[FIC] Class Act (part 22)

[dd]

Wakana stood at Sousuke’s side, one-thousand-and-one questions written clearly across her face. He eyebrow arched, she stared with a frightful intensity. Taking out her pistol, she spun it around her finger like a gunslinger, then placed it back into its holster in a smooth and oft-practiced move.

“Nice fight, wasn’t it. Don’t get to do that every day. Things seem to get more and more exciting around you every time we meet. Ever think about joining the police when you get older. I could use a partner.” The way she said partner carried entirely different connotations. “You DO remember my offer, don’t you?”

“I…ummm…” Sousuke found Wakana’s piercing gaze uncomfortable. The unadulterated lust and thirst for mayhem in her voice set his hair on end.

“You certainly are a talkative one, aren’t you. Just the way I like them. It seems you have a lot of secrets. I watched part of your little fight from a distance. It’s not every boy who has a tricked-out bus. And, I’m dying to know how those damn tractors and things just seemed to up and move---without driving.” Her canine tooth bit into her lip, drawing a small bead of blood. Her hands smoothed her blouse.

“I…errr….”

“Of course, I understand. If you told me, you’d have to kill me. You can’t imagine how that makes me feel. Shivers. Such wonderful shivers. It’s not often that I find myself wanting something that I cannot have. That’s because I’m relentless. Should I be relentless with you?” She licked her lips. Taking a number of bullets off of her belt, she fliped them one by one over her fingers, again and again.

“I….uh….”

“Then again, are you and that blue-haired piece of fluff an item? Would I be stepping on someone’s toes? I really hope so!” She laughed, a full-throated chuckle that ran up the scale and ended with a near shriek.

“Miss Chidori…she…I…there is not…she doesn’t….” Sousuke found himself tripping over his words. He felt his skin grow warm. Sweat began to form small pearls on his brow.

“Ooooo. I get it. She doesn’t know any of your secrets yet?” Wakana looked aroud the driver’s compartment, her gaze lingering on the divider. “Nobody does, I bet. You have some rather mysterious friends, don’t you? Some rather powerful powerful friends. I won’t ask too many questions. After all, I’m not crazy.”

“You are correct.” Sousuke gave a vague description of some of the technology in use, noting that the students and Miss Okibasu were totally in the dark. “I would appreciate it if you would not divulge my secret to anyone, especially them.”

“Especially Miss Chidori, you mean?” Wakana spoke with a short barking laugh, but there was a shimmer of jealousy in her eyes. “Well, seeing that you saved my life, I can give you my word.”

“Thank you.” Sousuke was relieved.

“I seem to remember saving your life too. Yours…Chidori’s…and the students’. What exactly are you going to give me?” She unbuttoned her top few buttons.

“A ride to the nearest police station. The entire credit for the defeat of the terrorist forces. The CAWS and all of the ammunition I have for it on me.” That would be a small price to pay if Wakana kept her word.

“I’ll take it!” Wakana had forgotten the weapon. She stretched with pleasure the way a cat does. “With one small proviso.”

Sousuke no longer felt relieved. What kind of proviso? “And that is?” He didn’t really want to ask.

“Well, I am a woman. And a woman has needs. Lucky for you, mine are simple at the moment. A kiss. I want one kiss.” The look on her face said that she was clearly willing to spill the beans if Sousuke turned down her offer. It was blackmail, pure and simple.

“Uh….”

“On the lips.” Wakana took a step closer.

“Uh…”

“With feeling.” She took another two steps.

“Uh….”

“To my satisfaction.”

“Uh…I…ummm….”

“So forceful! So exciting. I’m so glad you agreed!” She stopped to stroke the CAWS momentarily, then leaped into Sousuke’s lap. Arms draped loosely over his shoulders, she kissed him. His arms went straight out, like the stick limbs of a scarecrow. He felt as if his stuffing was running out through the bottom of his pants.

When she stood up, Wakane ran her fingers across her lip, nibbling them in the process. “Hmmm. No tingle. We’ll have to do that again, I’m afraid. Slowly and deliberately, she kissed him again, hands on both sides of his head. If he hadn’t buckled his seat belt, Sousuke would have slid out of the chair.

“For one more, I also promise not to tell Miss Chidori what we have been doing….”

Souske remembered tales about the classic Word War II operatives and early Cold War spies. They carried suicide pills. If only he had been born a few decades earlier.


