"So that's the whole story," Akagi told them.

"Nani?!" cried the pilots. Sendoh jumped out of his seat and was about to run towards the door when the captain called to him, "Sendoh! It's too late. Rukawa has already left the base early this morning."

"But the test is tomorrow!" protested Sendoh, "Rukawa was supposed to fly with us!"

"This is Colonel Yumiyoka's fault," Hanamichi told them heatedly.

"Sakuragi!" barked Akagi, "Watch it."

The redhead huffed and turned his head away.

Hikoichi stood up and held up his hand, "Uh, excuse me. So what are we going to do about the test tomorrow?"

The captain cleared his throat uneasily, "Well Sergeant Hikoichi, I think you will have to fly tomorrow."

"Nani?!" gulped the short pilot.

Mitsui shook his head, "Oh crap..."


~~~

At Nyutabaru Airfield:

Rukawa walked down the gangway of the carrier plane and into the sunlight where he saw the beautiful white forms of the Eagle aircrafts parked in the open beside the hangars to his left.

He gazed at them for a moment, already imagining himself flying in one of them before he set of to the office to report for duty. As he walked up the stairs of the office building, he heard two male voices, talking and joking about something funny. A loud voice in particular made him turn around in surprise.
Hanamichi! Sendoh?!

Rukawa blinked stupidly. There was no redhead and the other person was not his main rival. The fox-eyed pilot shook his head in disgust. Already a few hours away from Hanamichi and he was already imagining things. He turned away from the pair and was about to walk on when he saw two men in uniform, the two bearing the insignias of a general. The pilot made a salute as the man passed when suddenly the general stopped and stayed beside Rukawa for a long time that the pilot had to turn around and see what was the matter.

"Ho! Ho! Ho!" the white-haired general said, "So it is you!"

Rukawa stared at the portly general in front of him, "You..."


~~~~

At the cafeteria in the base, Rukawa and General Anzai sat across from each other drinking their tea. After a while, the senior officer put down his cup of tea and smiled, "I am pleased to meet the famous Rukawa Kaede."

Rukawa arched an eyebrow, wondering what stories the general have heard.

"You shouldn't have left last night before I have a chance to thank you properly. That was a brave thing you did, sergeant."

"Please accept my apologies if I was rude the other night," Rukawa said, bowing, "I did not know you were the Central Division commander."

General Anzai chuckled, "No need to apologise. You saved Ayako's life and I am eternally grateful."

"Yes sir," bowed Rukawa again. Putting down his own cup of tea, the pilot dared himself to ask, "If you don't mind my asking, sir, what are you doing in town?"

"I am supervising the inspection of the new radar guidance system," answered the general.

"Souka," said Rukawa, "How is your grand-daughter?"

A glimmer of love shone from the general's eyes, "She's fine. Every night she wouldn't go to sleep if her parents wouldn't give her the Fiorgara toy."

Rukawa's eyes dropped to stare at the cafeteria table as he was reminded again of the redheaded mechanic still at the Kanagawa Training Tactical Squadron. He missed Hanamichi sorely.

General Anzai cleared his throat, "I thought you would be pleased to fly one of the newest eagles in this unit. What is the matter?"

When the pilot didn't answer, the general leaned back againt his chair and said, "If you need to talk you can always come to me, sergeant."

"Arigatou, sir," murmured Rukawa.

The general sighed and picked his tea-cup and took a sip. Then he spoke again, "When you are this young you should be honest with what is true to your heart. To let your dreams take you."

"Hai," Rukawa softly agreed.
As he was still busy staring at the wooden surface of the table, a card slid in front of him and he lifted his eyed up to look at the general in question.

"This is a phone number where you can reach me anytime in case you need any help."

Rukawa stared at the general in surprise, "Demo-"

"It's the least I can do for someone who saved my grand-daughter's life," cut in general Anzai smilingly.

