"I've got it."

Sagara lifted Benji's suitcase from the luggage conveyor belt, giving the middle-aged man a curt nod.

Benji was grateful. Sagara had been an honor to work with on their previous mission, and the boy had been nothing but considerate to him ever since he hurt his shoulder. The other guys gave him shit for it, but Sagara had a strong sense of duty, especially because he might blame himself a little, no matter how much Benji tried to say otherwise.

"Thanks, Sergeant. I appreciate it."

"It's not a problem."

It seemed to be Sagara's catch phrase, whether he noticed it or not, but everyone else seemed to pick up on it.

As competent as the sergeant was at what he did, Sagara was always so uptight and tense about everything. He didn't seem to have much of a sense of humor at first, but the more the four men talked to him out on the field, the more they drew it out of him. It was dry humor and Sagara didn't really seem to notice that he was making jokes, so when they all laughed, he was usually confused.

There just seemed to be something off about the boy.

They hadn't learned a lot about each other. Sagara was eighteen years old, lived in Tokyo, and did contract work for Mithril. They had no idea what the kid did in his off time, but they knew he was keeping something from them.

He was just so awkward. Could that be it? Was he a bit slow, though he was practically a master in his field? There was no way the boy could've gone to public school, judging by the way he socialized.

Benji watched as the other guys joked around with Sagara, drawing out uneasy smiles and half-hearted chuckles, as though the sergeant was distracted with something else on his mind as they walked through the airport to meet their rides.

"Sousuke!"

The sergeant froze instantly, turning around with a blinding smile on his face as he pulled a girl with long, dark hair running at him into his arms.

The instant change in Sousuke was incredible, Benji witnessed. Suddenly, the strict sergeant coolly snaked an arm around the girl's waist, pulling her against him as he cupped her jaw with his freehand, kissing her deeply with no shame or acknowledgement of anyone else around him, like his whole world was right there in his hold.

The men didn't know what to think. The boy in front of them wasn't the man they had gotten to know at all, and the side of him that was being shown was so out of character, so unexpected—the men were awestruck and blatantly staring.

Parting from the kiss, Sagara pulled the girl to stand by his side, still holding his arm around the back of her waist as his thumb rubbed at her opposite side.

"This is my fiancée, Kaname Chidori."

He spoke smoothly and without his usual awkward, robot-like grumbles, like the girl beside him had given him all the confidence in the world.

And she was gorgeous.

Gaping, they all were, until Benji stepped forward and took a hold on Chidori's hand, giving her fingers a delicate shake, though her hold was much firmer. "It's, erm, my pleasure to meet you, Miss Chidori."

"Nice to meet you too! I hope Sousuke wasn't too much of a pain; he can be pretty hard headed," she joked, withdrawing her hand to ruffle the sergeants hair as the boy ducked his head, his cheeks splotched with red.

"Er, he was fine. Not a problem."

Did I really just say Sagara's line?

Now the other men began to pipe up, awkwardly muttering their own comments, like, "He's cool." "Yeah…" "We know."

Sagara seemed to pick up on the sudden change of atmosphere since his fiancée arrived and looked generally confused, probably not able to understand why this was so weird to the other guys.

"I'll be taking my leave. I look forward to working with you all again. Drive safe and have a good night."

And actually smiling, the sergeant took his woman and left, leaving the four men still gaping after them and wondering what the hell they had just seen happen.