A/N: Ok, I confess that this one is a bit campy, but I was in the mood to be campy. I wanted to lighten the mood just a touch, try some light romance. I don't know if it is as good as watching Anderson slicing a person to pieces, but I want to be well rounded.

Yada yada, disclaimer, yada yada yada, Hellsing, WHR, yada yada.

Integra awoke lying on the cold metal of the air duct. She looked around, wondering where she was for a moment. Then it all came back to her: the abduction, the escape.

And the kiss, the blending of blood. She sat for a moment, and found that even without her glasses she could see well enough, though the colours were a bit muted, edges blurred. She heard the slight rasp of cloth on metal, and Alucard came around the corner. He saw her and hung his head.

"Forgive me, I had to check on our entry point. I thought I had heard the grate open."

She shook her head, dismissing the apology. "It's alright; you did what you thought prudent at the moment." She stretched, feeling an odd strength in her muscles and a strange additional awareness to her world. "Alucard," she said.

"The effects will wear off in another hour." He looked at her, his usual smirk on his face. "It is exhilarating, isn't it?"

She nodded. Was this what Seras had felt when she awoke?

And every waking moment, my Master. It is the gift we are bestowed in exchange for taking on the curse.

She looked at him, hearing the undercurrent of sorrow in his voice. What is it?

He looked at her, and she could see that he was debating on what to tell her. It is, he started, then broke off for a moment, considering.

She slid forward and took his hand in hers, feeling the power under the material of his gloves. She gave it a light squeeze. After all that we've been through, is there so little that you can tell me that I would find odd? she asked.

He smiled. It is an after effect of a long life, he said. When one lives as long as I have, you have watched countless generations slip into old age, friends and enemies alike falling to the grip of Death. One begins to shield himself against possible pain that it brings.

She realized what he was saying. In all those years, you have held yourself aloof, apart from the others. To protect yourself.

He nodded. "And such protection tends to lead towards certain feelings that are best left buried."

She looked at him. "You're lonely," she said.

He smirked. "I am hardly ever alone," he said. After all, with the Police Girl and my work with Hellsing, but one does tend to miss the more esoteric aspects of life."

She suddenly understood his position, and understood more fully the aspects of the curse he was under. And why he chose to work for her organization. She had long known that while his will may be linked to hers, she no more controlled him that she would control a thunderstorm. He chose to work for her, her family, because it would provide a measure of stability, of constancy.

And she realized the depth of that loyalty when she thought about the twenty years he spent in the dungeon. Twenty years without blood, without human contact. Because he knew what was required of him.

She pulled him in and held him much as she had been held when she was younger.

"We will get out of this," she said softly. "And there are a good number of years left on my life. Plenty of time to live."

Hunter walked across the garden, taking in the smells of the cherry blossoms and the mint, the various smells of the British spring. He was thinking back across the events of the last several days. As usual, when mixing with Alucard and Walter, life got to be hectic.

And unusually thought provoking. His conversation with Seras wouldn't leave his mind. She was very fond of him, he could sense that much, and he certainly felt something in return. But she worried about what would happen after this mission would end. He knew, from a lunchtime talk with Walter and the talk they had at the club, that she had been rather fond of a young mercenary named Pip. But he had died in a FREAK raid some months back, saving her from an attack, he found out from Walter. She said that he had just left abruptly.

Poor girl, she doesn't have it easy at all. He stopped to light a cigar and gaze out across a small reflecting pool. And now she's afraid to get close to anyone else in case they 'leave' as well.

He heard the quiet swish-brush of skirts behind him and turned to find Robin coming up. She smiled softly at him, "Am I disturbing you?"

"Not at all," he said, offering her his arm out of gentlemanly courtesy. She took it lightly and they walked about the reflecting pool. "What can I do for you, Lady Sena?"

"I wanted to ask what you meant earlier." She looked out at the various flowers and trees. "You said 'it's begun' when you woke up, but what is it? What's begun?"

