Salem: Hope you guys like this…Once again hope you review if you read the chapter! It's not that hard everyone! :D Oh! In this story (unlike the video) Rin only acts insane when she is in battle. She is not COMPLETELY insane. Just wanted to clear that up! One more thing. All characters in the story are GERMAN. I KNOW THEY HAVE JAPANESE NAMES, BUT IN THIS CONTEXT THEY COME FROM GERMANY. I KEPT THE NAMES SO YOU WOULD KNOW WHO THEY WERE. Thanks!

Ch 1: Worries and Warplanes

Rin peered through the window of the basement at the array of Nazi warplanes dotting the sky like giant insects. Their rhythmic hum rattled the glass inside the pane and made her think of each beautiful song she knew as she tapped her foot to the beat of each, singing them softly to herself as she cleaned around the room.

"Rin why have you not hidden yourself?!" A voice cried from behind her.

Rin gasped and spun around. A slender woman a good head taller than her in a long white coat stood at the top of the stairs that led down into the basement. Her extensive aqua hair was tied into two lengthy pony tails and her legs were covered with a tight fitting fishnet lace. She wore square glasses that were perched dexterously on the tip of her nose. They made her look sharp as well as vaguely unapproachable.

"Madam Miku!" Rin exclaimed. "P-Please forgive me! I was just cleaning like you asked!"

Miku stomped down the stairs and growled, only pushing Rin further over the edge and into her pool of horror. "I don't want to hear excuses you rat!" She spat taking the cleaning cloth from Rin's hands and chucking it to the side. "When the Nazis fly over, you grab the gun and get in the corner! Who knows when they'll repel down to the ground?! We have to be prepared you idiot!"

Rin swallowed her tears and turned around. She gave a small nod to her master and sulked heavily to the dusty corner. A small, blocky, handgun sat concealed behind the stiff bristles of her broom and she picked it up. The grip of the pistol was too large for one of her elfin hands to hold, so she had to stabilize the weighty weapon with both of them. As commanded, Rin slid down the wall and sat alone amongst the dust in the corner. The hum outside was growing louder as the warplanes shot over the sky unequivocally above the residence. Miku pulled her own personal firearm, a hardwearing German Erfurt Luger that Rin had always admired, out of her pocket and slid charitably around to the side of the staircase. She peered up over the weather-beaten wood of the stairs at the cherry oak door she had left cracked open. Rin batted a cobweb out of her tresses and adjusted the white ribbon that tied it back. Miku was quite an intriguing character. She had raised Rin from the time she was a small child and, for as long as Rin could bear in mind, Miku had made it her obligation to exterminate all Nazis in the German province. She reviled them with such a smoldering fervor, that she had even created a clandestine organization of Nazi killers known as the Second Race. Thinking of her master's union made Rin's curiosity climax. She had never been allowed to enter any of the Second Race assemblies, but had listened to them through the closed doors of the domicile. Rin swallowed and tried to remember every Nazi name she had heard, but she could not bring her mind to function. Just the thought of coming face to face with a Nazi combatant made her green about the gills. Miku had reminded her many a time that the Swastika had once been a symbol of harmony and freedom, but the Nazi warriors had turned it into an emblem that provoked the thought of bereavement and annihilation.

A loud bang upstairs caused the two to jump. Rin cried out in shock and flew across the room to Miku who had tensed like a viper. The blue-haired woman thrust Rin against the wall and threw herself over her in a cogently shielding flounce. She aimed her Luger at the door and squinted from behind her glasses as she tried to lock onto a firm target. Tears began to well up in Rin's eyes as she choked on her own alarm from behind her master's long white cloak. A lone drop grazed the tip of her nose and fell onto Miku's sleeve, leaving a small dark patch.

"W-What is it?" Rin's voice trembled as she spoke. "N-N…Nazis?"

Miku drew a finger to her lips to silence the petrified house maid. Several sets of heavy footsteps pounded on the floorboards above them, drawing ever closer to the door. Miku's hand flew down and tore the clip from her pistol. She held it up to her face and checked to see if it was fully loaded. A vacant spot near the top where a shell should have neatly rested caught her attention.