************************************************************


Sousuke needed to wait for officer Wakana to regain consciousness before he could open the partition gain. She had spent near twenty minutes spread-eagled against the inside of the windscreen, eyes rolled up inside her head. Two kisses from her had been his limit. At the third attempt, his survival instinct kicked in. At first, he thought his actions might anger her and cause her to break her word. The more he thought about it---and the more her face purpled---the better he felt. She’d probably be ecstatic when she awoke.

Thinking about the other students, he realized what their reaction might be when they saw the unbalanced police officer. His face grew hot. He had a good idea how Kaname would respond. His face grew hotter yet.

“A.I. Assume control of driving.”

‘AFFIRMATIVE’

Sousuke got up and walked over to Wakana. Fingers somewhat hesitant, he buttoned the open buttons on her blouse. For a brief moment, unchivalrous notions ran through his head. He had promised to bring Wakana to the nearest police station. He did not specify ‘conscious’ or ‘unconscious.’ He also did not clarify whether he meant as a passenger within the bus, or as luggage tied on top of the bus. Or, dragged behind the bus on a very long rope. But, this was not Afghanistan. He was civilized now.


************************************************************

While Sousuke and Wakana had been dealing with the terrorists, Kaname had been dealing with an unruly bunch of students. Her lips were tired, from blowing the whistle too much. As a stickler for authority, she could not bring herself to realize a simple fact: the more she blew that whistle, the worse her classmates acted. Passive-aggressiveness is an art form for teenagers. Aggressive-aggressiveness is par for the course for teenagers over-exposed to Sousuke.

*Tweee eeeee eeeeee eeeeee eeee eeeeeeee eeeeee ee ee ee eeeeee e eeeeeeeee e e eeeee eee eeeeeeee e e eeeee eee eeeeeeeee ee eeeeeeeeeeee ee ee eeeee eee eeeeee e eeeeee eee eeeeeee e e eeeee ee eeeeeeee eee eeeeeee eeee eeeeee eeeeeeee e e e e eeeee e e eeeeeeee eee ee eeeeee eeeeeeee!!!*

Breath.

Breath.

Breath.

*Tweeeeeeeeee eee eeeeee eeeeee e e eeeeeeeeee eeeee e e e eee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee e e eeeeeeeeee e eeeeeee e e eeeeeeeeee eeeeee e e e eeeeee ee e eeeeee eee e e e eeee e e eeeeeee eee e eeeeee e e eeeee eee eeeeeee e eeeeeee eee eeeee eeee eeeeee*

Breath.

Breath.

Deep breath.

*Tweeeeeee eee ee eeeeeeee e ee eeeee eee eee e eeee eeeee e e eeeeee eeee eee eeeeeeeee eeee ee eeee ee eeee ee eeeee e eeeeeee e ee eeeeee ee eeee eeeeeeee e eeeee eeee eeee eeee e ee e eee eee ee eee e eeeee eee eeee ee!!!*

“OK. How about I tell one about a couple of...... Class representatives......?” One of the wrestlers stood up. His skin was flushed red. He wondered if he was becoming allergic to whistle.

“Y-E-H-!-!-!” The whole class answered as one. Unintentionally, Kaname had done what many others had tried, but failed. She had temporarily united the boys and the girls in the class.

“Alright! This is a real life story. A class representative had just finished torturing her schoolmates with a long list of rules and a fundraising spiel. She was pumped way beyond normal. That’s just the way class reps are---freaks.” Everyone laughed or nodded their heads. "Sorry, that was unkind of me. I should have said 'normalcy-challenged individuals.'"

Kaname sat simmering. A real bad mood was forming.

“Well, since she had her learner's permit, she was going to drive home. Treating the gas pedal like a fellow student, she stomped down harder than she should. But, she was a class rep after all.”

Kaname tried to put on a smile. Everyone was watching her. She was NOT going to do anything to embarrass herself.

“When she passed by the billboard sign, she was going way over the speed limit. Funny, since class representatives seem to love numbers so much. Any way, a cop car pulls out from behind the sign and gives chase, lights flashing and siren howling. Someone was blowing a whistle, near non-stop. A few miles later, after she realizes she should probably stop, the younger class rep pulls over. Watching in her mirror, she sees a police woman walk over. She recognized her picture from the high school wall---she had been the class representative a number of years before.”

“Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo….”

‘Smile, Kaname. Patience, Kaname. It’s only a joke, Kaname. Bad attention is better than ‘no attention.’ No. That sayings a piece of….’

