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Foreign Correspondent by Loki

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She was my nemesis, reminding me of Beryl, more-so than Tetis, at least that creature knew when to quit, but Captain Luciana had no limits when it came to me, I often thought she was more deadly than the enemy.


Iraq

Boot camp


The dusty forecourt was still, not a grain of sand moved. An hour earlier, a sandstorm had us all in-doors, and I was glad of it as I was losing the beach volleyball game, but loving every minute of it. Yup, beach volleyball was a common pastime in the desert, and as weird as it sounds, I love playing at every opportunity.

Jake would come, you know, Corporal Simmons, he came often to visit me here. I was glad for the company of somebody I was getting to know better and he made me laugh. I only wished Mamoru was like him, but I had to admit, when he made the effort, that baka could win a smile or giggle out of me, especially when Motoki or Rei teased him.

The hummers, jeeps and cars in the parking area quivered in the searing heat, crouching expectantly, like many here, dying to get out and away from the tough daily workouts and the people making our lives difficult to plain unbearable. I speak of the snake, the Medusa that youma captain, Tanana Luciana, I refuse to acknowledge her outside the camp's regime and she always sneers at me especially when I am enjoying myself with my new friends or even with Jake when we go for a walk or drive outside the compound. She hates me.

I did love the physicality: the obstacle courses, disassembly of P-90s and other military hardware. My ability to lift and use heavy weapons after a week of badgering and snide remarks from my harpy nemesis was incentive enough to push me beyond what I even thought possible for somebody like me.

I could now drive, and was a quick study when it came to setting claymores, performing maintenance on AUV, setting up base camp. In short, my skills in battle were improving with every day.

I loved the tough regimes but not my charge mistress.

‘Ek!’

I sighed and gazed at the passive scene through the lavender lace curtains. The potted plants and desert palms congregated as if for a United Nations meeting or something like that, as the sandflies made a beeline towards scraps of food that managed to escape the dumpsters behind the parking area. The view was, despite the stark landscape beyond the camp, breathtaking. With its high fencing, electrified to keep out possible insurgents, didn't lessen the strange beauty of the landscape and the camp itself was pretty, I mean, the buildings were not ugly.

Small gardens, mostly with fruit and vegetables patches with some flowers and trees gave the place an almost resort look, if you didn’t count the satellite dishes, the communications towers and whatnot, then there were the rocket launchers, those patriot missile batteries and cannons.

I loved the training and the sense of being part of something important and invigorating, it hurt like hell but was doing me the world of good despite the aches and pains.

I showered, my body bruised and covered in red and indigo to purple streaks, patches and there were a couple of nasty black marks on my sore thighs, I resembled a living mural. All that climbing, jumping, battle drills, falling, hiking, and hand-to-hand combat. I looked at my naked reflection in the mirror, wincing where my fingers touched my bruises.

“Tsukino Usagi, you look like you’ve fought the whole Dark Kingdom single handed!” Poking my tongue out, thrusting my fist into the air, I began to laugh. I was a wild woman, or, as my friends back home in Japan would say, a wild bunny. “Hino Rei, if you could only see me now, well, not literally,” I laughed again feeling so much better. “I would show her, I’d show all my friends. “I am a warrior!”

Yup, I was losing it, but at least this private time in the officer’s bathrooms was worth the sweat and torturous timetable. I’d earned it, yes; I was ranking third in my unit.

I looked pretty in a weird kind of way. Body paint would fail to pass the natural magic of nature’s handiwork, each blemish inflicted by my grueling regime, every scratch and bruise was a badge of honor I wore with pride and a tableau of surreal beauty. I pirouetted and giggled, my gold tresses winding their way around my battered body.

Nodding, I slipped on my bra and panties and proceeded to finish dressing, all the while thinking about that stupid baka, him? Oh yes, but now there was another guy in my thoughts, and he was nicer, polite, cute, smart and an utter gentleman and tough as nails when required. Jake Simmons could give Tux a run for his money in the bravery department, but as hot as he is, I get the feeling he was holding back and I had no idea why.

---

We were driving through a series of dunes, when Jake began to slow down and the vehicle came to a sudden halt. Without warning, a group of young men emerged from behind some sand drifts pointing machine guns at us.

“American, you have something we want!” one young man in dirty robes shouted.

