Story: Mercenary Gray (all chapters)

The ride was bumpy, rough, hot, dirty and loud, but it beat walking out this shit hole we had been trapped in for the last few weeks. We had been pinned down by a group of former soviet soldiers turned mercs, ironic they were no different from us just a bunch of war crazed maniacs who never could live normally. Nothing is worse than fighting a mirror image of your self knowing at any minute you and your enemy are thinking the same strategies, my hand gripped the barrel of my customized Austrian Styer Aug. She was my baby she had seen me safe through a few conflicts, but right now I was happy to be out this barren god forsaken shit box. It was time to head to our Operation Head Quarters then to debrief and finaly time off some fucking R and R.

Currently the only thing that really stood out was the blaring turbine motors and the damn whirring of the rotor blades of our personal pimped out Mil Mi-24 Hind-D gunship. Inside the crew compartments it was noisy as hell, so I sat there thinking fondly of home holding onto my savior and friend lost in thought. “Hey Sergeant Gray, you and your boys doing ok back there” the pilot called out over our head phone receivers. I looked up and the remaining members of my team all gave me the thumbs up, “Yeah were all good Roy” I called out to him. “Gray I was just curious what is your real name any way” Roy asked. “Never had one” I replied with a laugh. “So you were always Miss Kick ass mercenary Gray” Roy asked, I couldn’t help but smile at the comment.

“Oi, Gray what is rattling around in that muscle filled brain of yours” came a chuckling voice; I looked up to see one of my two second in commands. “Oh you know Lance just thinking about the good ole days” I replied shifting my position, fuck these seats were uncomfortable. “That bad huh, guess it can’t be helped we all have our pasts here it seems they are all the same story” Lance sounded more like an old man than a twenty five year old merc. “Listen to you two droning on like a couple of old timers, fuck its depressing” came the annoyed tone of my other second in command. “Yeah Yeah I know Danny, it just can’t be helped though” I replied. “When I get home I am going to grab some girls and get hammered as hell so I can forget about this little fucking adventure we just had” Danny yelled boisterously, I loved that about him. Together we were one hell of a team, Lance the level headed calm hacker and security expert, Danny the wild hot headed sniper and vehicle expert, and me the leader and master of combat arms and demolitions.

Occasionally there have been others but for the last five years I have always had these two by my side, for some reason no matter how fucked the situation was at the very least we three survived. After a while you just don’t bother to learn the new refreshments or temps names, they either die too often or quit after one or two missions. I don’t blame them for it, you seriously have to be cut from stuff stronger than steel for this line of work. Like Lance who got his start in the world of violence when his parents were murdered by yakuza at age eight, someone a rival boss took pity on him and took him in and taught him the ways of yakuza war. At age eleven Lance got his revenge on the man who had his parents killed as well as the man who killed them, his other skills I guess he acquired naturally always being around technology can make you good with it I suppose. Danny on the other hand his father is still alive and kicking, rather hard as I have heard. His father is an international arms dealer known lovingly as the father of death or revolution depending on who you ask. Thanks to those connections we always have the gear one needs to run a private military organization. Other than that I only know what I have learned by fighting along side them and by what is in there files.

My own past makes theirs look almost upstanding, my mother was Serbian my father was a German, I was an ill begotten accident of theirs but that didn’t matter much. Both my mother and father were rebels in their own view distributors of justice for years of unjust treatment of the Serbian government. Any one else would say my father was a neo-Nazi gone mad with power and that my mother was an insane remnant of the Soviet Union. Either way put simply I was a terrorist from the day I was born I had an Ak-47 put into my hands and was told to shoot people, once I was old enough I had helped successfully bombed two police stations, three trains, one military supply dump, and four politicians houses. Once my parents had been captured and murdered I was sent away to a reformation camp they released me at the age of fifteen. Not long after I hooked up with members of the Russian mob where they found my talents pleasing. It was there at age twenty I met Lance and Danny thanks to an arms deal created by Danny’s father. Let’s just say it ended badly with just Danny, Lance, and I escaping in a Hind I stole from my former employer’s.