“’I’ll need to see your license and registration please. You were going way above the posted speed limit.’ The officer took out her ticket book. It looked like a Rolodex. Once a school rep, always a school, rep. The younger rep looked totally confused. I’d say moronic, if I wasn’t so polite. ‘What’s a license?’ she asked, clueless. The police officer thought a while. Thinking wasn’t easy for her either.”

Kaname used her left hand to hold her right arm down. Her right hand was trembling, gripping the whistle with all its strength.

“’ Your license is the thing in your purse with your picture on it.’ The driver scratched her head a while, perked up, and reached inside her bag. She took out her compact. Looking inside, she nodded her head---her picture was there, alright. She handed it to the police woman. Looking in the mirror, the one time class representative looked shocked, then smiled. She handed back the compact. ‘If I had known you were a police officer, I NEVER would have pulled you over!!!’”

The bus vibrated with laughter. A number of students nearly passed out from oxygen deprivation. Ryo, Maya, and Misuke turned huge grins on Kaname. Kyouko looked embarrassed, as Kaname had caught her laughing. Ren smiled.

‘Resist. Must resist. I am bigger than this. Class representative is an important job. They’re just not capable of doing it, or appreciating it.’

Kaname was way past boiling. She desperately needed some way to blow off some steam. The temptation to use the whistle was just too strong. Taking it off her neck, she threw it forward, bouncing it off the partition.

Moments later, the divider began to rise.


***********************************************************


Pliny the Elder was in command of the Roman fleet at Misenum on the day of August 24, 79. He observed an extraordinary dense cloud ascending in the direction of the nearby Mount Vesuvius. His son, Pliny the Younger wrote---I cannot give you a more exact figure, than by resembling it to that of a pine tree; for it shot up to a great height in the form of a tall trunk, which spread out at the top into a sort of branches. It appeared somewhat bright, and sometimes dark and spotted, as it was either more or less impregnated with earth and cinders.

The elder Pliny, somewhat of a naturalist, resolved to go ashore and inspect more narrowly what was going on. At the foot of the mountain, he was met by thick showers of hot cinders, which grew thicker and hotter as he advanced. Lumps of pumice and pieces of rock fell on the ship, black and burning hot. Vast fragments came rolling down the mountainside. The sea began to react, so he was forced to retreat.

Making his way to his mansion, he lay down upon a sail cloth. Not much later, flames stinking of sulphur burst forth from the ground. Rising, he soon succumbed to respiratory problems.

Many of the citizens of Pompeii and Herculaneum were able to effect their escape, but no few perished in their dwellings or on the street, buried completely out of sight. Vesuvius had undergone a great change. Even without the destructive force of lava, the devastation was terrible.

Looking upon Kaname’s face, which had been approaching erruption before she had recognized Wakana, Sousuke came close to feeling what those doomed souls must have felt.

The bus went dead quiet, with the exception of Kaname’s sputtering. “S-S-S-S---Sousuke. W-W-Where…H-H-How…W-W-WHY?!?!” Her eyes darted back and forth from Sousuke to Wakana.

A number of the students ran to the back of the bus, now that they had cone to a stop at a rest area. The back door was locked. Some tried the windows.

Shinji watched, shaking his head. It was almost like the falsified documentaries about lemmings. The filmmakers had prompted stampedes of the small rodents, hearding them off of cliffs for the cameras. He took off his lens cap, charged his flash, and took a number of photos.

Wakana walked slowly down the aisle, stopping by a shaking Kaname. She looked the younger woman up and down. Smiling, she seemed to ooze sarcasm from her pores. “So. This is the competition?” After laughing a short while, she strolled slowly back to Sousuke’s side.

YOU PROMISED!!! Sousuke’s eyes shot at her.

I didn’t tell her anything Wakana answered mutely.

“Competition?” That word snapped Kaname out of her temporary funk. “COMPETITION?!?!” A cone of cinder and ash was building up. “WHAT………. KIND………. OF………. COMPETITION?”

“Uh….”

“Sousuke.” Kaname’s eyes glowed like molten lava.

Wakana smiled.

“Errr….”

“SOUSUKE.” Her skin glowed with unnatural heat.

The police woman struck a pose.

“Ummm….”

“S-O-U-S-U-K-E-!-!-!” Kaname blew her top.

Wakana put a finger against her hip, making a noise like sizzling bacon.

