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Part 2: First Date

I couldn't wait 'till Friday night. I had everything planned. All I needed was to find out where is the squad seven barracks. Or I could follow Sajin's spiritual pressure. The latter didn't involve research, so I went with it.

I waited until eleven to make my leave. Believe it or not, getting sneaking out of my dorm was the easiest part. Walking through walls makes navigational challenge easy though.

It was a new moon tonight, so there was no natural light, perfect for a caper. I personally would have preferred a full moon, but whatever. The sky was clear tonight, perfect for seeing the stars and the little light they gave. I stuck to the ground hugging the walls. A nine-foot-tall man leaping from rooftop to rooftop would have been too obvious. Even I couldn't cover that up. I did however retreat to the rooftops whenever a patrol got to close.

I paused for a moment when I reached the doors to the squad seven barracks. I had honestly expected them to be bigger. They were a set of large silver doors with golden knobs to open it. The surrounding walls were white with a stone pattern going up from the ground until the top of the door frame. A couple of feet above the stone pattern were two windows, one on either side. Above the doors a giant seven was written in black kanji inside of a black diamond. They were honestly kind of plain looking; didn't really draw attention to themselves. Considering who's the captain, it fits perfectly.

I slowly stuck my head through the door, and looked around. It's weird that nobody's watching the main gate. Think Sajin might have changed the patrol? Doubt it. I learned long ago not to spend too much time questioning good luck.

On the other side of the door was an empty courtyard. Again, nothing flashy, but it didn't look bad. It looked like it was used more as a small training ground than to show power.

From what I could sense, Sajin's in the opposite side of the compound, so I started making my way there, again sticking as close to the wall as I could. Half way through, I realized I will need to go inside the actual building, so I started looking for a way in. Unfortunately, every door, wall, or window seamed to go straight into an occupied room.

Eventually I managed to find a small window with no spiritual pressure coming from the other side. The window was only a couple of inches tall and was about two feet below the top of my head. Looking though it, I could make out what appears to be an empty restroom. Any un-manned entrance is a great entrance.

As I walked though the bathroom wall, I heard the door open. I quickly ran into the first stall and locked the door. I heard two sets of footsteps come in.

"Damn that Jiro. Thinks he's the shit." There was something off about this man's speech.

"I don't think you should be saying that, Hitoshi," said a second.

"Why? He can't hear us. Hold this." I heard a bag rustle, then water hitting a wall.

"Still..."

"Next time I'll kill the bastard. Trying to talk to my, Miyuki like that."

"He wasn't talking to her like you think. He just asked if she wanted some of his food."

"That. That's what you think but I know the game. It starts out with a simple gift, then before you could blink, Bam. You come back early one day and she's on her back."

" you obviously aren't listening to reason" the second man said under his breath, obviously not caring about his volume.

I let out a sigh of relief. These drunken idiots probably won't even notice me.

"Who's there?!" Shit. I didn't even want to think about what would happen if I get caught. If I just left, they might raise an alarm. Nobody would believe them, but they would definitely wake up others, making this much more difficult. What would make them not raise an alert and get me off the hook?

"It's just me," I said.

"Captain Komamura, sir!" I could practically hear their hearts jump a beat as the fist one said this "I'm sorry I didn't know you were in here."

I flushed the toilet, waited a second before walking out an exact double of Sajin, at least as close as I could get after meeting him for a couple of minutes two days ago. I walked straight towards them, stopping right in front of them making sure they understood who they were talking to. "Now what did I hear you say you were going to do to one of my subordinates?"

"N-n-nothing sir!" The second man managed to bleat out. "I-if you excuse us, we ... have some cleaning to do!"

"What? No we do- Oww" the second man jabbed the first in his side with his elbow.

"Sorry," the second man said again with a bow. Grabbing his friend, they left as quickly has he could drag him.

I didn't relax for half a minute after they had left. "How the hell do you see out this slit?" as asked out loud. "You probably don't think out loud either. I'm just asking to be caught again." As Sajin, I left the room. He should have free reign of his own barracks after all, and who would stop their caption for questioning anyways? I pray I have his walk down. Captain seventh squad

The rest of the way proceeded without incident. I cross paths with two other people, but a simple "Hello." or "Good night." was enough to get by. I had finally reached the door to where Sajin's spiritual pressure was coming from. The sliding door had a silver plaque on it saying, "CAPTAIN SEVENTH SQUAD SAJIN KOMAMURA". I put my hand on the side to open it, but I hesitated. I haven't seen him in years. Sure we met earlier this week, but I wouldn't call that a real conversation. What do I say? Do I try to pick up where we left off? Most importantly, does he even still like me? Calm down Lumus.

