Maverick (A G.I. Joe Fanfiction)

Chapter 31: Distracted/Stalling

It was like a bolt of electricity hit me straight in the heart as his hand gently grasped my shoulder. I would have doubled over in surprise if it weren't for me holding on to my horse Epic. As my respiration and heart rate slowly returned to normal, Snake turned me to face him and held my shoulders probably thinking I was going to fall over at any moment.

"I'm fine, Snake," I insured him, seeing the worry in his eyes, as I resumed strapping the saddle to my horse. "You just caught me off guard. Going home is bringing back old memories and they seem to be distracting me. It's been almost four years, in that amount of time anything could have happened. Honestly, everyone could be-"

Snake cut me off there, pulling me against his chest. I froze in shock at Snake's sudden action. I gradually relaxed into his embrace, wrapping my arms around Snake's torso and letting my hand come to rest beside the sheath crossing his back.

"Okay you two, break it up," Duke butted in, probably meaning to ruin the moment Snake and I was having, holding out a black box. "Here's the box you asked for, Grace."

"Oh yeah, thanks Duke," I said, moving around Snake a bit to get the box from Duke. "Let me guess, Jane got Storm."

"His sacrifice will be remembered," Duke joked, holding his hand over his heart.

I laughed at this moving around Duke to head to the storage room to change. Setting the box on one of the stools, I lifted the lid off of the box and stared at the contents with a mix of pride and anxiety. After setting aside the fox mask that laid on top of the clothing, I removed my denim shorts and red v-neck and replaced them with the black cotton leggings and red mini kimono with black accents along the neck, the hem, and the ends of the sleeves. After securing the kimono around my waist with a black sash and the black cloth flats to my feet with the ribbons that wrapped around my ankles, I gathered up the mask and everything else left in the box before exiting the storage room. I was only a few steps out of the storage room when I bumped into someone and they caught me around my waist. I was expecting to see Snake when I looked up given our history of running into each other and was surprised when it turned out to be Storm Shadow instead.

"Well, hello there," I smiled up at Storm as he released his hold around her slowly. "Looks like you come bearing gifts."

"Yes," Storm replied, handing off the arm sheaths that held several six-inch-long stainless steel needles to me to strap on to my forearms before giving me my four sai. "Your mother thought you might need these and I did not bother to disagree with her."

"Is there anything else my mother wishes you to give me before I go?" I asked as I slipped two of the sai into the back of my sash and placed the remaining two in the pocket sleeves of the kimono.

"Yes but if I remember correctly the last time I tried to kiss you, you threw a sai at me," Storm answered, staring down at me unwaveringly.

"Ah... yes, I do remember that," I smirked at the memory but it was short-lived when Duke cleared his throat getting both of our attentions.

"You two done with your staring contest?" Duke asked, looking between Storm and I until his eyes came to rest on me. "We're losing moonlight the longer you stall."

"Why do I feel like that last part was directed specifically at me?" I inquired to no one in particular.

"Because it was," Duke pointed out, expressing his annoyance through the look he gave me.

"Oh calm your man boobs," I retorted, rolling my eyes at his ignorance. "We have more than enough time to make it to Midway."

"Midway?" Duke and Storm questioned at the same time as Snake peeked his head out of his horse's stall.

"It's an ancient super-secret ninja village," I said looking at all three of them as if they were crazy. "What, did you guys think we were just going to waltz in without going through some sort of checkpoint system?"

"Given the fact you told us we were taking a path they would expect you to use, no," Duke responded honestly.

"True but when taking that path I always stop at the small cabin at Midway because it is always being watched by the patrols," I reasoned, seeing understanding creep into Duke and Storm's eyes and patting Duke on the shoulder as she made her way back to Epic's stall. "Why else do you think we packed bedrolls?"