At the border of Kazakhstan we met them for the first time. Soldiers dressed head to toe in black wearing only the emblems of crossed swords on their shoulders and berets to mark their ranks. They were armed with modified versions of FN-FAL riffles, we were minimally armed our chopper had run out of fuel there was nothing we could do against a squad of heavily armed opponents. They told us we did one hell of a job escaping their raid on the arms deal and told us either we could join them or be handed over to the authorities. I think the choice was obvious, from there we were transferred to a secret training facility until we were deemed ready for combat operations. We became apart of Sword and Shield, a private military outfit where jobs pour in and get sent to a handler then we the soldiers can choose what we want to do. There are specialized missions like this one that call for the mobilization of our entire armed forces, that we do not have the right to refuse.

Basically when the U.N. or NATO says jump we do, if we don’t do these free of charge, as long as we are supplied with equipment, missions we won’t be able to operate with out the risk of being considered a threat. It is more or less a world politics and black mail but as long as I get paid I couldn’t care less. This mission we were finishing with the mop up of was the elimination of a chemical works plant in Saudi Arabia that was supposed to be making illegal chemical weapons and supposedly trying to acquire nuclear material. If we hadn’t acted when we did these weapons could have easily ended up on the black market or worse directly into the hand of terrorists. Who ever they were they had some serious funding, T62s, Bradley’s, Mi-35 attack Hinds, G-36 assault rifles, we decided the best way to deal with the weapons was napalm. That way we could neutralize the chemical weapons before they could be used against our ground forces. While this was going we used some borrowed A-10 Thunderbolt twos to reduce their armored divisions and Hind choppers before sending in our ground troops to reduce causalities. A beautiful plan and all but, there is one problem. Some one has to be on the ground to scout the positions, and mark the targets in advance. That was the job of my twelve man team, we suffered heavily loses being reduced to a four man team. Surprisingly the new guy came through on top and in good shape if a little worn.

I looked over at our newest member I sure as hell wasn’t expecting him to make it out alive, he was young only about19 or so. He stayed silent followed orders never talked much, but I swear this kid never missed with his modified Ak-47su. His name was Crowe the only info I have on him was that his mother was Iranian his father was Japanese and he was born in a rural area in the Middle East and that he was a member of the northern alliance in Afghanistan. He had a lot in common with me in the sense that there was always a gun in his hand, I wonder what his life was like during the time spent fighting the Taliban and Alqeada after the U.S. invasion of the of Afghanistan. Thanks to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan we have had more work that we have operatives, we were even outsourcing to other mercenary companies.

Yet again I was broken from my thoughts this time by a tap to my leg by an Arab we had taken prisoner for questioning, the sniveling begging for his life type he will break east these type always do. Madib Abu-Matlim, the lead scientist of the chem works plant; several times the mercs seemed to be shooting directly at him instead of us talk about strange. “What do you want, Madib” I asked trying not to be surly, “water” he asked us for water but fair is fair. We did drag him out of bed at night then blew his job to bits and killed his colleagues, I handed him a canteen. “Gray what are planning on doing when you get back” Lance asked, “I am going to go home to Tokyo to see my little brother and sister, they are probably really worried about me” I replied cheerily. “When are you going to settle down and get married” Danny asked, “Once I get my little brother and sister into College, maybe never, besides who would marry a war crazed bitch like me” I answered laughing lightly. Honestly the thought had never really crossed my mind till that moment, sure I have that special person in mind but I never had though about marriage. I doubt the thought had crossed her mind either.

Her name is Sakura Oboro, her field name is Dororo, people in our line or work don’t use our full or even our real names most of the time. I call her Saku-Chan for short, but she is not a ground pounder like me but we hold the same rank. Not that it matters in the field of civilian soldiers. Sakura works as an Intelligence officer as well as my personal handler, every once in a great while she is assigned as a special operations unit when they need to get active ground information previous to an invasion. At first I was disappointed that she wasn’t being assigned to my team but that she would be in charge of an artirillery team. However seeing how things have gone I am glad she was out of harms way. The easiest way to describe Saku-chan is, a spook and a ghost, basically she is a spy and a satellite spy. It was in this field that she picked up the name Dororo, which means little monster. Her sweet smooth yet slightly scarred exterior is a serious dis-representation of who she can be, while working she is ruthless, cold blooded, and calculating everything a spy needs to be. Her weapons of choice are knives and poisons; of course her body is always a useful tool in her work.

