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Just as the mass of piercing bullets blasted towards him; he dived forwards to hide behind the dense row of sandbags lining the wall. They were only fifty centimetres high; so he had to press his face into the muddy ground to not have his head poking into view. He heard the bullets thunk into the sandbags. Thankfully, none pierced through, owing to the density of the compacted material and the skilful overlap. Juno had grabbed the injured Kaji and dragged him down beside him; clamping his hand over the bullet wound in Kaji's shoulder, which thankfully didn't look too bad. Peering down, he saw that the bullet had been stopped by Kaji's thick shoulder blade, and all he had to do was remove it. He kept low to the ground because he knew that the enemies (whoever they were) would be watching for himself and Kaji, the only people on the outside of the wall fort. He was dying to shoot back at them, but he knew he couldn't make a move without the backup of Sargent Kuroshi and the rest of the infantry; so he took out his pocket knife and cut out the bullet from Kaji's wound.
"AH!! That hurts, dammit, kid!! Who the Hell's shooting at us?!!?!". Kaji was still clutching onto his cigarette desite being wounded, so Juno grabbed it from him and threw it over the side of the wall; hearing a gun firing as his hand was revealed for a second. Obviously, they had their eyes trained on them and it would be suicide to move from their position.

"How'm I supposed to know? Just keep still will you?" said Juno through gritted teeth as he quickly put a little antisceptic on Kaji's wound and wrapped a bandage around it. It was times like this when he wished he had healing skills like Zyra. He could regenerate, but only when Hollow was in action. "Does your arm feel okay?".
"Yeah, yeah. It's okay; just hurts a little and it's my left, so I won't be in much difficulty. Do we wait for Sarge?".
Juno looked over his shoulder at the other side of the wall, where he could see from across the training field, a mass of foot soldiers running towards them.
"I think our backup is just about here... C'mon.. ". Juno rolled sideways to drop to his feet on the safe side of the wall and face the approaching Sargent Kuroshi. As Kaji landed heavily beside him; Kuroshi reached them and eyed Kaji's wound angrily.
"Were you two paying proper attention?".
"Aye sir!!" they both replied, saluting automatically.
"I had forseen an attack, though I didn't imagine it would come so soon... An invading Russian army... they have a new dictator, and apparently Japanhas a much nicer climate than Russia, even in the cold mountains. So, we're going out to meet their forces for a head on battle. It's the quickest way to stop them, and I ain't going to mince around with you. We'll be going out in a half hour, so make sure you're ready".
And half an hour later, they were all lined up ready to charge right out the gate to shoot at the enemy. Juno could hardly beleive it, those thirty minutes had moved so quickly it had been more like thirty seconds. Of course, thanks to being a Vizard, he already had experience in matters of war; though he realized that these humans he was fighting with were extraordinarily weak creatures compared to the Vizards he was used to; though in comparison to the rest of the Vizards, Juno himself was a pitifully weak boy. He guessed that gave him a purpose.. he was stronger than any of the humans here, and therefore he would make it his job to ensure that they wouldn't die. That would surely mean he was worth something. He caught the eye of Sargent Kuroshi, who nodded and raised his hand in the air for the men to open the gates to the fortress.
"GIVE THEM HELL, TROOPS!!" he called, and the mass of people charged into battle, carrying Juno with them in a tide of noise. He was still half in his own mind as he joined the others in shooting at the enemy, dreamily dodging bullets and aiming for the vital spots on the Russians, as Kaji had taught him.

He snapped out of his reverie when he felt a flash of pain in his thigh and realised he'd been shot, toppling to the ground as his leg gave way and a small spurt of blood accompanied the splash of mud at the impact. The rest of the soldiers weren't faring much better, he could see many men falling and scarlet already starting to stain the earth. Wincing a little in pain, he shifted to check the damage to his leg. It wasn't gushing blood, so he could conclude that the bullet hadn't hit a main artery and he wasn't in danger of immediate death; however he could feel the bullet wedged deep in the muscle. This was not a job that his trusty pocket knife could handle, and he'd have to wait for a proper surgeon to get it out. Juno sighed, quickly bandaging the wound tightly to keep blood flow to a minimum, and stood up again. He saw a flash of Kaji's characteristic orange hair and rushed over to help him.
"Doing well Kaji?" asked Juno as he took out two Russians with one well aimed bullet.
"Yeah, though it seems we got off to a bad start. I ain't been hit yet though. You have I see. What do I keep telling you Juno; gotta keep focused on everything. Perfect Zen and all that".
Juno rolled his eyes and fired a sucession of loud shots. "You and your Zen; what a load of bullshit. All you gotta do is try to stay alive, seems simple... Though sometimes simple things are the most difficult to accomplish".
Kaji laughed then, a laughter that didn't touch his eyes, which were cold and intent on killing. His laughter was short-lived however, because they and several dozen other men were suddenly blown back with huge force as two grenades went off and blew them back towards the small cluster of dead trees.

Blasted by heat, Juno was smashed into the solid trunk of a tree; and couldn't try to brace himself with his arms, which he had instinctively risen to protect his eyes. Though all the air was knocked out of him by the impact, he still let out a gasp as he felt something deadly sharp and hot tear at his cheek. The blast was over after a few seconds, and Juno had caught only the tail end of it, looking through the noxious fuming smoke from the after-effects of the grenades, he saw that it had taken out a good number of the soldiers on their side. He felt something hot and wet flowing down his cheek and trickling down his neck. The metallic smell of blood rose up to choke him. He dared not look around too closely at the dismembered bodies who were the unfortunate men who were closest to the bomb. Coughing harshly, he looked around for Kaji, and spotted him a few hundred yards away. He crawled over on his belly, concious of the fact that bullets were still flying overhead. He thrust out an arm to shake Kaji, and felt his stomach clench in horror as he saw the widening puddle of scarlet underneath the orange haired man.

"KAJI!! KAJI!!" shouted Juno, dreading the silence beneath the scream of the bullets.
"M'awake" came a gasping, pained relpy after a minute of silence. "But'm no gonna live f'long.. Damn thing tore a hole in m'stomach".
Juno flinched, started backing away.
"I'll go get the team of medics..." he began to say, before a weak arm shot out and grabbed his wrist in trembling fingers.
"No, don't want to die alone kid. C'mere..".
Juno edged towards Kaji, until he was lying beside him and looking at  his face.
"Tell me ....something... anything.. "panted Kaji as his life slipped away in the scarlet pouring from his stomach. "Please.... talk.. tell me, you mentioned you had a girlfriend...?".
Juno felt his eyes burning, and his hands shook as he looked Kaji in the eye. "At home..... I have... I have a girlfriend. I... ah.. I love her so much, there's really no way to describe it in words or poetry.. only in feeling... Only thing is, she's.. a lot older than me; different.... I worry.. that we're too different, I'm too weak..... I wanted......". He paused and dug his fingers into the mud, the muscles on his arms standing out, he looked away from Kaji, who gripped Juno's arm harder to make him look back. "I ...wanted.. to ask her to marry me...".
For the first time since Juno had known him, a true smile appeared on Kaji's features.
"I'd say, you're a good catch.. heh.... heh..." Kaji coughed and closed his eyes for the last time, still holding onto Juno's arm.

Juno stared in horror for a moment, but a bullet exploded near his knee, and he scuttled back to the tree he'd been forcefully flung against. At this side, the enemy could not see him, so he rested his aching back against the rough bark of the tree, and let the tears that had been brimming over in his eyes spill down to join the river of blood that flowed from the torn flesh of his cheek.

****

Juno stayed where he was for a few minutes, with his back pressed roughly against the tree, shaking and letting the tears run down his cheeks. He hated it; the war.... the killing, the dying. His heart seemed so numb these days stuck in the army and having to deal with the reality of such things everyday. It hurt him, he wanted to go home, he wanted to sleep, he wanted the constant cold and pain to stop... Touching the deep bloody wound in his cheek, he flinched. Flesh was so fragile. It wasn't meant to be pierced by bullets, sliced by a sword, torn by sharp, twisted pieces of shrapnel... He could conciously feel himself slipping into panicked insanity, his head was about to explode with it all.... And then he heard a small, pitiful whimper coming from beside him. He jumped, and looked down to see a white, fluffy something sticking out of a hollow in the tree that he hadn't noticed. Looking closer, he saw a white fox cub, It looked to be not much bigger than his own hand, and it was shaking, whether in pain or fear he didn't know, but the creature seemed rooted to the spot.

