Army Time

Feedback: please give me your honest opinion! If you wish to flame well then go ahead! i learn from it...

Author Notes: I am working on this people!! I dont have much time and stuff so... but it WILL get done!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sirius Black or Yuki... they belong to their respective authors... im just using them here... no money making happenin...

I will be editing this and making paragraphs and crap later... i just dont have the itme right now... so if ou want to wait itll be easier to read!! sorry ><





:: “Goodbye, kiddo. I’ll be home around 7:00.” He said ruffling Sirius’ hair.

“YAY!! Then can we go camping? You promised!” His mother placed her hand on her hip. “Camping? You told him you would take him camping? It’s a school night.”

“It’s just in the back yard, Lexis. No big deal”

“Oh, alright then hun. Have a good day at work.” She kissed him on the cheek and walked back into the kitchen to finish making Sirius’ lunch.

“Bye daddy! I’ll be waiting when you get home!”

“Bye, love you. Be good in school, don’t pick fights with the other kids and I’ll bring you a milkshake for our camping trip.” He smiled and grabbed his jacket.

Sirius grinned and hugged his dad. “Okay daddy! I promise!”

“Good.” He headed down the walkway to his car at the curb. Opening the door, he turned to Sirius running down the path with a paper bag in his hand. Rob laughed and took the bag.

“Thanks kiddo. Can’t leave that behind.” He gave him one last hug and got in the car. Sirius watched and waved as his father made his way to the four-way intersection. Rob waved back as he paused at the stop sign, and seeing no one, continued through towards the main road. Sirius turned and started walking back towards the house when he heard a loud squeal from rubber on asphalt, then a crunch and glass shattering. He turned back towards the road in time to see what was left of his father’s car skidding onto the sidewalk. The Mac truck that had slammed into it flipped onto its side and slid into a ditch. The driver- apparently unharmed- heaved his door open and climbed out, dashing off into the woods that lined the road. With wide eyes Sirius slowly walked over to the smoking remains of the car and peered inside.

“Dad? Daddy?” He whispered into the broken window. His father, blood covering his face, remained still.

“Dad.” He said more urgently, “Dad… DAD!” He screamed. But his dad never answered. ::

Eleven years later

Pushing the memory aside, he opened his eyes and shoved his fists further into his pockets.

It was raining… he was cold. He walked a little faster, lifting the collar of his dad’s old army jacket to try to shield some of the wind. He walked to a bench and sat down waiting for the bus. He leaned back on the Plexiglas of the booth, grateful to get out of the rain, and closed his eyes again.

:: He snuck quietly through the door, trying not to make any noise. He silently tiptoed past the living room and towards the stairs.

“Where have you been young man?!” His mother screamed. “It’s damn near two o’clock!” She had a bottle of vodka in her hand, he could see it was three-fourths empty as she waved it around, splashing it everywhere as she yelled. He winced as she came closer.

“Tell me right now where you’ve been!” She raised her hand and he backed away.

“I was out with Marek! It’s his birthday today and he invited me and a few others over to watch movies.”

“I’m tired of your bullshit Sirius! You tell me where you were right now!” she yelled

“I already told you!” He screamed back, “I was at a birthday party! Why do you care anyway?! Just go back to your vodka you stupid drunk bitch! I hate you! I wish dad was still here, he was so much better than you!”

“Don’t you EVER talk to me like that again! I am your Mother! And maybe if you hadn’t taken up so much time that day, hugging him and promising to do good, just maybe he would’ve gotten in the car faster, and missed the truck.”

Sirius’ eyes widened. “Are you accusing me of his death? I was SEVEN! I was saying goodbye to my dad before school!” tears streamed down his face, “How can you blame me for that?!” his voice broke and he crumpled to the floor.

“I can blame you because he might’ve lived if he had left earlier! If he didn’t have some stupid little kid clinging to him he could’ve been out of the door and on his way, he would’ve been past the intersection by the time the truck came. Well out of harms way! But no! You were there! You had to keep him! SO IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!” She threw the bottle at him, it hit the wall about two inches above his head. The remains of the vodka spilling onto his already wet face. He stood up and turned to his mother, walked slowly up to her and smacked her as hard as he could in her face.

“I hate you. I hope you rot in hell.” He cried softly as he made his way up the stairs to pack. He was running away… it was decided. He was getting out of here and never coming back. He packed some clothes in a duffle bag, made sure he had his wallet, and left. Without saying a word to his mom and without taking any belongings save for his art supplies and a knife.::
That was 4 weeks ago…

He sighed, “It wasn’t really my fault… it wasn’t.” He had been sleeping anywhere he could find that was dry and not too rank, he was using the money saved in his bank account to buy food regularly. It didn’t matter... truth be told, he was miserable. And he had been for the past three weeks. His friend Marek had let him crash at his house for a week, and offered to let him stay longer but he needed to leave, not only to get away from his mother, but from everything. The people, the town, even his friends. He absentmindedly glanced at the poster hanging on the side of the booth he was sitting in, and behind the graffiti and the chewing gum he saw a picture of a man in uniform standing with a gun on his shoulder. The words underneath the picture read: Be all that you can be, in the army.

