The sunlight drifted through the open window to fall on the sleeping form.  He stirred and and buried his face into the pillow. ~Pillow?~ He sat up like a shot and looked around him.  He seemed to be sleeping in a clean, quiet room and a quick check over himself revealed that all of his injuries had been tended to.  He guessed that it was most likely someone's home that he'd been taken to, judging from the bookcases full of history and mythology books and the decorations.  Upon spotting the desk overflowing with textbooks and papers sitting by the door, he came to the conclusion that his captor was most likely a high school student.

"Excuse me sir," A soft voice spoke from the doorway.

    His instincts kicked in and identified the stranger looking at him from the door as his captor.  He quickly rolled out of the bed ready to fight....and fell flat on his face.  He had forgotten to check to see if he had been sleeping in a Western style bed or a Futon (Japanese bed that's very close to the ground).  He lay in an embarrassed heap on the ground pretending to be unconscious or dead in hopes that whoever it was in the door way would lose interest in him and leave him (and his bruised ego) alone.

"If you are quite done making a fool of yourself," A familiar female voice spoke from doorway, "I have your orders."

~FLASH~
"Hey there, boss!" A girl called from across the room and plopped herself unceremoniously into the chair at the table beside him. She tossed her long dark hair over her shoulder and gave him a wide grin.

    He recognized the girl as one that had just transferred into his company. She was young, inexperienced and not to mention loud. He was told that she was one of the best rookies in the history of the academy.  However, she certainly didn't act like she had even GONE to academy, let alone fought in a real battle.  He had the feeling that she wouldn't be able to stomach some of the missions his unit was assigned to.  No matter how good the stats said she was, she still had to prove herself worthy of being in his unit.  She slid an arm around his shoulders and gave him maniacal grin.

"I have our orders..."
~FLASH~

"Oh all right then..." He growled and got to his feet. "What are they this time?"

"Pardon?" She asked with a confused tone and scowled slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Ah?" He blinked in confusion and looked at her. The girl standing in the doorway held a small wooden tray with an ancient looking tea set and a plate of buns.  She wore a dark greyish blue suit like uniform and had her long dark purple hair flowing loosely down her back.  He blinked slightly in surprise when he noticed that her hair almost reached her knees.  Suddenly, he realized his mistake.  This girl was a lot younger and nicer than SHE was.  Her hair was longer and not to mention, she was a lot less dangerous than HER...or so he thought.

"Ah...I'm sorry miss," He said in a slightly embarrassed tone. "I must have mistaken you for someone else."

"Yes, I'm sure that must be it." She gave him a gentle smile that failed to completely conceal her amusement. "You must have confused me with another girl."

~FLASH~
    He turned and looked at his partner kneeling beside him in the pale moonlight.  She gripped two long, vicious looking, blood soaked swords tightly and scanned the horizon with a pair of binoculars she held in her free hand.  Her long dark hair, tied up in her usual high ponytail, was tucked under her black helmet. After a few agonizing minutes of silence, she turned to face him. Her eyes were dark and unreadable in the shadows of the night.

"Target acquired," She signaled to him. "Let's go."
~FLASH~

"Ahh...yeah.." He said hiding his confusion.  "That must be it."

    For a moment there, he could have sworn that the girl in the doorway was HER but that was impossible.  He watched her as she walked into the room and set the tray down on the small table in the center of the room.  She knelt down and carefully unloaded the contents of the tray.  He tried to look into her eyes but she seemed to be aware of what he was trying to do and avoided looking at him.

"Now sir," She said softly and sat down in a chair at the desk.

"Y, yes?" He looked up at her in confusion and caught her eyes.  He blinked in surprise and tried to looked away as she fixed him with a dark glare.

"I was wondering..." She said slowly and stared into his eyes. "What is your name?"

"My...name?" He shook his head and tried to clear the fog that suddenly seemed to cloud his thoughts. "I cannot say."

"Your name, sir." She repeated and he struggled to get his suddenly sluggish brain to work. "What is your name?"

"My..." Suddenly, he forgot why he couldn't tell and searched for the answer while she watched him patiently. "My name is Yuugiri. Yuugiri Eirei."

"Well, Eirei-san." She said calmly and kept her expression unreadable. "What is your mission?"

~FLASH~
"Excuse me sir," A short girl said shyly with a salute. "I'm reporting for duty as requested."