He reached down and picked it up by the scruff, holding the cub in front of his face. She yelped loudly; then began snarling and flailing her tiny paws around to try and free herself. This seemed to cause her more pain, and after a few seconds of this, she went limp in his hand, still crying softly. Juno felt a rush of pity and affection for the poor little creature, and held her gently against his chest, petting her ears softly to calm her down. She froze, rigid with fear for a moment, then relaxed. The man was warm, and the petting felt good, his voice was deep but spoke quietly to her in a calm way. She decided that he wasn't going to hurt her, besides she was tired and couldn't run because of her injured leg. Juno had noticed this, and made her a splint out of a twig and some of his bandages. The fox cub seemed to have brought him to his senses, he was calmer now, and realised he had to do something to aid the Japanese soldiers rather than just sit here and wait to be killed.
"Alright little Rin" he adressed the fox. "We're going to go and end this fight, and when we get back to the fort, I will give you some meat and fix that leg properly...".
Rin the fox yawned widely, curling her little pink tongue around her needle-like fangs. Looking at him with tired eyes, she let him tuck her away in the pocket inside his camoflage jacket. The heat from his body quickly enveloped her, chasing the last of the frost from her paws and sending her into a deep sleep.

Juno sighed, and stood up slowly, the bullet in his thigh screamed a painful protest, the muscles in his arms, shoulders and back also throbbed with dull pain. He peeked around the tree and observed the battle. The Japanese troops were losing terribly. The Russians had larger numbers, and the element of surprise on their side. But then, Juno had his powers.... although without Meiryosa, his talents would be limited. However, he had an idea... He just had to manage not to get killed. Juno took a deep breath and sprinted out into the battlefield, towards the main mass of the Russian troops, who were loading some sort of cannons with bombs to shoot at the Japanese. There were also plenty of men with sniper rifles and other weapons that Juno didn't care to know about. A voice inside his head was screaming and swearing at this scuicidal move. It took a moment for him to realise that it was Hollow.
"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!!!! ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US KILLED?!?!?!?!".
"No..... I'm trying to SAVE the Japanese troops, duh!". Juno was concious of them all turning towards him, the idiotic guy charging straight into enemy hands. It all happened in slow motion, as if in a dream. They pointed all their weapons at him simultaneously...
"YOU FUCKER!!! I'M TAKING CHARGE!!!!" screamed the Hollow, wrestling control of Juno's body and discharging an eight-pronged Cero from both his palms into the enemy lines. The resulting blast of earth raining down with gruesome remains of people created a blanket of chaos at the Russian end of the battlefield. The dwindling Japanese troops stared half fascinated, half horror-struck, and even the Russians who were in the middle of the field, or 'no-mans-land' turned to look.

"OROCHI STAR CERO?!?!?" groaned Juno. "You learned Lex's attack? That's.... oh no....".
"Of course. It's a good attack, and it stopped you from dying, you faggot."
Juno looked around the battlefield. The dust had cleared and he could see many dismembered bodies bleeding on the ground. The Orochi Star Cero had taken out a fair chunk of the Russian forces, and the rest of the Russians were staring at him in a kind of terrified awe. He saw several of them muttering quietly to each other in Russian, staring at Juno as if he were a monster. Which was a pretty accurate assumption. Their Sargent bellowed orders at them to cut through the opressive silence; and they shakily raised their weapons to him again. Juno knew that there was going to be enquiries about this later, so he might as well do the job properly.... He raised his arms at his sides, spreading his fingers and fixing his scorching blue eyes on the Russians.
"You shall regret this sin you have brought" he shouted, as he spread a pair of huge fiery wings at his sides.
The Russians uttered curses, or prayers, or just stared in shock.
"Always with the theatrics, aren't you? Oh! You're going to use your fire? That's a bad idea, it could drain most of your reitsu!"
"I don't really have much of a choice, do I? Have to finish this quick before they shoot me....". Juno swept his arms in a dramatic arc, and flames roared up from the ground to create a semicircle of fire between the Russians and the Japanese troops, with a few dozen Russian troops who had managed to get far into their ranks.

"Retreat now, and your lives will be spared from the wrath of the almighty!!" roared Juno, feeling the strength flowing out of him already with the effort of keeping the flames burning, he made them flare towards the Russians, burning brighter, hotter and taller. He was still praying that they didn't gather the guts to shoot him, because he was sure something like a grenade could finish him off while in this vulnerable position. Panting with the effort and feeling the sweat trickling down his spine, Juno made a final surge of the flames gathering together into a solid wall, advancing towards the Russians, who finally snapped out of their trance and rapidly retreated. Juno kept this attack going until the thousands of troops had gone back down the valley and out of sight, and then; having run out of energy to move, he collapsed to the ground on his back making sure not to crush the sleeping Rin in his chest pocket. He only had time to register the clamouring noise of the Japanese troops coming towards him when he lost the world to blackness, not even sure whether he was breathing, or indeed, if his heart still beat.......

****

...All he could see was blackness, his eyes were closed, and he could feel the steady throb of his heart. Good. He wasn't dead after all. He did try to open his eyes, but found that he would rather try to work out where he was. Juno could feel a matress underneath him, though it wasn't very soft at all. There was also a blanket over him, which was kindof scratchy against his skin.... His skin? Holy crap, he was practically naked..!!!. Where the hell were his clothes?! Who'd taken them off him?! Thank God they'd left his boxers on.... He felt his cheeks flush, and a sense of being violated. He wanted to reach up to check whether that wound had left a scar, but didn't want to reveal he was awake because he could hear people talking. He listened, and recognised Sargent Kuroshi's voice as one of them. The others sounded like a young woman.
"...still not woken up yet? It's been a whole day!!... Can't you just wake him? I need to find out what was going on... seems he had a trick up his sleeve". Typical of Kuroshi to be thinking about battle strategy rather than the wellbeing of his soldier, thought Juno, inwardly rolling his eyes.
"No, I shall NOT wake him up!" answered the young woman. She sounded annoyed and reproachful. "Montague is my patient and I shall not let you disturb him when he is in need of rest! Now, leave the infirmary right now, we have many wounded to take care of.. ". Juno heard the loud noise of curtains being drawn around his bed, and then almost jumped as he felt warm air on his face.

He snapped his eyes open in time to see the pretty face of a young Japanese woman peering into his, though her dark eyes immediately widened in astonishment and she drew back, putting a hand on her chest.
"My, Montague, you certainly gave me a fright!" she exclaimed, sounding a little flustered.
Juno looked her up and down. She had a slim figure and long black hair tied back in a ponytail and a slight blush on her cheeks, he would have guessed her to be around nineteen.
"Sorry" he said, sitting up slowly and stretching his arms over his head. "I didn't expect you to come so close...".
She sighed, and came to sit on the bed beside him, taking his face in her hands and tilting it so she could see his right cheek clearly.
"My name is Aya, your appointed nurse. I was inspecting this wound. It seems impossible that it shall not leave a scar, but with the right remedies, I should be able to fix it so that the scar is only visible when someone is very close to you. Like this".
"Uhm, that's good...." he coughed, feeling his cheeks grow hot again. Had this pretty girl been the one to undress him? The thought made his insides squirm with embarrassment.

Without warning, Aya yanked off the blankets and pushed Juno's chest to make him lie down.
"Stay still while I check this other wound" she ordered.
Juno did as she asked, slightly nervous, and watched with slightly nauseated interest as she removed the bandages from his thigh to inspect the bullet wound. She informed him that the bullet had been removed, with no damage to the muscles and that there would be no movement impairement at all, and that it should be healed in a few days at most. She re-bandaged his thigh, and Juno took the opportunity when she went to wash her hands to yank the blanket back over his lower half, muttering about nurses not respecting privacy.
She returned and looked at Juno critically, and seemed about to say something, but he cut across her.
"Uhmm, Miss Aya, there was a little fox cub in my pocket, where is she?".
Aya smiled sweetly. "Ah, Shiro-chan. Yes, her leg has been fixed, it was a wound that needed stitches. She's asleep in that little basket by the window. I did wonder why you had an animal in your pocket...".
"Just didn't want to leave her is all...." he was releived that Rin was safe, so he politely waited for her to resume her interrupted speech.
"Ah, yes" she began. "How do you feel Montague, do you hurt anywhere? As your nurse, I must insist on doing anything I can to make you feel well again, you are a brave soldier, and so young. I think Mr. Kuroshi is looking to promote you".
Juno pondered this for a moment before considering Aya's question.

"Well, my muscles still hurt, but I doubt there's anything you can do for that..." he said finally.
Aya smiled, walking over to poke him on the forehead.
"Why of course I can! Haven't you ever had a massage? It's good for sore muscles you know".
Juno looked away shiftily. Why, he indeed had not had a massage before, but he was rather reluctant to get one....
"Uhmm... well, I.." he trailed off when he saw the determined look on her face. Clearly he was getting one whether he liked it or not, so he groaned in defeat and lay down on his stomach, resting his head on his crossed arms.
Aya walked around to the side and rolled the blanket down so his back was uncovered, and he heard her give a small 'Oh' of surprise. Juno humphed, he didn't think the scars were THAT bad. Mind you he couldn't really see them, so he  didn't know the extent of the violent marks on his back. "Vizard? What's that?" asked Aya, her fingertip tracing the word slowly.
"Mmmm... S'just a gang I messed with a while ago. They mark their victims...".
"Oh" was Aya's reply, as she began to move her hands softly across the broad expanse of Juno's back and shoulders, kneading the muscles to releive the pain from over-use and the stress from the past while.
Juno sighed blissfully as he started to drift off to sleep again. His mind was still in turmoil, but the relaxing movement of Aya's warm hands over his skin made him too drowsy and relaxed. He wasn't looking forward to talking to Sargent Kuroshi, but if Aya was right, he could get a promotion out of it. That could be good.... But shortly after that thought, the blackness enveloped him again..