He stared at the poster for a while and then slowly looked down at the jacket he was wearing. It dawned on him then, sitting in the Plexiglas booth listening to the rain pounding on top of it, that what he needed to do had been right in front of him the entirety of his life. He needed to be all that he could be… a place where he could fit in, in the army, like his dad. He smiled down at his dad’s old jacket, silently thanking it, and without hesitation, stood up and made his way to the nearest recruiting center.


“Sir you have to be eighteen to join.”

“I am eighteen, Sir! My eighteenth birthday was 4 days ago, Sir!” He stood straight and saluted the man with every ‘Sir’ he said.

“Well…” he chuckled, “You look very promising to me. Can I see some proof that you’re eighteen, please?”

“Sir, Yes Sir!” He dug his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out his driver’s license, handing it to the man.

“Thank you, that will do.” He said looking it over and handing it back, he smiled at the effort Sirius was putting into this. “At ease, soldier. I guess all I need you to do is fill out these papers.” He handed Sirius a stack of papers about an inch thick. Sirius didn’t care to read then, he hastily flipped through and signed everywhere he saw an X. The man watched Sirius grin as he did so, and wondered what it was that made him so happy to join the army. He glanced at the jacket Sirius had tied around his waist.

“Was that your dad’s jacket?” He asked casually. Sirius stopped what he was doing and stared at the paper, his eyes revealing that he was lost in memories.
“Yeah…” He said after a while and went back to signing the papers. He finished and handed them to the man.

“Thank you. We will be coming to get you first thing in the morning to send you out for training…”

“Boot camp?” Sirius interrupted.

“Well, yea Boot camp. But make sure you have your stuff, and are ready to go in the morning. You need to be in here at 4:30 sharp.” The man stood to leave, but stopped as Sirius’ hand grabbed his wrist. He turned.

“Um… I know this might sound a little strange… but, can I just sleep in here tonight? I’ve already got my stuff with me and everything.” He smiled holding up his duffle bag.



“Sure! Why not, easier to get here in the morning right?”

Sirius laughed. “Yeah… I guess that is a plus!”

So that night Sirius slept, in the warmth and coziness of an actual building. Laying on the countertop, using his duffle bag as a pillow and his jacket and an old sheet he found in the back as blankets… and for the first time in eleven years and four weeks… he was happy, truly happy.

“Good morning sunshine.” The man from the night before was the first person he saw when he awoke. Sirius smiled and stretched, he stopped mid-stretch when he noticed all the others standing in the room. He stared, confused, and then remembered. He had to go with all these new recruits to boot camp. He didn’t mind, they seemed friendly enough, talking amongst themselves, but then again he never got along with anyone before. But he was going to try with this group. The man laughed.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get used to living with a lot of people… and if you don’t then you better get over it real quick.” The man chuckled. Sirius laughed and looked over all the people. His eyes rested on the man in front of him.

“What time is it?” He asked. The man glanced down at his watch.

“It’s 4:15.” Sirius’ eyes widened in surprise.

“I have never been up this early in my entire life… wow.” The man laughed and ruffled his hair.

“Get used to it kiddo. You’ll be getting up this early for a while.” He shook his head and smiled. Sirius just stared. Tears sprang to Sirius‘ eyes as he remembered his father. He looked at this man and realized this was the first person he had ever really connected with in eleven years.

“What’s your name? I don’t think you ever told me.”

“You’re right, I didn’t. It’s Jared. But you have to call me Lieutenant Sowers. And yours, cadet?”

“Oh. Sirius, Sir.”

“Hmmm… Interesting name. After the star?”

“I don’t know, Sir. My dad named me and he died when I was seven.”

“Oh, well I’m sorry to hear that.” The phone rang. Jared walked over and picked it up. He talked for a moment and hung up.

“Okay, recruits! The bus will be here in five minutes! Get your stuff together and stand outside.”

“Sir, Yes Sir!” They said in unison, except for Sirius who was startled by the noise. He looked at them with one eyebrow raised, then looked at Jared who stared pointedly at him. He realized what he was supposed to do and quickly stood up, saluted and cried, “Sir, Yes Sir!” The lieutenant nodded and smiled.

“At ease! Let’s move.” Sirius grabbed his duffle bag and headed out the door. The bus wasn’t very big… so Sirius waited until everyone else was on except Jared, then he followed and sat with him. Sirius shoved his bag into the overhead compartment and slumped down in his seat running his hand through his long black hair. He propped his feet up on the seat in front of him and searched through his pockets. He found Marek’s MP3 player and threw on some headphones. He was head-banging to some random song when he opened his eyes to look for his bottle of water. The entire bus was staring at him, including Jared. He slowly lowered the headphones from his ears and looked into each face, wondering why they were staring at him. He turned to Jared and gave him a puzzled look.