“Yo, lance have you heard the rumors about that sexy Japanese girl who works in the CID” Danny asked Lance, “You don’t mean that spook that goes by the name of Dororo” Lance replied. “Yeah that one, man is she fucking sexy” Danny replied sounding like the womanizer he was. “If I were you I would stick clear of her” Lance was smiling. “What why” Danny looked confused, “From what I her she is already with some one” Lance couldn’t help but smirking. “Ill take on that pussy any day of the week” I laughed as Danny was boasting. “What is so damn funny sarge” Danny asked looking even more confused. I stood up with my hands on my hips smirking, “So you could take on that pussy any time, Danny boy that is my girl” I had that evil smile one would expect of a drill sergeant in the morning before they go to work. “Whoa our bad ass sergeant is a rug muncher” Danny looked utterly shocked, “I just prefer female companionship to the big swinging dicks I have to be around all day. Maybe if I was stuck with women all of the time Id want some men, lets just say it’s all just meat to me hun. It comes in different sizes, flavors, and colors” I loved the look of shock on Danny’s face he looked as if he was hit with a frying pan. “I bet she could eat pussy with the best of us” Roy came across the intercom. Everyone sat back laughing passing around canteens and telling stories of love and battles won and lost for the rest of the flight.

I stood at the door of our modest house just outside of Shinjuku; I noticed that the door had been left open if only slightly so some one had to be at home no surprise considering it was after school. Hesitantly I knocked before stepping in, “Vlad, Aida, I am home” I stood just inside and took off my heavy combat boots so I wouldn’t dirty the tatami floor. “Yo big sis, what took ya, did you get stuck in traffic to many tanks on the road” Vlad said in his odd half Serbian half, half Japanese accented English. The change had been tougher on him then on his sister, he was 10 when I moved us here to Japan our younger sister was eight but picked up the language easier than our own. “Yeah something like that, did you send out all of the payments on time, and take good care of our sister” I asked standing firmly, “Yeah Gray everything has been taken care of” he replied on his way into the kitchen. “Have there been any calls for me” I asked dropping onto the couch. “Sakura onee-san called” Vlad said referring to my lover as one of his sisters. “What did she say, and my Saku-chan is not your sister” I said with a commanding tone out of habit, “She said she will be coming by tonight around dinner” Vlad turned back to his task at hand preparing the kitchen. Vlad had turned into a wonderful teenage boy and he would make an even better young man, that boy will be breaking hearts left and right when he is older.

“Where’s Aida, I was hoping she would be home already” I said heading up towards my room, “I sent her on an errand; she will be back in a few minutes. After grabbing a change of clothes I headed back down stairs and on my way to the bath, “oh Vlad, in the front pocket of my ruck sack I have something for you. I know how much you like my work souvenirs so I brought you back a twenty millimeter shell on a silver chain” I continued on my way.

The cold tile of the bathroom floor was comfortable on my feet which had been chocked in the desert heat of Saudi Arabia; I looked over at myself in the mirror, a poor reflection of myself. My hair was disheveled, my skin marred with dirt and grime, where I was once porcelain in color I was now a dirt tan. I could see little scratches here and there on my legs and in some other places from rocks and other hazards. I moved my hands along my body getting reacquainted with myself, my wide hips, luscious legs, and supple breasts. I stared at my self, my face showing strong eastern European features backed with beauty though it was hard to feel that way in my current pathetic state. I stepped under the shower head working away at the dust and dirt of conflict, as I scrubbed myself I traced my old scars feeling relived that I hadn’t picked up any more yet proud of every one I have. About half way up on my left thigh I could feel a spot where a 9mm bullet had scraped my thigh, on my right shoulder there was a soft raised line on my skin where I had been slashed with a combat knife. There was another knife scar just above my right eyebrow, along my right arm there was a long scar from a piece of barbwire. There were others but they were almost non-existent now, once I managed to remove all of the dirt from my skin and hair I returned to the mirror. The women I saw no longer seemed beleaguered and downtrodden, it seemed that I now stood before some porcelain goddess of beauty. A goddess but a warrior goddess I laughed to myself.