“There is no competition, Kaname.”

“That’s right…..” Wakana laughed, shocking Sousuke when she grabbed her arm.

The students renewed their efforts to escape. Kaname’s face was even more frightening than the crazed officer’s.

“ARE………. YOU………. SAYING……….” Kaname wondered what kind of time someone would have to do if they struck a police officer. Would she and Sousuke share a cell, if she used him to strike Wakana?

“Kaname?”

It was the usually clueless Sousuke voice and expression that brought Kaname back down to earth. She found herself smiling. She tossed her hair. “Nice try," she said to Wakana.

Wakana grinned a shark's grin.

The students returned to their seats, the pulse rates and breathing returning to normal. They would not meet a face worth than those suffered by the unfortunate souls in Pompeii.

Sousuke stared at Kaname. He was very impressed. She had outdone Mother Nature. She had actually stopped a volcanic eruption.

“What?” Kaname asked, noticing his look.

“That was remarkable, Kaname. You were about to explode, but stopped. Usually, it does not work to put the pin back in a grenade!” Sousuke’s admiration was obvious.

“Well, you know. I am the class representative.” Kaname preened. The entire class groaned. Kaname’s smile faded a bit when she realized that Sousuke had used another otaku analogy. But, it was alright. She was going to work on that. “From now on, I will be quite capable of controlling my reactions.”

Wakana smiled at that.

“So, Sousuke, you never answered my questions.” Kaname waited patiently.

“Questions, Kaname?”

Kaname growled, then caught herself. She forced a smile. “Yes. The officer. Where. How. Why?”

“Yes, I remember the questions now.”

“Well?” Kaname’s hands were on her hips.

“Well, Kaname?”

“The questions, Sousuke. Answer them!!!” A artery at Kaname’s temple was throbbing.

“Which one?”

“ALL of them, Sousuke!” Kaname’s hands were clenched on her skirt.

“I’ll take care of this.” Wakana said, a mischievous look in her eye. “You may wish to sit. It’s quite a tale.”

Kaname sat with poor grace. Wakana was still standing near Sousuke. Kaname stood again.

“Let’s see. Where to begin? Well, it’s safe to tell you this much. A terrorist group called New Rising Sun has been making concerted efforts to influence Japanese politics and society. In their latest push, they have taken to hijacking buses and planes carrying high profile targets---students. The elderly, the handicapped.” Wakana leaned indolently against a pole, chatting as if she were simply talking about the latest soap opera or reality show.

Almost as one, the students swallowed. Their jokes about busses and terrorists suddenly turned to ashes in their mouths.

“God help them if they ever tried to get on this bus!” Shinji said. Everyone knew why. Sousuke.

Wakana just smiled.

“Yeh, I could see it now,” Maya quipped, lightening the mood some. “’The terrorist would say, put your hands up!’”

“And Sousuke would say ‘Uh….’” Mizuke added. Everyone nodded their heads.

“The terrorist would say ‘Do you understand me?’” Ryo got in on the game.

“And Sagara would say ‘Uh….”’ One of the rugby players chipped in.

“The terrorist would get very angry and say ‘Are you stupid or something?’” Kyouko could see it happening.

“And Sousuke would say ‘Uh….’” A girl from the drama club picked up the thread.

“The terrorist would scream, If you don’t give me a normal answer, I’m going to kill you!” Shinji had seen how angry Sousuke could get people on a number of occasions.

“And Sousuke would kick his ass.” Ren smiled sweetly, almost as surprise by her interjection as the rest of the slack-jawed class was.

“Or we could send out Kaname with her whistle. If Sousuke didn’t get the job done, that would!” One of the wrestlers took the cotton out of his ears. Seeing that, Kaname scowled and walked over to retrieve her whistle.

“As I was saying,” Wakana took out her pistol and begun tossing it in the air, catching behind her back. “The first bus was captured in Nagoya. That stand-off continues as we speak. Then, another bus was targeted outside of Maebashi…”

“Hey, we were outside of Maebashi today!” Ryo blurted.

“Fancy that,” Wakana replied, eyes aglow. “What an amazing coincidence. Somehow, the terrorists muffed the assault. It was almost as if they were up against some kind of Magic Bus or something. But, who can say what really happened? There were no witnesses. It’s not as if busses come loaded with missiles, guns, and bombs, right?”

“They would is Sousuke had anything to do with it!” Kaname said in a huff.

