Too Late To Not Realize
Author's Note: warning, not only is this just a touch cliché, its characters do not belong to me, they belong to Full Metal Panic. Reviews would be greatly appreciated.
"You'll never make it in time," said the voice. "You're too late." The words fell on ears that no longer listened intently to the phone. It dangled like a pendulum swinging back and forth; Sagara Sousuke was long gone.
No, he was running. Running far faster then he had ever been able to before. This was no training drill, it was no false alarm, it was real. He was running to protect the person most precious in his small world. Chidori was in danger and he wasn't there to protect her.
His heart clenched and a grim look of determination entered his eyes as he dashed past the local coffee store where he had first saved her from being run over by a truck. He was running and if he didn't run fast enough he was about to loose her. That was not an option. Somehow he found it in him to run a bit faster as he thought about what his life would mean without her. Nothing. That is what would be left if she was blown up.
He had let his guard down. He had messed up. This was all his fault and he vowed that if they both lived through this he would never leave her unprotected again. A tiny locket jangled in the depths of his pocket. He had assumed she wouldn't come to any harm if he didn't guard her for one hour. How wrong he had been…
Skidding around a corner two blocks away Sousuke glanced at his watch and silently swore. It was one minute until the bomb would go off. Nineteen hundred hours, 7:00, that was when the terrorist had said the bomb was set to go off. It was 16:59.
Finally turning onto her street, Sousuke raced for the stairs. Flinging open the door to her apartment complex, he dashed up the stairs taking them 3 at a time. The impact of a sudden explosion threw him into the wall. The scream hurt him far more than the impact.
Oh god no.
Ignoring his pain he struggled once again to his feet and ran up the last flight of stairs. Dashing down the hall, choking on the smoke, he finally made it to Chidori's door. It was nothing more than splinters.
No! Please let her be alive! Please let me not be too late!
Struggling past the damage and destroyed interior of the apartment. Sousuke bellowed "CHIDORI!!!"
Nothing, not a sound except that of the smoke escaping onto the patio.
"CHIDORI!!!!!" Sousuke yelled desperately now. A note of panic rang out clear as a bell. The voice on the phone was right, he had been too late. Too late to save the person who meant so much to him and had been never able to ever express how he felt deep down.
Why had he never learned how to let her in? That was all she had ever wanted; for him to talk to her. He had known it and yet knew no way to tell her. The truth about his past, he had thought it impossible. Now he wanted nothing more than to hear her voice telling him what a baka he was.
"Chidori," he whispered, the name of the one person who had ever tried to understand him, and accept him for the messed up individual he was. Walking through the apartment he knew so well, he looked for her body. Where was she? A faint glimmer of hope entered his mind. Maybe she hadn't been here when the bomb had gone off. Maybe she had run to the grocery store, or Kyoko's house to watch anime.
His hope died in his throat as he turned the corner into Chidori's room. There in the door to her bathroom was a body with long turquoise hair, Chidori's body, lying prostrate on the ground. She had been taking a shower from the look of her damp hair and her towel. He couldn't move. All he could do was stare for a moment at the broken image of his closest companion.
He was supposed to have protected her. That had been his one duty, to protect the average high school girl Kaname Chidori. Walking slowly over to her he knelt down beside the body taking in the shattered glass from the bathroom mirror and the blood staining the hair he loved so much. In a moment of weakness, he suddenly grabbed her body and held it close. He should have gently rolled the injured charge over in case of possible spinal damage. But Chidori was no normal charge, she was Chidori the woman who had forever altered his life.
"Chidori," he whispered hoarsely clutching her tighter then he ever would have dared before. She was still warm and he felt blood soaking through his shirt. Just as a single tear threatened to spill she suddenly stirred. It was more of a twitch actually but Sousuke suddenly was once again filled with hope. She was alive, somehow miraculously alive. "Chidori?" he whispered once again. Her eyes flickered and Sousuke was so happy when he was able to look once more into her life filled eyes.
"Sousuke," Chidori muttered. "What the hell is going on? Was that a bomb that just went off?"
"Affirmative. A terrorist tried to kill you."
"All I remember is walking to the bathroom to get some cream when suddenly everything just exploded," Chidori said shocked.
"That would have been the bomb," Sousuke replied.
Suddenly Chidori screamed and tried to push him away. "You pervert! Get away from me! I'M NOT WEARING ANY CLOTHES!!!"
He easily overpowered her and drew her close once again noticing the faint blush that appear on her cheeks when he did so and he was positive she saw the blush that appeared on his own. "I don't care," he whispered. How was something he felt so strongly so hard to say?
"Sousuke?" Chidori whispered concerned. "Are you alright?"
"Chidori," he whispered gently into her bloody hair. "I- I-"
"Sousuke," Chidori said softly, "you're scaring me. What's wrong?"
There an opening. "No you scared me." He felt her stiffen in his arms.
"Don't be silly," she said laughing awkwardly. "Nothing can scare you!"
"You did when I thought you were dead," Sousuke said refusing to let her escape his arms. "I didn't think I would make it in time, and then I didn't."
"Sousuke, really!" Chidori said flustered making it really hard not to let her go. "I'm not wearing any clothes! Let me go or I'm going to hit you so hard, you'll wish the bomb had gotten you!"
"And I said," he paused as she squirmed, it felt so odd to try and explain his feelings, "I don't care. I promised I wouldn't ever leave you unprotected ever again." He slowly drew back apprehensive to how she would react to that comment. He never seemed to make his meaning come across clearly. Once he could see her face he saw tears spilling out of her eyes.
"Chidori!" he exclaimed worried. "Are you hurt, where's the pain? Is it your head? Your arms?"
"You baka," she whispered as the tears cleaned two twin paths on her dirt streaked face. She paused and then leaned forward slightly and when he realized that he wasn't the only one who desperately wanted to kiss her he swiftly closed the distance between them. He wrapped his arms around her and drew her as close as he could. This was the first time he had ever kissed a woman, knowing full well what kissing her entailed. He could feel her tiny hands pressed up against his chest and knew that this was where he belonged. He had wanted to do this ever since he had discovered its significance, a way to communicate his feelings without being misunderstood.
Slipping one hand into his pocket he found the locket and as he kissed her once more gently put it over her head to let it dangle between them.
Across the street a twin pair of binoculars were simultaneously placed on the table and Kurz and Melissa slapped each other a hearty high-five.
"Nice work partner," Melissa said grabbing two beers out of the fridge. She deftly tossed one to Kurz and snapped the tab off the top of her own. Raising it up high she said, "cheers."
"Cheers indeed," Kurz said glancing once more across the street. They had finally succeed in getting Sousuke to admit his feelings. True it had taken 3 small bombs and a troop of well trained specialists to set them off without really injuring Kaname Chidori, but they had finally managed the impossible.
"I do believe you owe me 500 yen," Melissa replied crossing her feet on the table as she finally relaxed for the first time in the past 10 hours.
A choked sound escaped Kurz but when he recovered he smiled and pointed to a small cooler sitting beside the door she had yet to notice. "It's in there."
"You have it ready?" Melissa's eyes opened wide with surprise. Standing up she quickly grabbed the cooler and plopped it on the table. Putting down her beer she deftly unzipped it and then squealed in joy.
"And that there is 500 yen's worth of crab," Kurz gloated. "I hope you're happy with it." He had made two women in the world crazy with happiness all in one night; damn he was good.
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