"Rin give fetch me a bullet!" She whispered. "Quickly, child!"

Rin fumbled to pull the well secured clip from her gun. Her fingertips felt as though they were anesthetized and her hands became persistent to air their pitiable quake. She felt around the bottom of the clasp for a notch and grabbed gracelessly at it before yanking it out. Several silver shells spilled to the floor due to her gaucheness, each with a mellifluous tink like a miniature wind chime blowing in a gentle zephyr. Miku gasped and pushed Rin to the ground.

"Pick them up!" She hissed crossly as she clicked her staple back into the firearm.

Suddenly and without forewarning the footsteps ceased and a wraithlike stillness flooded the crypt. Rin stopped retrieving the tiny projectiles and stared down at the inexpressive terrazzo. She dared not move as her heart began to beat up into her throat. She felt her whole body ice over as a muffled creak sounded above her. Miku had shifted her weight forward to get a better view of the door and the pressure from her boots had popped a nail from one of the boards. Miku didn't appear nervous. Rin narrowed her eyes and noticed that she actually seemed wound up like a time bomb. Her exhilaration was visibly flowing in waves of sheer adrenaline over her body as she tapped her trigger impatiently with a finger. How an incident that may lead to demise could even begin to feel a tiny bit electrifying, Rin would never know. Miku had always been cold hearted but she had never noticed exactly how immense her absurd craving for Nazi blood really was.

"M-Miku! Miku come upstairs hurry!" A voice screamed from up the staircase.

Miku's eyes shot wide and she dropped her pistol to the floor with a loud thunk. "Gumi?! Is that you?" She bounded over Rin and flew up the steps with her white cloak flaring behind her like a fan. Rin flinched as she threw open the door with a swift flick of her palm. "Gumi I'm coming!"

Rin gasped and dropped the bullets she had been clutching in her fist. She narrowed her eyes and grabbed Miku's pistol before sprinting after her master.

"Master it is not safe! Nazis are about!" She cried as she burst through the door.

Immediately after Rin had done so she stopped dead in her tracks, nearly tripping over her own feet when she saw Miku. She stood a few feet away from the doorway crouched over a girl in a bright red jacket that jutted shaply at the shoulders and crisp white shorts. Her peach colored hair was tied back and neatly combed, but various twigs and oak leaves were strewn about her fine threads, suggesting that she must have had to cross through the wood behind the residence. She was conscious, but seemed brutally traumatized. The other girl above her tried frantically to calm the scared woman, her flamboyant green hair barely skirting the lashes of her eyes as she toyed with the silken ribbon tied around her ginger chemise. Rin recognized her immediately. She was a former cat-burglar who traveled the German countryside in search of anything she could get her filthy, orange gloved hands on. She wasn't the best marksman when it came to shooting, but her speed and stealth made up highly for her atrocious aim. No one knew her real name and when she joined the Second Race, she instructed Miku to only call her Gumi.

Miku helped the peach-haired girl sit up and brushed her off as she panted. "Iroha listen to me…Forget the Nazis who chased you!" She placed her hands determinedly on Iroha's jaw line as she spoke. "Did you get the pictures? The pictures are what matter right now!"

Iroha took in big gulps of air. She used a shaky hand to open her messenger bag strapped tightly around her chest. It was unexciting, dilapidated, and covered in a solid coating of clay rich soil and shrubbery. Rin gasped. Something inside the bag wiggled around and writhed like a pile of snakes. Rin reviled any kind of serpent! Iroha undid the square wooden button and tugged the flap open. As she did so, something black and fluffy poked its velvety face out of the biggest pocket and gave a soft mew. Rin grinned with enchantment. It had been years since she had seen a domestic cat and she longed to run her fingers through its soft, sleek, coat.

Iroha frowned and dumped the cat out of her bag. "Charlotte! Get out of my bag! You'll ruin all of our photos!" She retrieved a slim stack of lustrous black and white photos from underneath Charlotte's soft pink pads and brushed her shedded fur from their surfaces.