I slid into the soaking tub my long black hair flaring out as the water kissed my skin, slowly I began slipping under when I was disturbed by a sound I had almost missed. The door had been opened, I figured it was Aida or maybe Vlad bringing me a towel but he would have warned me. “So my Samurai-Hime-sama, may I join you”, “Saku-chan, don’t tease me”, her voice was like honey to my ears soothing yet delicious. Sakura laughed softly, her calm soft spoken nature was the dire opposite of what one would expect from a spy and assassin. “Are you coming in or not” I asked faking annoyance, “patience my dear I can’t come in with my clothes on” her plush voice caressing my ears. I secretly spied on my spy in the mirror as she undressed, she had been wearing a red silk kimono with sakura blossoms adorning it. The kimono was unusual in its self being cut off at he knees and having a plunging neck line, far less modest and conservative than your average piece of traditional Japanese clothing. I watched lustfully as she untied the Obi sash holding her Kimono in place, I hungered after the body of this woman who was being exposed at an agonizingly slow pace. Her cream tan colored skin in stood in sharp contrast to the red silk she had been wearing, I could see her smiling her arms crossed looking into the mirror deriving satisfaction from my needy expression. Her hair cascaded around her as she let it down from a bun held high on her head, the glossy straight black hair seemed to outline her slim small figure. I was a good half a foot taller than my Japanese counter part, I looked at her small a-cup breasts and compared them to the supple Ds I held in my hand. Compared to me her hips and waist were narrow and her legs lacked the muscled thickness reflected by mine. Her face was soft and girlish compared to my tougher more womanly visage, except for her eyes which reflected the soul of a battle hardened killer. Daring as always She hadn’t been wearing any underwear but with the caress of silk across your body who would.

I had closed my eyes and Sakura had managed to slip down right beside the tub with out me ever hearing a sound, I suppose one would expect that of a spy is she wasn’t capable of that she would have been dead already. I finaly noticed her presence when I felt her silken rosy lips brush against mine, it wasn’t the kiss I had been expecting. This kiss gave me that “I love you and I don’t want to loose you” vibe, not the “I am crazy about you and I need to get into your pants” vibe. I leaned forward into her light kiss deepening the kiss gingerly probing her mouth with my tongue, we stayed like that holding each other and playing twister with our tongues before she climbed into my lap. I let my arms wrap just under Sakura’s small breasts holding her loosely, I kissed her neck softly nibbling at her silken flesh. “I could kill you from here” Sakura mewed, “my hands are close enough to snap your neck” I purred into her ear. I watched as she raised her hand to her face as if to wipe away a tear, “Gray, don’t ever worry me like that again, I thought you were dead or had been captured” my Saku-chan whispered to me. As well as she was hiding it I could hear the sorrow and pain in her voice, this was a woman who truly loved me. I tightened my arms around her “I am a lot harder than that to kill, Saku-chan” I whispered quietly.

I let my hand drift down to a wide slit like scar just Sakura’s ribs on the right side, “Dororo, do you remember Russia” I asked teasingly. “ I try not to Gray” her hand slid over mine. “We were sent in to observe a nuclear power plant on the frozen tundra, once you had gotten in you made a dire mistake” I whispered as un-condescendingly as possible, “yeah yeah, I didn’t disguise myself or hide my pack properly” she said in an annoyed tone. “That mistake got you this scar, do you remember what happened after that” I didn’t give her time to defend herself. “I put the mission, and myself in jeopardy, I carried you out under heavy fire and got shot in the leg” I moved her hand to the scar on my thigh. “After that I found a safe spot to hide you while I eliminated the troops that followed us, then I stripped you naked and myself naked and wrapped us in thermal blankets so you wouldn’t freeze to death” I whispered. I could see her beginning to turn red in the cheeks, “I did it all for you, I thought if I die oh well at least she will live” I said cupping her breasts fondly. There was an awkward silence for a little while, “it was that night on the barren Russian plains a year and a half ago I fell in love with you, no I knew that instant we lay naked and injured you keeping me inches from deaths door that I loved you. It was at that point I thought dying by your side would be bearable “, the awkward silence resumed like a friend that kept coming and going. I broke the silence with a light laugh, “What’s so funny Gray” Sakura asked, she turned towards me to see me grinning ear to ear like the Cheshire cat. “What is so damn funny” she asked getting a little bothered, “you finaly said it” I said snarkily. “Said what” she looked so cute her face scrunched in confusion, “you said you loved me, that was the first time, the little things you did made me suspect but you only said it just now” I must have sounded like a pompous ass. “Well, well its tough for us tough girls to express our feelings verbally” she whispered meekly, I leaned so close to her face I could see her start to go cross eyed, “I love you my little Saku-chan” I said before pushing her over onto her back at the other end of the tub. Fiercely I attacked my little Japanese spy’s lips with my own, ravaging her mouth with my tongue, my hands roamed her smooth slightly scarred flesh as she supported her self on the padded edge of the tub. I looked up at her with my lustful sapphire blue eyes and devilish grin, “O Kami-sama” Sakura whimpered as she watched me inching my mouth to her perky right nipple my left hand moving for her left. Roughly I pinched her nipple in my teeth making her squeak lightly, quickly I lowered my lips to her sensitive flesh sucking softly and rolling my tongue over the pointy nub as my hand gently rolled the other between my fingers.