He looked down at her. "Robin, you're what, seventeen?"

She smiled softly. "Barely. Another three months."

He echoed her smile. "And so mature for the age. And yet, despite your maturity, your experience with the STN-J, you knowledge of the Craft, and the months on the run with Amon, you have such little knowledge of depravity." He walked on in silence for a few moments. "Especially the depravity that my father is capable of."

She let it roll around in her mind for a few minutes, the first lap around the pool ending. A small bird flitted to the ground in front of them, pecking the ground and taking off with a small twig. "I suppose," she said. "But it doesn't answer my question."

Hunter laughed. "Such tenacity. Alright then," he looked at her with a serious face. "You were raised in a monastery, correct?"

"Yes,"

"And I assume you learned the Scriptures while there, right?"

"Of course,"

"So you've heard of the Last Battle."

"Anyone who reads the Bible has."

Hunter looked sidelong at her. "So what would you say if I told you that we were headed for the last battle now?"

She gasped.

"Not The last battle, mind you. But even as Good and Evil will come to face each other in the end, good and evil will face each other within families, within times. The last battle between the monster that is my father and the humble, oft battered fighter that is myself." He stared at a rose bush beginning to bud. "It is the only way to keep him from carrying out whatever foul scheme he has set up."

She nodded. "So what are you and Seras going to do when it is all over?"

He looked at her. "I thought you were a firestarter," he said. "Not a telepath."

She gave another of her soft smiles. "Anyone with eyes can see the way she looks at you. But you, you hide things so well behind that mask of genteel civility and sarcasm that it is difficult to tell what you are thinking."

He shrugged. "It's a habit. You may not know this now, but when you live a while and people start dying around you, you tend to close yourself off to keep from getting hurt. You can ask Amon about this as well." He gave her a smile that a wolf might give a lamb. "What are you and Amon going to do when this is over?"

"I asked you first," she said.

"Mine for yours?" he asked. She nodded.

"I don't know. I haven't really sat down and thought about what it is I feel. There is something there, certainly, but what it is," he shrugged again. He dropped the stub of his cigar to the ground and stepped on it to put it out. He then picked it up and pulled apart the twisted leaves and scattered them about a bed of mulch. "I was out here thinking about that, as a matter of fact. I was thinking about having a bit of dinner with her tonight before we set out a battle plan."

She nodded. "I would leave the battle plan out of it for now," she said. "She may be a vampire and a commander in a military group, but she is a woman. All work and no play will make Jill a dull girl," she paraphrased.

He looked down at the deceptively mature woman on his arm. "And what about you? You promised to spill your story, miss witch."

She glanced back at the manor. "Amon and I have grown close. It isn't a relationship in the sense that we've declared our feelings for each other, but we've acknowledged that they exist. At times, I wish that he would come out and say what he feels, but with Amon,"

"It's like hoping that Atlantis would rise from the bottom of the ocean floor." Hunter laughed. "You are lucky to have a good man like that, Robin. He'll hang the moon and stars for you."

She smiled. "I know, but every woman hopes for romance every now and again. But when you're on the run, it's a luxury that you give up."

She loosed her arm from his. She fixed him with a look, penetrating but soft at the same time. "Don't let your past be your future. Tomorrow hopes that we learned something from yesterday."

He frowned for a second. "Confucius?" he said.

"John Wayne."

He looked at her in mock horror. "Don't tell me that he made you watch those movies. You have to run, child, run before it's too late."

They both shared a laugh about that. Hunter brushed the bit of ash off the front of his shirt and looked at the house. "I guess I'll go and get to know our resident vampress," he said.

Walter was tidying about Integra's office when there was a slight grating sound. He turned and saw Alucard and Integra sliding into being behind him. She was dirty, her suit soiled and torn, cobwebs in her hair, but she looked hale and hearty.

"Sir Integra!" he said, going to her to greet her. "Welcome back. We have been most worried about the both of you."

"Where is Hunter?" she asked. "His father is the one behind all this."