He was staring at me, more like ogling, licking his parched lips as his slimy eyes ran up and down my body lingering on my chest and legs. I was probably the only woman for miles and it didn’t help that I was wearing a pair of shorts, my figure a tempting vision to rebels starved of female company out here in the middle of nowhere.

I was normally proud of my hair, falling in a glistening cascade to the small of my back, setting off the bronzed tan I’d gotten since my arrival but it could well be my undoing, hopefully not my undressing and worse. I am not conceited but I must have seemed a Goddess of the desert, or in their minds, dessert, or something as their leering grins made me squirm in the passenger’s seat.

I shifted closer to Jake, whose expression was hard as granite.

“Come no closer. I’m warning you,” he said, without showing a hint of emotion or taking his eyes off the ringleader.

“American, the girl, she will fetch a good price on the black market, no?”

“Not going to happen, chum, but tell you what, I have something more valuable than this lovely young lady who happens to be my wife. Yeah, she is pregnant also. If you lift a single finger to harm her I will kill the lot of you If you come anywhere near the truck I’ll detonate this little gem!”

I shuddered, for two reasons, me, his wife? I knew it was a ruse, but had no objection to the idea, so playing along I snuggled up and put my head on his shoulder, it felt nice. He looked down at me smiling and winked then plucked out a grenade from beside the driver’s seat.

“Oh come on, sir. One little grenade? When I have you surrounded, get real American, and as you can see there are ten of us to only you and your pretty wife. I would say the odds are in our favor. Leave the woman, we sell her, and the child, you live and no harm done or you both…, die!”

“I will up the anti, you go away, forget this ever happened, or the C4 I have loaded in the back here with a little help from my US issue grenade, will take out everything for a 500 meter radius; hmmm, what you think about them apples pal?”

“Y-you’re bluffing!”

“Am I?” he laughed.

I squeaked as he began to pull the pin.

“No you cannot!” another man said, backing away, tugging on the brown dirty cloak of their leader.

“I can and I-“

“Okay!”

“Now, drop your weapons,” he stared them down, and one by one they did as they were told. Jake had them then, the leader, looking around in a panic had no other choice. “I said, drop them…, that’s a good boy, now you and your little troop make your way back towards that dune, or I pull this.”

To emphasize his determination to prove a point, he tugged a little more at the device.

Swearing in Arabic, the men moved away.

Still holding the grenade, Jake helped me out of the truck.

“Usagi, help me here, gather the weapons and load them in back, can you do that for me?”

“Sure,” I replied and did as he asked.

He threw the grenade towards the running men, the explosion knocking them off their feet the blast so loud my ears hurt.

We returned to camp. The renegades would have one major headache when they returned to consciousness. I was furious with myself that day, for I was mad because I’d not sensed the danger in advance. I could detect a youma or Dark Kingdom General, but human enemies? I had some work to do and brooded all the way back to camp.

“Okay?” he said, looking into my eyes, I swore he was about to kiss me, but at the last moment he kissed the top of my head.

I was hurt, a little, as I was puckering up a little bit and felt like an idiot as he did this, my eyes closing and a tear trickled down my cheek. He thumbed it away.

“It’s okay, I’m being stupid, forget it Jake,” I murmured.

“I am Sorry, Usagi, I shouldn’t have-“

“It’s all right. We were in a dangerous situation. You are my friend and the adrenalin fuzzed my brain. I read more into the moment than I should have, but married, pregnant? Oh boy, that kind of talk gets a girl wondering, you aren’t mad at me? I mean, we’re a good team. I can talk to you Jake, about anything. So, I thought you might have wanted to, you know?”

“Hey, don’t get me wrong Usagi, you’re wonderful and I really like you but I can’t get involved with anyone right now, a long story.”

He looked at me and hugged me.

“Why?” I managed.

“Tell you what, I will sit down with you and tell you all about it one day. Right now, I think it best to leave those sleeping dogs lie. We best get some food into our bellies, okay?”

I nodded, not trusting myself not to burst into tears. Damn men, why when I find a guy I really like, that I could really be happy with do things just go pair-shaped?

---

He dropped me off and waved as he drove off, his smile burning itself into my mind’s eye as I turned and walked into my dorm.

Sure, there were rules about fraternizing with cadets, as that was my status, less bound was I to some of the military codes but I only wanted to be his friend, maybe steady girlfriend, courting not jumping him and dragging him to my tiny single bed to ravish him, er, well, not yet anyway.


TBC



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