Touched, Rukawa bowed low that his head nearly touched the table and murmured, "Doumo arigato gozaimas."


~~~~

Back at the Kanagawa TTS:

The sun has already begun to set but the three planes were still at practice, trying to catch up to what they have planned to do with a new player in the team. Mitsui, Sendoh and Hikoichi's jets made a graceful ascend in the orange sky with Mitsui in the front and Sendoh and Hikoichi bringing in the rear.

"Hikoichi!" scolded Mitsui, "You can't fall behind from Sendoh!"

"Gomen nasai!" Hikoichi wailed, "I'm trying!"

Sendoh growled and vowed to himself, We're not going to fail! Yumiyoka and the commander thought they could get rid of us. I won't let them!

On the ground, Akagi and Hanamichi watched the practice show with trepidation.

"I don't think we're going to pass that test..." murmured Akagi.

Even the redhead seemed to have lost his optimism, "We will somehow, captain..."

When the sky was already dark, the pilots made a landing to retire. Sendoh wanted to continue the practice but knowing that he has already pushed Hikoichi too much, the spiky-haired pilot reluctantly agreed to stop. The team walked towards the dormitory silently, feeling low, knowing that, short of a miracle, they would fail the test the next day.

In the office at the end of the hall where the officers' rooms were situated, the phone rang listessly in the dark. The door opened and not bothering to switch on the lights, the redhead walked in and answered the phone.

"Moshi moshi," greeted Hanamichi. When there was no reply, the redhead repeated, "Moshi moshi?"

The person on the other line remained silent, just listening to the redhead's voice that he has missed so much.

The redhead frowned before he heard the droning sound of an aircraft engine in the background.
An Eagle....? Rukawa?

"Rukawa? Is that you?" demanded Hanamichi.
Still no answer. Then the caller hung up.

Rukawa kept his hand on the phone and only let go when he was sure the connection was cut. After a while he put the receiver back on it's cradle and stared outside the window at the white Eagle moving across the tarmac a few feet away from the building where he was at. Whatever he was feeling at that moment, it clouded his enjoyment of seeing the aircraft he was about to use tonight.


~~~~

In the hangar which housed the Kanagawa TTS's planes, Hanamichi was still working on the aircrafts, maintaining that everything was in tip-top shape.

"You're still preparing?" Sendoh asked, walking into the hanger with his hands in his uniform pocket.

"Aa," the redhead nodded distractedly, "I want it to be perfect. We'll show them tomorrow."

To Hanamichi's surprise, Sendoh's cheer did not appear, "I'm not sure about that, Hanamichi. Today's practice was a disaster. Without Rukawa as my partner we won't stand a chance in passing the test tomorrow."

"Nah," the redhead said without turning around from his work, "It's going to be okay."

Sendoh laughed bitterly, "How can you lie to yourself like this? You saw the practice today."

"It will work out," persisted Hanamichi, finally turning towards the pilot to give him a confident grin, "It must!"

"Baka," Sendoh growled stalking away when Hanamichi called out to him loudly, "Sendoh! Chotto!"

The pilot turned around and leaned against the hangar's door and sighed, "What?"

"Gomen ne. Don't go," mumbled Hanamichi, a hint of red appearing on his cheeks.

Sendoh gave him a sad smile, "I'll never forgive Rukawa for this."
Suddenly he was in front of Hanamichi, holding onto the redhead as if his life depended on it.

"We can't fail this test," whispered Sendoh huskily against Hanamichi's red hair, "If we do, we'll be made a joke for the rest of the defence force. I won't let them do it. We already worked too hard."

The redhead's expression turned soft and he hesitantly brought his hands up to embrace the lean form of the pilot.

"We'll make it, Akira."


----

At the Nyutabaru base, Rukawa stood at the tarmac in his dark green combat pilot uniform, looking at the Eagle aircraft that he was assigned to fly. There it was in all it's highly technical superiority with the lights from the base reflecting on it's sleek body and Rukawa remembered why he dreamed of flying one of this model in the first place before that dream was shattered when he was thrown into the Kanagawa TTS unit. But somehow realising his dream did not seem wonderous as what he thought he would feel especially when he thought of his team-member in the Airbats team who he have been with that were the closest he ever had as friends and family. He missed them already, even that spiky-haired Sendoh.

The next day, the Kanagawa TTS got ready for the flight evaluation with other technical support staff from external units helping them to prepare their crafts. The three pilots double checked the systems in their control board while Akagi, Hanamichi, colonel Yumiyoka, commander Taoka and the rest of the technical support staff stood by in front of the hanger, watching them quietly.

"Captain Akagi," Taoka spoke up, "Is it true that the third plane will be flown by Sergeant Hikoichi?"

"That is correct," Akagi affirmed.

Knowing the status skill of that particular pilot, Colonel Yumiyoka smiled evilly, "I wish your team the best of luck then."

Akagi did not deign to reply.

In a few minutes, the planes were ready for take off. They moved across the runway in a line before they they took off into the air smoothly. When they began their first formation, the coloured smoke from the planes were activated highlighting the perfect yellow, blue and pink coloured hoop in the sky.

The people on the ground who did not expect even the first formation to be done well, stared in surprise.
"What the-" gasped Taoka.