Sousuke swallowed hard. Wakana smiled. “In any case, I will attempt to stay abreast of the situation.” She took a single step towards Sousuke. “Who knows what some loose tongue might whisper?” Sousuke began to sweat.

“Were there other attacks?” Maya asked her question with a a touch of concern in her voice. They were still about an hour away from home.

“Yes. On the highway between Maebashi and Urawa, a bus was attacked by a large group of men on motorcycles. That bus got away too. The motorcycles were not so lucky, it seems. Maybe the attackers were idiots. Or, perhaps the bus driver had combat driving experience. Or, a stash of weapons hidden on board.” In that light, it almost looked as if all of the police woman’s teeth had been filed to a point.

“That’s what Sousuke wishes he could be, I bet!” Mizuke piped up. She shrank back in her seat when Wakana looked in her direction.

“You may be right,” Wakana said. “But how could he ever get military or mercenary training at his age? Maybe if he worked for some super secret organization!" She laughed. The students smiled. Impossible dreams. "He would also need to carry a bag of weapons with him wherever he goes. It would be impossible to keep something like that secret, right?” Wakana took another step towards Sousuke. “Anybody lucky enough to have someone like that around would probably kiss their peace of mind goodbye. They would probably end up constant bed fellows with mayhem and disaster.” She took another step towards Sousuke.

“That’s SCARY!” Kaname said. “We have our hands full with Sousuke as it is, and he is just an otaku. Can any imagine what Sousuke might be like if he were licensed to kill or something?”

Everyone on the bus seemed to answer the rhetorical question at once. Sousuke was sweating more heavily now. Things were uncomfortably close to the truth. Clueless as he was, the innuendo in her emphasized words had him on edge.

“Yes,” Wakana answered. “Imagine if he became one with his base urges, or straddled the line between light and dark---who knows what he might accomplish? There is so much to say for youthful stamina and endurance.” She took two more steps towards Sousuke.

Kaname didn’t know what the officer was up to, but she too had an uneasy feeling. A very uneasy feeling. She stepped up between Sousuke and Wakana. Both eyes of both women flashed momentarily.

“Wait a minute.” Kyouko’s face went pale. “Why are you here, now. Why is your face all bruised.” She had to work up the courage to finish her question. “Was our bus in danger?”

The bus went dead quiet.

“Yes,” Wakana answered, enjoying the looks of shock and disbelief that appeared on the students’ faces. “Very much so.” The look she gave Sousuke plainly said that she wanted something more to keep her secret.

“Don’t you just love the exciting feeling that comes with sudden danger?" She continued. "The uncertainty of not knowing whether you want to grab ahold with both hands and plunge right in, or turn tail and run away as fast as you can?”

“No!" Kaname almost shouted her answer. "I get enough of that just being around Sousuke.”

Stepping forward, Wakana acted as if she stumbled. She knocked kaname aside, fell, and ended up draped all over Sousuke. “What’s your secret worth, lover boy?” she whispered as she pushed herself back up again.

“Your life….” Sousuke said first, a hint of steel in his voice. Those first words were his answer. “…must be a very interesting one. I am glad that I am only a student, not someone who puts his life on the line to protect others. We should all be grateful for the work that law enforcement officers do. It is an honorable profession, one we should all place our trust in.”

Before, Sousuke had been as helpless as a fish flopping on a hook. As soon as he truly felt that Mithril’s secret was at risk in addition to his own, the ruthless soldier within him took over.

The answer did not snuff out the flame of Wakana’s desire. If anything, it went from a candle to a bonfire. But, she was forced to face the truth. Sousuke was likely out of her league. Still, it had been worth a chance. And, it had been great fun watching his face as she made comments about busses, weapons, and military training. Not to mention her sly asides. Maybe if she did a serious make-over….

“Yes. Thank you, Sousuke.” Her eyes said ‘you win, for now.’ “The terrorists used a fuel truck to start a fire, to keep traffic from getting in their way. A truck with heavy weaponry had begun to trail your bus. If they couldn’t get the driver to pull over, they could have opened this bus like a can of sardines. But, the sardines would not be intact when they were done.”

Many of the students felt a chill run down their spines. They did not want to picture that image.

“How were they stopped?” Shinji had an intense look on his face. “Did Sousuke do something?”

For a moment, Wakana stared at Sousuke, then smiled. “What could he have done? You were all on the same bus as him, right? Did you see any laser-guided missiles launch or hear the sound of a gatling gun? Do you think he could get submachine gun bullets to fly out of the back of the bus?” She laughed her frightful laugh.