"Ah, yes. We know. He was assaulted himself not too long ago and was rendered comatose for several hours. He recently recovered and has been debating what to do." He looked at Alucard. "I would have thought that Lord Alucard would have informed you as to this."

Alucard looked at him. "We were somewhat busy escaping capture and waiting on the sun, Walter. And we found," he glanced down at Integra, and Walter noticed for the first time that they had their hands linked. "Other things to talk about."

The old man smiled. "Of course. I'll take my leave then and prepare something to eat. I expect you are both rather famished. An hour?" he asked, looking at Integra.

She looked down at her clothes and the ends of her hair. "And a half. I want to take a long hot shower and rid myself of this filth first."

"Of course, Sir Integra." He left, going to fix a pot of tea and some sandwiches. As he descended the stairs to the kitchen, he smiled. It was about time those two confessed their feelings towards each other.

There was a quiet tap at her door. Seras turned, surprised. "Come in," she said.

Hunter poked his head in through the door. "Am I disturbing you?" he asked.

"Not at all," she said, gesturing towards the chairs on either side of the table in the center of her room. "Do come in."

He sat in the chair, and noticed the pendant he had given her the night before was draped around her neck, glinting slightly in the light. "Alucard and Sir Integra are back," he said. "I just came back from speaking with Alucard about the defenses they have in place."

"How strong is it defended?" she asked.

"Not too terribly strong," he said. "But that wasn't what I came down to see you about."

Seras cocked her head and her eyebrows a bit. "What then?" she asked.

He reached out and took her hand in one of his. He reflected on the calluses on the ends of her fingers and the back of her palm. Bracing against the kick of the cannon, he thought automatically.

"Seras," he paused. He was usually good with words. But this wasn't just words, this was something a bit more. "I, um,"

She was around the table, leaning over him, her lips pressed against his, silencing them as she wrapped her arms around his neck and settled her hip against the table top.

Heh, I guess you took the words right out of my mouth, Police Girl, he said.

Shut up, Thanatos. Just shut up.

Yes, ma'am, he said, returning the kiss.

"You think he took your advice?" Amon asked, playing with a ringlet of her hair that had come loose from the ribbon she wore it in.

Robin looked up from the comfortable place she had nestled against. They were both stretched out on the bed in Amon's room, letting Seras have some privacy and spending some quiet time alone.

"What do you think?" she asked, setting her head against his chest again. "I told him the same thing I told you a week into our running."

Amon kissed the top of her head. "You didn't have to set his jacket on fire, did you?"

"No, he is a bit more open minded than you were, Sempai. Now hush," she said, closing her eyes. "I just want to enjoy the quiet for a while."

Walter walked into the room with a tray and nearly dropped it. Standing against the window overlooking the grounds was Sir Integra, neatly cleaned and groomed.

Or rather, Lady Integra stood against the window. She was clothed in a long skirt in a muted olive and a blouse of off white. Her hair was worked into a loose tail. When she turned, her customary ascot and pin were in place, as was the fire in her eyes. But even her face seemed to be tempered, softer.

"I must say, Lady Integra," he said, using the title that he had not for nearly a decade. "That whatever transpired between you and Lord Alucard must have been an experience."

She smiled at him, taking the teacup from him as he handed it to her. "I, understand him a bit better now, Walter. Understand why he is the way he is." She looked out at the gardens again. "And for some reason I can't explain, I feel more at ease with myself by admitting to myself what I felt."

Walter set the small plate of sandwiches on her desk. "I must say, sometimes confessing to yourself can be one of the most beneficial healing works. You always did take things a bit seriously. I know that you had to do it at the start, but I had always wished that you would return to a more relaxed attitude at one point."

She eyed him over the teacup. "You could have told me this yourself, Walter."

He shrugged. "I didn't feel like it was my place to say. You had your reasons for working the way you did. Who am I to say that those methods weren't the correct way?"