    He turned and gave the little girl standing beside him a dark look. ~This is my new partner?? She couldn't be more than 2, maybe 3 years out of academy! There is no way that I'm going to spend this war baby sitting a newbie!~ He turned and tried to plead with his superior.  "You can't be serious, sir! I can't work with this...this...CHILD! She'd get killed on the battle field!"

"She is one of the most promising students that has graduated out of academy in a VERY long time.  It is your duty to turn her INTO a soldier." His superior smiled at the disgusted expression he gave and decided to tease him. "Besides, don't you think she is rather pretty?"

"WHAT?!" He scowled and glared at the timid little girl staring at the floor beside him.  He had to admit, she was really cute but that did very little to convince him of her worth. " SIR! I demand to get assigned to a REAL soldier with some kind of experience. She could never hold her own on the battle fields. This is the real world and not a practice yard at the academy."

"I don't think you'll need to worry about me sir," She said looking up into his eyes with a vicious, maniacal grin. "I can take care of myself."
~FLASH~

"My mission..." He scowled slightly and looked her in the eyes. "Is classified."

"Classified?" Then, for a brief second, he saw a flicker of sadness in her eyes. He took this opportunity to read his host's eyes while she was distracted.

    He shook his head in mild surprise as he saw the same thing that he had glimpsed earlier.  ~Her eyes were tired and hold a haunted look.~  He had recognized the look she hid in her eyes in an instant but couldn't believe that someone so young and innocent could have that look.  Her eyes were those of a person that had been fighting so long that they could no longer see what was 'good' and what was 'evil'.  All that they could see were their endless victims screaming in pain and horror. The scared and crying remnants of families and communities as they watched their world and loved ones die before their eyes.  In short, the eyes of someone that had seen and lived through all the atrocities and horrible things that fate could throw.  Someone that had survived only to relive every single moment of death and loss in their dreams for the rest of their existence.

~FLASH~
    He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the slouched figure sitting in the darkened lounge.  He had just returned late from a solo mission and was on his way to de-briefing when he heard a noise coming from the lounge. However, when he opened the door, all he saw was his partner. She sitting at the bar staring into what probably wasn't her first, or last, drink of the evening.  His footsteps sounded unbearably loud in the silent room as he walked up to the bar and sat down beside his partner.  Wordlessly, she poured him a cup a Sake (Sah-keh, japanese rice wine) and stared blindly out of the window. The silence stretched out painfully as neither said a word.

"No matter how many cups of Sake I drink, they all taste like blood." She said bitterly without turning to face him. "But then again, everything reeks of blood and death these days."

    He turned and looked at her in surprise. She was always so strong. She always seemed to be waiting for the next mission with a bloodthirsty look in her eyes and that crazed maniacal grin of hers. However, what he saw tonight wasn't the relentless warrior he was familiar with. All he saw was just another world weary soldier that was aged far beyond their years.  He, as well as everyone else in the war, knew that they would be reliving the war in their dreams for the rest of their lives.

"One day, the war will end and all of this will finally be over.  The great peace will come and the enlightened era of order and goodwill shall begin." She sighed and sipped at her drink. "Too bad that there will be no room for old soldiers like us in the new era."

"After all, what good are warriors in times of peace?" She sighed again and drained the last of her Sake from her glass. "They only serve to remind the people of their bloody ...barbaric...nature."

"But it's ironic, ya know that boss?" She shook her head with a wiry, self loathing smile. "When the great peace comes and the new era begins, the first ones that be cast out from the 'greatness' of the new era will be the ones that gave their souls to bring it."

"That is the nature of society." He said slowly, watching her with a guarded look.. "Both you and I know that."

"Yeah..." She sighed and turned to look at him with sad, tired eyes that looked  far, far too old for his comfort. "I know. I know.  It's just a shame that the ones that fought and died for what's right are the ones that have to be reminded every minute of every day that what they were doing WAS right. In the end, the soldiers of this war will come more scarred and devastated than anyone else involved and all of them will be turned away from the treasures they gave so much to defend."
~FLASH~

~How could someone so young have such a look in her eyes? If I didn't know better, I would say that she was a soldier.~ He shook his head and dismissed the thought.  There was no plausible reason for what he had read in her eyes to be true so there was no reason to dwell upon the matter.  He watched her run her fingers through her hair and shake her head with a faint smile. She got to her feet and moved to sit down at the table across from him.  She silently poured them two cups of, what he guessed to be, green tea.  She remained silent and seemingly lost in her thoughts as replaced the teapot on the tray and set a plate down in front of them. He looked her over, wondering who she was, as she sipped at her tea.