“Yes, you’re right.” Shinji felt really foolish. A bunch of boys ragged on him for not knowing the difference between daydreams and reality.

“Poor Sousuke,” Kaname said with a smile. “Your big chance comes, and you didn’t even know about it.”

“It is not a problem,” Sousuke replied.

Wakana went on to tell a fanciful tale, with herself as the heroine. She included the part about jumping her car on the back of a flatbed. The boys laughed, thinking it was a purposeful exaggeration. The look the officer gave them caused their tongues to stick to the roof of their mouths.

“I can confirm that. I saw an 18-wheeled truck pass me by. There was an anti-aircraft gun on the back, made inoperable by a police cruiser directly behind it. As it turned out, officer Wakana jumped onto our bus, without any of you even knowing about it. By driving her to the nearest presinct, we are all doing our part to aid a hero.” Sousuke noted a strange transformation on Wakana’s face. For a very brief instant, she had looked vulnerable. It was as if no one had ever complimented her before.

After that, despite their past history with Wakana, the students gave her a round of applause. The police woman was obviously taken aback, not knowing how to deal with the adulation. Her first urge was to grab her gun and remove the source of her confusion. Her second urge was indecipherable, even to her.

In the end, Wakana agreed to come and speak at Jindai High School some day. “I would certainly love to do some Show & Tell,” she had said. She was looking at Sousuke at the time. That was rather obvious. The double-meaning in her voice was obvious too.

Kaname found the whistle in her mouth again. *Tweeeee eeeee eeee e ee eeeeeeee e e eeeeee e eee eeeeeee eeeee eeeeee eee eeeeee eeeeee ee e eeeeeeee eeeeee e e eeeeeee eeeee eeeeeee eeeeeee eee ee e eeeeee e ee e eeeeeeeeee eeee eeeeeee eeeee eee eeeeeeee e e eeeeee ee eeeeee ee ee e eeee e eeeee eeeee!!!*

Wakana did not cringe the way that the Jindai students did. She smiled. “You show some promise,” she said to Kaname. “I have one too.” She brought a whistle out of her blouse. “Mine’s a bit larger, though.” *TWEEE EEEEE EE EEE EEEE EE EEEE E EEEEE EEE EEEEEE EE EEEE EEE EE EEEEEEE EEEEE EEE EEE EEE EEE EEE EEEEEEEE EEEEEE EEEE EEE EE EEE EEEEEE EEE E EE E EEEEEEE EEEEE EEEEE EE E EE EE E EEEEEE EEE E EEEEEE EEEE EEEE EE E EEEEE EEEE E E EEEEEEE EEEEE E EE EE EEE E EEEEEE!!! When she finished, Wakana walked over to Sousuke, caressed the whistle, and whispered “I can do the same thing for you.”

Sousuke ran back to the driver’s seat and got the bus back on the road.


************************************************************
End of pt 22

[HELLFIRE]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!

I'm gonna be spending the next 10 years of my life getting THAT image
out of my head dd...

BTW, since FMP!'s alt universe says the Cold War's still going on, shouldn't
that be If only he had one of those (suicide pills) now. Just a thought...








Regards

[dd]

@HF

Take a few deep breaths.

R....E....L....A....X

Think peaceful thoughts.

Repeat after me:

IT'S ONLY A STORY....

I've left a little pill by you, if you feel the need. A quaint Cold War relic.


***I toned things down a bit. It was beginning to creep me out too.***

[HELLFIRE]

...I...am...perfectly....calm...NOT!!

If you want to talk classic tales, WW2 probably works better...
those cyanide pills they used to issue to 'behind-the-lines' types








Regards

[dd]

@HF

HEH HEH HEH

Poor Sousuke.

A few years earlier, and Wakana would probably be dead. I could just hear the call into Tessa or Kalinin: "Uh...I have a body for removal. Why? Well, she put her lips on mine..."

Any way, took your suggestion. Sort of.

[pilot03]

OMG!!! That was priceless....I pray for Souske's sake that Kaname never catches wind of what really happened.

[HELLFIRE]

...actually, just to drive Sousuke crazy and Kaname out to Jovian orbit,
someone should tell her I don't think Sousuke's quite
been paid back for the little 'little drinking, little dancing' fiasco at that
bar yet...









Regards