Miku grinned and snatched the pictures from Iroha's hands. "Yes! Now we can finally put them on our hit list!"

Gumi laughed and helped Iroha from the floor, extending a friendly hand down to her and hoisting her up. "We went through all nine levels of Nazi Hell to get those Miku. You had better figure out who they are fast."

Iroha nodded angrily. "We were chased away from the camp! For the first time since our run in with that Field Marshal at Buchenwald I was scared for my life! This was even worse than the fire fight at Arbeitsdorf!" She crossed her arms irately and pursed her lips.

Miku rolled her eyes and studied the prints closer. "Will you two just shut up already?"

Gumi stuck out her tongue in an acerbic, taunting motion. "I don't see you doing anything Boss!" She continued.

Miku squeezed her eyes shut. "Schnauze! Lass mich arbeiten du Idiot!" ("Shut up! Let me work you moron!" In German.)

Being scolded in her native language was enough to suppress Gumi's fit of superciliousness. She sighed and leaned against the wall, plucking few pictures from the stack and mumbling things to herself as she studied. Iroha, a French woman who did not recognize a single consonant of the German language, stood vacantly before the two.

"Boy am I glad we all know English! If we didn't all have a common language we would all be so bemused!"

Rin watched in absorption as Miku spread the numerous portraits across the miniature end table they ate at in the middle of the room. The photos were of assorted men and women, all wearing the idiosyncratic black cap and garments of the easily distinguished Nazi officer. Each bore a Swastika just below their left shoulders.

Iroha scooped up Charlotte tenderly by her chest from the floor and examined them alongside Miku and Gumi. "Which one do you think is him?" She whispered in a disgusted tone.

Rin took a step forward. "W-What are you talking about?" She inquired softly. It was a great risk to try and join in on a Second Race banter, and she knew it well.

Miku sighed and slammed her palms down on the table. "Rin go clean the kitchen! This does not concern a house maid!"

Gumi snorted. "Oh give it a rest Boss! If the girl wants to help, let her!"

Iroha nodded in concordance. "One more trigger happy member should do it! Is she German? Or French maybe?" Her eyes lit up at the striking thought of not being the only foreign one in the lineup anymore.

Rin cautiously walked forward and joined her superiors. "I-I'm German…I come from the town of Berlin. I don't remember much of it though since I was separated from my family when I was three years old …"

Miku gave a conceited grunt. "They know that you stupid girl! I've told them everything from the town to me raising you."

Rin rubbed her shoulder, discomfited. "I-I wasn't sure…."

Gumi and Iroha both smiled at her, attempting to wash away her reservations.

"Don't be embarrassed!" Iroha let go of Charlotte's hind quarters to tousle Rin's golden hair, and the feline gave a mew of surprise in return. "Welcome to the team sweetie!"

Miku shook her head. "She has every right to be disgraced Iroha! She doesn't know a thing about any of the Nazis!"

Rin frowned as an impenetrable splash of antagonism flooded over her. It was so abrupt and controlling that it shocked even her and blinded her for a few swift moments. She clutched the grip of Miku's gun tightly in her fist, trying with all her force not to point it at her master. Instead, she chucked the gun down hard onto the tabletop.

"I know more than you think Madam Miku! I'm not some uniformed peasant!" She yelled heatedly. "I know about every concentration camp!" She glared down at the photographs. "I see all of those Officers in the daily paper when I go into town for your supplies and meats! I know each one of them down cold!"

All three of the women spun around and stared at the petite house maid in trepidation.

"Rin…You know them? Y-You know their names?" Miku breathed at a snail's pace.

Rin felt her fury gradually subsiding. "Erm…yes?" Miku's sudden change of disposition astounded her.

Miku wrapped her arm around Rin and drew her closer to the table, refusing to take her eyes off of her. "Don't tease me child…Can you please identify each of them for us?"

Rin swallowed and looked at the pictures. She gave a tiny nod and pulled five of them from the main group, setting them aside.