****

When he opened his eyes again, there was something fluffy and white obscuring his vision.
"Rin, how did you get up here?" he asked the fox, tickling her fluffy belly. By way of a greeting, Rin bit his finger hard with her sharp teeth, then looked up at him innocently as he frowned at the two new puncture wounds. Juno sat up and looked around. It was dark and cold, so he got out of bed and put on his relatively warm uniform, which Aya had cleaned and left by the foot of his bed. Looking back at Rin sitting in the centre of his bed, he was painfully reminded of Zyra. He had to ask himself why he'd brought Rin back to the fort if she was going to make his heart ache like this. Rin walked up to him and stood on her hind legs and pawed the air with her front paws, apparently she wanted to go with him. Juno sighed and tucked her into the front of his shirt. She seemed happy at this arrangement and nuzzled her snout into his neck to begin licking him. Juno rolled his eyes, he wondered why canines always did that.... Since his leg felt perfectly fine, he walked over to the mirror and looked at his reflection. It was strange to see the abscence of his fluffy blonde hair, he rather missed it and thought that the military haircut made him look agressive... even his eyes, he noticed, didn't look the same. It seemed the spark was gone from them, they were cold and empty, like how he felt. Hope was gone, but still that pitiful yearning remained. Juno felt a flash of anger at  himself; why? Why be such a pitiful sentimental fool? What did it ever bring you; a small spark of happiness maybe, a little warmth to chase away the cold...... He spun away from the mirror, gritting his teeth furiously. God, how he cursed cold things.... hated the cold, despised the cold and all it did to humans. He walked through the dark stone corridors of the fort,saluting to any sentries he passed as his footsteps echoed in the night. He climbed the narrow tower staircase and walked outside where there was a small balcony area. He put Rin down so that she could get some excercise, then punched the wall violently with his fist.

As usual, he let his emotions get the better of him, there they were, writhing in his belly, and threatening to choke him. He lit a cigerette and inhaled it deeply, he smoked it as quickly as he could, then had another, and another, and another... He kept going until he was coughing so much he could barely breathe and had used up almost two whole packs. Rin eyed him warily from the other end of the balcony, but he ignored her and he coughed and coughed until blood splattered the cobblestones and he almost blacked out. Then he slid down against the cold stone wall and gulped great piercing lungfulls of cold air, until he could open his eyes and stare right up at the white glowing moon in the icy sky, stars sprinkled around it like sparkles of frost. A certain frigid calmness came upon Juno then. So this is what war does to people, he thought. It not so much deludes them into madness, yet pierces right through to the truth of their blissfully ignorant lives. He looked again at the little fox playing with a pebble at the other side of the balcony, feeling another surge of anger directed not at Rin herself. Zyra.... stupid girl.... She was probably perfectly happy right now, asleep in the granted knowledge that he was going crazy without her. It was so convenient for her, he thought bitterly, to show him a little affection now and then to keep him around. Of course this satisfied her own wantings whenever she decided she needed a little warmth. It was all a matter of convenience to her, so she wasn't alone. Juno was just a phase in her long life..... just some human she'd taken a little fondness to, like a stray dog she felt sorry for and decided to feed now and then. She couldn't possibly love him. He was deluded to even hope that for one moment; though his hope was gone now, and he could see the truth. She was wise, sly, experienced and strong. What was he, but a stupid, unintelligent little brat who thought he could make a difference.... How wrong he had been. It made sense of course; fate didn't want him to be happy. He was doomed to strive fruitlessly forever while his body and soul corroded into madness......

Juno got to his feet again, lighting the last cigarette even though his head spun as soon as he smelt the smoke. His lungs protested, but he ignored them and watched the toxin-filled vapours drift up to dissipate into the velvety black sky. Looking up into the sky was really looking into the past. The light from the sun takes eight days to travel to the earth, having to permeate all those miles upon miles of empty space to reach the corrupted blue planet... And the stars, Juno remembered his father telling him; the light from the closest of those stars takes no less than four years to reach the eyes of humans... often much longer depending on their relative distance in the vast universe.... It was too vast to comprehend, the insignificance of Juno's life suddenly overwhelmed him. He mattered no more to the survival of the universe than a single ant did to Juno's. The wars and conflicts, loves and desires of the humans on this planet did not matter to the stars that were so far away. Suddenly the world fell away and Juno was alone in the dark vastness of space that he couldn't even comprehend, there was nothing for billions of miles except the dark and the cold, he felt nothing. All the anger and bitterness that had flooded through him earlier was replaced by a kind of blank hollowness as his eyes and soul were drawn into space.

Then he felt something brush against his leg, and he returned to the present, the cigarette had fallen out of his hand and he looked down to see Rin pawing at his ankle and whining loudly. Juno sat cross-legged on the floor, and Rin clambered up into his lap, nuzzling her head against his stomach as if afraid and trying to escape something. He picked the little white fox up in his hands and lifted her up to his face. Her coal-black eyes looked right into his, twitching one of her little pointed ears in a rythm of a ticking clock. Something in Juno broke right then, he began to shake, pressing the soft warm body of Rin against his cheek as hot tears that he couldn't stop dripped unnoticed from his closed eyes. He choked back a sob which hurt his chest, but he didn't care. The thoughts and feelings he'd had earlier cut him like a thousand knifes in his heart. How could he have been so angry and terrible, thinking these things and being so unrightfully mad at her, when all he really wanted was to hold her, touch her, hear her voice. He was going crazy with the war...... All he wanted was for her to love him as much as he loved her, to need him like he needed her.
"Zyra...." he whispered into Rin's beautiful fur. "I'm sorry, I love you........"

***

The next day Juno was very subdued as he made his way to Seargent Kuroshi's office. He was rather anxious at what Kuroshi was going to ask him about his performance in the battle with the Russians several days ago. Rin bounced along happily at his heels, occasionally stopping to sniff something or chase her tail, at which Juno would utter a sharp whistle to regain her attention. He reached the office door, and knocked sharply.
"Come in Private Montague" came the voice of Seargent Kuroshi.
Juno walked in and sat down, Rin jumped onto his lap and stared interestedly at the black haired Sergeant.
"So, you're feeling better are you, boy?".
"Yessir. My wounds were very superficial, thank you for asking".
"I'm sorry to hear that Corporal Kaji died. He was a good man, very good heart". Kuroshi seemed a little distracted, like he was keen to move the conversation forward quickly. "Now, Field Marshall Yakashi has been informed of your err.. contribution to the battle. In fact, he says he saw your moves from the top tower where he was co-ordinating the attack. He was very impressed... Seemed to think that what you did made the difference between us winning and losing.....".
"Really? Field Marshall Yakashi said that?!?! I'm very honoured Seargent..... Thank you". He bowed his head slightly, extremely surprised that the highest ranking officer Yakashi had thought so much of him.
"Yes. I quite agree with him" said Kuroshi grudgingly. "He has decided to.. promote you". Kuroshi seemed to be having difficulty saying all of this, and Juno wondered why. "You are no longer Private Montague.. you.. are now... Captain Montague...". Kuroshi winced as a grin broke out on Juno's face.
"Why, Seargent... That's three ranks above you, isn't it?".
"Yes. Don't get so excited. This means you have to lead the troops onto the battlefield. Just means more work for you, sonny boy. But I think you broke the record. You're the youngest Captain the Japanese army has ever had".
"Wow...." whispered Juno, at a loss for words.
Kuroshi glared huffily at him. "Just get your Japanese-Italian ass out of my office before I use your dog as a loofah....".

Juno was still smiling to himself at dinner when he ate red meat and drank Sake with the four other Captains, Rin happily standing on the table and stealing scraps from his plate. Captain Jukka of the Fourth Division was laughing as he patted Juno on the back and congradulated him on the amazing speed with which he had risen five ranks in the space of five minutes. He had heard from one of his men who'd been spying on the Russians that they were all referring to Juno as 'Ahren Orhr'. Nobody knew what it meant, as none of the men could speak Russian. Yet Jukka assured Juno that it was surely something awesome and fear-instilling. Captain Takagami of the First Division was very curious as to what kind of weapon Juno had used to cause such damage to the Russian troops. He declined to say exactly what it was, but vaguely hinted that it had been a prototype bomb he'd been working on consisting of violent chemical reactions. With no encouragement of Juno's, he began to earn a fierce reputation in the Japanese army. Captain Montague of the Third Division was now a name that instilled a large amount of respect and awe in the men, all of whom were older than him. Juno thought he did not deserve this, and tried to tell them all that he really wasn't anything special. Yet no matter what he said, the figure of the tall blue-eyed Captain, still short of his 16th birthday with his little white fox cub following faithfully at his heels, was still known throughout the ranks. His reputation here, however was nothing compared to what they thought of him in the Russian Army...

