Disclaimer: I don't own Junjou Romantica because it'd be too much like a Korean drama if I did. NOTE: this is the disclaimer for all chapters.

So this is my very first attempt at writing Hiroki x Nowaki. And a multi-chapter fic at that. Have fun reading.

Hiroki's hands trembled as he re-armed his rifle, bullets clinking smoothly into the barrel. It was late 1945, in the midst of World War II, and he'd been forced to travel to the Japanese island of Okinawa to fight against the American threat. Curse their "island-hopping" or whatever the English term was. Hiroki—contrary to what other people believed—wasn't as good at English as he hoped to be, even after all his...200-odd years of life. English was so troublesome at times…

He leapt up as an explosion sounded near him, remaining bullets dropping down to the sand as he moved further away from open ground, into the forest where hopefully he wouldn't be caught by any American troops. This was turning out to be a bloody battle; one of the worst in the Pacific since the war had begun. Hiroki could count at least twenty men he knew that had already fallen, bloody wounds gaping or the ugly red liquid dripping out of bullet holes lodged in chests or foreheads. Hundreds more he didn't know as well had also fallen. Say what he could about them; those Americans had pretty accurate aim.

His close friend from the barracks, Aoki Takamura, sidled up next to him, shooting down an American hiding unsuccessfully in the bushes at the same time. "Oi, Kamijou. How you holding up?" He was covered in dirt and sweat and blood—not his own, Hiroki hoped—but those twinkling eyes still held that sense of adventure, of mischief that had drawn Hiroki to him in the first place. He wasn't attracted to Aoki by any means—war didn't give a man much time for relationships and he kept his sexuality a secret—but the marksman was a loyal friend and could really help a guy whenever he was in trouble.

Hiroki scoffed as he and Aoki traversed the forest together, the cries and shouts of their fellow troops growing fainter as they left the beaches. "I've got a bleeding shoulder and I'm almost out of bullets. How do you think I'm doing?"

Aoki looked faintly wounded even if Hiroki knew it was just an act. "I show concern for my closest friend and this is what I get in return? For shame. Weren't you raised with manners?"

"Don't need them when it comes to you," Hiroki countered back.

"Ah! I'm wounded, Kamijou," Aoki aimed a crooked smile at his friend.

Hiroki was about to answer back when he heard the sound of twigs cracking somewhere in front of them. Eyes narrowed, he waved Aoki to stop and scanned the greenery ahead, not really catching anything out of the ordinary except for the sounds of birds chirping overhead. Stupid birds. Why were they still here?

Aoki had understood Hiroki's warning and slowly, carefully released the safety on his rifle, cocking it. Releasing a long breath, he raised his gun just slightly and Hiroki followed suit, his brown eyes darting back and forth along the brush to see for any enemies. There really was no telling where they would come from. In a second, a small force of American soldiers had exploded out of the green and opened fire. Hiroki ducked out of the way immediately and shot one of them to the ground, not knowing whether or not Aoki was still alive or not; there was no time for that right now.

Setting the release back on his gun, Hiroki let loose on another shot, catching one of the troops in the leg this time and making him fall to the ground with a loud yell. He swiped some sweat away from his forehead and reloaded his rifle in ten seconds, in the same moment that he pitched one of his knives into an enemy's chest, off-center but enough to make him fall. His eyes widened in slight panic as he realized that the sounds of their fighting must have reached the ears of more Americans, as their shouts and boots stomping against the forest floor came closer. Hiroki shot another soldier in the shoulder right as he heard a pained cry that sounded all too familiar.

As if he were in slow motion, Hiroki turned to see Aoki on the ground, clutching at his chest as blood dripped from a wound there, his face distorted in a grimace. His mind shutting down and his chest growing heavy, Hiroki ran over to his friend and knelt beside him, knowing that he wouldn't be able to ward off the remaining Americans anyways and knowing that he was going to die, right here. Aoki only managed to burble out some word that Hiroki couldn't even understand at this point before the light went out of his eyes and he was dead.

All of this had happened in the span of a few seconds, and as more American soldiers burst through the trees, guns ready and pointed straight at Hiroki, he surrendered. The feeling of being shot and dying wasn't such a novelty anymore now that he had felt it so many times before.

As Hiroki laid there, blood seeping out of his body in several places and those bloody American troops rushing past him, not even hesitating after they'd killed a man without so much as the blink of an eye, the light above him growing brighter and brighter until everything was aglow, he thought he could see the face of someone he once knew, high up in the sky where he couldn't reach him.

A/N: The actual plot will start in the next chapter; this just a prologue

-ChemicallyEnhanced