AN: I do not own Halo or Infinite Stratos. They belong to their rightful owners.

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10 years ago

"John wait up!" cried a small little girl with a green ribbon tied to her ponytail

John starts to snicker as he sees his friend trying hard to catch up.

"C'mon Houki we are almost there."

The reason why John is so excited today is because a couple days ago he discovered an amazing place up on a cliff and he wants to show Houki his discovery.

Houki soon begins to pant, forcing herself to stop, " *Huff *Huff why are we hiking on a steep cliff again?" she asks tiredly

"You'll see," John said happily. He looks at his friend and realizes he may have pushed Houki at her limit. She leans on a rock covered in sweat panting heavily as if she ran an Olympic Marathon. "Hmmmm, you tired?" John felt a little guilty for pushing his friend a little too far. Only he is wearing proper clothes for a proper hike: a comfortable blue shirt, short pants, and a pair of black running shoes. Houki on the other hand is wearing a traditional white kimono and pair of traditional Japanese wooden sandals. John sweat drops realizing Houki's sense of fashion is not right for a steep hike like this.

Houki stops panting and looks at him with a raised eyebrow. " Who me? Nah I'm alright!" Houki said quickly, trying to not look weak and feeble in front of her friend. However she had to face the fact that she doesn't have the endurance like John and she could feel blisters on her feet start to form.

Noticing his friend rubbing her feet tenderly, John sighed a little and walks slowly towards Houki and kneeled with his back turned. "John-kun what are you doing?"

He sighs once more, "Climb on my back." This startles Houki and she quickly hid her blush with her long sleeves.

"B-b-but Tabanee-neesan will think the wrong way or... or our parents might think that w-w-we are a couple." She said hesitantly. Just thinking of her older sister and their parents gave her cold shivers if they see her and John having this kind of close relationship.

John laughs at her remark. " Relax Houki, you are clearly tired. If our parents pop up we can always make an excuse, just climb on."

She sighs and agrees to have a piggyback on John. As Houki climbs onto John, her face turns red as a tomato. Once she climbs on John, he starts to stand and Houki is amazed of how much she could see while on John's back.

"Wow John!" I can see the beach from here!" Houki was actually enjoying herself riding on top of John. All what John can do is sigh and smile at his friend for having a fun time riding on his back.

After five minutes of hiking, the two kids finally reach the top of the cliff and Houki's mouth drops in awe. On top of the cliff the ground is covered with lush grass with a variety of colorful flowers, and in the center, a huge banzai tree. Not only did this cliff amaze Houki but the ocean across the cliff as well. Soft light from the sun seems to add liveliness to the ocean giving it a bright sky color.

Houki is mesmerized at this landscape but her daydreaming is quickly interrupted. " Ta da! This is my surprise Houki"

Houki's mouth drops again with excitement and she jumps off of John's back and runs towards the banzai tree. " This place is beautiful John, it was worth the hike.

John sweat drops at her remark. " I did most of the work though." He mutters

"What was that John?"

John waves both of his hands at Houki, " Nothing Nothing heh heh."

Houki raises an eyebrow but she quickly shook her head and starts to twirl and dance on the flowerbed.

John starts to get nervous at Houki's carelessness for ignoring her surroundings because she is dancing and twirling near the edge of the cliff.

"Houki!" He said nervously, " be careful, you're dancing near the edge."

Still dancing and twirling, Houki ignores his warning. Still twirling, " Relax John. I'm not going to—" She trips on a small pebble and starts to lose her balance non the edge of the cliff. " John...heelll...HELP ME!" she cries while trying to balance herself

Before she completely fell, John quickly grabs her arm and pulls her towards him. The sudden force and Houki's weight also made John lose his balance and his back quickly hits the rocky ground while his chest protects Houki from the fall."

Houki is the first to get up and she quickly rubs her head, " Ow...Ow...that's going to leave a mark. " After her head clears up she opens her eyes and is shocked that she is on John chest. She jumps off of John and crawls to his side, " John are you alright."

"Ow, I'm...I'm alright" Houki sighs with relief but her eyes widens when she see's his right arm bleeding.

"John!" She screams," "Your...Your Arm!"