"That's good," Mitsui said, "Let's go to the Open Air Flower Blossom. Hikoichi, watch your timing."

When he received no reply in return, Mitsui called through his communicator, "Hikoichi, can you hear me? Hikoichi?"

Flipping his visor up, Mitsui turned his head to his right and looked through the window cockpit at the plane, which was numbered 612, beside his. The pilot's face was hidden behind the grey visor so he unable to see Hikocihi's face, but the plane was moving so at least he was sure that the aircraft being flown.

As what they have practiced, the three planes ascended nose first into the air before they began to diverge down, seperating from the triangular line to create a lovely three petaled flower in the sky. The crowd on the grown 'ooh'ed and 'ahh'ed at the show. Taoka and colonel Yumiyoka gaped in astonishment.

"Hikoichi, that was fantastic!" whooped Sendoh.
Again, there was no reply and Sendoh called again worriedly, "Hikoichi? How is your reception? Can you hear me?"

"It's fine, Sendoh," came the low answer.
Sendoh's eyes suddenly widened when he realised that the low monotone voice did not belong to the short talkative pilot named Hikoichi. The man piloting the third plane was in fact..."Rukawa?!"

Rukawa flipped his visor up and gave Sendoh a condescending look that oddly seemed friendly.

"What are you doing up here?" demanded Sendoh to the other pilot.

"I couldn't let you fail the team, Sendoh-san," drawled Rukawa.

Sendoh began to protest but then Rukawa cut him off, "At least I'm a better pilot than Hikoichi, ne?"
The spiky-haired pilot grinned, "Hai. That you are."

Mitsui's voice broke through the communicators, "Come on, guys. We got a show to finish. I've got 50 thousand yen on this so don't let me down."

Sendoh laughed, "You know, I'm very curious as to what you use the money for everytime you win, Mitsui."

Mitsui chuckled, "If I want to take my koi out for a perfect date I need to have the cash for it, ne?"

Sendoh laughed again, "Hai."

"Yosh, let's do it," Rukawa said bringing them back to what they were doing.

"Yatta!" cheered Sendoh, "Let's scare the pants off of 'em!"

The three planes separated before beginning on a surprise formation. Mitsui and Sendoh flew side by side, capturing the spectators attention with their skill.

"Where's the third?" Akagi wondered out loud when suddenly Hanamichi pointed to the opposite direction, "There they are!"

"Dammit! What are they doing?!" yelled Akagi and his heart nearly stopped when the other plane nearly collided with the other two but tilted to the side just in time to the disbelief of the people on the ground. The yellow smoke floating between the pink and blue ones marked in the sky told everyone that Rukawa's plane did indeed pass between Mitsui's and Sendoh's at that dangerous but spectacularly minimum distance.

"K'so," cursed Akagi, "I told them not to push themselves too hard."

"But that was awesome!" laughed Hanamichi ecstatically.

Akagi beamed, "True."

Commander Taoka frowned, "What happened? Sergeant Hikoichi couldn't have learnt to fly overnight, could he?"

"It's impossible," colonel Yumiyoka growled, "That sergeant is like someone who had his license out of a cereal box!"

"Nante ittan-dayo?!"*

"Nani?!" The four officers turned around to see Hikoichi standing behind them with his hands on his hips, glaring at the two senior officers angrily.

"I may be the worst pilot in the force but I worked hard and I'm getting better everyday!"

"Sereant Hikoichi?!" exclaimed Akagi, "What are you still doing on the ground?"

"Then who's up there flying the 612?" demanded colonel Yumiyoka.

(*What did you say)

At a loss at who it might be, Hanamichi ran to the jeep parked a few metres away and pulled out the radio receiver, "612! 612! Please respond over!"

"A'hou."

"Rukawa?!"

"What?" sputtered colonel Yumiyoka angrily. "What is he doing up there?!"

"Rukawa is a great pilot!" praised Hikoichi, looking up at the sky where the three planes were still flying high.

Akagi yelled at him, "Baka! Who told you to trade places with him?! We're all going to be court martialled!"

Colonel Yumiyoka's crooked smile appeared again, "I hope you're looking forward to prison, captain."

Walking towards Hanamichi who was still standing holding the radio's receiver beside the jeep, the colonel snatched the communicator away from the redhead and demanded, "Sergeant Rukawa! You are assigned to the combat squadron at the Nyutabaru base! What are you doing up there flying one of my planes?! And who gave you permission to fly in this evaluation?"

"That would be me, colonel."