"What are you looking at..." She suddenly asked him and caused him to nearly jump out of his skin. "Eirei-san?"

"Ahahahaha...nothing!" He laughed nervously and paused when he noticed her giving him an odd look . "Yes miss?"

"........" She watched him closely for a few more moments before she answered. "I was wondering if you'd like something to eat."

"No thank you, miss. I'm not that hungry." He said giving the small, warm, white sticky buns sitting on the tray a suspicious look.  Then, he reddened in embarrassment as his stomach growled loudly in protest. He put a hand over his stomach and laughed slightly as the girl continued to watch him emotionlessly. "Well, I suppose a few couldn't hurt..."

~FLASH~
"Hey!" She fixed him with a look that froze him in mid creep towards the door. "Just WHERE do you think you're going?"

 "Uh...nowhere..." He lied lamely and gave her (what he hoped was) a totally innocent smile.  "Nowhere at all."

"uh huh..."She glared at him and pushed him back towards the table. "I'm sure you weren't going anywhere while you were sneaking out of the room hnn?"

"Uhh.....right." He squirmed uncomfortably under his partner's unwavering glare. "Uh....sorry...?"

    She pushed a piece of paper into his hands and crossed her arms. He nervously glanced at the paper and got an awful sinking feeling when he saw the seal on the paper.  He briefly thought about trying to hide but one look from his partner quelled any rebellious thoughts he had.  Even HE wasn't stupid enough to try and go against his partner when she was in one of her moods...like now.

"Please don't let this be what I think it is..." He read the letter over...and over...and over once more just to make sure he saw it right the first 3 times.  "Oh no....it CAN'T be true..."

"Oh, but it is boss," She said giving him a maniacal grin. "We're going undercover together!"

"Please, oh PLEASE just shoot me now and end my misery." He moaned and slumped down in his chair in defeat.  He knew there wouldn't be a way for him to fast talk his way out of THIS one. Not if his partner had anything to do with it...which she unfortunately did.

"Don't worry boss!" She said giving him a wide, crazed grin as he slid under the table in despair. "My cooking won't ACTUALLY kill you, it'll just make you deathly ill and very queasy for a couple of weeks."
~FLASH~

    He took one of the buns off the the tray and gave his host a faint smile as she gave him an encouraging look.  The buns looked to be perfectly safe and delicious as he gave them another suspicious look.  He closed his eyes and took a big bite out of the buns. He chewed the mouthful slowly and swallowed. He absently wondered if there had been poisons or drugs in the bun's filling.

"Hey..." He blinked in surprise and looked at the bun.  "This is really good!"

"Why thank you." She said with an unreadable smile that caused him to wonder if she had drugged his food with some kind of slow working poison. "You are too kind sir."

    He took another bite out of the bun and looked at the girl as she reached into the inner breast pocket of her jacket. He gave her a calculating look as she pulled out a small, unmarked envelope and slid it across the top of the table towards him.  He swallowed the last bite of the bun and cautiously picked up the envelope.  He examined the envelope and nearly had a heart attack when he saw the small seal stamped on the back.

~This...this CAN'T be what I think it is!~  He stared up at the little girl sitting across from him serenely sipping her hot tea with her eyes closed.  He was visibly shaken and stared at her in a state of shock.

"Is there something you wanted to ask me," She said calmly and placed her cup down on the table. "Eirei-san?"

"Yes..." He swallowed hard and looked at the small, oriental girl across from him. "Where did you find me?"

"You were lying the steps of my home in pretty bad shape." She said and cupped her hands around her tea cup.

"But why did you help me?"

"Well, like I said before, you and looked like you could use some help." She gave him an enigmatic smile.  "Besides, you were blocking the stairs."

"Who," He said gazing at her in confusion. "Just who are you?"

"Why, just a simple little girl that happened to come across you..."

"Ah huh. " He gave her a guarded look. " If you don't mind...one more question miss."

"Not at all...." She said in a patronizing voice. "Ask."

He took a deep breath and worked up the nerve to ask her the question he feared he already knew the answer to. "What is your name?"

"My name sir?" She cocked her head to a side and gave him a faintly maniacal smile. "Why it's Amefuri. Mokutou Amefuri."
 
 

~To be continued~