She knew she shouldn't have ran in this direction. Her mother specifically told her to head to the woods, but in the midst of the flying bullets and the infiltration of the enemies foot soldiers, she panicked. Which she couldn't be blamed since she was only six years old. Her heart hammered in her chest as she darted from bush to bush, a sheen of sweat covered her small body and eyes were franticly searching for any sign of the enemy.

She didn't really understand any of this, why her people were being terrorized by the enemy, the source of all their problems. Ever since she could remember, she had been taught that Shinra was an evil sent from the heavens and that she had to grow up to be strong and fight against them…but she was scared. Terrified of fighting. She knew the reason why her big brother hadn't come back, and she didn't want that to happen to her or anyone she knew…she just wanted the fighting to end.

"There! I saw movement!" A loud voice shouted in the midst of the loud gunfire and cries of war, her hazel eyes peered around the bush to see two men in infantry uniforms…the enemies, infantrymen. Instantly she turned the other direction to try to escape the oncoming soldiers, but skitted to a stop when she saw the other man walking towards her with his gun raised her direction. Her thin fingers tightened around the Moogle doll she was clutching against her chest as she backed away from the frightening man, only to collide into the other two men she was initially running from.

"Well, well. What do we have here?"

"Some Wutai brat."

"I say just put the girl out of her misery and get back to the squadron." The three conversed amongst each other for a few moments before all three pairs of eyes rested on the dark haired little girl again. Her knees knocking together as she stared up at the three men trying to decide her fate.

"We can't kill a kid-"

"Kids grow up and that kid could grow up to be fighter. We end it at its roots, is what I say."

"Then just get this over with."

"Sorry, kid. Its nothing personal, but gotta do whatcha gotta do." One said as he focused his attention on her, the gun leveled towards her head as she stumbled back in fear, her eyes the size of the moon as she faced down her death, tightly clutching her doll as her one last friend and comfort. She heard the click of the gun and quickly shut her eyes, not wanting to see the bullet fly towards her and just prayed to Leviathan that it wouldn't hurt.

However, before the bullet was shot, the gun was knocked out of the infantryman's hands and onto the ground by a massive sword. The men looked at who had done that, about to yell in anger but stopped before they could open their mouths as they saw it was their squadron leader. His Mako blue eyes narrowed at the sight of his men about to murder the girl and he quickly intervened before he allowed his division to disgrace themselves any further.

"What do you think you're doing?" He growled out at them as they stood at attention, none of the men looking very pleased that they had angered their leader and possibly endangered their chances of ever getting into the SOLDIER program.

"We're stopping Wutai troops from ever becoming enemies-"

"Does this girl look like a threat to you-" He snapped at them as they all nearly jumped out of their boots before quickly replying back 'No, sir.' "So you were going to murder her, in cold blood?"

"B-But sir-"

"Fighting to defend your home is honorable, but killing women and children is the lowest thing you could possibly do. Return to base and expect a long suspension from active duty." He said as his fingers clenched around his massive blade, the infantrymen yelped out a 'Yes, sir' then quickly retreated afraid of what else the 1st Class would tell them to do. The dark haired man took in a deep breath, his arms trembling with anger at the idea that his men was about to kill the girl. He turned around after counting to five to calm himself to see that the little girl was still standing in her spot, absolutely petrified of the massive SOLDIER before her.

She had been told many stories of these men. Monsters infused with power from the planet. That they enjoyed the deaths of others, and scent of blood in the air, she stared up at the man before her terrified out of her wits to make a run for it or even squeak out a cry of help or mercy. Her arms tightened around her doll as she waited for the SOLDIER to make his decision of what to do with her, she wasn't sure what was more scary. When he stood at full height or when he had knelt down to her level.

"Are you alright?" He said gently as he could while glancing over the little girl for obvious injuries. As far as he could see, she was perfectly fine with the exception of a few small scratches from running through bushes and such, he held his hand out to her waiting for her response. Meanwhile she just stared at him, unsure of whether to answer him or not…and she chose the latter because she was too terrified to stammer out anything.

