Chapter 27 Skipping the Iceberg (1/2)

Curt banging jolted Eiji from his sleep and made Tama mew with fright.

”Rise and shine Darling!” A young American solider further roused Eiji awake. He unbound Eiji's numb wrist and poked his side with the muzzle of a Colt M1917 steel revolver.

”Seriously?” Eiji groaned apathetically at the soldier in plain English as he rubbed his side area better and rose firmly to his feet.

He picked up the kitten who had resettled in a tight curl against a pipe. She mewed and wiggled with protest, but was soon calm by his rhythmic pats. He was able to stow her snoozing body under his shirt.

Although Tyne had promised he would be protected from harm as a POW for a purpose, what was stopping other soldiers from finding out he was there and sneaking in to use him as a venting mechanism before tossing his dead carcass into the Philippine Sea? No matter what happened to him, he couldn't let anything harm Tama.

”Cute kitty.” The American solider threw out the random comment.

It made Eiji go stiff with concern and his hold on Tama more protective.

”Right.” He carefully responded. His eyes skirted about the holes in the pipes to see if they would be big enough for her to fit through if needs be.

The soldier surprised him further when he stowed the gun in the belt-holster against his hip and closed the door, enclosing both of them in the cell.

”You ain't going to do anything are you?” The soldier levelly asked.

”What about you?” Eiji gulped, taking a few steps away from him.

”It's too early for a scrimmage. I just wanna chat.” The soldier coolly cocked his head to one side to observe Eiji from another angle. ”Five minute truce. I promise I won't do anything to you if you do nothing to me.”

He raised both his hands before him, so Eiji could see the pink flesh of his spongy palms and callouses that were a common sight on experienced gun-hands.

Eiji frowned, wondering what kind of psychology these American's were trying on him now.

”I'm on an enemy vessel in the middle of the Philippine Sea with a cat. There's probably a few squadrons on board...”

”Five.” The soldier corrected him with a creepy grin.

”Right.” Eiji gulped, concerned that he was balancing a fine act with a crazy man. ”I'm not in any position to do a stupid escape attempt.”

His concerns deepened when the soldier stood at ease before him. The soldier's smile lowered into a businessman's grin.

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”You're the POW who is multilingual.” The soldier surprised Eiji by speaking fluently in Japanese. ”I must say, your English is bloody good. Better than a lot of the guys on this ship.”

”Geeze, how many more Americans can speak their enemy's language.” Eiji gulped nervously as his eyes darted around the room to further determine Tama's exit points if a fight were to occur.

The soldier chuckled. ”Definitely two. You're speaking to one and you certainly owe your skin to the other. On another ship they have a classroom full a fluent speakers breaking your country's military codes with cereal-prize-box, code breaking toys.”

Eiji sighed, dropping thoughts of Tama's escape. Now was a time of playing his cards right since it seemed this solider was intent on having his chat and so far didn't show any signs of wanting to cause harm. At least physically. He was conscious of maintaining his poker face when the soldier kept switching languages on him.

”Do you understand what I'm saying now?” the soldier asked him in Deutsch.

Eiji cringed, feeling like he was undergoing the intensive language test for his former junior assistant-engineering job all over again.

”Yes, yes, that too.” He replied in Deutsch with a sigh.

”Brilliant!” The solider startled Eiji with a jarring clap.

Eiji studied the solider's stance and features, taking note of his mousy-brown hair peeking through his khaki peak cap, lean and toned body in the same colour uniform with chevron stripes of a marine corporal sewn on this right shoulder and army boots looking too clean to have suffered some hard ground. The solider was half a head taller than him, which wasn't very tall; about 5-foot-8. Unlike Tyne's manly features, his skin was light, a bit pinkish and soft, face slender, slightly effeminate and youthful with bright green eyes, making him appealing and unassuming to both sexes.

_”Like a Kitsune.”_ Eiji concluded his analysis. Not a man to let your guard down that was for sure. _”Yep, a Kitsune-san.”_