***

General Lazar sat at his desk in his large tent. All the strategies he had gone through today had proved worthless. He growled angrily, running a hand through his grizzled grey hair. The Japanese forces had been so much less in numbers than his own. He had almost twice their number, and had been sure that his surprise attack would take their fort. And of course, that was what they had been certain to do until Ahren Orhr had shown up. His troops had not been trained to handle such supernatural power, and the boy's control over fire was certainly very powerful. There were several things he didn't understand however. Angels usually had wings of white feathers, and they were not supposed to kill people.. Unless Ahren Orhr was a fallen angel or maybe even a fire demon from Hell. He shuddered furiously at the thought. No. The Japanese did not have Heaven or Hell on their side. Lazar beleived that Ahren Orhr was really a rogue spirit who could control fire. He may be powerful, but there is always a way to defeat even the most powerful foes. He was going to have to call in some help if he wanted to defeat this 'Angel Of Fire' as his men had called the boy. He must call in a mercenary, one who was specialised in dealing with situations like this... And what better to defeat Fire than Ice, its eternal rival.......

***

The next day, the Japanese army showed no signs of attacking them back; thankfully. Though General Lazar was suspicious... were they planning something? He was certain. Yet, he was determined to get rid of Ahren Orhr first. He had called in a Mercenary already, unfortunately they were Japanese and couldn't speak Russian, however they did speak English, and Lazar was inclined to beleive he was good at that language. So he sat in his tent behind his desk, reading a poetry book. Half an hour later, there was a commotion of noise outside the tent, and the guards shouting about an intruder. General Lazar stood up, guessing the mercenary had arrived.
"HEY!" he barked in Russian. "Let him in, he's essential to our plan to beat the Japanese!!!".
The noise subsided and into the tent strode a figure in a black billowing cloak with a canine shaped mask to cover the face. Lazar was surprised, he had pictured someone a lot taller.....
"Welcome Fox Mercenary, sit please" he said in English, gesturing to a chair.
The person in the cloak sat, and appeared to look at him; though Lazar couldn't really tell because of the mask... it was rather unnerving.
"You have a mission for me" came a voice from under the mask, it was calm and almost robot-like, devoid of emotion.
"Yes. I am haffink  a request for you to assasinate a certain man from Japanese army". Lazar tapped his fingers on the desk. "You haff experience dealing vit supernatural tings, ya?".
"Affirmative. No supernatural being has ever escaped my attacks alive. I am unbeatable by any such force. So, who is my target?". Lazar thought he saw a yellowish glint the eyeholes of the mask....
"My spy has informed me dat diss man you must keel is Captain of Third Division in Japanese army, yet I not sure of his real name. I think it sometink like Monta ... Monty? Sometink like diss".
"What does he look like?".
"Ah, this I saw him from far away: he quite tall, and I saw he is having wound on his right cheek. My man who was closer to him say that his eyes are blue like angry ocean. Also he is having some whit little animal that follows him around. A small dog or sometink".
"You want me to kill him, do you need proof? A head or something like that?".
"Sometink you see necessary. All I must know is you keel him, and you bring proof to General Lazar that you do, then I is paying you high profit. Big monies!".
The mercenary stood up, and walked to the door of the tent. "I will kill him, now he is as good as dead". The next moment the figure was gone, so fast it had seemed like lightning.
General Lazar blinked, things in this country really were strange...

***

As soon as she shunpo'd into the Japanese fort, she dived into the first room she saw. It had a red cross on the door and happened to be a storage room for the nurses. She quickly changed into a nurse uniform and fixed her hair in two long ponytails down her back. She wasn't sure exactly why she was doing this, perhaps the case just interested her, what supernatural power could the Japanese army posess? Whatever it was, it was certainly not a match for her. Zyra didn't consider herself a traitor for going against her own nation. The wars of humans mattered little to Vizards, and she usually wouldn't interfere at all, but she was intrigued, aha... and of course she could do with some extra money. She shrugged to herself. It was at least something for her to do, she pulled a face. General Lazar was unsavoury and spoke terrible English, wouldn't it have made more sense for the idiot to learn Japanese?! At least then he could properly spy on his enemies without relying on lower ranking men to do the work.. Lazy ass....

Zyra quickly sneaked out the nurses station and wandered along the corridors, how exactly was she supposed to find Captain Monty, or whoever he was? It would be so convenient if there was only a sign up or something. If only. Turning her head, she saw four drunk-looking men coming out of what looked like the main hall. Clearly they had been having some sort of dinner feast...
"Oi, Takagami" the shortest one was saying. "You know when we're gonna attack the Russians?"
"Pfft! How should I know, Jukka-Mukka. I ain't no higher up ranks than you are!" Takagami ruffled his hair.
"Hey! Look, a new nurse!" called the tallest, who's green eyes had alighted on Zyra. "She's a pretty one!".
Zyra rolled her eyes inwardly, men were such idiots... but bowed politely as she expected a nurse might do.
"Stop objectifying the nurses, Eiysu... You ain't attractive enough for that anyway!" said a broad-shouldered man, elboing the other in the face.
"Yeah" muttered Jukka. "If you wanna get girls, be like Captain Monty. He's got half the nurses after him. Bah!".

Zyra looked up, what a stroke of luck that they'd be talking about the very person she needed to find. She was about to ask where to find him, but stopped, because she didn't really have a valid reason.
"Aye, he skipped dinner, and I went to the trouble to get this book for 'im. Said he wanted to borrow it!" said Takagami. He waved a heavy copy of Advanced Research In Neurological Diseases at them all.
Zyra coughed slightly and raised her hand. "If you like, sir. I could give that book to Captain Monty for you, if you'd be so kind as to tell me where to find him...".
Takagami looked at her for a while, then handed her the book with a slightly tipsy smile on his face.
"Why thank you darling, you'll find him on the top flor, room 899 I think. Yeah, thanks a lot for that favour.."
The four men walked off, in a slightly squint line, carrying on their loud talking. Zyra smiled slyly to herself and started to climb the stairs, holding the book. Advanced Research In Neurological Diseases?! It sounded like the kind of book Juno's dad made him read, although she got the feeling that he actually enjoyed reading about obscure medical conditions, despite how much he complained about not wanting to be a doctor. She paused for a moment, and shook the fond smile off her face. Don't think about Juno, she told herself; you'll just miss him more. Eventually she got to the room Takagami had directed her to, and almost stepped on the little white fox cub who was playing outside it. The little creature was happily batting a pebble between her paws, with her rump stuck comically in the air and her tail swaying. When she noticed Zyra, she froze and flinched back against the door in frightened surprise, then cautiously walked over to sniff Zyra's ankles. She reached down to pet the fox's soft fur, wondering why Captain Monty had shoved his little pup outside his room door. She felt a little indignant on behalf of the fox, and picked her up before knocking lightly on the door.

An irritated groan came from within. "Who'sit?".
"Ahem, I came by to give you a book that Captain Takagami was going to lend you".
She heard him get out of bed and stomp to the door, opening it and looking down at her. He was very tall, with dark blue eyes that seemed to be in a different world to this one. He had a half-healed scar on his cheek like the General had said, his bare chest too, she noticed was covered in scars, a large one over his heart glared out as testament to some traumatic incident, possibly some kind of shrapnel injury.... Zyra's gut twisted painfully. He reminded her so much of Juno it was almost as if fate had done this deliberately to mock her.
"Uhm.... here" she said, handing him the book. "This fox is also yours?". She stroked the little fox's ears distractedly.
"Yup, Rin didn't bite you did she?" he took the fox from Zyra's hands, petting her ears then setting her down and pointing down the corridor. "Rin, go annoy Sergeant Kuroshi for a while, will you?".
Rin wagged her tail and bounced off down the corridor, presumably to carry out her master's bidding.
Zyra looked back at Captain Monty, her eyes lowered so he didn't notice their yellow colour. She looked at his hands instead, which were large and callused. Probably from many years of handling weapons, though he didn't appear so old. Something in his face bothered her and she found she couldn't look at him, something familiar that was boiling beneath the surface, so obvious yet she couldn't place it due to her distraction.
"Is.. is there anything else I can do for you sir?" she asked.
He was silent for a while, and she realised he had already went back to lie on his bed; he was fiddling with the silver dog-tags around his neck.
"You know what these are for?" he asked, not looking at her.
"No".
"They carry our name, rank and birthdate on them; so that if we die they know what name to bury us under, and what accomplishments to write on our gravestone....".
After a while, he had said nothing else, so she bowed and left, closing the door quietly. She had decided that Captain Monty was strange, though seemed far too human to be the monster that the others portrayed him as....