She set the teacup down and picked up one of the sandwiches, chewing for a moment. "I suppose you are right. I might not have seen what you were saying in any case. But as for this," she said, gesturing at her attire. "This is merely for today. I decided to follow everyone else's example and take a day to recover, to leave myself behind for a while. All work and no play,"

"Makes for a dull Miss Hellsing," purred Alucard as he phased into the room.

She whirled on him. "I thought I had made it clear to you as to the proper methods of entering my office," she said with the iron in her voice that had made her such a feared enemy.

He spread his gloved hands. "I do apologize, Master. Old habits die hard."

Walter cleared his throat. "I do believe I'll take my leave. Lord Alucard," he said as he left.

Integra looked at the vampire that settled into the chair across her desk from her. "I had truly hoped that we would not have this discussion again," she said, eyes hard.

Alucard raised a hand in a placating gesture. "Please, do forgive me. I merely wanted to continue our rudely interrupted conversation from the other night." He took in her attire. "You look rather like that hot tempered little girl that was chased by her uncle into my cell," he said, his voice in the earnest tones that he held in the air duct.

She brushed a hand against the pleats in her skirt, hoping that her hair would hide the slight flush that had come to her skin. "It's one of the few skirts I own. Did you mean what you said earlier?"

"Which part?" he asked. "I said quite a few things."

"About not wanting to get close out of fear. I thought there was little that you were afraid of."

He nodded, the dark silk of his suit contrasting his pale skin. "And indeed, a pain that I cannot heal and cannot escape is something that I fear. Any reasoning creature would fear it. Death in battle, death of a comrade, those are dangers a warrior faces in war. But the death of a part of him he never even knew he had, that is something that even I have no wish to experience."

She looked at him. He was still cocky, still the upstart vampire that had caused headaches in the past, but now that she had cracked into his shell, she saw the softer side that he had tried to bury beneath the veneer of an insane, cackling monster.

"I have to ask," she said, in a voice that seemed out of place against the memories Alucard had of her, a voice that seemed more suited to a fourteen year old girl. "If you were human, what would you do?"

He eyed her closely. "I've never considered the question," he said truthfully.

She came and sat on the arm of his chair, leaning her head against his. "I have," she said. "I think that if it weren't for the vampire/Hellsing standpoints,"

"We would have done this years ago?"

She smiled. Indeed.

I agree, he said, drawing her into his lap. You told me the other night that you didn't want to loose me. You spoke from a standpoint of a friend and commander. I now speak from a place closer than either. Were I to loose you, it would be my end.

She was shocked. "Even if it meant you were free?"

He looked at her, hand cradling her face. "Because it would mean that I failed in my duties. And I am a sore looser." He gave her a wide smile. "As some of our enemies have discovered."

She leaned back against his shoulder. "Do you think that they will attack tonight?" she asked, all business, wanting his opinion.

"No," he looked out at the low sitting moon, just now rising. "I think this is the calm before the storm. In either case, it is not our fight," he said, looking down at the floor. "It is Hunter's. He is the one that will face Valar, and is the only one Valar will fight now."

"The rest of us are just minor players now."

Hunter looked up at Seras. She was grinning from ear to ear, enjoying herself tremendously. He was glad, so was he.

At least, as much as you can when your arm is being twisted up behind your back, he reflected.

He tried to get some leverage against her, but she stayed close enough to him that all he managed to do was get himself trapped against the wall. With his cheek on the cold stones, he mumbled out "Give up yet?"

She giggled. "No, I think I can take a bit more." She kicked one of his feet, setting them a little further apart in a police frisk position. "Your own fault for tickling me," she said.

"I can get out of this anytime I want, you know," he said, face still pressed against the wall.

"Right," she said.

She was suddenly leaning against the wall, her hand held out. Before she could regain her balance, she was grabbed from behind and picked up. Hands dug into her lower ribs, fingers seeking out those spots they had found by mistake only minutes before.