"Wha—oh" He inspects the wound, " It's alright Houki tis but a scratch." He said jokingly. Suddenly, John feels something wet on his hands. When he looks at them he sees small droplets of water on them. He looks at Houki and his eyes slightly widens as Houki is crying.

"Hey, hey! Why are you crying" he whispers

"It's...*Sniff...It's my fault your hurt because of me." She said sadly as she is trying to wipe all the tears off of her eyes.

Thinking their friendship is over, Houki shuts her eyes and begins to tense preparing herself if John wants to slap her for hurting him, but instead she feels a couple small pats on her head. As she slowly opens her eyes she sees John still smiling.

Houki is...speechless. It is her fault that John is hurt and yet he is still smiling. The thought of his kindness made her cry again. Still trying to rub all the tears off, Hoiki suddenly buries her head on his chest. Still on the ground John has difficulties sitting up due to Houki still hugging his chest. " I am not worthy of such kindness John!" She cried. Even though it is quite cheesy John didn't care. Still burying her head, John can feel his shirt slowly becoming soaked with tears. " I...I don't know why I'm crying still" she mutters, " will...will you forgive me?" She weakly asks.

John is speechless of Houki still feeling guilty but she quickly smiles and pats her hair once again. He sighs, " Of course silly, I forgive you, just... try to be more careful okay." Houki silently nods her buried head.

After the accident, Houki stops crying and the two "carefully" play together until the sun starts to set.

Beneath the huge Banzai tree, the two friends are making flower crowns from the flowers nearby. Houki finishes her crown first and smiles at her hardwork. She takes a quick peak at John and she see's her friend having trouble making the knots on his crown. She giggles at her friend and slowly looks at the horizon watching the sun starting to set.

She sighs, " Another day gone."

John looks at the horizon for a second then looks back at his completed flower crown. He gave a quick smirk of his first flower crown and places it on Houki's head while she is distracted. " There, now you look like princess" he said energetically.

Houki blushes and looks away but before he could protest she realizes John's right arm is getting worse. " John your arm is getting worse!" She said nervously. Houki starts to crawl towards his arm for a better inspection. Even though the blood is gone, the wound is swelling. After inspecting his arm, even though Jon begs her to drop the subject, Houki starts to feel guilty even more. " It's my fault he's injured." She mentally said.

Then an idea hit her. She quickly gets up and began to untie her ribbon off . After untying her hair, she used her ribbon as a makeshift band-aid.

"Houki wait!" John said as Houki wraps her ribbon on his wound. After she is done, John didn't know what to say. He slowly looks at the makeshift Band-Aid then slowly turns his head at Houki. " Houki... isn't this your favorite ribbon?" she asks quietly.

Houki blushes yet again and starts to play with her hair, " Yeah but... it's just a ribbon, you are worth more than any stupid ribbon my mom gives me."

John didn't know what to say. He looks back at his covered wound then smiles back at Houki," Thank you Houki, for having such a big heart on a foreign guy like me."

"Well... don't mention it she said hesitantly." Seeing that the sun is almost gone Houki starts to believe it is time to go back to their parents. " Hey John, I think it's time to go home now. We can come back tomorrow and play."

John's smile began to fade and he looks down at the flowers looking guilty and sad.

What's wrong John?" She asks nervously.

"Today will be the last day for us to see each other for a while," he said sadly

Houki eyes grew wider. " What... why!?" She choked

He sighs once more," Father's company is having issues so we have to go back to the homeland to repair all the damages.

The truth is that John's dad, Ron Hunter, is CEO of APEX. A corporation that manufactures the United States 1st Gen IS. Ron had to go back to the United States because his competitor, the Dunois Corporations, has been selling 1st Gen ISs with lighting speed causing APEXs stocks to rapidly decrease.

"Don't worry Houki." John said caringly. "" It's just a business trip. We will be back in a month okay."

"A MONTH!" She shouted, " What will I do in 30 days without a friend like you." She looks down at her toes fighting the urge to cry. " I already lost a friend I don't want to lose another dear friend" She looks up at him with red eyes and shows him her pinkie. " Pinkie promise me you'll come back."

"...Houki"

"Just... come back... I will be waiting for you here... okay?

"You know I hate goodbyes." He said sadly, " But I promise." He locks his pinkie finger with hers as a childhood promise he swears to keep.

However...this will be the last time these two childhood friends will ever see each other.

...for now.