Description
Just as the mass of piercing bullets blasted towards him; he dived forwards to hide behind the dense row of sandbags lining the wall. They were only fifty centimetres high; so he had to press his face into the muddy ground to not have his head poking into view. He heard the bullets thunk into the sandbags. Thankfully, none pierced through, owing to the density of the compacted material and the skilful overlap. Juno had grabbed the injured Kaji and dragged him down beside him; clamping his hand over the bullet wound in Kaji's shoulder, which thankfully didn't look too bad. Peering down, he saw that the bullet had been stopped by Kaji's thick shoulder blade, and all he had to do was remove it. He kept low to the ground because he knew that the enemies (whoever they were) would be watching for himself and Kaji, the only people on the outside of the wall fort. He was dying to shoot back at them, but he knew he couldn't make a move without the backup of Sargent Kuroshi and the rest of the infantry; so he took out his pocket knife and cut out the bullet from Kaji's wound.
"AH!! That hurts, dammit, kid!! Who the Hell's shooting at us?!!?!". Kaji was still clutching onto his cigarette desite being wounded, so Juno grabbed it from him and threw it over the side of the wall; hearing a gun firing as his hand was revealed for a second. Obviously, they had their eyes trained on them and it would be suicide to move from their position.

"How'm I supposed to know? Just keep still will you?" said Juno through gritted teeth as he quickly put a little antisceptic on Kaji's wound and wrapped a bandage around it. It was times like this when he wished he had healing skills like Zyra. He could regenerate, but only when Hollow was in action. "Does your arm feel okay?".
"Yeah, yeah. It's okay; just hurts a little and it's my left, so I won't be in much difficulty. Do we wait for Sarge?".
Juno looked over his shoulder at the other side of the wall, where he could see from across the training field, a mass of foot soldiers running towards them.
"I think our backup is just about here... C'mon.. ". Juno rolled sideways to drop to his feet on the safe side of the wall and face the approaching Sargent Kuroshi. As Kaji landed heavily beside him; Kuroshi reached them and eyed Kaji's wound angrily.
"Were you two paying proper attention?".
"Aye sir!!" they both replied, saluting automatically.
"I had forseen an attack, though I didn't imagine it would come so soon... An invading Russian army... they have a new dictator, and apparently Japanhas a much nicer climate than Russia, even in the cold mountains. So, we're going out to meet their forces for a head on battle. It's the quickest way to stop them, and I ain't going to mince around with you. We'll be going out in a half hour, so make sure you're ready".
And half an hour later, they were all lined up ready to charge right out the gate to shoot at the enemy. Juno could hardly beleive it, those thirty minutes had moved so quickly it had been more like thirty seconds. Of course, thanks to being a Vizard, he already had experience in matters of war; though he realized that these humans he was fighting with were extraordinarily weak creatures compared to the Vizards he was used to; though in comparison to the rest of the Vizards, Juno himself was a pitifully weak boy. He guessed that gave him a purpose.. he was stronger than any of the humans here, and therefore he would make it his job to ensure that they wouldn't die. That would surely mean he was worth something. He caught the eye of Sargent Kuroshi, who nodded and raised his hand in the air for the men to open the gates to the fortress.
"GIVE THEM HELL, TROOPS!!" he called, and the mass of people charged into battle, carrying Juno with them in a tide of noise. He was still half in his own mind as he joined the others in shooting at the enemy, dreamily dodging bullets and aiming for the vital spots on the Russians, as Kaji had taught him.

He snapped out of his reverie when he felt a flash of pain in his thigh and realised he'd been shot, toppling to the ground as his leg gave way and a small spurt of blood accompanied the splash of mud at the impact. The rest of the soldiers weren't faring much better, he could see many men falling and scarlet already starting to stain the earth. Wincing a little in pain, he shifted to check the damage to his leg. It wasn't gushing blood, so he could conclude that the bullet hadn't hit a main artery and he wasn't in danger of immediate death; however he could feel the bullet wedged deep in the muscle. This was not a job that his trusty pocket knife could handle, and he'd have to wait for a proper surgeon to get it out. Juno sighed, quickly bandaging the wound tightly to keep blood flow to a minimum, and stood up again. He saw a flash of Kaji's characteristic orange hair and rushed over to help him.
"Doing well Kaji?" asked Juno as he took out two Russians with one well aimed bullet.
"Yeah, though it seems we got off to a bad start. I ain't been hit yet though. You have I see. What do I keep telling you Juno; gotta keep focused on everything. Perfect Zen and all that".
Juno rolled his eyes and fired a sucession of loud shots. "You and your Zen; what a load of bullshit. All you gotta do is try to stay alive, seems simple... Though sometimes simple things are the most difficult to accomplish".
Kaji laughed then, a laughter that didn't touch his eyes, which were cold and intent on killing. His laughter was short-lived however, because they and several dozen other men were suddenly blown back with huge force as two grenades went off and blew them back towards the small cluster of dead trees.

Blasted by heat, Juno was smashed into the solid trunk of a tree; and couldn't try to brace himself with his arms, which he had instinctively risen to protect his eyes. Though all the air was knocked out of him by the impact, he still let out a gasp as he felt something deadly sharp and hot tear at his cheek. The blast was over after a few seconds, and Juno had caught only the tail end of it, looking through the noxious fuming smoke from the after-effects of the grenades, he saw that it had taken out a good number of the soldiers on their side. He felt something hot and wet flowing down his cheek and trickling down his neck. The metallic smell of blood rose up to choke him. He dared not look around too closely at the dismembered bodies who were the unfortunate men who were closest to the bomb. Coughing harshly, he looked around for Kaji, and spotted him a few hundred yards away. He crawled over on his belly, concious of the fact that bullets were still flying overhead. He thrust out an arm to shake Kaji, and felt his stomach clench in horror as he saw the widening puddle of scarlet underneath the orange haired man.

"KAJI!! KAJI!!" shouted Juno, dreading the silence beneath the scream of the bullets.
"M'awake" came a gasping, pained relpy after a minute of silence. "But'm no gonna live f'long.. Damn thing tore a hole in m'stomach".
Juno flinched, started backing away.
"I'll go get the team of medics..." he began to say, before a weak arm shot out and grabbed his wrist in trembling fingers.
"No, don't want to die alone kid. C'mere..".
Juno edged towards Kaji, until he was lying beside him and looking at  his face.
"Tell me ....something... anything.. "panted Kaji as his life slipped away in the scarlet pouring from his stomach. "Please.... talk.. tell me, you mentioned you had a girlfriend...?".
Juno felt his eyes burning, and his hands shook as he looked Kaji in the eye. "At home..... I have... I have a girlfriend. I... ah.. I love her so much, there's really no way to describe it in words or poetry.. only in feeling... Only thing is, she's.. a lot older than me; different.... I worry.. that we're too different, I'm too weak..... I wanted......". He paused and dug his fingers into the mud, the muscles on his arms standing out, he looked away from Kaji, who gripped Juno's arm harder to make him look back. "I ...wanted.. to ask her to marry me...".
For the first time since Juno had known him, a true smile appeared on Kaji's features.
"I'd say, you're a good catch.. heh.... heh..." Kaji coughed and closed his eyes for the last time, still holding onto Juno's arm.

Juno stared in horror for a moment, but a bullet exploded near his knee, and he scuttled back to the tree he'd been forcefully flung against. At this side, the enemy could not see him, so he rested his aching back against the rough bark of the tree, and let the tears that had been brimming over in his eyes spill down to join the river of blood that flowed from the torn flesh of his cheek.

****

Juno stayed where he was for a few minutes, with his back pressed roughly against the tree, shaking and letting the tears run down his cheeks. He hated it; the war.... the killing, the dying. His heart seemed so numb these days stuck in the army and having to deal with the reality of such things everyday. It hurt him, he wanted to go home, he wanted to sleep, he wanted the constant cold and pain to stop... Touching the deep bloody wound in his cheek, he flinched. Flesh was so fragile. It wasn't meant to be pierced by bullets, sliced by a sword, torn by sharp, twisted pieces of shrapnel... He could conciously feel himself slipping into panicked insanity, his head was about to explode with it all.... And then he heard a small, pitiful whimper coming from beside him. He jumped, and looked down to see a white, fluffy something sticking out of a hollow in the tree that he hadn't noticed. Looking closer, he saw a white fox cub, It looked to be not much bigger than his own hand, and it was shaking, whether in pain or fear he didn't know, but the creature seemed rooted to the spot.

