It had been a week since his mission. A full week without any sleep.

Even now he laid in his bunk staring up at the ceiling, the only noise being the light hum of the engines of the Daedalus and Yuki's small, steady breathing below.

Just the word kids brought their weeping, frightened eyes before him.

Shiro turned over in a vain attempt to silence their screams.

Nobody else ever mentioned the mission, even at chow. All they did was eat and exchange a few words.

Even Yuki never offered any reprieve, as though all was well and unchanged.

Whenever he looked at his hands he saw their blood clinging to them. No matter how hard he tried he could never wash it away.

One week with nothing but his thoughts.

. . . .

The five members of Joy Division stood at parade rest before the Captain on the bridge.

He looked them all over silently and stared at Shiro unblinking.

Shiro could barely see him with his vision so blurred from lack of sleep.

At last the Captain snorted, "As I said before you all performed admirably and beyond all expectations on the last op, as always." Raven smirked proudly standing a slight stiffer.

"However," The Captain continued taking no note of Raven, "One op will not win this war. We'll need you all to stay on status one alert. Be prepared to drop any second. Everyone but Jackal and Hound is dismissed."

Tiger cackled as the trio turned and began shuffling out.

On her way out Raven winked and patted Shiro on the shoulder whispering, "Good luck."

The silence between the three left on the bridge was heavy.

Shiro couldn't even muster up the strength to stand straight normally let alone now.

"Shiro!" The Captain yelled sharply causing Shiro to jump.

"You have one mission to perform and you already blew it! Your sole objective is to remain by Yuki's side and you couldn't even accomplish that!" The Captain hollered causing Shiro to begin to slump.

Yuki stepped forward standing straight.

"Sir it was on my order he abandoned his post, as such he cannot be held accountable for-" The Captain's face began turning red as he hollered even louder, cutting her off.

"That's yet another issue! I don't give a damn what the Lieutenant General sent you here for or how much 'authority' he's granted you! On my ship and under my ops you follow my goddamn rules! Is this clear Yuki?!"

Yuki gave a single sharp nod, unphased by the barrage.

The Captain's heavy gaze shifted to Shiro.

"And you Shiro?! Is my order to obey my commands and stay by her unclear in any way?!"

Shiro attempted to muster his strength and give a hearty response fell completely flat and resounded in a light wheeze of sheer exhaustion.

"No sir."

The Captain's eyes began to soften as he continued to look upon Shiro.

"Shiro, this was your first op was it not?" The Captain queried as he retreated back to his seat.

"Yes sir…it was." Shiro replied as his head began to hang low.

He couldn't help but think, And I didn't expect to kill kids on my first mission.

The Captain sighed as he nodded.

"I see, fresh out of boot and already facing the hardest choice a soldier can make. You made the right call Shiro. Good job." Shiro's eyes darted up as his breath caught in his throat.

His eyes immediately began to well up and blur.

"You went down there and accomplished your mission to the letter and with no special training. The Lieutenant General made the right choice picking you, don't doubt that."

The tears began to stream down Shiro's face as his hands shook violently behind his back.

Those kids screaming, being torn to shreds by his bullets.

Their frozen eyes staring at him.

And he was being rewarded with kind words.

"Yuki, his training begins today. Teach him everything." The Captain ordered.

Yuki hesitated but gave a sharp nod.

"Dismissed."

The two wordlessly began to walk down the empty hallway, the bridge sealed behind them.

Shiro suddenly froze in place, tears streaming faster and harder.

"No…" He whispered, his shaky hands balled into weak fists.

Yuki stopped and looked back at him over her shoulder.

"I…I didn't do a good job…They're dead…" He hissed bitterly. Yuki turning to face him.

"I KILLED THEM! THEY'RE DEAD! TELL ME I DID SOMETHING WRONG YUKI!" He screamed grabbing her collar, bawling.

"TELL ME YUKI! SAY I DID SOMETHING WRONG! TELL ME IT WAS WRONG! GOD PLEASE TELL ME THAT I MADE THE WRONG CHOICE!" Yuki stood in place looking down at him.

He released her collar and began to sink down to his knees, slumped over, weeping.

"Shiro." Her soft voice rang out into the empty hallway causing him to fall silent.

