<FIC> Fox Hunt Chpt 4

[Reaper DXR-7]

Full Metal Panic: Fox Hunt
By: Azurathe

Disclaimer: I own nothing involving Full Metal Panic, except the DVD’s I bought ^_^, so anyway yeah. Read the story and I hope you enjoy.

Fox Hunt...

Chapter 4

0326 hours... I awoke from a deep slumber; an amazing sensation of warmth overcame me. Glancing down at this heat source I saw what seemed to be an angel holding me tightly, a smile escaped me. I slowly stood from the bed, giving the angel a pillow to hold onto in my place. Walking over to the balcony I smiled, “a rain of pure innocence to blanket the world.”

Snow, it was not the first time I had seen the snow, just the first time I had experienced it with someone I cared for. “I will be leaving in the next half-hour,” lost in thoughts a stared at the sleeping angel in the bed behind me. Kaname seemed to be lost in a dream herself, most likely with no bombs, no Arm Slaves, maybe even no Sousuke. Remembering the events of the previous night I frowned, “was she under the influence, maybe she has been feeling lonely lately and I was the closest person to her at the moment.”

No, no. Well I shouldn’t dwell upon those thoughts for now, right now I need to report in. Opening the hardwood closet door I pulled out a communications console. Changing the frequency, entering password, I had finally secured a line to the TDD-1. “Hello, this is the Tuatha DaDanaan command control.”

“Yes, this is Sgt. Sousuke Sagara reporting in before the mission begins.”

The man on the other line coughed, “excuse me, I’m not really a morning person myself. Ok Sgt. Sagara, Commander Kalinin has been waiting for your call.” I heard the man quickly tap some keys on the console. “Patching you trough to Cmdr. Kalinin, now.”

I listened for the hardened mans voice to come over the receiver. “Sgt. Sagara, I have been waiting for you to report in.”

“Sir, Sgt. Weber and Sgt. Major Mao have finished packing all the equipment in the safe house and have placed it in a storage. I am fully...” I stopped, a voice fluttered behind me, Kaname was awake.

It was faint but I am sure the Kalinin heard Kaname. “Sousuke...” Kaname was still sleepy, she wasn’t much of a morning person either. “Come back to bed Sousuke, it’s cold.” I swallowed the growing lump in my throat, I heard a series of woohoos on the other side of the line, apparently instead of just patching me into Kalinin the operator had put the patch audible to the entire ship, how would I be able to face them now.

“Operator, please reroute the call so that only I can hear the Sgt.”

“Yes sir! I’m sorry sir.”

After a few seconds Kalinin spoke again, “don’t worry about that Sgt., you can explain yourself later. Right now we need to speak about the mission in Kyoto.”

I spoke softer hoping that Kaname would drift back to sleep, “sir, when shall we rendezvous....”

“The mission has been canceled,” I thought to myself under what circumstances would a mission of this caliber be canceled, “and I know what you are thinking. The reason we have decided to cancel the mission is because the United States Military have finished the mission before us.”

I smiled, more time with Kaname I thought. “Sir, I will report in again at 01300 hours today sir.”

“Roger Sgt., I wish you luck with Miss Chidori.”

“Roger.” I hung up the receiver and packed the console into the closet from whence it came. With a small smile I slipped back under the sheets. Kaname quickly gabbed me, the warmth was back.

About three hours later the entire house was alive, it was winter vacation. I woke Kaname and told her about my mission being canceled. Her face brightened, “so you will be staying here.” She through her arms around my neck and kissed my cheek. In response I just smiled, she grinned, “we are going to need to work on that.”

My eyes shifted from Kaname to the door, “maybe later Kaname. You should head out into the living facility and inform the guest that you had just come in here to awaken me.” The blue haired girl frowned then grinned.

“Ok.” She walked out of my room, hips bouncing from side to side. I wonder why she was doing that, I could tell she was purposely doing that. I heard a series of good mornings and hellos, I smiled and walked out... shirtless.

I saw Maya grin, “you were just waking him up right.” She pointed at me, observed me, and blushed.

I saw Ren giggle then nudge Maya, “so you can’t resist Sgt. Sagara’s hard body either.” The girls laughed after seeing Kaname overcome with anger. “Chill out Kaname, we aren’t going to mess with your man.”

Kaname threw up her hands defensively, “what, what? Sousuke is not my man!”

Kyouko grinned, “sure,” she said sarcastically, “I believe that these pictures tell another story.” I managed a peek at the pictures Kyouko had taken. It was of Chidori kissing me, so now what would I do.

I took the camera from Kyouko, “as you can see, Miss Chidori was actually helping me with my hand to hand combat simulation. Whatever thoughts that may have come across your minds earlier was merely a fabrication created to stimulate your imaginative minds.”

Glancing over at Chidori I saw a smile creep upon her face. “What an observant person you are Sagara.”

I bowed, then Ren added, “humble too, Chidori finally snagged a good one.” The room burst into laughter, well besides Kaname and myself.

Seeing Kaname’s expression I decided to change the subject to something a little un-Kaname related. “I’m sure you have all heard about the terrorist faction dismissed by the Americans in Kyoto.”