He reached down and picked it up by the scruff, holding the cub in front of his face. She yelped loudly; then began snarling and flailing her tiny paws around to try and free herself. This seemed to cause her more pain, and after a few seconds of this, she went limp in his hand, still crying softly. Juno felt a rush of pity and affection for the poor little creature, and held her gently against his chest, petting her ears softly to calm her down. She froze, rigid with fear for a moment, then relaxed. The man was warm, and the petting felt good, his voice was deep but spoke quietly to her in a calm way. She decided that he wasn't going to hurt her, besides she was tired and couldn't run because of her injured leg. Juno had noticed this, and made her a splint out of a twig and some of his bandages. The fox cub seemed to have brought him to his senses, he was calmer now, and realised he had to do something to aid the Japanese soldiers rather than just sit here and wait to be killed.
"Alright little Rin" he adressed the fox. "We're going to go and end this fight, and when we get back to the fort, I will give you some meat and fix that leg properly...".
Rin the fox yawned widely, curling her little pink tongue around her needle-like fangs. Looking at him with tired eyes, she let him tuck her away in the pocket inside his camoflage jacket. The heat from his body quickly enveloped her, chasing the last of the frost from her paws and sending her into a deep sleep.

Juno sighed, and stood up slowly, the bullet in his thigh screamed a painful protest, the muscles in his arms, shoulders and back also throbbed with dull pain. He peeked around the tree and observed the battle. The Japanese troops were losing terribly. The Russians had larger numbers, and the element of surprise on their side. But then, Juno had his powers.... although without Meiryosa, his talents would be limited. However, he had an idea... He just had to manage not to get killed. Juno took a deep breath and sprinted out into the battlefield, towards the main mass of the Russian troops, who were loading some sort of cannons with bombs to shoot at the Japanese. There were also plenty of men with sniper rifles and other weapons that Juno didn't care to know about. A voice inside his head was screaming and swearing at this scuicidal move. It took a moment for him to realise that it was Hollow.
"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!!!! ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US KILLED?!?!?!?!".
"No..... I'm trying to SAVE the Japanese troops, duh!". Juno was concious of them all turning towards him, the idiotic guy charging straight into enemy hands. It all happened in slow motion, as if in a dream. They pointed all their weapons at him simultaneously...
"YOU FUCKER!!! I'M TAKING CHARGE!!!!" screamed the Hollow, wrestling control of Juno's body and discharging an eight-pronged Cero from both his palms into the enemy lines. The resulting blast of earth raining down with gruesome remains of people created a blanket of chaos at the Russian end of the battlefield. The dwindling Japanese troops stared half fascinated, half horror-struck, and even the Russians who were in the middle of the field, or 'no-mans-land' turned to look.

"OROCHI STAR CERO?!?!?" groaned Juno. "You learned Lex's attack? That's.... oh no....".
"Of course. It's a good attack, and it stopped you from dying, you faggot."
Juno looked around the battlefield. The dust had cleared and he could see many dismembered bodies bleeding on the ground. The Orochi Star Cero had taken out a fair chunk of the Russian forces, and the rest of the Russians were staring at him in a kind of terrified awe. He saw several of them muttering quietly to each other in Russian, staring at Juno as if he were a monster. Which was a pretty accurate assumption. Their Sargent bellowed orders at them to cut through the opressive silence; and they shakily raised their weapons to him again. Juno knew that there was going to be enquiries about this later, so he might as well do the job properly.... He raised his arms at his sides, spreading his fingers and fixing his scorching blue eyes on the Russians.
"You shall regret this sin you have brought" he shouted, as he spread a pair of huge fiery wings at his sides.
The Russians uttered curses, or prayers, or just stared in shock.
"Always with the theatrics, aren't you? Oh! You're going to use your fire? That's a bad idea, it could drain most of your reitsu!"
"I don't really have much of a choice, do I? Have to finish this quick before they shoot me....". Juno swept his arms in a dramatic arc, and flames roared up from the ground to create a semicircle of fire between the Russians and the Japanese troops, with a few dozen Russian troops who had managed to get far into their ranks.

"Retreat now, and your lives will be spared from the wrath of the almighty!!" roared Juno, feeling the strength flowing out of him already with the effort of keeping the flames burning, he made them flare towards the Russians, burning brighter, hotter and taller. He was still praying that they didn't gather the guts to shoot him, because he was sure something like a grenade could finish him off while in this vulnerable position. Panting with the effort and feeling the sweat trickling down his spine, Juno made a final surge of the flames gathering together into a solid wall, advancing towards the Russians, who finally snapped out of their trance and rapidly retreated. Juno kept this attack going until the thousands of troops had gone back down the valley and out of sight, and then; having run out of energy to move, he collapsed to the ground on his back making sure not to crush the sleeping Rin in his chest pocket. He only had time to register the clamouring noise of the Japanese troops coming towards him when he lost the world to blackness, not even sure whether he was breathing, or indeed, if his heart still beat.......

****

...All he could see was blackness, his eyes were closed, and he could feel the steady throb of his heart. Good. He wasn't dead after all. He did try to open his eyes, but found that he would rather try to work out where he was. Juno could feel a matress underneath him, though it wasn't very soft at all. There was also a blanket over him, which was kindof scratchy against his skin.... His skin? Holy crap, he was practically naked..!!!. Where the hell were his clothes?! Who'd taken them off him?! Thank God they'd left his boxers on.... He felt his cheeks flush, and a sense of being violated. He wanted to reach up to check whether that wound had left a scar, but didn't want to reveal he was awake because he could hear people talking. He listened, and recognised Sargent Kuroshi's voice as one of them. The others sounded like a young woman.
"...still not woken up yet? It's been a whole day!!... Can't you just wake him? I need to find out what was going on... seems he had a trick up his sleeve". Typical of Kuroshi to be thinking about battle strategy rather than the wellbeing of his soldier, thought Juno, inwardly rolling his eyes.
"No, I shall NOT wake him up!" answered the young woman. She sounded annoyed and reproachful. "Montague is my patient and I shall not let you disturb him when he is in need of rest! Now, leave the infirmary right now, we have many wounded to take care of.. ". Juno heard the loud noise of curtains being drawn around his bed, and then almost jumped as he felt warm air on his face.

He snapped his eyes open in time to see the pretty face of a young Japanese woman peering into his, though her dark eyes immediately widened in astonishment and she drew back, putting a hand on her chest.
"My, Montague, you certainly gave me a fright!" she exclaimed, sounding a little flustered.
Juno looked her up and down. She had a slim figure and long black hair tied back in a ponytail and a slight blush on her cheeks, he would have guessed her to be around nineteen.
"Sorry" he said, sitting up slowly and stretching his arms over his head. "I didn't expect you to come so close...".
She sighed, and came to sit on the bed beside him, taking his face in her hands and tilting it so she could see his right cheek clearly.
"My name is Aya, your appointed nurse. I was inspecting this wound. It seems impossible that it shall not leave a scar, but with the right remedies, I should be able to fix it so that the scar is only visible when someone is very close to you. Like this".
"Uhm, that's good...." he coughed, feeling his cheeks grow hot again. Had this pretty girl been the one to undress him? The thought made his insides squirm with embarrassment.

Without warning, Aya yanked off the blankets and pushed Juno's chest to make him lie down.
"Stay still while I check this other wound" she ordered.
Juno did as she asked, slightly nervous, and watched with slightly nauseated interest as she removed the bandages from his thigh to inspect the bullet wound. She informed him that the bullet had been removed, with no damage to the muscles and that there would be no movement impairement at all, and that it should be healed in a few days at most. She re-bandaged his thigh, and Juno took the opportunity when she went to wash her hands to yank the blanket back over his lower half, muttering about nurses not respecting privacy.
She returned and looked at Juno critically, and seemed about to say something, but he cut across her.
"Uhmm, Miss Aya, there was a little fox cub in my pocket, where is she?".
Aya smiled sweetly. "Ah, Shiro-chan. Yes, her leg has been fixed, it was a wound that needed stitches. She's asleep in that little basket by the window. I did wonder why you had an animal in your pocket...".
"Just didn't want to leave her is all...." he was releived that Rin was safe, so he politely waited for her to resume her interrupted speech.
"Ah, yes" she began. "How do you feel Montague, do you hurt anywhere? As your nurse, I must insist on doing anything I can to make you feel well again, you are a brave soldier, and so young. I think Mr. Kuroshi is looking to promote you".
Juno pondered this for a moment before considering Aya's question.

"Well, my muscles still hurt, but I doubt there's anything you can do for that..." he said finally.
Aya smiled, walking over to poke him on the forehead.
"Why of course I can! Haven't you ever had a massage? It's good for sore muscles you know".
Juno looked away shiftily. Why, he indeed had not had a massage before, but he was rather reluctant to get one....
"Uhmm... well, I.." he trailed off when he saw the determined look on her face. Clearly he was getting one whether he liked it or not, so he groaned in defeat and lay down on his stomach, resting his head on his crossed arms.
Aya walked around to the side and rolled the blanket down so his back was uncovered, and he heard her give a small 'Oh' of surprise. Juno humphed, he didn't think the scars were THAT bad. Mind you he couldn't really see them, so he  didn't know the extent of the violent marks on his back. "Vizard? What's that?" asked Aya, her fingertip tracing the word slowly.
"Mmmm... S'just a gang I messed with a while ago. They mark their victims...".
"Oh" was Aya's reply, as she began to move her hands softly across the broad expanse of Juno's back and shoulders, kneading the muscles to releive the pain from over-use and the stress from the past while.
Juno sighed blissfully as he started to drift off to sleep again. His mind was still in turmoil, but the relaxing movement of Aya's warm hands over his skin made him too drowsy and relaxed. He wasn't looking forward to talking to Sargent Kuroshi, but if Aya was right, he could get a promotion out of it. That could be good.... But shortly after that thought, the blackness enveloped him again..

