Long blank strands of silky smooth hair blew across her face and tickled her nose as the icy wind bit at her skin. A deep exhale escaped her lips and created a mist that quickly dissolved into nothingness. Her stare was directed straight at the ground, hiding the detailed contours of her face from view. She doesn't appear to be in pain, but neither does it seem is willing to move.

This woman was hunched over in a vast field of snow. Her body had already left a deep impression as the countless flakes of white piled up by her smooth white legs. Their was snow falling from the sky, but none of which seemed to land on her countenance. She wrapped her arms around her chest, but it seemed not to protect herself from the cold. Even without being able to view the expression on her face or the look in her eyes, one could tell that she was doing so to protected herself from loneliness in this vast world.

But she was, in fact, not alone. There was a long, curving road in the not so distance that was warm enough to keep those white flakes from sticking to it's surface. Standing on that paved street was a woman. This second presence appeared quite similar to first. She had a more then attractive body and a face that she did not hide from the world. The gentle, icy wind caused her waist-long hair to sway and the woman was forced brush it away from her eyes with her fingers. There were many similarities between the bodies of the two, but with face of the woman with black hair was hidden from view, it was impossible for one to gauge just how alike those two really were.

The one major difference, as any person would be able to tell at just this point, was the color of their hair. Almost as if to perfectly project her mood, the one kneeling on the ground shared the color of the darkest of shadows. Standing off on the road, the woman standing tall, basking in the sun, shared the color of the very sky itself, blue.

Slowly the blue-haired woman began to take steps forward, when she was halted by yet a third presence. Despite looking in it's direction, the approaching figure didn't spot this creature until it rose to it's feet. It was a wolf wrapped in white fur. Moments before it was perfectly hidden in plain sight in the blankets of snow, and now it stood breaking the path of the two women. He was protecting the black-haired woman.

"Go back."

Those words weren't spoken by neither women nor the wolf. In fact, those words weren't spoken at all. It was the blue-haired one's own thoughts. It was as if that message was projected into her mind. Was perhaps that done by the wolf? Or was her body trying to tell her mind that this was not the place she should be? Neither really mattered at the point, as the azure woman could feel something tug at her heart. She had to leave, right now. That was what she felt deep down at her core.

Sakura open her eyes as cracks of light broke through the small gap in the closed curtain. She found herself leaning against a bed, an empty bed. It took the woman a couple moments to gather her thoughts. This wasn't her room. It was that man's room, Kyto. After the intense battle in Mexico he lost consciousness.

That's right, it was the campaign against the rebel SEEDs. Kyto was part of a team that was to spearhead the attack. But they were ambushed by the enemy. A traitor had given the rebel's the details of their assault and had prepared many counterattacks. By using himself as a shield, Kyto allowed the others to escape. It was believed that he didn't survive that encounter, but somehow he did. Not only that, but he managed to keep the enemy at bay while the rest of the force made it to the rendezvous.

Not that they met no resistance. The moment they arrived they were attacked by Quince's team, but they managed to hold them off. Sakura and the rest of the force didn't receive a second attack until days later. There was an error in the enemy's judgment, and Sakura caught wind of it. With little time to prepare they managed yet again to hold the enemy back. That was until he entered the fray.

He went by the name of Astor, and his strength far preceded his reputation. What remaining forces Lavender's men had were nearly instantly dispatched. Sakura too nearly lost her life, but the timely arrival of a thought dead warrior turned the tides. It was Kyto, and was quite the match for the seemingly overwhelming foe. In the end Kyto was victorious, but the fierce battle clearly took it's toll on his body. Despite that the fighting had ended, their was still a matter that needed attention, that of the traitor.

That one had escaped the other's attention during the battle, but Kyto noticed her in an instant. She was a foreign presence, someone who was not supposed to be there. It was Lily, a SEED with no fighting potential and who was thought to have escaped. That young girl was supposed to escape with the injured, but she returned despite orders not to. Kyto deduced that she was the traitor, and exiled her from Lavender's force. That was perhaps against the best wishes of his fellow comrades, but it was a sign of humanly compassion that that man was not know for.

It was shortly after that that he lost consciousness. It was Sakura who carried his all the way back home to Glass House. Not that literally carried him, but she did care for him the entire way. Shortly after Kyto fell, Lavender arrived with aid. It was a little late, but he did bring transportation. In two days time they were home, and the hero of the war was still sleeping.