All of the guest shook their heads, “lets see if the news is still covering it.” I lead Maya, Ren, and Kazama to the couch and flipped the television on. Kaname walked into the hallway when an unexpected guest burst into the room.

A young spunky girl with a serious attitude stomped to Kaname and I, grabbing the attention of the entire apartment. The silver haired girl slapped me, very hard may I add. “Te...Tessa?? Why did you.... How did you... Why are you even here?”

She growled at me, “don’t think I didn’t hear that transmission, ‘come back to bed Sousuke.’ You played me like a fool Sousuke, playing with my emotions.” I was stunned, what in the world was my captain speaking about? “All this time I thought you liked me.”

Her attention quickly traversed from me to Kaname, “and you!” She walked over to the stunned Kaname, slapping her hard as well.

I stopped Kaname from hitting Tessa for fear of losing my job at Mithril. “What the hell is wrong with you. Your acting like a whiny little spoiled bitch, god get over yourself.” She grabbed Tessa by the hair, “you may have Sgt. boy around 24/7 but just because you like him don’t mean he like you!”

She grabbed Tessa’s shirt collar, “now stop whining, it’s only one guy... Why don’t you find someone that can return your feelings!” Kaname then slapped Tessa equally hard as she was hit, probably even harder then Tessa had hit her.

I pushed Tessa and Kaname apart. “Stop it, that’s enough!” My tone had changed, I was not speaking as the Otaku know-it-all Sousuke I usually was, the soldier had taken over. “You both are acting like children, have you even considered what is happening to people around us at the moment, you are lucky to even have emotions. Many people are spared the luxury of emotions in general!”

I saw both girls begin to cry, I had never taken a tone like that with either, save one occasion. Kurz walked in to see the ‘show’ as he referred to it. “Sousuke, you know that you aren’t suppose to ever take a tone like that with lovely women around.” He held his hand up in the formation of a gun, “but we can let this one slide little bro.”

Tessa straightened up and left the room, “Sagara,” her tone was no longer that of a angry girl, or a frightened one, she was speaking as if this were the TDD-1 on a mission. “I shall be waiting for you to report in, I will be deciding if your time here is well spent or not.” And so she left us behind with those words, a not so friendly gesture.

I looked at Kaname then headed for my room, quickly shutting the door and locking it. “Why was Tessa acting like that, I have no feelings for her other than she being my superior officer.” The door-knob began to turn, an unsuccessful attempt.

“Sousuke,” it was Kaname, she began pounding on the door, “if you don’t open this door right now I am going to break it down!” I opened the door just as she began pounding it again. Kaname fell off balance and plopped right into my arms. She just looked up at me, “Sousuke.”

I walked her over too the bed and sat her down, “why was Tessa so mad Sousuke... What transmission.”

Taking a deep breath I attempted to inform Kaname of what happened that morning. “As you can tell I had sent the DaDanaan a radio transmission. I was speaking with Cmdr. Kalinin when you awoke. Apparently the radio operator switched the transmission frequency so that the entire ship heard the conversation, they all heard you and misunderstood the situation.”

“Oh is that all,” Kaname just sat there with a smile on her face, looking straight at me. The fan came out of nowhere and managed to make a direct hit with my head. Needless to say that Kaname ‘redecorated’ my room with a bleeding wall Otaku.

That was a very uneventful morning, at least by my standards. Since it was winter vacation I decided to take advantage of my Mithril contacts and reserved a cabin in the United States, Making sure that Kaname and all her friends accompanied Mao, Kurz, and I.
It was early the next morning when we had finally made it to the large, extremely large cabin in Maine. I made sure that all things were accounted for and that all passengers had arrived safely. Kaname had done all the interior room assigning, she ended up giving herself the biggest room, and she shared it with one other person. “Come on Sousuke, let’s go see the view.”

We had unpacked everything into the snug room. I had gotten a fire going and sat quietly, nestled into the leather chair close by. I had remembered a book I had packed, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six. Kaname on the other hand would not want to stay inside while it snowed.

I had made it half way through the book in no time at all, maybe three or four hours had passed. Chatter and music echoed from downstairs, they were definitely having a good time. It was around eleven p.m. when the music and chatter died out, and all the people had begun to find shelter in their rooms.

I had finished the book by the time Kaname had made it back into the room, the time was about eleven fifty six. She sighed, “wow, I am tired.” Staring at me she smiled, “so how was the book?”

“Tom Clancy is an expert in writing military style books, I found the material enjoyable.” She sat down next to me on the couch bringing a blanket with her. She wrapped the blanket around us, “Kaname??”

She giggled when she saw me blushing, “it’s going to be cold tonight, and we should keep warm.”

I stared at her, then pointed at the fire, “you can always sit next to the fire. I believe that the warmth emitted from the fire should serve you well.” Big mistake, Kaname had managed to sneak her hasilen with her. My face was red for the rest of the night.

The next morning I awoke with Kaname snuggled up to me, the fire must have died out sometime during the night. I didn’t mind that Kaname was sleeping right next to me, I just hoped that no one was spying on us like last time at the safe house.

