Here I Stand, Here I stay

Disclaimer: I don't own Hellsing…Akira is mine though…

Description: She took it as a symbol…a symbol of her past, her present and her future.

Her long crimson hair flailed in the gentle breeze, she was sitting on the roof of the Hellsing mansion. Her eyes were closed and her pale skin glowed in the moon's mysterious light. She sighed a heavy sigh as she opened her red eyes and they shone in the dancing moon shadows. Her eyes found their way to the sky which was sheathed with the darkness that the night always seemed to bring. Her mind was deep in thought about her life. Her master, and her decisions. She leaned back on the palms of her hands and sighed again only this time it was more like a sigh of longing, longing for a smile upon her ruby lips, a smile she had never seen or felt, a warm smile that ensured she would always be happy.

"So here you are," His deep, mystifying and shadowy voice appeared behind her.

She stood up and dusted herself off. "How did you find me," She said as her distant eyes glanced into his. His eyes were much darker, a crimson, blood red color.

"Just a hunch," He smiled. "You always come up here when you need to think about things," He took a few steps towards her and sat down.

She looked down upon his black hair and his red trench coat.

Alucard looked up at her face and motioned for her to sit next to him.

She took a seat next to him and pulled her knees to her chest.

"Akira," Her name was spoken for the first time in a long time.

Akira averted her distant and emotionless gaze into his. "Yeah?" She asked softly.

"What were you thinking about?" He asked with his smooth, dark voice that she had heard so many times before but, for some reason she still never got tired of hearing it.

"Just…stuff…" She said her voice beginning to trail away from the conversation.

"What kind of stuff?" He wondered.

Akira stood up again. "Personal stuff…" She tilted her head to the side and smiled but, it wasn't that warm smile that she long for oh so very much. It was more of a far away smiled that made her appear that she was happy when really she was sad and hurt.

She turned away from him and interlocked her hands behind her back, averting her gaze once again to the dark night's sky.

Alucard stared at her from over the brim of his tinted glasses. He watched her as she walked towards the edge of the roof. He chuckled and stood up. Walking over to her he manipulated the wind to pick up, causing Akira to lose her balance and fall off the edge. "Akira!" In a swift motion he jumped off the edge and caught her.

"Master," She grasped his red trench coat. "I'm gonna die," She held tighter.

"Akira," He whispered softly against her ear. "We're standing on the roof,"

Akira opened one of her eyes and found that her feet were indeed planted on the roof. "Thanks Master, I owe you," She wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"Okay then, tell me what you were thinking about," Alucard said without hesitation, knowing that he could've used this chance for "better" reasons.

Akira rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Fine," She laughed and turned away from him. There was a two minute silence before she spoke. "I was thinking about…why…"

"Why…?" Alucard didn't know at all what she meant by "Why…"

"Yeah, why…I mean…why am I here? Do we all serve a purpose? And if the answer is yes…why?" Her voice trailed off and she appeared to be in a trance-like state.

Alucard placed his gloved hands upon her shoulders and pulled her to his body. "Why are any of us here, really? We all serve a purpose…its fate…" He sighed. "Destiny. What I'm saying is that before we're born our lives are already set for us. In other words…we don't control what happens in our future…" He rested his chin on the top of her head. Deep, was the only word to describe what he had just said. In all of her months in Hellsing her master had never said anything like that to her.

Alucard's hands were off of her shoulders and they now rested on her waist.

She blushed at this sudden contact. Why was he being so…strange and out of character? He wasn't being himself, why was he acting this way.

While she was in this thought, Alucard's hands moved once again from her hips, now to her neck and she felt cold metal and leather on her sensitive skin.

Alucard's mouth travelled to her ear and his voice spoke softly. "This collar shows everyone that you are mine, my servant…" He ran his long, slim fingers along the edges of the collar. "Good night, Akira," His voice vanished like the shadows at sunrise. "Until tomorrow night,"

Akira stood there, dumbfounded by what her master had just said and done. This collar shows everyone that you are mine, my servant? He really wasn't himself. She held her hands to her heart.

At least now she knew her place in life. It was here, here with her master, forever. It was here. "Here I stand, Here I stay," She whispered, closing her red eyes and she flashed a warm smile.