Everyone turned around and cleared the way for the distinguished looking officer who was making his way towards the two officers and three of the unit team-members.

The officers instantly snapped to attention, "Sir!"

"General Anzai," said colonel Yumiyoka, "What can we do for you?"

The portly general smiled, "I am here to watch how the evaluation is going on. Oh yes, sergeant Rukawa's orders came directly from my office. Is that good enough, colonel?"

"Y-Yes, o-of course," stammered the woman, "It's just that..."

General Anzai pushed his glasses up his nose and his eyes seemed to gleam, "It's not good enough?"

Colonel Yumiyoka gulped. Everyone knew better than to go against 'The White-Haired Monster of the Air-Self Defence Force'.

"No, Sir! It is!" Yumiyoka said quickly, snapping back to attention.

General Anzai nodded, pleased. He then took the communicator from the woman's grasp and spoke, "Sergeant Rukawa. That was a great show."

"General Anzai," said Rukawa, "I am grateful."

"Ho! Ho! Ho!" laughed the general, "The others are also outstanding."

"Sir!" the triumphant reply can be heard coming from Mitsui and Sendoh through the communicators. The pilots knew that because of him, Rukawa wouldn't be with them at that very moment.

But the general was not done speaking yet, "As of today the Kanagawa Tactical Training Squadron will become an official combat unit under my direct supervision."

The redhead beside him whooped with joy, "Yatta!! We did it! We're number one!"

Hikoichi jumped up and down in glee and Akagi tried hard to not join in the pilot's antics. Cheers from Sendoh and Mitsui erupted through the communicators when the meaning sunk in. Rukawa even managed a surprised smile.

"Ho! Ho! Ho!" general Anzai laughed, pleased that he has acquired himself an enthusiastic and undoubtedly one of the most promising squadron he has ever seen.
"By the way, Sergeant Rukawa. I'm standing next to your boyfriend, Sakuragi. You are right about his hair but I have seen stranger hair on kids nowadays. He looks nice enough."

In his cockpit, Sendoh growled. Turning to face Rukawa, he demanded calmly, "What did he mean by 'your boyfriend'?"

Rukawa smirked from his own plane, "Looks like Hanamichi and I have 'The Relationship Seal of Approval' from the Central Air commander."

"If you think I'm going to take this lying down, you're mistaken, Rukawa," warned Sendoh.

"What are you going to do about it, Smiley?" taunted Rukawa.

"Kono kuso-ttare**. If I can't have Hanamichi, neither can you."


(**You asshole)

"Ho! Ho! Ho!" the general laughed, very amused. Turning towards Akagi he handed the receiver over to the tall officer, "Captain, you may assume command."

"Uh..." Akagi sweatdropped at hearing the insults still thrown back and forth between the two pilots. He sighed and handed the receiver over to the blushing mechanic.

"You do something," ordered Akagi, "It's you they are fighting for."

"Eheh..." the redhead laughed weakly, accepting the communicator with a gulp.

"Do it!" Hikoichi nudged the redhead laughingly. Annoyed, Hanamichi retaliated with a full-force hit that sent the shorter officer tumbling a few feet away.

Clearing his throat, the redhead called to the two pilots, "Rukawa, Sendoh, listen up."

The two dark-haired pilots perked their ears to listen to what the redhead had to say.

"This is a very important moment," began Hanamichi.

"Go on!" cheered Hikoichi from afar, not wanting to get closer to the redhead for fear of another backhand.

"Time to make a choice and be a man, private," said Akagi.

"Yosh," Hanamichi nodded taking a deep breath. In a firm voice he announced, "Sergeants Rukawa and Sendoh! One of you will be my boyfriend and the other will be my consort!"

Everyone keeled to the floor in surprise except for General Anzai.
His round belly heaved in laughter, "O-HOHOHOHO!!!"

Taking the receiver back from the redhead, the general teased, "Sergeants? What do you think?"

"Ahahahah!" laughed Mitsui hard until tears streamed down his face.
"Yeah," he choked, "What do you think about the stud now?"

Sendoh blinked in bafflement, "Well...uh...I-I don't..."

"Kami-sama," groaned Rukawa, "What's happened to my life?"

Consort? thought Sendoh in disbelief, I'm not so sure that I like this arrangement.

Rukawa sighed, I don't think I like sharing but I'm just glad to be back.

And so it was decreed that the Airbats of the Kanagawa Tactical Training Squadron was to become a combat unit under the guidance of the infamous General Anzai. They knew that from that day on many challanges lie ahead but if they have each other they can overcome any obstacles.

~the end


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