WHO: Kaname Chidori and Meiya Mitsurugi.
WHAT: Meiya comes to say goodbye.
WHEN: July 5th
MISSION: Say farewells before Meiya returns to active duty.
WATCH OUT FOR: New hair.

Meiya was given Kaname's new address, just across the street from her old building. She sits at the table in her black with blue piping uniform, which may have been a suprise, but she claimed she would have to go straight from Kaname's house to Izu base.

"I'm glad you were able to find an apartment so easily." she suspects why. "I'm sorry I have to go away, just as we get back to Japan." she's going to miss school, too.


The apartment is only marginally furnished; a few photos have been pinned up on a corkboard Kaname procured from the 100 yen store, but little decoration exists outside of that small section of wall in the living room.

"Well, it's your job, right? It's not like you can decide to skip out on that when the entire /earth/ is in danger." Kaname sets down a soda in front of Meiya, then sets another one out in front of her seat.

"Besides, it's not like you're the only one that's stopped by to say their goodbyes."


"Thank you." she opens the can with a pull of the tab and psht. "I'll still be on Earth for a few days, so we can text each other." she looks at the corkboard. "When this is over, I'll come over and help you decorate."

She looks back at Kaname "Someone else came by?"


"Thanks. I'll text you as often as you can." The thought of Meiya going into space and battling /those/ things is alarming, but not quite as alarming as the thought of them coming down /here/ to fight.

"Yeah, Johnny, actually," Kaname says, opening her own can; is she intentionally averting her eyes? "He... He kind of--" There's a momentary pause as Kaname presses the word forward. "--confessed to me," she finally finishes.


Meiya was about half way through taking a drink of her soda when Kaname says just what Johnny did. She swallows the drink improperly as her eyes go wide and she starts coughing, forced to put her drink down and grab a napkin to put over her mouth until she is done trying to cough up a lung.

"He-" cough "-confessed?!"


Kaname's cheeks darken red, her eyes still set on her drink before her. "Yeah. Actually, he said he liked me, but..."

A beat.

"After that, he ended up telling me he was being transferred to /Africa/." That was /painful/. It was as if he was intentionally trying to hurt her!


Meiya wipes her mouth with the napkin, that fizzy soda went right up her nose, this is just slightly painful enoguh to make her eyes water.

"To Africa?" Meiya asks, and frowns. Why Africa? Maybe the Chimera isn't useful in space.

"I'm sorry, Kaname. Saying that, and just leaving must have been hard for you."



"Yeah, it was! Like, what sort of guy does that? This isn't some old-fashioned romance movie!"

Tilting her head back in her chair, Kaname lets loose a long sigh. And for a full ten seconds, Kaname Chidori stares up at the ceiling of her kitchen, then, in one quick gesture, tilts it forwards again.

"It feels like everyone's leaving now," she says. "Even the summer exams are being postponed."


Meiya finishes wiping her mouth and nose, uhg. "I know, boys seem to lack scincarity." she frowns a little.

"I know, people are going to the homes and families, or to their posts." like she is. "I'm going to come back though." she puts a hand on Kaname's and pats it. "There are plans, ways to make the situation more in our favour."


"Isn't the alien fleet enormous? I heard on the news they had half a million ships." Despite this, Kaname seems to be coping with the news pretty well, all things considered. "The way Macua talked about it, I thought I was going to have to start making my final arrangements!"

Kaname lets out another sigh, then tilts her head to the side.

"I'm going to trust in you guys to do your best. Until then, I'm going to try to live my life as normally as I can until whatever happens /happens/."


"It is." Meiya admits, "But they're still spread out. Trying to cut us off, but we've already won one fight that will prevent them from doing that." Meiya smiles. "I'm glad you've decided to do that, we haven't lost yet, not by a long shot."


"It's not like freaking out is going to do anything," Kaname remarks. "Besides, if you guys /do/ manage to beat this thing, we still have to go back to class and take our exams, you know!"


Meiya smiles widely "and I for one, intend to pass with flying colors." she rests her chin in her hand "I guess I'll be studying aboard whatever ship they put me on." she smiles wryly "Don't know how I'll get through math and science without your help though."


Kaname laughs sheepishly, running a hand over the back of her head nervously.

"I'm not really sure how much of those good grades are mine, actually," she admits. "Before everything happened, I actually wasn't all that great with math /or/ science."


"Really? Because of the..." She waves a finger around her ear. Meiya had thought this was sometihng Kaname had always lived with.

"Well really, I'm more worried about you and sousuke on Japanese classics."


"Trust me, you aren't the only one!" English wasn't that big of a problem for Kaname, having lived in the states when she was younger, and science and maths were pretty much a given. But when it came down to it, Kaname really had to work hard for good marks in Japanese classics class.

"Last year, during the school trip, I was abducted," she says. "The man who abducted me, his name was Gauron. He was the one who attacked us on board the Tuatha de Daanan. He made it look as though he was going to use me for a hostage video, but he took me to some scientists instead. They made me watch this weird video I couldn't understand. I'm not sure if it was because of it, but after that, I started hearing the whispers."


Meiya starts listening to Kaname's story. She listens in interest, trying to take in everything she can about Kaname's experience. "Gauron." she says, and frowns "Sousuke... defeated him when he and Ali Al tried to flee the Tuatha de Daanan. I stopped Ali Al." Hopefully, both of those men are gone.

"I thought you had heard them always..." she says.

Meiya gets up out of her seat and ssits next to Kaname "Turn around, I wan to see your hair for a second."


"The Whispereds were born Whispereds," Kaname says. "Some become aware of their powers before others do."

But before Kaname can expound, Meiya issues her request.

"You... want to see my hair?" It's sort of a weird request, but Kaname maneuvers her chair the best she can on one foot. "Is this okay?" she asks, brushing her hair over the back of the chair with her arm.