"I will not lie to you. You carried out an order and that is a good thing. My whole life that's what I was taught. To carry out orders. I won't tell you you did something wrong." He tensed up and stared at the floor.

"This can't be right Yuki...Don't you understand what happened?" He whispered, wiping his eyes and looking up to her.

She frowned and looked to the side.

"You carried out an ord-"

He cut her off with his scream, "THEY WON'T BE COMING BACK YUKI!"

She jumped lightly looking back down at him.

"They're dead…they aren't coming back…"

He looked back down but no more tears were left, he had cried all he possibly could.

"You're right Shiro. That's why we must accept what happened and move on, continue to fight for our own survival." She got down on one knee and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Yuki… When did you first take a life?" Shiro's hoarse voice escaped his lips as he wearily looked up to her, staring into her eyes.

Her gaze fell to the side and a sad expression crossed her face.

"It's…all I've ever known Shiro. All I've ever done." Shiro took a deep breath, slowing down his rapid panting.

"Then you've never heard the laughter of children playing or smelled the spring flowers in the cool breeze? Never felt the rush of…" He couldn't manage to say the word love. It was as though it were a foreign word he just couldn't pronounce.

Her face grew red as she stared at the ground.

"No…I've only known the smell of fire and death. I didn't know anything else until I met you…"

Shiro weakly pushed himself up and offered a hand down to her, causing her to look up.

"Then I'm going to show you it all Yuki. From now on I'm going to bring out Yuki and push away Jackal. I want you to live, not survive. I want you to…smile."

He couldn't manage to stop the heat rising from his cheeks but all he could do was promise her the one promise he would stop at nothing to fulfill.

And in that moment he saw a glimmer in the corner of her left eye as the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.

"Okay. One day show me that spring breeze." She grabbed his hand as he pulled her up.

Only when he pulled her up to inches away from him he saw that shimmer grew into a single tear which fell down her cheek.

His heart began to race as his hand began to go towards her cheek, to wipe it away before he caught himself.

She stepped back a step and wiped it herself, clearing her throat.

"Until that day, Shiro…I will train you to be as I am. A warrior. We'll began tomorrow. For today…please get some sleep." She swiftly turned and began walking off.

He stood in place, eyes wide.

She…She knew I couldn't sleep?!

. . . .

Once the two got to the room Shiro crawled to his bunk, and Yuki hers.

He pulled the letter to his mother from under his pillow, grabbing the pencil with it.

On the letter was one line, "Dear Mom, Today I went on my first mission and killed fifteen children"

He swiftly erased the line and began anew, "Dear Mom, All is well here and I made a new friend."

. . . .

Shiro slammed down on the padded floor of the practice room so hard his vision dimmed.

"You're dead." Above him stood Yuki who, like him, was covered in sweat from their long first session of training.

He slowly and painfully got back up, raising his fists.

He wore a white tank top and black shorts as did Yuki across from him.

"When you see me move you either adapt or retreat. Again."

With a stiff nod Shiro began to inch toward her as she stayed in place, watching.

He reached out for her right arm to attempt to restrain it.

In a flash she grabbed his outstretched wrist and pulled it up, landing two solid left hooks to his side.

As he coughed and wheezed she slid behind him.

He knew she would wrap her right arm around his neck and throw him over her waist.

Retreat or React!

He turned to face her wrapping his right arm around her waist and instead throwing her over his own waist.

The moment she slammed into the ground he threw a fist at her face and stopped just at the tip of her nose.

The sat panting staring at one another.

"Wooow! Look at Hound!" Raven's voice rang out from the entrance causing Shiro to jump up to his feet.

Yuki climbed back up to her feet and looked to Raven.

"What do you need?" She coldly asked.

"Well I heard little Hound was finally getting trained so I figured I'd see how it was going. Is that okay Jackal?" Yuki flinched at the word but otherwise remained stone faced.

"Do as you wish however you're distracting us." Yuki replied shortly.

"Anyway, here Hound," Raven tossed a circular object at Shiro.

He narrowly caught it and saw it was a smiley face patch.

"It's our unit's patch. Also, take the bar off your uniform, we're above ranks in this unit. Bye~" She turned and waved back.

Shiro's cheeks were red as he stared at the patch.

"That's the end of our session. We'll continue tomorrow." Yuki finally spoke, breaking the silence and walking to the door.

When she got to the doorway she froze and looked back to Shiro.

