Disclaimer: Nuh-uh.

Author's Note: Wow, this is my second FMP fanfic in one day. I guess when the muses strike…

Anyhow, please enjoy:D

WARNING: This fic is rated M for mentions of sexual activities! Please proceed at your own caution! Thank you.

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Storms

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Kaname was never sure whether to laugh or cry when she saw the small pile of weapons he'd had hidden on his person. Guns, grenades, tasers and bombs— Sosuke carefully fished them out of his pockets and pouches, leaving them on the floor with his clothing. The gray and green metal glistened in the watery sunlight…

Then they were gone: concealed by his discarded shirt. Then his pants. Soon after, her top and skirt, panties and bra. And as they toppled backwards, all other thoughts flew from her mind.

But later that night, lying beside him on his cot, she noticed a gleam of dark metal: the handle of his favorite gun, glittering in a flash of lightning that illuminated the sky.

"Hey…" Kaname murmured, intrigued. She'd never really seen the gun up close before: only glimpses of it as he threw her around, trying to protect her from everything and anything. I wonder what it looks like… she mused, wrapping the thin sheets more closely to her naked body.

It didn't take long for her curiosity to get the better of her.

She sat up. In response to the sudden movement, Sosuke's eyes flicked to hers; he wordlessly watched—bemused— as she draped herself across his stomach, reaching for the weapon. "…what're you doing, Kaname?" he asked after a pause, propping his head up with one hand and tracing patterns on her back with the other.

She smiled. "Looking at this," she explained, pointing towards the gun.

He stiffened; he frowned. "What do you plan to do with it?"

"Nothing, of course," Kaname laughed, twisting around and straddling his waist. The action—her action— made her blush, but she didn't move away. "I just wanna see it."

"I'd really rather you didn't."

"Why?" she teased, grabbing his shoulders and forcefully pushing him onto the bed. The springs squeaked; her bright eyes sparkled, full of amusement. "Afraid I'll shoot you?"

"No," Sosuke replied bluntly, surprised—and clearly stunned that she'd even suggest such a thing. He blinked up at her, his wide gray eyes reflecting the storm outside his apartment windows. "I just don't want you to get hurt." He reached his own hands out, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face.

Kaname's gaze softened; she sat up, still atop him. "Don't worry," she assured, allowing the sheet to fall as she reached, again, for the weapon. "I'll be careful. I don't wanna play with it, I just wanna see it."

Knowing it'd be pointless to resist, Sosuke surrendered: watching her movements with cautious eyes through the darkness.

"Wow…" The gun clicked and clattered as Kaname lifted it from the cold floor; she held it carefully in her right hand, lifting it above her head. "This is… heavier than I thought it would be," she admitted, sounding surprised. The dark metal appeared to glitter in her small, pale hands…

He smiled thinly. "You get used to it."

For some reason, his words made her sad. "I guess," Kaname admitted quietly, leaning back on the knees he'd propped up. His gaze never left her face. "It's just… I dunno, you wave it around like it's a feather."

To her surprise, Sosuke cracked a grin. "It'll do much more damage than a feather."

"Yeah…" Kaname shivered, knowing all too well what a gun could do. Sosuke whipped his out so often, it almost seemed like a joke—but a weapon was still a weapon.

She set the gun gingerly on the ground again, hiding it underneath Sosuke's pants. Then, without meaning to, she glanced out across the rest of the room, over the rest of their scattered clothing, subconsciously counting all of the suspicious glistens and bumps beneath the cloth.

There were too many.

"All of those weapons… all to protect me…" Kaname murmured, the words almost lost over a rumble of thunder. With a muted sigh, she fell forward, resting her cheek against Sosuke's bare chest, mindlessly tracing his thousands of little scars. "It's gotta be hard to carry them all around with you, especially if they're all so heavy," she continued, sounding concerned. "Don't you get sick of it?"

In response, a gentle, callused finger brushed the side her face; she twisted her head, chin on his collar bone, as he ran his hands through her loose azure locks.

Under Sosuke's soft gaze, she felt herself flush pink.

"No," he whispered—forceful, calm, sincere—adding words to the gesture. "Because I do it by choice."

What…? "Choice?" Kaname started, mildly taken aback. "But I thought this— I— was a mission. Your duty."

He shook his head, wrapping his arms around her. "No... Well, yes, at first, but not now. Now I do it because I want to." Sosuke offered her a shy smile, tracing the outline of her face with a tender touch. The way he held her made her feel delicate, cherished, protected… Important. "It may be hard, at times," he admitted softly, "…but it would be much harder…

…to live without you."

Silence.

Outside, the spring rain splattered loudly against the windows and sidewalks. People rushed to and fro, back and forth, trying to keep dry. Cars raced past; train whistles blasted. But the sounds were muffled, swallowed, by the all-encompassing storm. And within that storm, they were safe. Within the storm, they were alone. Within the storm, they weren't a Whispered and a Mithril sergeant: they were a girl and a boy… dry and warm, as the rest of the world was washed away in the downpour.

That knowledge was comforting.

Kaname beamed, eyes alive with love, as she pressed a kiss to the underside of Sosuke's chin. He pinked, wordlessly thanking her with one of his own— brushing his lips against her forehead… then her cheek… then her mouth. She responded in an instant; their limbs and tongues re-tangled, and the weapons lay forgotten.

The storm raged on.

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