I shifted over as to not disturb Kaname, letting out a small, low pitched yawn. Observing Kaname sleeping soundly in the bed created a warmth I had experienced many a time around her. If anything was missing I am sure that Kaname could help me find that missing piece, of course she may be that missing piece.

Standing up I walked over to the balcony and opened the sliding door. “Beautiful,” over the night a fresh blanket of snow had fallen, the tree tops sprinkled with snow, and snow continued to fall in a light drizzle.

I turned when I felt two arms wrap around me, I found Kaname still sleepy standing right behind me. “What is it Sousuke?” Pointing out into the forest blanketed with the snowy deposit I smiled. Kaname and I had found ourselves in so many life or death situations over the past year that it was mind boggling. The constant threat of death had brought us together and showed me things I thought I was incapable of feeling.

This girl had brought a new Sousuke to the surface, that of a normal man to the surface. Of course it would be impossible to deny the soldier inside myself but as long as Kaname were here I could do anything. I didn’t know just what words could sum up how I felt about Kaname except love. It was the one emotion I was deprived of since I was five years old, so understandably you would think I didn’t know or feel that emotion, I do. In fact that is the one emotion that I know best.

A problem would then present itself, how could I tell Kaname? Did she even feel the same way? Or would she just sit and laugh at me for my ignorance, but that would contradict all the evidence I had gathered in the favor of Kaname liking me at all. She had come to me for comfort, cried for me when I informed her of the mission, and cared for me while I have been injured or sickly. Not only that but we had been staying together at night for the past three days now, and on that first night Kaname had shared with me an unspoken form of love, a kiss.

“Ka... Ka... Kaname,” I stuttered.

She turned her head to face me, holding on to me to keep warm. “Yeah Sousuke, what is it?”

I swallowed my pride as a soldier and forgot my mission, I would try to tell Kaname how I felt about her the best I could. “Kaname, I... I...”

“I what Sousuke?” She stared straight into my eyes with a look of concern painted on her face.

“Uh...” I felt as though I were trying to use the Lambda Driver for the first time.

I could tell she was becoming angry, “Uh.... Uh what Sousuke, what are you trying to tell me?”

No longer could I hold it in, just make it simple Sousuke, don’t mess this up to. “Kaname, we have been through hell whether it had involved terrorist or one of my crazy ideas. I have grown to...” I swallowed the lump in my throat, “I have grown to care for you deeply.”

She gave me a look that no words can truly describe, I couldn’t tell if I had surprised her or not. “I can understand if you do not share my feelings, in fact these feelings could compromise the mission.”

A tear slide down Kaname’s cheek, “Sousuke...” She threw her arms around my neck and leapt on me. We had fallen to the wooden floor of the balcony with a hard thump. “After all this time Sousuke I thought I would be the one saying that first, if you had decided that I was important enough at all.” She lifted herself up off of me into the same position she was in the night she had kissed me. “Sousuke, my little present was meaningless until you’ve said what you’ve said.” She leaned down and now lay on top of me, much like that night. “Sousuke... Merry Christmas.” She wrapped her arms around my neck, leaning forward she kissed me once again,. This time the kiss was sweeter, it seemed more right then the last time.

The winter air surrounded us, the day was Christmas, and this was truly my first Christmas present ever. I mumbled after the kiss ended, “thank you Kaname, thank you for this present, my first Christmas present.” Tears came to her eyes again, for the third time today I had made this woman cry.

We stood and I picked her up, walking inside I placed her on the couch and began to light a fire in the fireplace. She just smiled and practically whispered, “my little Otaku.”

[Avlor]

The story is enjoyable. I'm anxious to see "what went wrong".

A gentle critisism for you though. Especially in the fight between Tessa and Kaname - the 3 chars (the girls and Sousuke) don't seem to quite act like themselves. (From my point of view). Kaname is also much more forward than I would have expected - but maybe you see her that way. (shrug).

[Reaper DXR-7]

Well the whole point of that fight was to show just how much Tessa was affected by the radio transmission, I mean since they hadn't heard about the night before....

And yes Kaname is a little more forward, but if you read and understand the whole closet scene in chapter 3 she is trying to get to Sousuke before she loses him to something. And the fact that Sousuke is showing a bit more intrest in her other then her being is obligation.

During the fight in the hall Sousuke decided not to be the push over he usually is in those kinds of situations, if you notice I did add "the soldier took over," inside the text.

Really I love changing the characters to show how they are growing from teens to adults because you cant play with the same toys over and over and expect to have the same amount of fun.

I guess I really need to change up this story a bit to let the readers understand and see the whole picture, oh yeah and my bad to all Tessa fans that dislike me for creating the bitchy Tessa look. Right now Tessa is just scared of completely losing Sousuke to Kaname, so its defense up, troops move out, CHARGE!!!!!

[Avlor]

understood and agreed. I had the picture. You seem to know that there is a certain amount of character change that you can get away with. So don't change your story - write it how YOU like it cause it's YOUR story.