"Good job, you're learning quickly Shiro." She smiled and walked off.

He stood there alone.

His heart racing and his body felt as though it were flying.

He clenched the patch and smiled widely.

Another smile!

. . . .

Bam!

Shiro gasped as the lights above him blurred.

Yuki stood over him staring blankly.

"Again." She announced in a monotone voice.

He winced as he slowly stumbled back to his feet, his sweat soaked shirt weighing him down.

He raised his shuddering fists before him.

Yuki took a breath and raised hers.

One step at a time she began to advance toward him.

Shiro's eyes darted down at her right leg just as he dropped down and launched himself toward her leg, his outstretched arms moving to wrap around her to take her down.

Yuki immediately saw through him and hopped back a step causing him to fall on his stomach.

She then hopped on his back and snaked her left arm around his neck and brought her hands together, steadily pulling back and constricting him.

"Tap Shiro." Yuki ordered.

Shiro gasped and grabbed at her arm, shaking his head.

Yuki frowned and began squeezing tighter pulling him back further.

His lungs empty and no air getting in Shiro continued grabbing at her arm until everything went black.

He laid in the darkness when suddenly the mangled corpses of those children sat before him.

Blood pouring from their corpses.

His ears filled with their screams and gunshots rang out over them.

Shiro sat up gasping and throwing his hands over his face.

"Relax Shiro, you were passed out." Yuki's voice came from behind him.

Shiro continued panting as he turned around to look back at her.

"What…What happened?" He whispered hoarsely, his breathing beginning to slow back down.

"You did not tap so I choked you unconscious." She replied walking over to him with a water bottle in her hand.

He graciously accepted it and took a large swig.

"Why didn't you tap Shiro? I ordered you." Her intense stare burned through his retinas.

He took another swig, his cheeks burning.

He couldn't just say he wanted to impress her.

"I…was trying to fight." Yuki continued to stare at him when suddenly the door to the training room swung open.

"And here you two are as usual." The bright annoying voice of Raven rang out from the opening.

Shiro and Yuki looked over, Yuki wore a deep frown.

"What do you want Raven?" Yuki's unemotional voice asked.

"I think that Hound would benefit from more than just your fighting if he's supposed to take your place." Shiro's heart skipped a beat as he looked to Yuki who was glaring.

"Do not lie to him Raven." Yuki growled, her hands curling to fists.

Shiro looked from Raven to Yuki.

Her usual composure shattered.

Raven's right eye twitched, her smirk unmoved.

"Whatever, you know what I mean. I can outshoot anyone in this squad and he would benefit from learning from me." She shut her eyes and crossed her arms, her face seemed almost pained at the statement.

Yuki's glare was unchanged, but her fists uncurled.

"Go with her Shiro." Yuki growled, her eyes unmoving from Raven.

Shiro looked to Raven as his stomach dropped.

. . . .

Raven, Shiro, and Yuki stood before the Captain on the bridge.

Shiro stood at parade rest while Yuki stood with her hands at her sides and Raven had her hands on her hips.

The Captain looked at each of them in turn.

"So, you want to take him off the ship without her, which is explicitly against the orders of the Lieutenant-General?" He asked looking to Raven.

Raven gave a single nod.

"Yes, he cannot achieve his potential as the Lieutenant-General wants without the rest of the squad training him. Go ahead and ask him." She growled impatiently.

The Captain hummed to himself as he rubbed his chin.

"You get two hours. Two." He emphasized, holding up two fingers.

Raven smirked and crossed her arms.

"C'mon Hound, it's my turn." She chuckled as she grabbed his neck and began pulling him behind her.

Shiro looked back at Yuki who stood on the bridge and watched Shiro the whole way down the hall.

. . . .

The shuttle screamed towards the flat plains below before slowing and landing down softly.

Shiro and Raven stepped off the shuttle, looking across the flowing grasslands.

Shiro looked up at the Daedalus which lazily crept across the sky over them.

He then looked down to the knee-high grass.

"Here." Raven said causing Shiro to look over to her.

She had an outstretched arm with a regular wooden hunting rifle with a simple scope on it.

Slung across her back was her own massive rifle, with suppressor still fixed on the end.

Shiro grabbed the bolt action rifle and grabbed the bolt, pulling it back he saw the rifle was empty.

