Ashita was unbelievably light in my arms- as I stole across the ground, I found no burden in carrying her.

Sometimes she would yelp and tighten her grip around my neck and shoulders, to which I calmly reminded her that I was, too, a human being and preferred not having my airway blocked.

"You... that man, h-h-he wasn't lying, was he...? About you, being Marines..." she trembled in my arms. "Y-You guys don't look like them..."

"We're Marines," I said, nodding as the words fluttered off my lips. "Trust me."

"Are you... are you going to take me away?"

"We're treating your leg, and that's it. Now shut up."

She did, falling quiet as she allowed me to carry her without any inquiries.

After about twenty minutes, where I had put her down two or three times to give me somewhat of a rest, my eyes fell upon the familiar-looking ship that rested at the almost-blown up dock. I had come upon ashes and ashes of buildings, upon craters that had crawled their way out of my vision and nearly caused me to slip once or twice.

"That's our ship," I murmured, and Ashita's eyes- a shattering mint green- flickered from where she had cast them downward, pulling upwards to stare at the ship.

"Do you think... do you think the bombers will come back?"

"If they do, I have a blade."

I left the sentence cut off, but I was sure she could sense the meaning: I can protect you.

She let out a muffled reply, which I didn't catch on to, burying her face into my shoulder, but her ears were bright red.

"..." I decided not to respond to her actions, but my arms started to ache, so I jostled her lightly before I allowed her to dip to the ground. "Can you walk?"

Tentatively placing one leg in front of another, she winced, then nodded.

I heard a pop as I extended my arms over my head, and Ashita looked over at me, her messy bobbling of blue hair swaying light with the gentle wind.

"I'm fine," I assured her. "My muscles get pops like those quite often..."

"B-But it sounded so loud..."

"No need to be concerned. Let's keep walking."

So we did. Some sand would scurry up and flash across my shirt, but we trudged on, feet digging into the sand as we fought to walk in the direction of the Tyrhungs' ship.

"You're still doing okay?" I asked her.

"Um... yes, actually..." Glancing down at her leg, Ashita uncertainly trailed a hand through her choppy hair. "... From what I saw, Jaxson-san, you don't express concern much..."

I rolled my shoulders before saying plainly, "Maybe so, but that doesn't stop me from caring for survivors of a bombing."

As I spoke, her eyes flickered behind us, probably at the dark smoke columns that rose out of the ground to dance in the sky.

A thunderous boom exploded across the area.

The words flew from my lips without me acknowledging them. "Go, run!"

Ashita was about to, but she stumbled and tripped, landing face-first in the sand before I grabbed her wrist and tugged her up.

Gunshots whizzed by, screeching as one raked against the ground, sending up a flurry of sand.

"Oi, silver-hair!"

"Go," I told her in a low tone.

Shaking her head, Ashita bit down hard on her lip. "I'm not worthless," she said stiffly. "You may think I am with this injury, whenever it be both mental or physical, but I can still fight."

"I'm the only one with a weapon here," I countered, sliding the blade from it's sheath that rested upon my hip and whipping around to stare at the smoke.

A gunshot rang off.

I sucked in a breath, and the blade was fully out and brandished in a flash, poised and ready as the bullet went up into the skies.

A woman emerged from the smoke, two guns smoking at her side (although one had significantly more smoke blowing out of the muzzle- probably the one that just fired, from what I've heard).

"Hey, a sheep and a tiny wolf," she laughed, gesturing with one gun at us. "Even though, the sheep has blue fur... what a surprise."

Beside me, Ashita curled her hands into fists and held it up to her chest, visibly shaking, yet it didn't match the steely defiance that had taken place in her eyes.

I was surprised, even slightly, by the said emotion, seeing how meek she came off in the first place (although that's probably a fault in my part, judging off of the first few minutes and interactions). Nonetheless, it was not the time to think about it.

"Perhaps you will learn that the 'little wolf' you referred to has claws and teeth sharper then yours," I said, pointing the tip of my blade at the woman.

"Heh. Nothing Aiya Kurosawa can't handle," the dark-haired woman smirked, raising one gun to fire at me. 

A bullet whizzed by my ear, and I winced as I felt something warm bubble over my earlobe, dashing towards her. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ashita scoop up a handful of sand, taking her time to wobble closer to this 'Aiya Kurosawa'. 

She was quite skilled, as my blade raked against the surface of her gun, holding it so her fingers wouldn't get nicked, holding on her own against the pressure that was focused upon one certain spot of her gun.

"Not bad," she half-spat, saliva dusting over the curve of my cheekbone. "Don't happen to be-"

I flew back, wiping one hand across the fabric of my pants to get rid of the sweat before gripping the handle tightly, whirling on her again as she snarled the few final words, "-with the marksman I saw earlier?" 

Shinji. 

Screeches of metal sliding against metal sliced through the air, and at some point, I had disarmed one of her guns, sent the gun skidding across the sand, and was now clashing against the pocket-knife she had whipped out. 

"Fiesty, arent'cha? Wouldn't mind-" Aiya grunted. "- to have a man like you in my life instead of-"

"Stop talking and keep fighting," I snapped. 

Snake-green eyes narrowed at me and I caught her mouthing the word 'fine' before the hits banged against the ridge of my blade. 

That's when a gust of sand blowed over us- mostly Aiya- and she shrieked, dropping her other gun to claw at her eyes. "My eyes!"

Sand. That's what I was tasting on my lips. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ashita with her arm extended, palms facing upward and fingers splayed. 

I brought the blade forward.

Red coated the sand.

Ashita's eyes widened, and she immediately stumbled back, growing pale and her bottom lip trembling. 

Examining my sword, which dripped with several droplets of blood onto the sand before me, I sighed. "I have to wash it before the blood dries..."

She seemed speechless, staring at Aiya's body, whose's fingers were twitching- only a few times before they stopped, a glaze coming over the woman's eyes. "S-S-S-She's.... she's..."

"Dead, yes." 

Her gaze slowly inched from the body to me. "Y-You're... monster..."

"You forgot the 'a'," I stated, yet I could felt another portion of my heart turn into stone- like it did every single time I killed someone. "... and I'm not proud of it. Rather her then us."

She was trembling, her entire body this time. 

"Come on. I need to clean this blade before the blood dries. It takes ages to get off."

You become numb after a little while.