FullMetal*Panic!

The van drove steadily down the highway, keeping pace with the flow of traffic. Kurz was in no rush, as the Mithril helicopter had been delayed by bad weather south of their current position. Relaxed, with an unfortunate amount of time at hand, he ran through his current options:

1) Whistle. Check, and make it a cheerful tune.
2) Gulp down an overly sweet carbonated beverage. Check, make certain to stop whistling first.
3) Harrass Sousuke. Check, and CheckMATE!!!

"So, Sousuke...I hear you had an interesting visitor Wednesday night?"

"Which...? I would not call the visit interesting" Sousuke said sourly, in no mood to go over the events of THAT night.

After chuckling, Kurz said dramatically "I certainly would consider a pretty girl interesting, Sousuke. You can't tell me you weren't even the smallest bit excited..."

"How could you know about my visitors? Has the story become common knowledge?" Sousuke suddenly felt very cold inside.

"Relax... R e l a x x x x...one of the survey team members let slip to me that he had been worried when Tessa left the final site and headed off unguarded. I suggested that someone might hear about the slip if he didn't give me more details, and he let me know she was going to check up on a certain Sergeant." Kurz took a quick sip of soda, and continued after his eyes had suddenly opened rather widely. "Vistiors, Sousuke? As in 'more than one visitor'? More than one...woman...vistor, Sousuke?" A brief moment of silence was followed by "Tessa and...Kanaaaaame?"

Sousuke looked out the passenger window at nothing in particular. "SOUSUKE! You DOG, you!!! Tell me more. Tell me Evereeeeething!"

The smile on Kurz' face would have given pause to the Cheshire Cat. Sousuke felt an unease not out of place in a canary held by a cat's paw.

"There is nothing to tell. Events occured. Events beyond my control. Talking will not change the past. I am no doubt here now because of what happened, and I do not wish to speak of it."

Kurz, his thoughts sly but his face bland, took a moment to ready a hook. He knew something of the mission, and doubted Sousuke's apparent misadventure could have anything to do with it. "Sousuke, let's take a moment to be serious here. I am your squad member, am I not?"

"That is correct"

"And information important to the operation of the squad is important to each squad member, isn't it?" Kurz asked seriously.

"Also correct."

Time to set the hook. "Sousuke, if something you did has prompted the upcoming mission, it is your professional responsibility to let Melissa and me know...the information may be important in judging mission parameters."

Sousuke paused, thinking. "Again, reasonable. When we reach our destination, I shall brief you and Sergeant Major Mao!"

Uh, oh. This one might throw the hook. Better reel it in fast! "I really don't recommend exposing too many mistakes to Melissa...you certainly don't want her to lose confidence in you, right? Why don't you tell everything to good ole Sergeant Weber, and I will help you decide what is best to tell the Sergeant Major." No one could possibly sound more affable than Kurz did at that moment.

"I will not lie. I will not hide anything from a superior. We should not risk angering our superiors, or risk losing their trust!"

"Down boy, down!!! We won't tell any lies. I'm only saying we should select out the important points. A good briefing is high on meat and low on fat, right? We're just trimming away the fat...."

"I see. That makes sense. How should we proceed?"

Kurz made certain to keep the elation he felt out of his voice. "Start from the beginning, Sousuke, and leave nothing out!"

Kurz didn't know whether he was happier because of the humerous side of the tale he was hearing, or because his serious passenger had shown signs of true emotions during his recounting of events. His glee was about to reach another level:

"...and I might have been able to defuse the situation to everyone's satisfaction if it had not been for the condom..." Sousuke continued.

A red flag waved in front of a bull is a minor stimulus compared to THAT word from THAT mouth to THAT ear. The van swerved slightly as Kurz jerked involuntarily in his seat. "WhooooooHoooooo! Sousuke! SOUUUUUSSSSKKKAYYYYYYYYY!!!"

The person owning that name closed his eyes a brief moment, and said nothing.

"Oh yeh! The great and mighty hero, bullets cannot touch him...maniacs cannot stop him...explosions cannot harm him...done in by a lowly heh heh condom. OK, Sousuke, SPILL THE BEANS!!! Let's hear the lowdown on the Trojan War..."

Sousuke, in his best clinical fashion, provided the details. Kurz, as might be expected was disappointed, but also very much amused. "Sousuke, my friend, you are truly a terror. You have a siamese twin, and his name is Trouble. You would probably be safer in a jungle full of enemies than you are in that school!!!"

Kurz had meant it as a joke, but it was no laughing matter to Sousuke. "You may well be correct. And you may not be the only one who has come to that conclusion."

Kurz, sensing the anguish in Sousuke's voice, offered true condolensces during the remainder of their drive. He couldn't be certain if Sousuke heard a single word he said.

I suppose this is the continuation to your Misunderstandings fic, dd?
Never let that prolific writing hand of yours stop!!





Regards

yeah your writing style is rather good if i may say so... and i'm glad you chose to continue the story hopefully things will be 'explained' better in this arc, no pun intended

haha.....one thing i like about this is tha speed......