Inception

Chapter 5: Drama Mama

 The first time she'd seen her little brother in over a year was several stories above him on the wall of the training grounds. He didn't even realize she was there, too busy watching his classmates run through the firearms course.

She couldn't stop thinking about how good it would feel to toss the touchpad at his big fat head.

"Oh dear. Are you actually angry? Who pissed you off?"

Lena settled for giving Hoshina a flat look. What she wouldn't give for a coworker who kept his nose out of her business.

"Stop looking at me. You're supposed to be watching them," she said.

A soldier with an alarming shade of pink hair named Furuhashi Iharu skidded past the finish line. The system announced his time through the training area and he fist pumped with a roared, "Get wreeeeecked!!"

Lena rolled her eyes and recorded the time under his name. Honestly, she could be doing so many better things than this. Oh the trials of working up the career ladder. One day she'd get all the experience necessary for the real research labs to look twice at her and she'd be able to get to the nitty gritty. No sunshine, no routine kaiju debre tests, no annoyingly flirty co-workers. Heaven.

Her brother took his place at the starting line, rifle barrel rightly pointed to the ground.

"I thought you'd be more excited to see your baby brother showing his stuff." At least Hoshina had his eyes where they were supposed to be, now.

"Baby brother is an unfilial brat," she said.

"Whoa ho ho, those are some strong words. Care to pour the tea?"

The buzzer went off. Leno set off at a sprint.

Despite what she had said, Lena watched Leno carefully, much more carefully than she'd watched the others. She didn't know much about firearms, but she felt her heart jump when he took out the first target without any problem. Then the second. Then the third.

She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding when he crossed the finish line and his time was as good as the one before him. According to his records, the pink haired one had more experience, but her brother still managed to keep up.

Good. She could tell the failing anxiety inside her to shut up.

She tapped in the name and looked up just as the second course buzzed as Hibino finally finished his round...in enough time Iharu and Leno had finished theirs.

Not that it fazed Hibino any.

"YEAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he roared. "You see that, Kikoru? Quaking in your boots yet?"

Lena didn't catch what the blond girl he was referring to screamed back, because a belly deep laugh caught her off guard, throwing her head back. She couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed so hard or so suddenly.

Even as she struggled to catch her breath and put in Hibino's time, Hoshina shouted down that Hibino would be getting kicked off the defense force if he kept doing so poorly.

"Hilarious, am I right?" he asked.

She struggled to get control of herself.

When she finally managed to calm herself and get her focus back on the field, Leno was looking up at her. She couldn't see from this distance just what his face was doing, but his expressions were generally low-key when he was around others he wasn't close too. She doubted she would have seen anything anyway.

"We're just about wrapped up here. You going to do lunch in the lab?"

"Nah. I'll try the cafeteria."

"Aw, gonna finally say hi to baby brother?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes." She flicked down the send box and entered in the email addresses of those who'd be expecting these results.

"Can I watch?"

"Can't you stream soap operas in your quarters?"

"Pfft, I prefer the real thing."

"Then prepared to be disappointed. I'm probably just going to make him call grandma."

They were already half-way to the stairs down the wall. They'd meet up with the platoon down at the entrance. She planned on giving Leno a whispered beat down while the bowl-cut annoyance was preoccupied with the rest of his troops.

"Your grandma a spitfire?" asked said bowl-cut.

"Oh, no. She's sweet."

"Ah." A pause, in which Lena hoped he was done with this conversation. But no dice. "Were you raised by her?"

"If housing me from fifteen through twenty-three counts as raising, sure."

"...your parents?"

"What do you think?"

At least he was quiet then. Honestly, Lena didn't understand why this man cared so much. It wasn't like she was one of his soldiers or even worked directly with him. When not working on her pet projects she was just another operations drone and token scientist.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

She didn't respond.

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I don't wanna nap. I can't write if I nap.