But this morning he had seemed to awaken and was no longer in his room. Sakura was still leaning against his bed when she realized she was alone. Kyto left her there and took off on his own, that sounded something like that stoic man would do. The woman pushed herself upright and headed outside, never noticing the blanket that had been wrapped around her shoulders.

If she knew the man as well as she thought she did, there was only one place he could have possibly gone. Take one step outside and it was right there, just a little to the left. Stairs leading to the rooftop that had an eight story view of Louisiana woodlands. As Sakura stepped outside and shielded her eyes from the rising sun, the silhouette of a man staring off into the distance welcomed her. It took a couple moments for her vision to adjust, but it was indeed the man she was searching for.

Kyto stood facing the advancing warmth. His had removed his shirt and left it laying to his side. From the back the blue-haired woman could identify some scars, most distinguished a piercing wound that must have had a partner on his chest as well. Sakura, with the ability to heal wounds, probably could have made the scar less noticeable, but after the man collapse she thought the only cause was from exhaustion. Physical exhaustion and scars with dead tissue cells were just a couple things her ability had no effect.

Though he was without his jacket wasn't to say he was topless. While that one article of clothing was disregarded, covering the entirety of his left arm was that glove, or perhaps it would be better to say sleeve, that was fastened in place with a kind of belt running across his chest. Sakura had the perfect opportunity to view that man's biggest secret, well, the biggest secret she could think of, and she missed it.

Before the woman knew what was what, Kyto was sliding his arms through his white jacket. He was turning as he did so. A reflection of light sparked in her vision, it was the golden Dandelion locket that held a picture taken many years ago. He noticed her fixation on the object.

"His name was Xeranthemum, but we all called him Xera."

What brought this up was the white-haired child that was hidden in a second part of the photo that was bent behind the first. On the front was Kyto and May, the back was Quince and Xera. Sakura was sure she place the locket back perfectly in place, that man must have noticed that someone had been in his room previously and had taken a look inside as well.

"Um, yeah..." was the only bland response she could think of.

Kyto cocked his head sideways, "'Yeah?' Did you already know his name?"

It was something Sakura shouldn't have known. It was Lily who told her about the rest of the photo in the first place, not to mention the name of his third companion that had never been spoken before.

"Oh, I see. It was Lilium who told you that name. That doesn't surprise me," he said with a slight crack in his grin. "She knew a lot more than any of us should."

Lily, it was still hard to believe. The pacifist, not by choice, little girl who could travel to any point on the planet in the blink of an eye. Certainly she had the perfect ability to aid her in such an endeavor as spying, but her personality didn't match in the slightest. It was reasoning that everyone thought suspect, almost even more to the fact that he let the girl go without punishment. Surely Lavender would have something to say about that.

"Oh, that's right," Sakura muttered, "Lavender. Kyto, our leader wanted you to report to him as soon as you awoke."

"Okay, I'll go right now."

Just for the record, it was five in the morning.

At this early hour there was much activity stirring in the rooms on the first floor of the boy's dormitory. All the way to the front door the pair remained unmolested. Sakura hadn't thought about it before hand, but if someone had seen them leave this place together, not only would they have gotten into a great deal of trouble, but she truly believed she would have died of shame. Shame wasn't something she was very familiar with back home where everyone knew her inside and out. She was uncertain if this new trait she picked up in the outside world was a good or bad thing.

The way the campus is set up, one would have to cross the woman's dorm to reach the central complex from the boy's. Sakura had been together with the Sisters for almost four months, and for the most part she had memorized each girl's daily routines. So most certainly she should have known that this was the time in the morning when Steph sloshed down to the postbox to check for orders. It wasn't even a week when the last time she was witness to such an occurrence. No longer could it be blamed on coincidence.

"Aaaah!" Steph shrieked when she saw the woman.

To Kyto, this reaction was certainly surprising. For Sakura, it was precisely what she expected. The last time the blue-haired woman spoke with any of the sisters was after she learned Tagetes had sold Kyto out. Though they were partners, and they immediately apologized, the fact remains that such action nearly got the man killed. Deep down in her chest she felt like the one being betrayed.

"Ah, um," this was the nervous Stephanotis speaking, "Kyto." The woman walked to the side of the building without continuing. When she returned she was dragging his sword (blade portion) along the ground. "Here. We found it at the camp and brought it here. Be grateful that we did this for you."

"Where's the other half?"

"Do you know how heavy that was!?" Steph shouted. "No one could lift it, so we left it behind!" The woman suddenly withdrew herself. There was pain in her face indicating she had immediately regretted what she had just done.

