Genre: Drama/Angst?
Warnings: Death.
Rating: T
Pairings: Yuki x Shuichi
Disclaimer: I own nothing, I want nothing. Read and Enjoy.

L2SET, thank you for your kind words. Guren, my faithful reader, thank you too.bLaCkFaia-nEkO,thank you and as many as my muses tell me to do. SMDSP, thank you and I'll be waiting to read your story.

Extras: This is the second part of Lost Song... and the beggining of it. Weird uh?

I HATE WAR. I find it useless and brutal. I do believe there are some things worth fighting for, but it's always the innocent who get the worst part. I might be wrong, but to me war was, is and always be a waste of human lives.

FIVE: Innocence.

Bloodstains shimmered slightly under the moonlight as he walked by. There was too much blood in there for a small house on the country, some of it was old, some of it was new; but it marked the walls and the floor, and even the ceiling at some points, and gave the living room an eerie feeling.

Still, he continued walking, looking. The female body appeared so suddenly that he almost tripped with it. She must have been running towards the back door when she shot by the position of the body. Dead, just like everything else in the little town.

He was about to go back when he heard a sound coming from the storage room on his left. Could it be there was someone still alive in there? He considered for a moment if he should go to the senior officer and ask him to check it for him. After all he wasn't even supposed to be there and he knew the officers would be more than happy to take him out and have an excuse to send him home... no, he wasn't leaving until he found what he was looking for.

He remembered the lessons of his Uncle Claude and prepared himself to enter. As he closed his eyes and inhaled slowly he wondered if he would die there. The war was so close there was always the possibility, and he wasn't a skilled soldier like the rest of the man outside. Well, he wasn't scared.

With a kick he opened the door and directed his gun towards the source of the sudden gasp. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness but when they did, he lowered his gun. In front of him, a child with brown hair and big purple eyes stared at him, holding his knees against his chest in a protective gesture that revealed how scared he was.

It wasn't until he put the safe to his gun that the kid really relaxed. He even smiled.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

"I'm waiting".

"Waiting? What are you waiting for?"

"My mom. She told me she would come back."

He remembered the woman on the kitchen floor and frowned. Having lost his own mother not too long ago he didn't like the idea of telling the kid she was dead.

"What's your name kid?"

"I'm Shuichi! And I'm not a kid, I'll be twelve...uh... well I'll be twelve soon!"

The sweetness of the child made him smile softly. He reminded him of someone...

"What's your name?"

"I'm Eiri".

"Eiri? That's a japanese name... are you japanese? Because you don't look like it, you look like an angel".

"An angel?"

Eiri couldn't help to stare at the boy in surprise. People were often afraid of him for the way he looked, especially for his eyes, and this kid was telling him he looked like an angel. He was definitely beginning to like Shuichi.

"Yes, my mom used to say angels always come when we need them".

"Well, I'm not angel, but I'm taking you out of here, so come on, let's go".

"Really? ... Wait, we can't leave them!"

"Them?"

"Yeah, look".

Shuichi took a match out of his pocket and lighted a small candle, before signaling him to the far east of the storage room. There, a couple of young boys lied on the floor.

"The older on is Yuuzi, and the younger one is my best friend, Hiro. Yuuzi got hurt when he brought us, and mom told me to take care of him, but we ran out of food and Hiro got sick".

Eiri approached the boys and frowned, feeling suddenly sad. The older one couldn't be much older than him, while the younger one was definitely Shuichi's age. And even if the subtle smell hadn't told him, the wounds of the older brother and the blood around him made it obvious he was dead.

The younger one was barely breathing. He turned around, ready to tell Shuichi there wasn't hope for them, but the look of innocence in his eyes took the courage out of him.

"What are their names?"

"Hiro and Yuuzi... they are gonna be fine, right?"

"... We have to go. Come, I'll carry your friend Hiro".

"And Yuuzi?"

Eiri grabbed the red haired boy, stood up and turned around before answering, not looking at Shuichi.

"There's nothing I can do for him anymore".

He looked at the boy expecting him to cry, but instead there was a sad smile in his face. It gave Shuichi a mature look that, for a child like him, could probably only be achieved during war. Eiri wondered briefly if his own brother would look like this.

"I knew there was something wrong when I couldn't wake him up, I guess I just didn't want to tell Hiro".

"Let's go".

Eiri was about to push him towards the exit when he remembered. The woman was still lying there, covered in blood, in the kitchen floor.

"Close your eyes".

"Uh?"

"Hold my hand and close your eyes, don't open them until I tell you so, alright?"

"... ok..."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"So, why are you here?"

Eiri watched the boy eat fast all his food and chuckling he offered some of his own. Hiroshi, the younger brother's full name, was resting in a tent not far away, and Eiri had been happy to inform Shuichi that the boy would recover completely. The look of joy in his eyes had made the trouble he had gotten into all worthy.

