[Metal Tsubasa]: 95.The Story of Arashi.A New Name

Arashi looked out the window while Kitsune lay motionless next to him. This was the first time since he was young that Arashi had spent any time in an actual bed instead of a cot and now he was sharing it with someone he… well, he didn’t know how he felt about his female companion.
The room had been so cold when they had first arrived, but after everything that had gone on, Arashi wanted to get up and open a window. However, the rain had come back and he certainly didn’t need to get any wetter than he already was.
As Arashi sat there, he could feel Kitsune finally shift and then felt her hand gently touch his own. He had gotten used to that feeling, the feeling of her being at his side, especially now, with no more need for either of them.
With the war long over and nothing to do but live off their past pay checks and what the government awarded them for ‘fighting the good fight’ as it said on their medals that they had both trashed soon after receiving them. All in all, they both had enough to live out the rest of their lives comfortably and Kitsune had more than planned on that. Arashi however, felt restless, like a piece of him had been destroyed with the war gone. His nightmares weren’t as frequent, and really that had stopped almost all together, but Kitsune could always see in his eyes that something was stirring in his mind, something that haunted him.
“Arashi,” Kitsune mumbled, as she clutched Arashi’s hand tightly in her own, “have you decided yet?”
The ex-mercenary turned to the woman in bed next to him with a sort of confused glance. “Decided?” he repeated.
“On your new name,” she said, rolling away from Arashi and releasing his hand. “You’re not going back to Kennet, are you?”
“Arashi’s just fine; I’m going to keep it.”
“You know you can’t, its part of the Peace Law.”
The ‘Peace Law’ had been something that all mercenaries felt rather betrayed by. In this law it is stated that all identities acquired during the war are not credible as legal names and new names must be established as permanent and official names. Most mercenaries wanted to use the names they had and simply send them in as is, but the government wouldn’t accept them. Arashi had to remember that now, that Kitsune was no longer ‘Kitsune’ but Erin, which Arashi could never really get used to. Nonetheless, Arashi had to find a new name, for at the moment, he didn’t exist. In honesty, he had thought about what he would take as his name, but nothing could out do Arashi, it was what he had known as his name for more than twenty years, how could he possibly change something like that?
“I’ll figure it out tomorrow,” was the unhappy response that Kitsune, now Erin, had heard time and time again. “I can’t think right now.”
Slowly Arashi stood up from the bed, its sheets dropping to reveal a very appealing naked man, whose body was still toned and tanned from his many scars and memories of battle. He constantly worked out, so his muscles began to show more than they ever had while he was a mercenary. Erin liked to look at him as he was right now: naked, with his body only a black silhouette against the window. He was an attractive man of forty, but he looked more like mid thirties, as did Erin, who had only grown in beauty since the war had ended. Tattoo’s adorned his back and shoulder and even on his right hip were the remnants of his gang days, which had been long in the past. Erin liked to look at him while he wasn’t looking back, because he hated it when people stared at him. He had certainly grown over time, but he was still just as stubborn as always. It had been two years since the Peace Law had come into effect and still he couldn’t find it in him to change his name or say those few words that Erin had been longing to hear since she had first been with Arashi. After the war ended and Arashi willingly agreed to share an apartment with her, Erin figured that he would ask her to marry him, or at least say that he felt something for her… but nothing ever came. At the ripe old age of forty Arashi was still Arashi. He was still unable to understand that he too could feel something for someone other than hate or anger.
“You’re staring again,” Arashi grumbled, leaning against the window as the rain poured down.
Erin laughed and rose from the bed to join Arashi at the window. “Yes I was,” she said with a smile as she wrapped her arms around Arashi’s muscular stomach.