FicWad

After two years of basic training, the cadets of the Galbadian army were separated according to their weapons aptitude It was a simple enough process, accomplished over several weeks of outdoor training and aptitude tests around the army campus.

And after three weeks, I was beginning to feel the strain. I'd been placed with the gun brigade-which was the so-called smart choice, because the Lieutenant in charge of our tests had informed me that it was gun brigade or hand-to-hand grunt work-and been assigned the peculiar ownership of a machine gun that was just about the length and weight of my entire torso. It was doing hell on my shoulder.

From the looks of it, nobody else in my year group was having much fun with this entire endeavor either. A couple of people I was friendly with had complained to me about their respective brigades-hand-to-hand, bladed weapons, projectiles-and I'd done my best commiserating with them over interesting and painful injuries gained in training.

Kiros Seagul never complained, though he'd more than once come to sit with me during a meal with full, blossoming yellow bruises on his face and arms. He'd been assigned to bladed weapons brigade by his own choice-from what I heard, he was good enough to be in any of the brigades, and I didn't doubt it either, though I hadn't quite figured out why Kiros had chosen bladed weapons.

One bright, early summer evening, several months into our training, I lay belly down on the firing range with a sniper rifle I was trying to get good at, aiming at the target across the parade grounds. Technically, I wasn't supposed to handle the rifles without express permission, officer supervision and a sniping partner. But I had never been one to hold to ceremony.

So there I was, laying belly down and trying desperately to make that final shot, when I heard a quiet shuffle behind me, heard someone sit on my left and then the slice of a blade into the soft earth. Without looking up from the scope, I smiled a little.

I took the shot. The hole was decidedly off center. Swearing, I emptied the chamber, cocked, and aimed again.

"You're going to get in trouble," Kiros said quietly. I took the shot, swore when I missed again, and repeated my process from before. Kiros picked his weapon out of the grass and moved it to his other side.

I took the shot. Closer that time, but still too far off if I wanted to test into the snipe division of the brigade. Empty the chamber, cock, aim. Kiros was watching me carefully, I knew, and I tried not to fidget under that intense stare. It had been a little while since Kiros had looked at me like that, too caught up in getting settled into our training. And after several brief, interrupted encounters, we hadn't really been doing much with each other in any sort of fashion that I really appreciated . . .

My next shot wasn't even on the target, as Kiros suddenly shifted, and was sitting across my back confidently. I peered curiously over my shoulder at the dark young man, blinking owlishly.

"You're going to get in trouble."

"Oh really?" I wasn't entirely sure I cared if I got in trouble, if Kiros was gonna sit there, all comfy and warm. Kiros was smiling a little, and nodded. He raised onto his knees, and managed to flip me onto my back; I grunted. "You know there are rocks, right?"

"A few."

"And I'm pretty sure bruising my spine would be what normal people would call a Bad Thing."

"Oh really." His hands were hot through my fatigues, his smile gentle and a little mischievous. There was a sparkle of blue around his hands, and then a warm rush of magic over my skin and in my veins, rejuvenating bruised and battered flesh.

I stared up at Kiros for a moment, surprised by the actions.

"Are you-."

"We're required, in the brigade."

"/Oh/." I stared up at Kiros in the growing dark. It was . . . almost nice, just lying there staring up at those pale-ringed eyes. The way I figured, those would be the last things I'd ever got over, if I over got over any of Kiros.

The night came over us slowly, but the dark was still a little sudden. Kiros chuckled softly, and I heard and felt him shift above him.

His lips were chapped. I smiled into the kiss, sighing gently and wondering how practicing for sniping had turned into an illicit rendezvous. Not that I really cared, but it was the principle of the matter, you know?

When kisses turned into fleeting, brushing lips, I huffed a little, and muttered something about curfew coming up. Kiros nodded against my neck, climbed off of me-the night was cold without a warm, firm body-and grabbed his katals from where he'd planted them. I grabbed the rifle, and Kiros detoured with me to the gun shed.

The kisses were back after that task was done. As we reached the dormitories, the moon rose over the trees that surrounded the compound.

Curfew was announced just as we reached our hall. Kiros laughed softly, wandering down the hall at an easy gate, casting uneasy glances towards me; I was grinning like a some fool thing and hoping for more kisses.

An officer passed us with a contemptuous glare and reminded us of the consequences of being out after curfew. We hurried down the hall, though we kept up their childish expressions.

Outside Kiros' room, I stole that kiss I'd been hoping for.

"You're going to get in trouble."

"Invite me in?"

"Ward'll have a fit. Besides, curfew-."

"Invite me in some time." Kiros smiled, laughed a little, and pushed me down the hall.

"I'll see you at drill."

"Yeah, yeah. Invite me in."

"I will. After training. Tomorrow." I grinned stupidly. My leg was tense and twitching, and I tried to ignore it.

"Tomorrow." Kiros nodded, and stepped into his room.

I turned, and fell flat on my face as I began to step towards my door.

As I climbed into bed, I realized that between Kiros and gun brigade, I was going to be dead or stupid before my twentieth birthday. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, in the long run.