****

When he opened his eyes again, there was something fluffy and white obscuring his vision.
"Rin, how did you get up here?" he asked the fox, tickling her fluffy belly. By way of a greeting, Rin bit his finger hard with her sharp teeth, then looked up at him innocently as he frowned at the two new puncture wounds. Juno sat up and looked around. It was dark and cold, so he got out of bed and put on his relatively warm uniform, which Aya had cleaned and left by the foot of his bed. Looking back at Rin sitting in the centre of his bed, he was painfully reminded of Zyra. He had to ask himself why he'd brought Rin back to the fort if she was going to make his heart ache like this. Rin walked up to him and stood on her hind legs and pawed the air with her front paws, apparently she wanted to go with him. Juno sighed and tucked her into the front of his shirt. She seemed happy at this arrangement and nuzzled her snout into his neck to begin licking him. Juno rolled his eyes, he wondered why canines always did that.... Since his leg felt perfectly fine, he walked over to the mirror and looked at his reflection. It was strange to see the abscence of his fluffy blonde hair, he rather missed it and thought that the military haircut made him look agressive... even his eyes, he noticed, didn't look the same. It seemed the spark was gone from them, they were cold and empty, like how he felt. Hope was gone, but still that pitiful yearning remained. Juno felt a flash of anger at  himself; why? Why be such a pitiful sentimental fool? What did it ever bring you; a small spark of happiness maybe, a little warmth to chase away the cold...... He spun away from the mirror, gritting his teeth furiously. God, how he cursed cold things.... hated the cold, despised the cold and all it did to humans. He walked through the dark stone corridors of the fort,saluting to any sentries he passed as his footsteps echoed in the night. He climbed the narrow tower staircase and walked outside where there was a small balcony area. He put Rin down so that she could get some excercise, then punched the wall violently with his fist.

As usual, he let his emotions get the better of him, there they were, writhing in his belly, and threatening to choke him. He lit a cigerette and inhaled it deeply, he smoked it as quickly as he could, then had another, and another, and another... He kept going until he was coughing so much he could barely breathe and had used up almost two whole packs. Rin eyed him warily from the other end of the balcony, but he ignored her and he coughed and coughed until blood splattered the cobblestones and he almost blacked out. Then he slid down against the cold stone wall and gulped great piercing lungfulls of cold air, until he could open his eyes and stare right up at the white glowing moon in the icy sky, stars sprinkled around it like sparkles of frost. A certain frigid calmness came upon Juno then. So this is what war does to people, he thought. It not so much deludes them into madness, yet pierces right through to the truth of their blissfully ignorant lives. He looked again at the little fox playing with a pebble at the other side of the balcony, feeling another surge of anger directed not at Rin herself. Zyra.... stupid girl.... She was probably perfectly happy right now, asleep in the granted knowledge that he was going crazy without her. It was so convenient for her, he thought bitterly, to show him a little affection now and then to keep him around. Of course this satisfied her own wantings whenever she decided she needed a little warmth. It was all a matter of convenience to her, so she wasn't alone. Juno was just a phase in her long life..... just some human she'd taken a little fondness to, like a stray dog she felt sorry for and decided to feed now and then. She couldn't possibly love him. He was deluded to even hope that for one moment; though his hope was gone now, and he could see the truth. She was wise, sly, experienced and strong. What was he, but a stupid, unintelligent little brat who thought he could make a difference.... How wrong he had been. It made sense of course; fate didn't want him to be happy. He was doomed to strive fruitlessly forever while his body and soul corroded into madness......

Juno got to his feet again, lighting the last cigarette even though his head spun as soon as he smelt the smoke. His lungs protested, but he ignored them and watched the toxin-filled vapours drift up to dissipate into the velvety black sky. Looking up into the sky was really looking into the past. The light from the sun takes eight days to travel to the earth, having to permeate all those miles upon miles of empty space to reach the corrupted blue planet... And the stars, Juno remembered his father telling him; the light from the closest of those stars takes no less than four years to reach the eyes of humans... often much longer depending on their relative distance in the vast universe.... It was too vast to comprehend, the insignificance of Juno's life suddenly overwhelmed him. He mattered no more to the survival of the universe than a single ant did to Juno's. The wars and conflicts, loves and desires of the humans on this planet did not matter to the stars that were so far away. Suddenly the world fell away and Juno was alone in the dark vastness of space that he couldn't even comprehend, there was nothing for billions of miles except the dark and the cold, he felt nothing. All the anger and bitterness that had flooded through him earlier was replaced by a kind of blank hollowness as his eyes and soul were drawn into space.

Then he felt something brush against his leg, and he returned to the present, the cigarette had fallen out of his hand and he looked down to see Rin pawing at his ankle and whining loudly. Juno sat cross-legged on the floor, and Rin clambered up into his lap, nuzzling her head against his stomach as if afraid and trying to escape something. He picked the little white fox up in his hands and lifted her up to his face. Her coal-black eyes looked right into his, twitching one of her little pointed ears in a rythm of a ticking clock. Something in Juno broke right then, he began to shake, pressing the soft warm body of Rin against his cheek as hot tears that he couldn't stop dripped unnoticed from his closed eyes. He choked back a sob which hurt his chest, but he didn't care. The thoughts and feelings he'd had earlier cut him like a thousand knifes in his heart. How could he have been so angry and terrible, thinking these things and being so unrightfully mad at her, when all he really wanted was to hold her, touch her, hear her voice. He was going crazy with the war...... All he wanted was for her to love him as much as he loved her, to need him like he needed her.
"Zyra...." he whispered into Rin's beautiful fur. "I'm sorry, I love you........"

***

The next day Juno was very subdued as he made his way to Seargent Kuroshi's office. He was rather anxious at what Kuroshi was going to ask him about his performance in the battle with the Russians several days ago. Rin bounced along happily at his heels, occasionally stopping to sniff something or chase her tail, at which Juno would utter a sharp whistle to regain her attention. He reached the office door, and knocked sharply.
"Come in Private Montague" came the voice of Seargent Kuroshi.
Juno walked in and sat down, Rin jumped onto his lap and stared interestedly at the black haired Sergeant.
"So, you're feeling better are you, boy?".
"Yessir. My wounds were very superficial, thank you for asking".
"I'm sorry to hear that Corporal Kaji died. He was a good man, very good heart". Kuroshi seemed a little distracted, like he was keen to move the conversation forward quickly. "Now, Field Marshall Yakashi has been informed of your err.. contribution to the battle. In fact, he says he saw your moves from the top tower where he was co-ordinating the attack. He was very impressed... Seemed to think that what you did made the difference between us winning and losing.....".
"Really? Field Marshall Yakashi said that?!?! I'm very honoured Seargent..... Thank you". He bowed his head slightly, extremely surprised that the highest ranking officer Yakashi had thought so much of him.
"Yes. I quite agree with him" said Kuroshi grudgingly. "He has decided to.. promote you". Kuroshi seemed to be having difficulty saying all of this, and Juno wondered why. "You are no longer Private Montague.. you.. are now... Captain Montague...". Kuroshi winced as a grin broke out on Juno's face.
"Why, Seargent... That's three ranks above you, isn't it?".
"Yes. Don't get so excited. This means you have to lead the troops onto the battlefield. Just means more work for you, sonny boy. But I think you broke the record. You're the youngest Captain the Japanese army has ever had".
"Wow...." whispered Juno, at a loss for words.
Kuroshi glared huffily at him. "Just get your Japanese-Italian ass out of my office before I use your dog as a loofah....".

Juno was still smiling to himself at dinner when he ate red meat and drank Sake with the four other Captains, Rin happily standing on the table and stealing scraps from his plate. Captain Jukka of the Fourth Division was laughing as he patted Juno on the back and congradulated him on the amazing speed with which he had risen five ranks in the space of five minutes. He had heard from one of his men who'd been spying on the Russians that they were all referring to Juno as 'Ahren Orhr'. Nobody knew what it meant, as none of the men could speak Russian. Yet Jukka assured Juno that it was surely something awesome and fear-instilling. Captain Takagami of the First Division was very curious as to what kind of weapon Juno had used to cause such damage to the Russian troops. He declined to say exactly what it was, but vaguely hinted that it had been a prototype bomb he'd been working on consisting of violent chemical reactions. With no encouragement of Juno's, he began to earn a fierce reputation in the Japanese army. Captain Montague of the Third Division was now a name that instilled a large amount of respect and awe in the men, all of whom were older than him. Juno thought he did not deserve this, and tried to tell them all that he really wasn't anything special. Yet no matter what he said, the figure of the tall blue-eyed Captain, still short of his 16th birthday with his little white fox cub following faithfully at his heels, was still known throughout the ranks. His reputation here, however was nothing compared to what they thought of him in the Russian Army...

