Sousuke released Kaname when she had calmed down. She turned around to see if it was really Sousuke. It was.
“It’s you. I thought you left.” She honestly didn’t expect to see Sousuke again after he had left.
“Well, I did. I had to go home and change.”
“Oh, right.” She felt foolish then. She was not the only person who got wet in the rain.
Her knees wobbled. She had used up any energy left and now, she was feeling very weak. She leaned onto Sousuke knowing that he would support her.
Sousuke helped her over to the couch so she could rest. After that, he checked her temperature again.
“You shouldn’t be moving too much. You know that you have a fever.”
“But I thought that… When you left… I… You…” She didn’t want to admit that she had been so foolish as to mistake Sousuke for a bad guy.
“Errr… Chidori?” Sousuke had trouble understanding her incoherent speech.
“Ohh, I thought you were a thief or something.”
“But a thief wouldn’t have had your spare key.” Sousuke jingled the keys in front of her.
“I know. I know. I was just confused.”
Sousuke went over to the table to put his bag down. “That is understandable.”
“Just let me rest a while and then, I’ll fix us some dinner.”
“Negative. You should be resting more in your current condition.”
“You? Cook?” She did not know that Sousuke could cook, being a soldier and all. And even if he did know how to cook, would it edible?
“Affirmative. As a soldier, we had to learn to take care of ourselves. But I have had not been to kitchen for some time now considering the last time; the school janitor had gone berserk when we put his carp on a plate.” As he said this, he went to the kitchen and began preparing dinner.
“Oh, right. Was it the time when we had found you and Tsubaki mumbling to yourselves? We didn’t really know what happened then.”
“Yes. The janitor was a formidable enemy.”
After that, Kaname had kept quite while she watched Sousuke bustle about in the kitchen. It was nice to have someone cook for her for a change. Sousuke wasn’t familiar with the kitchen and so it took him some time to find certain things.
When he was finally done, he brought a bowl of hot porridge to the table.
“Chidori, dinner is ready.”
Kaname walked over to the table and took a seat.
“Sousuke… Thank you.”
“It’s not a problem.”
She sampled the porridge. She expected the worst but got a shock when she found out that actually, it wasn’t too bad. In fact, for a bowl of plain porridge, it was quite good.
“Wow, this is quite good. Are you sure this is just plain porridge?”
“I’ve added some scallops in it to give it a sweet flavor. I’ve learnt this during survival training in Cambodia.”
“I see. Looks like you’re nearly as good as me.” She had meant that as a joke and a compliment.
“Probably not. My expertise is still in combat.”
“Err… That was a compliment.”
“Ahhh… Thank you.”
Sousuke joined her and had a bowl of porridge himself.
After dinner, they did the dishes together. Initially, Sousuke was the one cleaning up but Kaname felt guilty and decided to lend a hand. She was already feeling much better and her strength had returned to her.
She took a couple of paracetamol before going to bed. But Sousuke was still hanging around. Usually, he would’ve gone home by now.
“Erm… Aren’t you going to go home?”
“I can’t leave you like this. You might need someone to care for you.”
Just the two of them in the house. What would her father think if he knew about this? She never figured that Sousuke had the guts to request permission to stay. Or perhaps he just didn’t know what this meant to spend a night over at a girl’s house. But, this was Sousuke. What could he possibly do? She actually felt more secure having him around instead.
“Where will you sleep?”
“I won’t be sleeping tonight.”
“You can’t do that!” Taking care of her was one thing. Not sleeping was a bit too much.
“I’m still adjusting to the differing sleeping pattern from my last mission.”
“Oh, okay then.” She was still not too convinced.
“I really appreciate it, Sousuke.” She was touched by Sousuke’s efforts.
“It’s not a problem.”
Then, she went to her bedroom feeling safe having Sousuke looking over her. Her guardian angel.