"Is everything all right, sir?" Holding my breath was all I could do to keep me from screaming. Thank God his Helmet hides his face.

After quickly getting my shit back together I turned to find a young lady in uniform. "Yes. Why?" I said slightly cheery. My slight smile would go unnoticed, but it helps me stay in character.

"It's just that you have been standing at that door for a while." Have I really been in my head that long?

"Ah. I thought I heard a faint noise and was trying to hear it again." Did it work?

"Would you like me to check it out?" If I keep using up my good luck like this, the next month is going to be hell. "No need. I doubt it was anything important."

"Very well, good night sir"

"Good night" With a bow she left. I guess I better go inside before anyone else shows up.

No one was inside. My heart sank. There was a wooden coffee table with blue two couches beside it. One was facing a wall that was lined with book selves filled with books and scrolls. The other was facing a sliding door on the opposite wall. On the far side was an unsurprisingly large desk with a large chair behind it. The wall with the desk had a large window that let the night air come in. Overall, I would not call it intimidating.

I slunk over to the couch facing the bookshelf and pretty much fell on it. I'm surprised it did not break. I don't understand. I have never been wrong before. Sure I have been off by a foot or two, but never by an entire room. Maybe He's changed so much over the years that I mistook him for someone else. No, if that was true, I wouldn't have been able to sense him at the academy.

Suddenly I felt a hand grasp shoulder. It was a left hand, meaning the right is probably on a weapon, assuming my captor is right handed. I slowly turned my head to see who caught me.

"Would you mind explaining how I am at two places at once?" I honestly didn't know how to respond. I just sat there and stared. "I know it's you Lumus," he said releasing his hold.

"Where did you come from?" I finally asked. I noticed the door behind that was closed when I came in was cracked. Inside I could see what looked like a futon rolled out along the floor. "Never mind," I added before he could respond. By now I have completely turned around with my hands supporting my top half on the back of the sofa and my knees and shins on the seat. With this better view I could see he was holding a medium sized bag.

"I was hoping you were kidding about coming tonight," he said as he started making his way around the couch.

"Really?" I said over-emphasizing how heartbroken I was. My head turn with him, following him to the other couch. Why did he have to wear such thick clothes?

He sat down. "Only a part though," He shouldn't try to make sly jokes, "I'm glad you did." He reached into his bag and pulled out two boxes. "To think, after all this time, I still don't feel weird talking to myself."

"Huh?" I looked down at myself. "Oh." I said. Embarrassed, I quickly changed back into my human form.

"I hope these are O.K." He said apologetically while showing me the boxed lunches and Two bottles of water. Fro what I could see, it was a simple meal consisting of chicken in a large compartment, rice in a smaller one, and peas in a third. "I could only sneak these two in. Anything else and I would have to come up with some lie to explain suddenly getting double what I usually eat."

Taking one, I said, "Anything you would have gotten would have been perfect." I started eating. After a couple of bites I noticed Sajin hasn't even taken off his helmet. "You're not eating?"

"Oh! It's just that I'm not used to eating someone who could see me." What does that last part mean?

"Well dig in. I have all ready seen you completely naked. I don't think seeing your face would bee too shocking. Although, you were severely wounded at the time..."

"Hmm. How about this, I take off my mask if you take off yours?" For once he beat me to it.

"Only if you do it the sexiest way possible," I taunted. He put his hands on his helmet and lifted it off. The first thing I noticed was his eyes. His yellow iris covers his entire eyeball, except his round pupil. His white fur covered the bottom of his face, from his nose down, and the front of his neck. The rest of his head was covered with light brown fur. His ears had a black ring around the rim of his ears, separating the light brown furred outside with his smooth, hairless inside. Around his nose were eight short whiskers, four on each side. "Well, you're no fun," I said disappointed. I didn't really expect him to try anyways.

"Your turn." He said, staring straight at me. He didn't keep his part of the agreement, but I was going to change anyways.