***

General Lazar sat at his desk in his large tent. All the strategies he had gone through today had proved worthless. He growled angrily, running a hand through his grizzled grey hair. The Japanese forces had been so much less in numbers than his own. He had almost twice their number, and had been sure that his surprise attack would take their fort. And of course, that was what they had been certain to do until Ahren Orhr had shown up. His troops had not been trained to handle such supernatural power, and the boy's control over fire was certainly very powerful. There were several things he didn't understand however. Angels usually had wings of white feathers, and they were not supposed to kill people.. Unless Ahren Orhr was a fallen angel or maybe even a fire demon from Hell. He shuddered furiously at the thought. No. The Japanese did not have Heaven or Hell on their side. Lazar beleived that Ahren Orhr was really a rogue spirit who could control fire. He may be powerful, but there is always a way to defeat even the most powerful foes. He was going to have to call in some help if he wanted to defeat this 'Angel Of Fire' as his men had called the boy. He must call in a mercenary, one who was specialised in dealing with situations like this... And what better to defeat Fire than Ice, its eternal rival.......

***

The next day, the Japanese army showed no signs of attacking them back; thankfully. Though General Lazar was suspicious... were they planning something? He was certain. Yet, he was determined to get rid of Ahren Orhr first. He had called in a Mercenary already, unfortunately they were Japanese and couldn't speak Russian, however they did speak English, and Lazar was inclined to beleive he was good at that language. So he sat in his tent behind his desk, reading a poetry book. Half an hour later, there was a commotion of noise outside the tent, and the guards shouting about an intruder. General Lazar stood up, guessing the mercenary had arrived.
"HEY!" he barked in Russian. "Let him in, he's essential to our plan to beat the Japanese!!!".
The noise subsided and into the tent strode a figure in a black billowing cloak with a canine shaped mask to cover the face. Lazar was surprised, he had pictured someone a lot taller.....
"Welcome Fox Mercenary, sit please" he said in English, gesturing to a chair.
The person in the cloak sat, and appeared to look at him; though Lazar couldn't really tell because of the mask... it was rather unnerving.
"You have a mission for me" came a voice from under the mask, it was calm and almost robot-like, devoid of emotion.
"Yes. I am haffink  a request for you to assasinate a certain man from Japanese army". Lazar tapped his fingers on the desk. "You haff experience dealing vit supernatural tings, ya?".
"Affirmative. No supernatural being has ever escaped my attacks alive. I am unbeatable by any such force. So, who is my target?". Lazar thought he saw a yellowish glint the eyeholes of the mask....
"My spy has informed me dat diss man you must keel is Captain of Third Division in Japanese army, yet I not sure of his real name. I think it sometink like Monta ... Monty? Sometink like diss".
"What does he look like?".
"Ah, this I saw him from far away: he quite tall, and I saw he is having wound on his right cheek. My man who was closer to him say that his eyes are blue like angry ocean. Also he is having some whit little animal that follows him around. A small dog or sometink".
"You want me to kill him, do you need proof? A head or something like that?".
"Sometink you see necessary. All I must know is you keel him, and you bring proof to General Lazar that you do, then I is paying you high profit. Big monies!".
The mercenary stood up, and walked to the door of the tent. "I will kill him, now he is as good as dead". The next moment the figure was gone, so fast it had seemed like lightning.
General Lazar blinked, things in this country really were strange...

***

As soon as she shunpo'd into the Japanese fort, she dived into the first room she saw. It had a red cross on the door and happened to be a storage room for the nurses. She quickly changed into a nurse uniform and fixed her hair in two long ponytails down her back. She wasn't sure exactly why she was doing this, perhaps the case just interested her, what supernatural power could the Japanese army posess? Whatever it was, it was certainly not a match for her. Zyra didn't consider herself a traitor for going against her own nation. The wars of humans mattered little to Vizards, and she usually wouldn't interfere at all, but she was intrigued, aha... and of course she could do with some extra money. She shrugged to herself. It was at least something for her to do, she pulled a face. General Lazar was unsavoury and spoke terrible English, wouldn't it have made more sense for the idiot to learn Japanese?! At least then he could properly spy on his enemies without relying on lower ranking men to do the work.. Lazy ass....

Zyra quickly sneaked out the nurses station and wandered along the corridors, how exactly was she supposed to find Captain Monty, or whoever he was? It would be so convenient if there was only a sign up or something. If only. Turning her head, she saw four drunk-looking men coming out of what looked like the main hall. Clearly they had been having some sort of dinner feast...
"Oi, Takagami" the shortest one was saying. "You know when we're gonna attack the Russians?"
"Pfft! How should I know, Jukka-Mukka. I ain't no higher up ranks than you are!" Takagami ruffled his hair.
"Hey! Look, a new nurse!" called the tallest, who's green eyes had alighted on Zyra. "She's a pretty one!".
Zyra rolled her eyes inwardly, men were such idiots... but bowed politely as she expected a nurse might do.
"Stop objectifying the nurses, Eiysu... You ain't attractive enough for that anyway!" said a broad-shouldered man, elboing the other in the face.
"Yeah" muttered Jukka. "If you wanna get girls, be like Captain Monty. He's got half the nurses after him. Bah!".

Zyra looked up, what a stroke of luck that they'd be talking about the very person she needed to find. She was about to ask where to find him, but stopped, because she didn't really have a valid reason.
"Aye, he skipped dinner, and I went to the trouble to get this book for 'im. Said he wanted to borrow it!" said Takagami. He waved a heavy copy of Advanced Research In Neurological Diseases at them all.
Zyra coughed slightly and raised her hand. "If you like, sir. I could give that book to Captain Monty for you, if you'd be so kind as to tell me where to find him...".
Takagami looked at her for a while, then handed her the book with a slightly tipsy smile on his face.
"Why thank you darling, you'll find him on the top flor, room 899 I think. Yeah, thanks a lot for that favour.."
The four men walked off, in a slightly squint line, carrying on their loud talking. Zyra smiled slyly to herself and started to climb the stairs, holding the book. Advanced Research In Neurological Diseases?! It sounded like the kind of book Juno's dad made him read, although she got the feeling that he actually enjoyed reading about obscure medical conditions, despite how much he complained about not wanting to be a doctor. She paused for a moment, and shook the fond smile off her face. Don't think about Juno, she told herself; you'll just miss him more. Eventually she got to the room Takagami had directed her to, and almost stepped on the little white fox cub who was playing outside it. The little creature was happily batting a pebble between her paws, with her rump stuck comically in the air and her tail swaying. When she noticed Zyra, she froze and flinched back against the door in frightened surprise, then cautiously walked over to sniff Zyra's ankles. She reached down to pet the fox's soft fur, wondering why Captain Monty had shoved his little pup outside his room door. She felt a little indignant on behalf of the fox, and picked her up before knocking lightly on the door.

An irritated groan came from within. "Who'sit?".
"Ahem, I came by to give you a book that Captain Takagami was going to lend you".
She heard him get out of bed and stomp to the door, opening it and looking down at her. He was very tall, with dark blue eyes that seemed to be in a different world to this one. He had a half-healed scar on his cheek like the General had said, his bare chest too, she noticed was covered in scars, a large one over his heart glared out as testament to some traumatic incident, possibly some kind of shrapnel injury.... Zyra's gut twisted painfully. He reminded her so much of Juno it was almost as if fate had done this deliberately to mock her.
"Uhm.... here" she said, handing him the book. "This fox is also yours?". She stroked the little fox's ears distractedly.
"Yup, Rin didn't bite you did she?" he took the fox from Zyra's hands, petting her ears then setting her down and pointing down the corridor. "Rin, go annoy Sergeant Kuroshi for a while, will you?".
Rin wagged her tail and bounced off down the corridor, presumably to carry out her master's bidding.
Zyra looked back at Captain Monty, her eyes lowered so he didn't notice their yellow colour. She looked at his hands instead, which were large and callused. Probably from many years of handling weapons, though he didn't appear so old. Something in his face bothered her and she found she couldn't look at him, something familiar that was boiling beneath the surface, so obvious yet she couldn't place it due to her distraction.
"Is.. is there anything else I can do for you sir?" she asked.
He was silent for a while, and she realised he had already went back to lie on his bed; he was fiddling with the silver dog-tags around his neck.
"You know what these are for?" he asked, not looking at her.
"No".
"They carry our name, rank and birthdate on them; so that if we die they know what name to bury us under, and what accomplishments to write on our gravestone....".
After a while, he had said nothing else, so she bowed and left, closing the door quietly. She had decided that Captain Monty was strange, though seemed far too human to be the monster that the others portrayed him as....