The SOLDIER frowned at the reclusive girl then stood up, glancing around to see what all happened around him. Most of the fighting had veered off to the north side of the rice fields, all that were left in this area were the stragglers and the dead. His azure eyes darted back down to the girl, who if he had not seen darting past him earlier he would have thought she was a stone statue. He wasn't sure what to do in this situation. He very well couldn't leave her in the midst of the battle fields, she'd turn into cannon fodder faster than you could say Gryphal Greens… and yet, he wasn't sure if it'd be appropriate for a SOLDIER 1st Class to return to base with a Wutainese girl at his side. What to do, what to do…

Eventually he made his decision, he knew Shinra representatives wouldn't have liked his choice and with this single action he just might lose his position, but his honor wouldn't let him make any other choice.

She sat in the very back corner of the tent, her arms wrapped around her knees brought up closely to her chest. He had left her in there, promising to return with a meal, firmly ordering her to stay within the confines of the shelter or risk getting hurt or worse. Again the girl was confused and afraid of why he had let her live or brought her along with him, when he could have just as easily done what the infantrymen would have done.

Guilt began to eat at her for trusting him, it was going against everything she had been taught, but there was something about him that told her she could trust him. After all, he had saved her life, so the story that SOLDIERs were monsters solely out for blood and death were lies. That SOLDIERs were cruel and harsh, were also lies, because the large man that had brought her to their base had been very kind in his own gruff, but polite way.

Eventually, he returned as promised with a fairly large loaf of bread, chunk of cheese and a water canteen. He quickly closed the flaps to the tent then sat on his sleeping bag just two feet away from her, then slowly placed the rations of food on the fabric of his bag. Her hazel orbs timidly watched his every movement, still doubtful of whether he'd lash out at her. He hadn't said a word since entering the tent with her, and to be fair, she hadn't said a single word since encountering him in the first place, but she couldn't help the tiny whimper that escaped as she saw him pull out a small pocket knife.

"Its alright. I'm not going to hurt you." He said repeating himself from earlier, not upset that she was still fearful of him. He didn't blame her. He knew the nasty rumors spread about SOLDIER and he knew it got even worse in Wutai. He didn't blame her for her distrust in him, rather he thought she was fairly brave not have burst into tears at any moment, like a normal girl of her age. But then again, this girl wasn't quite like the six year olds in Banora or Midgar for that matter, this little one before him had seen the repercussions of the war and knew very well not to trust the enemy…and yet here she was. Patiently sitting in the tent like he asked of her, and not screaming or turning to hysterics.

He looked at her briefly then he slowed his movements as he lifted up the pocket knife to slice through the bread and cheese then set it out before him. He purposely made sure she saw that he was putting the knife far away from himself to show he truly did have no intention of hurting her. Ever so slowly he stretched his arm to hold out the canteen of water to her, knowing she had to be dehydrated, or at least parched, since he wasn't sure how long she had been running.

She looked at the offering then un-tucked her legs, crawling forward to snatch the canteen then retreat back to her little corner of the tent's safety, before timidly taking a few slow sips then quickly drank the cool liquid down in large gulps as a tiny dribble of the water dripped down her mouth and neck. Using the back of her hand, she wiped her lips then quickly placed the water container a foot away from her in the direction of the SOLDIER, then her eyes wandered to the pieces of bread and cheese. Her stomach rumbled earning a lighthearted chuckle from the man across from her, he in turn reached over lifting up the pieces of food towards her.

She looked at him again, wondering what had possessed him to feed her, as he contradicted the myth that all SOLDIERs were heartless. Then she moved forward again, moving even more slowly than before to get the food and yet, he sat there still as a stone waiting for her to slowly warm up to him. He didn't want her to be afraid of him. He hated to admit that he didn't like that people were sometimes afraid of him, children especially. And so, he made sure to be very careful with this girl, in a way treating her like a tiny bird that had to be eased into his hand.

He pulled his hand back once she took the food and returned to her corner…but not as far back as before. His lips twitched as he fought back the small smile of the tiny win, then looked down to take his own piece of food and eat. He figured that she'd be more at ease when she saw that he was eating the exact same thing as her. Briefly he closed his eyes as he bit into the rather bland piece of bread when he heard her voice at last, softly whisper out "Thank you."

He looked up after swallowing his food, then smiled as warmly as he possibly could. "You're welcome. My name is Angeal."

Then once again he was taken aback as he received a reply, further proving his slow efforts were taking effect.

"I'm Shina."

Okay so my plans for this is that its the same situation...just different characters and how they react to finding/rescuing Shina and those characters will be- Zack, Cloud, Sephiroth and Genesis.

Why? Because...I don't know...something else for me to concentrate on.

Reviews are greatly welcomed! And will get me to update much much much faster *hint-hint*!

~God Bless!~