It was almost always like this between us, soft, tender, caring, behavior so contradictory  to our chaotic, dangerous and violent lives. I guess this sort of thing is that which defines us as humans and not the heartless mindless creatures of war. Yes, I do love war, war and money you can’t have one with out the other either it is war about money or money about war. I love the rush of mowing down my enemies with well placed heavy machine gun fire, the sound of artillery impacting upon enemy positions with thunderous explosions. I love the smell of sulphurous gun powder and burning napalm, I love taking enemy soldiers down one at a time with well placed sniper riffle rounds. I love the sound of jets above bringing a hellish rain and death to our enemies, I love the taste of blood splashing onto my tongue from my blade. My heart lifts as I hear the screams of enemies charging upon my positions only to be cut down by thumping mortar rounds and heavy machine guns. Nothing is a more pleasing to my ears than hearing the titanic detonations of two thousand pound bombs, I can’t help but to watch in anticipation as our tanks roll over the defensive lines issuing death from metal chariots. I love running away as our positions are being over run and shot down, needless to say that I love war. Does this make me inhuman, quite the opposite; I believe it is this that proves us to be human as love defines us as human.

“Gray, you’re going to turn us into prunes, besides I smell dinner” she said complaintatively, “uhg, you’re right” I groaned not wanting to release my love. We got out and dried each other playfully before dressing and heading for the dinner room, “hehehe, big sis Gray and Big sis Sakura were in the bath together again” Aida giggled. “That’s right, Aida-onee-chan” Sakura-chan said as she tussled the girls hair, “hey don’t encourage her, I am trying to raise her right and proper” I teased my Saku-chan giving her a big kiss in front of everyone, it is better to be honest. We all sat in the living room around our Japanese table which I had gotten only because of Sakura, for dinner Vlad had prepared Sukiyaki another thing just for Sakura. Though over the last year my tastes were becoming more and more Japanese, we sat there for hours chatting and joking. It was hard for us to interact normally with most people, it was hard not to bring up ghastly stories of war and death, it was even harder to resist telling torrid stories of my time with the shy and timid Saku-chan. Who was in reality a spy and an assassin with ice for blood and a heart harder than steel, worthy of the name little monster. Thankfully once it was late enough Vlad decided it was time for Aida and himself to go to bed we kissed them goodnight, Vlad said it was embarrassing because “we were only ten years apart”. Thanks to that comment the more devilish bold side of Sakura who was only twenty two came out and she kissed him on the lips and I think she even used her tongue a little. I have to admit it was fun watching my fifteen year old brother blush like a school girl. Considering her normally shy nature it surprised the hell out of me but she did have a bold, daring, wild side and it would be best not to forget that. Once we were back in the safety of the living room I had to ask, “what made you do that”, she replied with a devilish grin that reflect my own, “sake, and he made me feel old, I wanted a little revenge”. “I admit it was funny to see you kissing my little brother like that” I laughed and she fell back into my lap and started looking serious again. “Gray, is it really ok to keep going on like this” Sakura whispered in a dead even tone, this was dangerous ground and I knew it. “Sakura before I say anything else be specific” my iced tone match hers easily, “I mean the way things are between us, don’t you ever wish for more than this” I could hear her resolve wavering was this really the same woman who lived after taking a knife in the gut. “Saku-chan, I love you, and yes not only do I wish for more I am willing to do what ever it takes to get it” I tried to raise the spirits of a woman who was cracking and wearing down.

