Prologue
It was early evening on a lazy Saturday. A high-spirited young woman happily hummed to herself as she stirred the contents of the pot she was cooking from. “Mmm, delicious!” she said to herself as she sampled the dish. “Boy, is he going to be in for a treat,” she declared proudly with a smug grin.
The beautiful teenaged girl was in an especially good mood today. The week had gone rather nicely for her. She’d found the missing pair to favorite set of earrings, that pestering cold had finally cleared up, and Sosuke had managed to behave himself for the entire week. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone so long without inflicting civilian casualties, massive amounts of property damage, or causing severe headaches for her. He’d even been considerate enough to take care of her when she was sick. He couldn’t cook to save his life, but when he had brought her chicken soup and cold medicine to help her feel better, she was appreciative of the gesture. It was times like those when she realized just how lucky she was to have him in her life and how happy he made her.
But tonight Kaname would return the favor. She’d timidly invited him over after school the day before. Most of the day had been spent in the kitchen preparing the food, but it was worth it as the meal had turned out perfectly. She’d even picked out a nice outfit for the occasion. Nothing too fancy. Just a modest sleeveless blouse that subtly complemented her attractive figure and a pleated skirt that extended just beyond her knee.
“I wonder if this would be considered a date...” Her cheeks flushed as the words came from her mouth. She realized she was getting carried away and quickly put herself back in check. ‘Get a grip, girl. It’s just DINNER! It’s not like you’ve never had him over for a meal before.’
The girl then frowned as a premonition came to her. “And this week has been far too good to last. Sooner or later he’s bound to make up for lost time.” The thought nagged at her for a moment, but she decided that for the time being she’d give him the benefit of the doubt.
‘I have to do something nice for him every once in a while,’ she thought affectionately. ‘Besides, if I didn’t feed him some real food every once in a while the idiot would probably die from malnutrition. It’d be irresponsible as class representative not to look out for him,’ She rationalized to herself.
Then she heard a knock at her door, marking Sosuke’s arrival. Kaname couldn’t understand why, but she suddenly felt somewhat nervous. All her agonizing over it had made the event into something larger than it really was in her mind. She gave her outfit one final check and opened the door to great her guest.
“Ah, Sosuke, hello. You’re a little early.” She wrung her hands while offering him her best smile.
“Good evening, Chidori. Thank you for having me over,” the soldier stated as formally as ever.
“Oh, it was nothing,” she politely replied.
They both stood at the door for a long moment looking at each other. Kaname was beginning to wonder if something was wrong. Then Sosuke started to shift nervously and look between her and the interior of her apartment expectantly.
“Oh! I’m sorry!” she exclaimed, suddenly realizing the problem. “Um… won’t you please come in?” she offered properly as she stepped away from the door and motioned him inside with her arm. He courteously nodded to her and did so.
Soon after they’d started eating, Kaname had finally relaxed. For all the pressure she’d been putting on herself, it turned out to be no different than any other meal they’d shared. This helped put her at ease, and was content with the fact that he’d complimented her meal and even had seconds. Conversation was light and Sosuke was mostly terse on his end of any discussion they shared. But being the quite the social butterfly, the lively young woman was more than able to hold up her end. Eventually her companion loosened up somewhat as well.
Dinner had been pleasant and passed without incident. But as the evening was winding down the phone rang.
“Um… perhaps I should be going now,” Sosuke offered.
“No, that’s okay. I’m sure this’ll just be a minute.” She then picked up the phone and answered the call. “Hello?”
“Hi, Kaname! It’s me!” said a cheerful young female voice.
“Ayame! How are you?” It was her little sister who was living in New York with her father.
“Doing good. How’re things over there?”
The two sisters chatted back and forth for the next few minutes, sharing a few laughs and catching up on what was new. Kaname of course left out some of the more interesting details regarding soldiers, ASes, and secret paramilitary organizations. Sosuke simply sat patiently on his host’s sofa absently listening to Kaname’s end of the conversation awaiting her return.
“Anyway, Kaname, I’m actually calling because dad’s taking some time off next week and we were wondering if you’d like to come visit us then. Dad said he’d buy your ticket.”
Kaname frowned at this. “So now he takes time to spend with his family? When did this happen?” she muttered sarcastically.
“Oh, come on, Kaname! Don’t be like that!” the younger girl pleaded. “His work just puts him in a bad position, so it’s not easy to always be there.”
“Hmph.” Kaname decided to leave it at that. She really didn’t feel like getting into a debate about her father right then.
“Kaname, please come. We really miss you. It’s been over a year now. It’d be great to see you,” Ayame said sadly.
The blue-haired girl felt her stubbornness falter at the sincere tone of her little sister. She sighed. “Oh, alright. I’ll have to inform my teachers that I’m taking some time off, but I shouldn’t have any trouble making it up. I guess I’ll fly out to New York next week to see you,” she relented.
“Great!”
“Um… excuse me, Chidori?” Kaname looked up saw that Sosuke was standing in front of her interrupting her conversation.
“Yes?”
“Did you say you were going to New York next week?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“I see... I’ll need to make preparations for the trip,” Sosuke stated as casually as he were making a grocery list. At this Kaname’s eyes shot wide open.
“You WHAT!?”
Ayame, who had been listening to them from the other end of the line, chimed in. “Kaname, is that a boy with you?” she teased, the implication made clear.