"I came looking for something".

"Really? What?"

He considered if he should tell him. In the twenty-four hours he had been with the boy he had discovered, to his amazement, that Shuichi was as naive and cheerful as he looked, but still held wisdom far beyond his years.

"My little brother was sent here just before the war reached this place. He's only eight, but my father considered it was time for him to start his training in a temple nearby. Five weeks ago we received a letter informing us that the temple had been attacked and that my brother was killed...but I refuse to accept that. I know he's still alive that annoying brat. He's too smart to get killed here".

"... I..."

For a moment, Shuichi looked like he was about to cry. He had that look again, a sad look, the look of a man that has seen too much death and suffering. Eiri hated that look, but it was gone before he could say anything.

"There were many temples here, before the war. Which one was your brother in?"

"Qing Yuan".

"Really?"

Shuichi stood up and walked towards the edge of the cliff where the camp was. He surveyed the destroyed city for a moment before signaling a house.

"That was my house. Three blocks down the street then turn right and walk five more... You can go through the park though and take a shortcut at Otogi sensei's house. He always gave us a hard time, but I think he enjoyed it as much as we did."

"You know the temple?"

Incredulity was drawn in his face so clearly it made Shuichi smile. He knew that path like the back of his hand, since he had walked it one too many times trying to catch a certain someone.

"I... I had a little sister. She wanted to enter the temple and become a priestess, but mom and dad told her she was too young, so she always escaped and went there. I had to track her down and bring her home that... Hiro had gone with me, so we got caught in the middle of the first attack. When it ended we went looking for her, but it was all destroyed. I recognized some of the boys there..."

Shuichi's voice became a whisper as he began sobbing uncontrollably. They had been just kids, not much older than himself, still they had been butchered like animals. Shuichi remembered clearly the panic he had felt when he hadn't found her, the chaos, the pain... the faces of the kids he used to play with and the screams of horror and suffering.

A pair of gentle arms hold him and he began crying. He hadn't done it ever since, too shocked too react until now. There hadn't been any time for it either.

"She... she... we found her two weeks latter... Yuuzi went with us... h-he w-was trying to take us home and- and... they attacked again a-and he g-got shot- he –he said he was fine but- but now he's gone... now it's only Hiro and me..."

Eiri hold him as he cried, trying to soothe him as much as he could. He had been in the field only two weeks and the horror war brought with her was almost too much for him. If he hadn't been so determined to find his brother he would have left a week ago.

"What was her name?"

"Uh?"

"Your sister... what was her name?"

"Maiko..."

"My brother is Tatsuha".

For a moment, they looked each other and an understatement beyond words appeared between them.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The attack was so sudden and so brutal no one even saw it coming. There was panic in his hearth as he run towards the tent where he knew Shuichi and his friend were sleeping. He never reached it though. He was hit from behind by another man and fell unconscious to the ground.

He spend the next few months in a prison, until his family managed to release him. And for the next few years he dreamed every night with a pair of amethyst eyes and a sweet smile and wondered if he had saved the boy only to leave him for a worst destiny. How he wished Shuichi was still alive.

Shuichi woke up that morning feeling strangely happy. He had had a dream about the war, which were never pleasant, except this time he had come to save him. Somehow after all this years he still remembered the smile that boy had given him when he had found him hiding in the storage room of his house.

He looked over the beds next to his own and smiled when he saw his friends. He didn't regret staying with them. Maybe he had said they would be lost without him, but it was probably the other way around. Besides Hiro and Suguru were the only ones he trusted to help him find the blond man.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Are you sure of it?"

"Yes. Amethyst eyes and brown hair. A number placed on his arm. Good singer. Isn't that the way you described it?"

"Him, Tohma, he's a human being".

"Of course, I'm sorry. It's just... it's been too many years, how can you be sure he's in that specific prison?"

"I know it. And we have already searched on all the other ones. If he's still alive this must be where he's been all this time".

"I see. But he refused to leave without his friends. What are you going to do about it?"

A small smile appeared on his features as he dismissed his old friend. It was good to know Shuichi was still as loyal as before.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Come on Suguru!"

"No. I won't help you interpret this crappy play. Not this time"

The younger boy walked away and installed himself on the farther corner of the floor. Shuichi and Hiro exchanged glanced before sighing and walking to the opposite window.

"He's not getting any better Hiro. I'm worried about him".

"I know... maybe it's time for a new plan".

"You think we should? I mean I'm not sure if he's ready".

"Well, we can always wait more... but you know what's gonna happen next, the day he loses it there won't be any turning back".

"... You are right... I guess it's time to use plan B. Let's get out of here Hiro".

--

TBC