An Honest Deal

They had finished eating, changing into the inn's guest kimonos and having the geisha entertain them into the midnight hour. Tyne had released the geisha to make sure they could enjoy a quiet night's sleep.

The silence of night surrounded the four of them.

Tyne and Eiji stayed awake, their faces illuminated by the powerful moonlight beaming through the shoji ranma. Insomnia had become something of a condition reflex for the men from their many nights on sentry duties. They sat next to the brown suitcase that Hashimoto-sensei had handed them the day before. Sean had been carrying it with him at the time they were entering the inn.

"Be honest, Tyne. What's the radio for?" Eiji whispered soberly.

"Isn't it obvious?" Tyne answered. He sighed. "My orders were to infiltrate the country as doctors for Weismen Company to reach Hashimoto-sensei. I would receive the case that will be used for a communication channel back to base."

"And Kei?" Eiji lowered his voice.

His eyes gazed on Kei's face deep with sleep. He was sleeping with his body stretched out over Sean's like a starfish. It was another reason they weren't able to sleep, since Sean and Kei were hogging the futons.

"He's our guide. As you can see, he has certain connections." Tyne sighed. "If we're to keep moving in this country, the only way is through a different organization support."

Eiji sighed, realizing he was right.

"What about me? You mentioned papers. Were you lying?"

Tyne flashed him a cocky grin. He shuffled quietly across the floor to bring back his briefcase to where they were sitting, slowly, and quietly he flipped its latches to open it. He pulled out a brown envelope and the papers within it.

Eiji saw his name on a registration paper underneath the moonlight. It looked like the real thing.

Tyne returned it to the envelope and shoved it underneath his kimono, so it was hidden to his chest.

"Insurance you won't run away."

Eiji sighed. It was to be expected. Their earlier spat and the loss of Tama had left him too exhausted to make a break. Besides, he felt it wasn't wise to move about the country unregistered. The kenpei were still controlling the country within the shadows. He didn't fancy a trip to Japan's puppet state in China.

"Okay. Let's say I help you find your wife, you help me return to mine?" Eiji dealt a deal before Tyne. "I'll stay by your side to honor this promise."

Tyne nodded his head and extended his hand. "Deal."

Eiji spat on his palm and shook Tyne's hand, which made his partner chuckle.

"Custom for custom huh?" Tyne chuckled as he wiped his hand down on his kimono.

"How about this one?" Eiji joked when he flicked Tyne's forehead.

Tyne returned the dekopin, making their voices carry across the room.

"Whadda heck you kids doing, playing with suitcases? Sean groaned awake. He gave them a narky frown.

"Go back to sleep Love. We're just chatting." Tyne sarcastically brushed off his question and flashed him a smile.

"Not funny." Sean complained before dropping his head back to his pillow and resuming his sleep next to Kei's snoring face.

"That guy has a gossip radar." Eiji stated.

It was something he had noticed earlier of the man when they were travelling in the car. Whenever an interesting topic was being discussed around Sean whilst his eyes was closed, he would wake up and ask what was going on or summarize the gossip that was spoken. Taking everyone who thought he was asleep by surprise.

"The reason he's a corpsman of rank. Doesn't miss a thing." Tyne stated with a slightly louder whisper to bait Sean.

Eiji and Tyne chuckled when Sean raised a thumbs-up then moved his arm around Kei's waist to pull him into a teddy bear cuddle.

"Sod." Kei mumbled his curses in his sleep. He didn't wake.

Both men were soon snoring loudly.

This made Tyne and Eiji sigh wistfully. The sight was too cute.

"We can look for Tama when light comes." Tyne suggested, changing the subject.

Eiji ran through the idea in his mind. He was worried her plight led her into the hands of the wrong people who would use her as a food source or other devious intentions, which was something high likely considering the place they were staying in.

"Yeah, I'd like that. I'm still worried about her." Eiji didn't hide his concern.

"It's settled." Tyne yawned.

They both laid down on their futons (the parts Kei hadn't hogged) and closed their eyes to catch as much sleep before then.