"These five are field officers. They look after the camp when the head is away." She pointed to two women, each with fine features and long hair. "These two are Megurine Luka and Lily. They man guns with this girl over here," she pointed to a stern woman with short dark hair, "Meiko Sakine, the main punishment officer. She tortures those who choose to defy the Aryan Race."

Gumi ran her fingers through her hair. "What about the other two?"

"The other two officers are named Sonika, the really tough gunman who guards the officer's quarters, and Kamui Gakupo who oversees the search towers…He seemed pretty standoffish when I read about him in the paper…"

Rin pushed the photos to the side and grabbed one of a lean man with a gold star pinned to his cap. "This is Kaito Shion. I think he may be a second in command to the person who runs the camp…Sort of like a Field Marshal."

Iroha clasped her hand over mouth and pointed to the last picture. There was a lengthy pause. "Then…Miku that must be him!" She cried from behind her palm.

Rin raised an eyebrow. "Erm…I don't know who that one is…Who is he exactly?" She picked up the print between her fingers and held it up to the daylight that was streaming through one of the open windows like a golden waterfall.

The man in the photo looked to be barking out some kind of command and wore a sinister expression. His hirsute blonde bangs covered what appeared to be a black patch over his right eye, and a long thin scar had been engraved over the bridge of his nose. His cap was on crooked and he looked severely deprived of rest. Rin couldn't even understand how he was able to keep himself awake. It would take a lot of Weihenstephaner to keep someone going that long…

Miku gritted her teeth. "It looks like we've finally found you buddy." She growled to the photograph even though it wasn't the real person.

Rin tugged on her sleeve. "Excuse me, but who is he?" she asked again.

Miku turned to the rest of the Second Race, ignoring her maid. "We've found our target girls! Pack for the next week and be sure to bring enough ammunition this time. I'm talking to you Iroha!"

Iroha's shoulders slumped in dishonor and she gave a shamefaced smile. "I'll be prepared this time…I promise." She mumbled.

Gumi stretched in overconfidence. "This will be as easy as marrying a rock!" she chuckled.

With that the three broke off and began to prepare for whatever mission lay before them, leaving Rin completely confused in their wake. She looked back down at the photograph. The mystery officer wasn't all that bad to look at and the fervor in his only good eye intrigued her, only making her want to know more and more about his origin. Rin sighed and folded the picture, stuffing it half heartedly into her pocket.

"H-Hey! I want to help too!" She chased after Iroha, who she had finally decided she had trusted the most. "I-Iroha can I help you with anything?"

Iroha glanced around. "Umm...Erm...Oh! Here you can hold Charlotte for me!" She gently handed the black cat to Rin and showed her how to support her body.

Rin grinned as she scratched the back of the feline's neck, causing her to purr. "Thank you Iroha...You seem really nice."

Iroha smiled back at her. "It's my plesure! She seems to really like you sweetie!"

Rin nodded and sighed. "Iroha?"

"Yes?"

"Who is that man in the picture?"

Iroha turned around. Her happy expression had faded and was replaced by a white and ghostly facade. "He is a horrid person driven by the sight of fresh, non-Aryan blood running through his fingers. He uses a sword to slay all in his path be they women, men, or even children..."

"R-Really? He sounds ruthless." Rin breathed, readusting Charlotte who was begining to fidget in her arms. "Will we see him?"

Iroha raised an eyebrow. "We? Honey you have to stay here. This camp is far too dangerous for someone as frail as you to invade. I like you as a person Rin, but you must understand something; Nobody is indestructable."

Iroha gave her a sad smile and went back about her work, leaving Rin and Charlotte alone once more. Rin pursed her lips in frustration. Miku had been her master and adopted mother for years! She couldn't let her walk to her death! She glanced over at the Luger beakoning to her on the table. It seemed she would have to defy the one she loved so dearly and take matters into her own hands.

Hope you liked this chapter…I use a lot of German terminology… Weihenstephaner is a German alcohol brand in case you didn't know. Anyway hope you enjoyed ;3 Please review if you read! Thank you!

With love,
~Lady-Salem