"Born whisperds." Meiya repeats, then picks up a handfull of Kaname's hair. "I can't imagine what it must be like for you, hearing things like that."

"We haven't really done stuff like this, so I wanted to just once before going." she take a moment and pulls her own hair ribbon free, letting her hair fall down. She pulls Kaname's hair up into a ponytail.

"But I was born different from most people too." she wraps the ribbon around Kaname's hair. "My family was rich, and a lot was expected of me from the time I was born. Then by pure happenstance I became a soldier. I'm sure father is disapointed with me."

She ties the ribbon around Kaname's hair, in more of a long trailing bow then ...however Meiya usually ties it. "But I still have the same ups and doens as everyone else."

"If it wasn't for you, I don't think I'd have been able to put my life in perspective."


"Why would your dad be disappointed in you?" The idea seems almost prepostorous to Kaname. "Haven't you done a lot for the Earth Federation Alliance that you wouldn't be able to do if you were working for /him/?"

Once Meiya's finished her hair, Kaname snaps her head around. "If anything, he should be happy to have a daughter with interests outside of his company! Especially when he's already got one daughter primed to take it over!"


Meiya shrugs a little. "How would you feel if your daughter was always at war?" she sighs a little. "He's afraid I'm going to die, like mother did." she lifts up her hand and runs her fingers through her own, now free hanging hair.

"I wish he would actually say whats on his mind, instead of just being upset without purpose."


Kaname, who until a moment before, had been pretty highly irritated suddenly draws silent; ever since her own mom died, she had been afraid. That someday, the people around her would leave her, the same way her mom did.

With friends in such close proximity to danger, it was only worse. Before, there wasn't anything she could do for her mom, and even now...

"Oh."


Meiya is more of a people person then Sousuke Sagara, thats for sure. She puts a hand on Kaname's arm for a moment. "It's okay, I'm going to come back when this is all done." she smiles.

"Why not do my hair?"

"All right," Kaname starts, shifting her chair around. She pulls Meiya's trademark ribbon out, and puts it on the table.

"You know," she says, running her hand through Meiya's hair. "Your hair's pretty nice. I bet I could do all sorts of things with it if I had the proper tools."

With a slight hmm, Kaname considers what to do with Meiya's hair, then finally decides, her fingers twisting Meiya's hair into a long, plaited braid.


"Thank you." Meiya says as Kaname plays with her hair. "I always tried to take care of it. Not always easy." It's at least as long as Kaname's, maybea little longer.

"I like your's, especialy the color." she sits with her hands in her lap as Kaname works.


"Yeah?" Kaname smiles. "My hair color's nothing like my mom or my dad's, but it's the hair I was born with."

She continues with her handiwork, carefully weaving Meiya's thick hair into a tight braid.

"Do you have any idea when you'll be back?"


"Not really." Meiya doesn't like that she doesn't know. "It may be a couple weeks." She looks at the otherside of the apartment "I hope it won't be long. I'm going to miss everyone."


"Do you know when they're going to send you in space?" Kaname takes Meiya's hair ribbon from its place on the table, then ties it tightly around the tail end of her braid. "All right," she says, "All done!"


Meiya turns her head and lifts up the braid with one hand. She smiles. "I like it."

"Wenedsday or Thursday. Theres so much back and forth travel right now there are big delays."


The braid does look nice on Meiya; in fact, it's just nice seeing Meiya wearing her hair in anything other than her default style.

"Will you be there the whole time?" she asks.


"They might cycle me back down if I take part in a big battle." Meiya smiles at the braid again, it is nice to try something new. "The idea is to prevent battle fatigue, being on call all the tme would wear me out. So if we're lucky, I might get a chance to see you again soon."

"Oh, I almost forgot." Meiya reaches into her uniform jacket and takes out a photograph. It's of Kaname, Meiya, Macua and Meiya's sister infront of the statue of Liberty's plaque. The one that reads 'give us your tired, your poor and huddles masses...'

"I got an extra copy made for you."


Kaname accepts the photo, and for a second gazes down at it: Kaname on crutches on one side, Meiya and Yuuhi standing side by side in the middle, Macua on the tail end. And in that moment, Kaname realizes that this is the only photo she has of her friends.

Her fingers tighten slightly around the edge of the photo; the ends of her lips twinge into a slight smile. "Thank you," she says finally.

Kaname turns towards her crutches, which until now, have been leaning against the table; she hops up on one foot, grabs them, and maneuvers them under her arms, the photo still in her grasp.

And makes her way towards the corkboard, where she pins the photo up alongside the others.


It hurts Meiya to have to see Kaname on crutches. If she had been with her that day, she could have stopped that mugger... or rather, Amalgem agent. Not she knows for certine, but she suspects.

Meiya stands up. "Will you be alright? I can get Mana or Yuuhi to visit you if you want."


"Don't worry about it," Kaname reassures, turning to face her friend. "I'll be fine! Besides, you probably have more serious things to worry about with the zentradi invasion and all."


Meiya closes her eyes, relenting. "Alright." she opens her eyes agiana nd points a finger at Kaname "But if Sousuke isn't helping you by the time I get back, I'm going too be upset at you both. You live in the same building now1 He should be able to help you out once in a while."


"H-hey," Kaname protests jokingly. "I'm sure everything's going to be fine. Make sure you keep me updated on everything that's happening. I don't want to have to wonder if you're safe or not, okay?"


Meiya lowers her hand "I will. I should go soon." she moves to hug her friend "Take care of yourself, okay?"


"I will."


Meiya steps back and mvoes to the door. "I'll be back. Don't worry." She says, either for Kaname's benefit or her own, it's hard to tell. She opens te door one last time and waves before closing it and heading out to the car waiting for her.