“Why are they staring at me?” Jared cleared his throat.

“Your music, is entirely too loud. Not everyone wants to hear it. You shouldn’t even have that.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t know!”

“I know you didn’t that’s why I’m not being very hard on you.”

“But can’t I just listen until we get there? I mean, I’m giving up my freedom! I should get to do what I want until we get there. Because then I’ll have to give up just about everything!”

“You are not giving up your freedom! You’re going to fight for it!”

“No, I’m going to fight so us and other countries don’t start some nuclear war and destroy the planet. Those countries are fighting for freedom.”

Jared stared at him in disbelief.

“What are you talking about?”

“Think about it, dude. I mean Sir. We’re supposedly free right? Why can’t we do anything? Why is everything in our society shunned? I mean, even the army! Why can’t gay guys join the army? Huh? That’s not very fair is it? I have some gay friends. Did you know, in Japan and Iceland you can run around naked and not get in trouble? Everything in this stupid country is censored! I mean, they can’t show any ‘weird’ body parts on national T.V. They block the word ‘hit’ when it refers to drugs. Oh! And on Jerry Springer! They block out the word fucking, but not mother. So you hear “You stupid Bitch! How dare you sleep with my boyfriend. And you! You mother-beeeeeep- Whore!!! Like we don’t know what she said! Please…” He ranted like this for about twenty more minutes until Jared laid a hand on his arm. Sirius turned to look at him.

“Just put your headphones back on… I think that would be for the best.”

Sirius blinked, but obliged. So he went back to head-banging, this time to Mudvayne’s ‘Not Falling’. It was about two more hours before they reached the camp. Sirius had fallen asleep but opened one eye when he felt the bus move from the smooth highway to the bumpy side road. He noticed that they were going far into the woods- the road getting more and more rough, soon the road wasn’t even noticeable. Just some tire tracks in the mud.

“Okay boys!” The bus-driver yelled, “You guys’ll have to walk from here. I can’t get any farther, too muddy.” He shrugged and opened the door. Sirius looked, wide-eyed, around at the others who were already getting their stuff from the overhead bins. Wondering what kind of place this was going to be if no cars could get to it. What if he got there and couldn’t get back out? He didn’t want to be stuck with all these strangers! He felt his stomach churn and twist. Nervous fear. He didn’t know these guys, what the hell was he doing. He didn’t get along with people, people didn’t get along with him. There was no way he could survive a camp, full of strangers and people he had to listen to. He couldn’t do it, it wasn’t possible. It never had been. This was going to be like school, where people had the power to kick your ass if they wanted to. He shivered as a chill passed through him.

“Are you okay?” Jared asked, “You seem tense.”

Sirius hadn’t even noticed that he had been holding his breath.

“Yeah… yeah I’m fine. Just a little nervous.” He swallowed, his Adams-apple revealing to Jared that he was more than a little nervous. He smiled and ruffled his hair.

“It’s okay kiddo! You don’t have anything to worry about! You’re a very promising soldier. Just follow orders and be good.” He smiled at Sirius and walked past him, off the bus. Sirius smiled to himself and felt better… until he realized what Jared had just said. He hastily grabbed his bag and ran after Jared. Jared was standing at the front of the crowd, facing them, shouting orders. Sirius stopped and stared at him. He looked so different standing up there, the figure of authority. He stood straighter, looked older, more weather-beaten, not like himself. he thought. Jared walked over to Sirius.

“Atten-HUT!” he yelled. Sirius just stood, looking scared and confused. Jared laughed.

“When I say that, you’re supposed to stand at attention. Like this.” Jared straightened his back, put his feet together, as his arms flattened to his sides. Sirius mimicked it and looked over at Jared for approval. He nodded.

“Very good.” He headed back up to the front of the group and turned, “At ease, soldiers! You guys have the fifteen minute walk to the camp to act however you please. Once we get there all your actions will be monitored twenty-four hours. You will also have to address me as Lieutenant Sowers or Sir. Any questions?”

“No Sir!” they all answered. Sirius slung his bag over his shoulder and ran to catch up to Jared.

“Can I help you with something cadet?” He said looking straight ahead.

”Yeah…I was thinking about what you just said on the bus. You said to follow orders…”

“Yes, and?” He raised and eyebrow.

“Well… I just realized that I cant do that… so I don’t think I should really come you know? I’m just gonna be trouble! You don’t want that.” He looked hopefully up at Jared.

“Well Sirius, you signed the contract. I’m afraid leaving now would land you in jail. So I don’t think that’s too good of an idea.”

“But you don’t understand…”

“I think I understand perfectly, Sirius.” He cut him off, “I think you’ve got the first day jitters. It’s okay kiddo, everything will be fine. Everyone can follow orders, we’ve been doing it our whole lives. Just go with the flow.” He turned his head to Sirius and winked. Sirius smiled. This couldn’t be to bad, right? Not with Jared around. He was too much like his dad...

to be continued....