... It was a cold winter night. During the past couple of days there had been several inches of snow (or as Akahoshi and Langley called it "White Death") that had blanketed the surrounding areas of the GASOC compound. Tonight was expecting to bring two more inches, yet surprisingly enough it was even more quieter than usual. Nyome had once again tried to go to sleep, although everyone was absolutely sure she wouldn't be able to close an eye even for a second. Memai had gone to her room to play with her pet Koji awhile ago, and now no sounds came from her room. Langley was most likely to be found in the armory, and Iyou was knocked out in her bed, partly in thanks to some generic painkillers she took out of Shiro's room. Akahoshi took Refuge in the basement by plugging her headphones into the pc and listening to Kidneythieves or some other of her favorite groups, while covered under a veritable mountain of comforters and covers wishing the damn white stuff falling out of the sky would simply stop.
Shiro on the other hand was quite awake, having finished taking a shower and thankfully this time had his pants where they respectfully should be. He headed for the kitchen but as he got closer to it noticed the lights in it were dark. Stopping a few feet away from the entrace to the kitchen, Shiro re-capped just who was where in the house. After several moments, he gave a sigh, although his tone didn't exactly express whether it was out of relief or grief.
Shiro enters the kitchen while deliberately saying "Somber, are we?" asking and showing his usual smile. A lazy, and somewhat half-hearted "not in the mood right now" was the reply that came from the shadows at the end of the kitchen table.
"Sorry, guess the wording should've been 'Testy, are we?' "
"Shiro, what makes you think I want to talk to you right n--"
"Now, now AD" said Shiro interrupting her "I didn't mean to interrupt whatever you're doing."
"Well, you just did."
Still within the shadows, AD managed to track Shiro's movements as he pulled two cups from the cupboard, then grabbed a teapot that had been simmering since before she arrived there and saw him pouring into both cups. As Shiro was about to sit at the other end of the table opposite of AD, she declared "I'm not particularily fond of coffee at 4 am."
"this isn't coffee, it's Green Tea."
"I don't give a s**t. Coffee or tea, it's pretty much the same to me."
"Actually-"
"Damnit Shiro," AD spat angrily. "If it's hot, I'm not drinking it!"
His mouth open, Shiro tried to say something, but held back. He then looked at the two cups with a somber smile.
- "Guess these two are for me then." and began sipping from one.
Several minutes passed between them in absolute silence. Shiro looking into the cup in his hands, the light from some adjacent lamp far away was flodding a mellow yellow light upon his side of the kitchen. The allure of darkness on AD's side was only amplified by the midnight-blue hues of the night sky pouring through the windows on her side.Deadlocked in this conversation of nothingness both remained for a good fifteen minutes, before (and as always) Shiro began to try some small talk again.
- "You know, AD... that time of the year is coming back--"
"What about it?" interred AD
"Eh... I was thinking that this year we actually do something different... for a change."
"Like what Shiro, Christmas?"
"Or Channukah or Kwanzaa or whatever the kids celebrate nowadays."
Repositioning herself from her semi-slouched position on the table and slinging her arm behind her chair AD looked up towards the ceiling. "Why?"
"Because I think they should enjoy a time off from the constant drilling, training and missions" said Shiro. "Besides, even soildiers need a rest every now and then. Not all of us can carry the constant burden of knowing every second of the day, there are people out there waiting to kill you."
Curling her lips into a grin almost lost in the darkness, she spoke.
-"You seem to be doing quite fine."
"So do you, AD, but that's not the point."
"Then what IS the point, Shiro?" said AD, with a bit of more anger in her tone than usual.
Setting his cup down on the table with an audibly low thump Shiro looked directly at AD's eyes with intent. - "There isn't any point. It's just MY opinion that we should give the kids a break from it all. Having them look at death in the eye every day can be frustrating for them and you know as well as I do none of them will ever admit it."
"-But you forgot something important, Shiro... we really aren't soldiers, now are we?"
With a mild smile in his features he replies "For some of us, we no longer are." Then gets up from his seat and takes both cups, now empty, to the sink. As he rinses them, he looks at AD again.
"...And yet, for some of us, it's the only thing we can think about."
AD remainded silent. Shiro merely stood by the sink with eyes closed and his arms crossed awaiting a response from AD. When he didn't get any, he asked
-"So, AD ...what are we then? Mercenaries? Terrorists? Some clandestine military faction turned heroes-for-hire?"
"It wouldn't be too bad if we were those now would we?"
"Does it matter?"
"It doesn't, although it's more like 'heroines-for-hire'."
"...And where exactly do I fit in in all of this?"
"You're just the middleman. You don't count."
"b***h."
"I know."
"And here I was holding back on the 'A-Team wannabe' comments."
"Don't you dare, Shiro" AD threatened.
Uncrossing his arms and putting his hands in his pockets, Shiro spoke in a rather clear tone "I knew it was pointless asking you. Next time I go to Langley. At least she glares at me when she doesn't like something."
"Hmph. I thought you'd take it like a man."
"But there's you can give me, you Huppel Kutje."
"What the ********? Shiro, what did you--"
Before AD was able to finish her sentence, Shiro was already long gone from the kitchen. AD's anger flustered away once Shiro had gone, she took her hand to her face. -"stupid sleep." where the words that came out of her mouth. Lifting herself up from the chair, she headed for her room thanking whatever powers that may be that Shiro had his pants on this time. Little did she know what she would find in the morning when she woke up.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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