I cradled her in my arms and begun to wonder whether or not she had ever fully matured on an emotional level, of course this was new territory for people like us. At first our relation ship had consisted of wanton sex and rampant distrust, for people so deeply cut off from our other emotions I am surprised we had lasted this long. Constantly we had argued and fought even physically at times, but that is what we were trained for. However at the end of it all we kept climbing into each others arms no matter how bad things had gotten, I guess our bonds forged in the harsh realities of war is what kept us running to each other. “Sakura, I want you to move out of that lonely desolate excuse of an apartment that you call a home, I want you to move in with me” there it was the next big step, I still couldn’t believe I had said that at that time. Before we always had our dens, our own little private spaces to retreat to during rough times now that wouldn’t be that case. Now even if thing weren’t going good between us we would have to deal with each other, at least we hadn’t thrown any punches in the last year. “You are really serious about this Gray” I could hear the iron strength returning to her voice, “would I lie to you Saku-chan” I replied cupping her face in my hands. “You haven’t before so I guess you’re telling the truth” I loved how she made snarky sarcastic comments about the serious things in life making them seem more laid back.

“Samurai-Hime-sama, time-for-bed” she said like some Japanese high school girl childishly pausing between words, “ fine fine, lets go” I said as she tugged at my robe sleeve to get me off of the floor. We walked up to the second story of the house where the three bedrooms and a fourth room that we used for storage were. My room the master room was by the top of the stairs and the kid’s rooms were all the way down at the bottom of the ten foot hall at my insistence for safety but mostly for privacy for when I had guests over. The room was spacious by Japanese standards but most of the room was taken up by my luxurious pillow topped queen bed, my sheets were finely woven black silk along with the comforter. I had a small dresser on each side of the bed which I used mostly as candle stands considering you can’t put much in a three foot tall dresser. I flopped backwards onto the bed atop the coverings an looked at the clock, it was eleven p.m., not that late but when you hadn’t slept more than forty hours in an entire week you were more than just tired you were down right fucking exhausted. I felt a light weight object pounce onto me straddling my waist, yet again it was the wild side of Saku-chan dropping in for a visit. “Hime-sama, I’m horny” she panted, “fuck I need sleep” I thought as I fell into a night of debauchery.

When I awoke the next morning I rolled over to see the clock laughing in my face, “one in the after noon, what ever who gives a flying fuck” I said quietly, slowly I turned over to find an unpleasant discovery. My beautiful Saku-chan had already left and in her place was a note, “Sorry hun, I am not there when you wake up, I had to start preparations for my move, I will be home at two, love Dororo” the letter read. “How odd she doesn’t usually call herself Dororo” I yawned rolling out of bed I grabbed a pair of military issue olive drab skivvies and a military issue olive drab tank top. I know there plain and boring but they are comfortable, I moved to the fridge like some cheap horror movie zombie. “Beer, breakfast of mercenary champions” I joked cracking open a bottle of Sapporo, Saku-chan would kill me for this. I sat down with a box of half eaten cold pizza in front of the television and began rolling through every international news station I could find with English subtitles, a merc needs to know what is going on in the world so they can find decent work. “A bombing in Israel, rockets fired into Gaza, troop surge in Iraq, thirty soldiers wounded five dead” the reporters all seemed to be telling the same story over and over again ever since two thousand one. As long as things stayed I would find plenty of cake work. I was disturbed by a knock at the door, out of habit I just opened the door in what I was wearing. “Good Looking I mean good morning Sergeant Gray, we brought beer” it was Lance and Danny, of course it was Danny speaking. “I got cold pizza come on in” I said in a half dead state, “I got hot pizza, and sausage” Lance said carrying two boxes on his head with one hand. “Woo fucking hoo, break fast” I said closing the door behind them. “What are you doing you hogs, I order you to take those damn boots off in my house” I scolded my seconds, “geez Gray you never were a morning person, oh yeah guess what even the new guy is coming over” Lance said as he was untying his boots. Another knock resounded off my door, “Hey, Gray, Lance, Danny, I brought lucky strikes and doughnuts” the new guy said. “Come on in and toss me a pack, Crowe” I said pulling out My Sword and Shield lighter. “Does this mean I am one of the guys now” Crowe asked with a big grin on his face, “Bingo, get that man a beer and a shot whiskey” I said catching a pack of cigarettes. “Unless you die next time round, till you leave or die you’ll be one of us” Danny said, “Don’t scare the new Guy” Lance said over a mouthful of sausage.