I stood up and pulled my shitagi and kosode, undershirt and shirt respectively, out of my pants. My skin started getting rougher and started darkening. My hair disappeared, melting into my skin. I pulled down the back of my pants revealing a growth coming out of the base of my spine. It quickly grew into a thick tail extending until about three inches lay on the floor. Inside my gauntlets and sock, the nails on my hands and feet grew to a point. Small spikes grew along the top from my back to the tip as my skin, now scales, settled on the same dark shade of red that my hair was earlier. My mouth and nose grew out into a snout with small spikes along the top running down the sides, like streetlights along the sides of a city road. My teeth stayed the same, albeit more formed to take up the extra space. I pulled my pants up so that the waistband was sitting right against the base of my tail. "Well?" I asked sitting back down, my tail curling around the right side of me. It looked like the world's most uncomfortable throw pillow.

"Didn't you have wings?"

"I do, but that would require me to take off my shirt; don't wanna rip it, ya know?" I took some more bites of my food.

We silently ate.

"How long have you been at the academy?" Sajin asked, desperate to have some form of not awkwardness.

"I joined a couple of months ago, at the beginning of this school year." I hat small talk.

"Oh, so you've almost been through a semester, then. How are you doing?"

"I'm near the top of my class."

"That's great!" he said with a smile.

"But my teachers hate me."

"What makes you say that?"

"I mostly sleep through their lectures or crack jokes with whomever is close enough and is willing. I think the other students are afraid of me, too." I took a sip of my water. "Everyone just tries to avoid me. When they do interact with me, they go though great lengths not to make me mad. The only difference from being out there is they have to interact with me and they haven't figured out what I am yet" I took another gulp.

Sajin didn't say anything. He knew what it's like for people like us. Though, I would give up mine experience for his any day.

"Why were at the academy anyways?" I asked, my turn to break the silence.

After a slight hesitation he said, "The Headmaster requested to speak to me about something." I just stared at him. I could easily tell he wasn't telling me everything, but I wasn't going to get anything else out, so I just dropped it.

"I see you still have those gauntlets." He chimed, probably trying to change the subject. "I kept mine too." He lifted his arm to show me. The day before we were separated we bought each other a pair of matching gauntlets.

"I would never get rid of them. They were all that I had of you." That sounded way too needy.

We sat in silence for several minutes. Neither of us wanted to just jump into what we both came here to talk about, but it looks like we can't do anything else.

"So...about us." Sajin looked sheepish. He obviously didn't want to talk about it. "You knew we would have to talk about this. Before we separated, we almost ..." I trailed off. "Are we still, you know?"

He didn't answer. Neither of us knew what to feel about this.

"We haven't seen each other in years. Things changed."

"I know..."

We didn't look at each other.

"How about this: we start from the beginning. Not completely over, but get reacquainted. That way if we ... grew apart, we would see it before we get too attached. "

"I would like that." He said with a slight smile.

"Great." I said with a smile.

"I don't like that smile..." he said with caution. He kept his eye on me as he picked up his last piece of chicken. The moment it was in his mouth, I pounced on him. An outsider would have seen a red blur move from the couch towards Sajin and disappear into his chest. My vision snapped from looking at him to seeing the table from a foot higher and ends of my tail and feet enter my body. As my other senses adjusted, I was able to feel myself choke on something.

"What was that for?! Well, this is how we met the first time... That doesn't mean you could jump in me without warning! I couldn't think of a better re-starting point. I didn't think this is what you meant! You know, this alternating in tone is killing our vocal chords."

I made us take a deep breath. Believe it or not, I missed this. The first time we met, I spent a month sharing his body. I couldn't leave him, and more importantly, I didn't want to. I don't really care much for the arguing using one mouth part, but being inside him like this. He had always felt so warm, both physically and spiritually. I always felt solace in knowing that no one else can ever get this close to others. I have possessed others before, but none have felt like him. So far, he is the only one that felt this kind of warm. While everyone else just felt like a suit, I actually forget that we weren't born this way. After spending so long like this, there were times were he forgot too.

"You seem to not have changed," He said.

"If it ain't broke" I put on his helmet and stood up.

"Where are ye going?"

"Oh, nowhere." I sat in his desk chair and turned it around so it was facing the window. "I just thought it would probably be best to have it on, just in case," I said as I opened the window. I put our cross arms on the window sill and leaned forward. The stars were still clearly visible, even through the slit in his helmet. "One day you will have to tell me how you see through this thing." We started laughing. I couldn't tell who was doing the actual laugh, but it didn't matter. As long as I'm here with him, I'm happy. I just hope that I made him as happy as he makes me.

I think I might have finally done something good.