“NO! I mean, yes. I mean… it’s not what you think!”
“Suuuure...” Kaname could almost picture the Cheshire cat grin on her sister’s face.
“Chidori, as your protector, it is my duty to accompany you for the sake of your safety.”
“Wow, Kaname! He says he’s your ‘protector’ and has a ‘duty’ to take care of you. He sounds so romantic and chivalrous!” Ayame gushed. She’d clearly misunderstood what Sosuke was referring to.
“Ayame! I told you, it’s not...“ She was cut off before she could explain.
“Dad! You’re not going to believe this! Kaname’s got a BOYFRIEND!”
“No, don’t tell him…”
“She WHAT!?”
“Yeah! He’s with her right now in her apartment!”
“Hmm... I’ll need to contact Mythril issuing me some necessary equipment for this mission...”
In an instant, Kaname’s perfect week had been sucked into that dismal black hole of sanity that seemed to follow Sosuke’s actions. As she teetered on the edge of madness, she found some measure of comfort in thinking that things probably couldn’t get any worse... or so she thought.
“In that case, I want to meet him!” her father announced.
“Kaname, dad says...”
“I heard!” Kaname exploded. “No way! Absolutely not! Out of the question!”
“I’ll pay his way too and he can stay with us at our place,” her father offered, who was now standing right next to Ayame listening to the phone.
Kaname panicked. She was stuck. She couldn’t tell her family that Sosuke was a bodyguard sent by a paramilitary organization to protect her from government agencies that wanted to perform experiments on her. Sosuke was planning on tagging along whether she permitted it or not. And since he’d obviously been hanging out at her apartment with her consent, they’d never believe he was just some stalker. In the frenzy of her mind, she could see only one possible solution.
The frazzled girl paused and took several deep breathes then slowly raised the phone to her ear with a trembling hand. “Alright... Me and my... b-boyfriend... will come see you...” Kaname whole body shook. She felt like she was about to cry from the stress.
“Great!” exclaimed both her sister and father. “We’ll see you next week! I’ll let you two lovebirds get back to your quiet time,” Ayame ribbed her sister one last time before hanging up.
Kaname remained perfectly still for a long moment before silently hanging up the phone. She then slowly slumped and buried her face in her hands, muttering to herself. “This can’t be happening. This has to all be a dream. Nothing more than a horrible nightmare.” Sosuke, who was still standing next to her, could feel an incredible tension in the air.
“Um... Chidori?” he ventured nervously. The instant he said it, she turned around and glared at him with death in her eyes.
“YOU!! This is all YOUR fault!” the furious girl screamed at the top of her lungs. She then proceeded to put him in a rather complicated choke hold. “I KNEW it was too good to be true! I knew you’d just have to go and do something ruin my life! I spent the whole day slaving over a hot stove for you and this is how you repay me!?”
The poor sergeant, who had no idea why she was so upset could only choke out a feeble “Can’t... breathe...” as he started to turn blue.
“Shut up!” she shouted dropping him to the floor. “Do you even know what you’ve done!? Because of you, my family thinks you’re my boyfriend and want to meet you!”
“Chidori, I don’t understand.” Sosuke picked himself up off the ground. “If your family misunderstood you, why don’t you simply explain to them the truth?”
“Oh, sure. Great idea. ‘Hey, dad, my life’s in danger because terrorists and assassins keep coming after me, but don’t worry. I’ve got a lunatic military freak following me everywhere to make sure I’m okay.’ He’d pull me out of Japan and send me to live with him before I can say ‘Manhattan’!” Kaname was still seething at him, drawing in heavy, ragged breaths. Sosuke did finally understand the situation though. He knew that Kaname could only go on living in Tokyo because her father consented to it and continued to send her money to support the costs of living there. And if he withdrew that consent, she’d have to permanently say goodbye to her home and friends.
“Chidori... I’m sorry. I never meant to...”
“Just save it, okay?” she cut him off indignantly.
Being ever-practical, Sosuke decided it was time to assess the situation. “Unfortunately, the damage is done. How would you like to proceed?”
Kaname sighed, letting go of some of her anger. Though he might possibly have just ruined her life, he was right. She needed to look ahead if she wanted to save her life in Tokyo. “I guess there’s no choice. We’ll just have to go to New York and try to pass you off as...” Kaname froze as the implications of the situation and what they may have to do to perpetrate their lie finally set in. “...my boyfriend.” A deep blush suddenly spread across her face.
“In that case, there is no need to worry. I have experience posing as someone’s boyfriend as a result of my staged date with Miss Inaba. It’s not a problem,” he announced confidently.
Kaname recalled the events of the aforementioned date for a moment. She then plopped back onto her sofa and stared at the ceiling. “It’s all over for me... I’m doomed,” she muttered hopelessly.
To be continued...
A/N: Since Kaname has family in New York, I wondered what kind of trouble I could have her and Sosuke get into in the big city. And while I’m at it, I could flesh out Kaname’s relationship with her father and sister while Sosuke played out his own version of “Meet the Parents.” The idea seemed like a lot of fun. Thus this story was born.
This story is a fairly light romantic comedy and will be quite a contrast from the more violent tone of my other story, “Rebirth of the Nine Dragons.” I hope it’s as much fun for you as it is for me.
Please drop me a review.