She shrieked, trying to free herself, but she couldn't concentrate enough to turn into a mist like he had. She could barely breathe through the laughter. She kicked against the wall, sending them both back. The back of his legs hit the low edge of her bed while her head cracked against the lid. They fell in, Seras landing on the control switch, shutting the lid.

"As dear as this is," he said, somewhat muffled. "Could you please remove your boot from my nose?"

"Sorry," she said, shifting about as best she could in the cramped confines of the coffin. The control pad had slid down under the mattress, and she groped around for it. A pair of hands took her by the waist and she automatically jumped, trying to get away from the grip.

Jumpy?

Just a touch, she thought. But you can hardly blame me, you know.

He chuckled. True, but I'm going to behave this time. Scout's honor.

Seras let him pull her in to his side, laying her head on his chest and throwing an arm across his body. She started to close her eyes when a thought started knocking on her mental door.

Wait a minute...

Too late, he thought, tickling her again.

As she tried to get free from his grip, she made a mental note not to let scouts honor work for someone who had grown up hundreds of years before the Boy Scouts had even existed. Fiend, she thought.

Ah, who are you fooling? he thought, stopping and rolling onto his side, facing her. Though the coffin was pitch black, they could see each other perfectly well, either by mental images or the heat signatures they gave off. There isn't anything you can do about it and you have to admit, this is the most fun you've had in a while.

She jabbed him hard in the stomach, trying to sound more upset than she really was. I hardly call being tickled till you can't breathe fun.

I agree. Truce?

I don't trust you, she thought.

Promise, this time. Cross my heart. He leaned forward and pecked her on the nose. You can shoot me if I tickle you this time. He leaned back, pulling his hands up to where she could see them.

Come back here, she thought, grabbing his collar. She kissed him again, and then just wrapped her arms around him, settling in to enjoy the quiet moment, so rare in her line of work.

He twitched as her hand slid across his stomach. Oh, ticklish as well, are we?

No, not at all. You just hit a sore...Ah!

Turnabout is fair play, after all. However, five minutes later, after several more attacks and retaliations, they were just laying there, holding each other, too tired to do anything more than just lay there. She couldn't remember the last time she had enjoyed her self this much.

Well, at least since Pip, she thought.

Tell me about him. Hunter thought at her.

Not much to tell. He was a bit annoying, always picking on me, but for some reason,

It didn't truly bother you?

Stay out of my story, you.

His chuckle filled her ears.

(Soft Piano music)
Female voice:
Sometimes I feel so all alone, Finding myself callin' your name
Male voice:
When we're apart, so far away Hopin' it's me that you're thinkin' of

Author: Hold it, wrong ending theme. (pulls CD from player, searches about for one and places it in.)

Female voice:
Ikutsu
namida o nagashitara.
Every heart,
sunao ni nareru darou.
Dare ni

Author: hmm...(hits skip button.) Stargate SG-1 theme Damn it, I know it's on this one, (hits button again.) Drum Fill There we go.

Male voice:
I never really feel quite right,
I don't know why, all I know is there's something wrong.
Every time I look at you, you seem so alive.
Tell me how do you do it,
walk me through it,
I'm following every footstep.
Baby on your own you take a cautious step,
Do you wanna give it up?
But all I want is for you to SHINE,
Shine down on me.
Shine on this life that's burning out.
SHINE,
Shine down on me, Just show me something.
Shine on this life that's burning out.
Don't you know I want you to SHINE,
SHINE down on me,
Shine on this life that's burning out.

Preview

Seras: In our next chapter...

Vash: Do we come back in?

Seras: No, not yet. In our next chapter...

Brandon Heat: What about me?

Nick Knight: Do I show up at all?

Seras: Not yet! I'm trying to do the preview here, so hush. In our next...

Piper Halliwell: How about us?

Seras: Who are you people?

Knives: I appear, do I not?

Seras: Why do I even bother?

Vash: Hey, Knives! We've been looking for you!

Knives: Oh brother. Blonde haired spider, please bite this annoying pest.

Seras: Oh, I give up.

Chapter 9: The Heart of the Matter