"Alright Hound, 300 yards across this plain there's a 12-inch wooden target. Take these rounds," she handed him a box of ammo "and load up your rifle."

Shiro fumbled with the rounds as he struggled to load them into the rifle.

"Wait! A 12-inch target 300 yards out there?! Are you crazy?!" He exclaimed causing Raven to roll her eyes.

He loaded the last round and closed the bolt, loading a round into the chamber.

"Here." She grunted and thrust a pair of binoculars into his chest.

He grabbed them and looked to her.

She pointed out across the plains and unslung her rifle.

He lifted the binoculars and zoomed in as far as he possibly could.

He could barely make out a small round target atop a hill across from them.

Suddenly a thunderous FOOM rang out and the target exploded.

Shiro was pushed a step back by the pure force that shot out from the end of her rifle.

He looked out from the binoculars at her massive rifle, smoke rising from the end of her barrel.

She smirked, kneeling and cranked back on the action of the rifle, a massive smoking cartridge was ejected and a fresh one loaded.

Shiro looked at her with his mouth agape.

She looked to him with a wink, "Now you do it."

He handed the binoculars and slowly unslung his own rifle.

He shouldered it and looked out at the field.

Raven looked to him with a frown and sigh.

"Have you never shot a rifle before?!" Shiro's face burned as he slowly shook his head.

"No, they don't train us in riffles during basic, only automatic rifles." Raven's frown softened but she shook her head.

"Lay down on your stomach, it provides the most stability between standing, crouched, and laying prone." Shiro nodded and laid down on his stomach with the rifle shouldered.

"Good now the end of the scope by your eye can be twisted to increase the magnification, twist it as much as needed." Shiro nodded again as Raven knelt beside him.

He twisted it all the way and looked through the lens.

He could still hardly see it!

"Good. Now, see this knob right here?" She asked and placed her hand on the knob placed on the right side of the scope.

Shiro nodded again.

"Unscrew that knob and there will be a dial beneath it." He reached up and unscrewed the cap which revealed the dial she mentioned.

"This dial turns clockwise and counterclockwise. This one determines up and down, while the dial on top changes left to right. You're going to twist it counterclockwise. Four clicks for twenty-five yards, eight clicks for fifty, and sixteen for one hundred. Now adjust it."

Shiro slowly began turning the dial.

The clicks were loud enough that he could count them.

He twisted it forty-eight clicks and screwed the cap back on.

"Alright, with it sighted in you're going to look through the scope and find your target. With your target in sight, breath very slowly and steadily. When you're finally ready take in a deep breath and slowly slowly exhale. When you're at the end of your exhale slowly squeeze the trigger."

Shiro nodded taking in a deep breath.

He looked through the scope as Raven brought the binoculars up to her eyes.

Shiro held the scope steady and breathed in deeply.

He held the crosshair steady over the center of the tiny target and slowly began to exhale.

Right at the end of his exhale he slowly began squeezing the trigger.

The crack of the rifle caused him to jump in surprise while Raven hummed to herself.

"You shot perfect, but your shot was low. Aim at the target again and aim about one inch higher."

Shiro breathed deeply and pulled back on the bolt, ejecting the round and then pushing another one in.

He readjusted himself and looked down the scope again.

With it dead center he slowly raised the rifle up an inch and began breathing in deeply.

As he exhaled he brought his aim up another half inch, Raven glanced over to him then back through the binoculars.

He once again slowly squeezed the trigger and jumped from surprise when it rang out.

"You nailed it! Bullseye Shiro!" Raven exclaimed with a wide smile.

Shiro laughed and laid his head down on the grass before him.

"I really like this rifle." He said with a wide smile as he slowly got back up to his feet and held the rifle out to Raven.

Raven smiled just as wide and shook her head, pushing the rifle back to him.

"No, keep it Shiro, you earned it. Let's go back."

Shiro nodded and boarded the shuttle with her.

. . . .

The shuttle touched down inside the hanger onboard the Daedalus as the door to the shuttle slowly opened.

Yuki stood in front of the open shuttle as the two came out chuckling.

She looked over to Shiro and to the rifle slung over his shoulder.

"Look! Raven let me keep this rifle!" He smiled and motioned to it. Yuki looked to Raven who winked at Yuki and walked past, out of the hangar.