“Lance what kind of sausages are those” I asked holding my hand out in the universal sign for toss it, “home made all beef bratwursts” He tossed one wrapped in a napkin to me. “Have you been paying attention to the world news” I asked every body, “yeah it has been the same shit every day since the Twin Towers” Lance said with a look of deep thought. “Who gives a flying fuck, more war more money” Danny went off all cocky again. “Do you think of any thing other than money and going wild and crazy and all that good shit, don’t you at least wonder what these twinkle toed comi cock sucking politicians are thinking” Lance asked Danny with that serious look.  “No for those exact reasons you said, I don’t want to know shit” Danny said. “Normally we would have had to have gone out of the middle east for work by now something is seriously strange about it, ah hell I am a soldier Ill just follow orders and shoot what I am told to shoot” I mumbled over my beer bottle. “Hey everyone be prepared to help a lady in need and keep your hand to your selves” I said looking at the clock, “ehh what for” Danny asked. “My girlfriend is moving in today in a few minutes” I said before cramming a large bite of pizza into my mouth. “The sexy spook” Danny asked, “who else” Lance said, “the one you guys were talking about yesterday” Crowe said trying to confirm what he had heard.

The door swung open and in stepped Sakura, out of habit my subordinates assembled themselves clicked their heels and saluted their superior officer, “hey Gray did you order some sort of military stripper squad for my moving in party of something” Sakura said with a laugh. “No, nothing like that these top notch pieces of shit are my main squad members, the blonde one Is Sergeant Danny, the Dark Haired one is Sergeant Lance, and the Half Arab Half Japanese is Private First Class Crowe aka the new guy” I said, “ah, yes the one name brigade I should have known, well you bunch of strapping young half assed soldiers go out to that truck and bring in those boxes” Sakura kicked into her Dororo routine. “Yes, Sergeant Major Dororo mam” they said in unison, “damn I haven’t been to make them do that since they had first started” I said shocked. “What do you expect, you have served beside them so long that you are basically a family, it seems in my department we just don’t seem to stop hearing about the one named brigade” Sakura laughed until she looked around. “Beer, cigarettes, pizza, sausage, and doughnuts is this what I think it is” she asked looking confused, “yep, the infamous breakfast of mercenary champions” I smiled as I tossed her a beer and a smoke. She caught the lit cigarette between her lips and the beer in her right hand and used the back of a knife to pop the cap off, “what the hell it is after noon” she said with a roguish smile. For a moment I thought where the shy girl kept running off to and where this bold girl came from, but such thoughts eluded my grasp at the moment.

Sakura sat softly next to me and leaned against my shoulder, “Is it like this every time you guys come back” Sakura asked , “pretty much, it’s what we are more or less the scum of the earth, as most people see it. Those who fight only for fun and profit, and they are right we are scum” I said before taking another drink of my beer. “So, you’ve been with these guys day in and day out thinking you were going to die, what kept you from taking advantage of that for the last five years” realizing how little time we had spent together compared to my comrades. ”Who is to say that I have not, except over the last year and a half” I whispered.  I pulled her lips to mine kissing her deeply, “Hey sarge were finished, whoa get some of that Sergeant Major” Danny clapped his hands whilst laughing and whistling. I flipped up her skirt for a second making my Saku-chan turn beet red, “whoo hoo, way to go Gray” Lance said as if we were participants in some sort of  exhibition game. After we settled down a bit we began chugging beers like frat brothers but they didn’t have a thing on professional soldiers like us, Crowe and Sakura had been knocked out at about three o clock. There were five empty cases of high quality beer laying about Lance, Danny, and I as we continued drinking until one person was left well partially conscious at least. Crowe and Sakura watched us from their drunken stupors seated on the couch, “You miss bad ass, I’ll kick you ass” Danny swayed as he talked with surprising clarity. “Bull shit, you drunken Norse man, Ill drink you into the depths of hell” I said after we had bottomed out yet another beer bottle. I looked over at the now half empty seventh case, we each took out another set leaving nine left. The only problem with this game is the more people loose, the more you have to drink per case. An hour later and two cases later we were on case ten we each looked as if we were going to pass out on the spot drunken and haggard. The now sober Saku chan got up and came to the table and inspected us, “Danny you still have half of one left, Lance yours is empty, oh looks like Gray is the winner, she drank one more than the rest of you” Sakura said all cute and cuddly. Danny and Lance passed out on the floor leaving Crowe the couch, Somehow Saku managed to get me up stairs and into the bed.