"Was it Tagetes who told Lavender about my training ground?" The training ground that put him at the top of the list for the black letter mission.

"Ah, um, yeah."

"I thought as much, she always seemed scared of me." For just a moment, the man's eyes seemed sad. "You two haven't spoken in some time, have you?" It was Steph reaction earlier that gave this hint away. Never before had the brunette greeted the man with either detest or apprehension. Though lately it felt as that feeling was slowly starting to fade. "I hold no ill will to what has been done," Kyto pushed, threw would almost be more accurate, Sakura by the shoulder where she crashed into the chest of Steph, "so neither should either of you. Thanks for returning my sword," he said before leaving for the main building.

Steph, who took the blunt of the attack, was rubbing the point of impact like a child with an "owwwie." "Hey Sakura," she spoke to her partner, "sometimes, just sometimes, do you think he cares about others more than he lets on?"

Sakura, confident, "Of course. He has a much bigger heart than you give him credit for."

For a moment it appeared that the brunette wanted to follow up on that comment, but she held her words in and forced the topic that she had been avoiding for quite a while, "Listen, Sakura, Tagetes feels terrible for what she did. All this time she had been crying, wanting to know if you would ever forgive her. You do have every right to be mad," her eyes began to water, "but all of us want you to come back. Though, I don't want to force you..." she began to trail off.

Smiling, "Kyto said that it doesn't bother him, so I have no reason to be angry. To tell you the truth," Sakura now too was getting teary, "I was really starting to miss you guys."

The two made direct eye contact, and sure enough they both broke out in a full display of waterworks. Sobbing their worries away like little children they dove into each other's arms and did their best to dampen the other's shoulder.

"Let's, wait awhile, before, we go back," Steph had managed to speak between a runny nose and the occasional hiccup.

"Yeah."

"If I wasn't a morning person I'd kick your ass," Lavender told Kyto as he walked into the office.

The younger man knew that was a lie, Lavi had been a late riser since as long as he's known him. It was due to the constant pestering of Commander Nasturtium that he changed himself. Though technically he was active at such early hours, it went against his nature and often he would fall asleep in the middle of the less thrilling activities.

"I'd rather we cut the bullcrap and get to the thing everyone's wondering about."

"Yes, indeed," this second voice came from Nas, who was waiting inside next to the headmaster's desk. "I was right there and I still don't know everything that went on. Tell us everything you know about Lily."

"You always did seem to favor that child," Kyto was speaking, "it's not surprising that you never saw past her exterior."

For a moment Nas looked as though he was going to jump out of his place crush his fist on the young man's face, but he sternly restricted himself.

"Starting with the black letter mission, we were surrounded far before we could reach the target. This was not some random patrol or other kind of coincidence. It was calculated, organized, and their force was not something a five man team should have been able to handle. I used these to allow the others to escape," Kyto produced a red capsule from an inner jacket pocket. "This is a flash powder bomb. When ignited it will create a blinding flash and deafening screech. At close enough range it can cause severe burns and incapacitate a target. I blew four of these right into Astor's face. I used that chance to escape and continue the mission on my own."

"That sounds something like what we had to go through," Nas interrupted. "There was an issue with the phase in. They knew the exact location where we would arrive, and the timing of their attack was too well placed. Luckily we held them off with the defeat of their intelligence officer, Lotus, but that was due to my blind shooting. It was really the greatest of coincidences for us."

"After my second battle with Astor, Lilium reappeared despite orders not to."

"Yes," Lavender spoke his first words in this conversation, "I remember that. She came asking for aid, but I initially refused. I could tell she was upset, and I knew that she was going to go anyways. I ordered her to stop, but with a face I had never seen her make before, she lied to me and went back. In the end though, I still came."

"Having you go must have been a part of the rebel's plan," Kyto. "Even with what everyone went through, there still seemed to be a hidden card on their side of the field. They must have had something lying in wait just for you, seeing as Rose had never made her appearance. Through Lily's provocations you were still dragged in, but if you agreed forthright then you would have walked into it much sooner. In the end it was a multi-tiered plan which allowed for many possibilities and errors, but the one thing they didn't anticipate was my arrival and victory."

"And then what exactly happened with Lily after you found her?"

Kyto turned towards Nas. This was something he should have been able to tell his leader, after all he was there. After scratching his head the commander explained, "Sakura's ability is amazing, but even though it healed my wounds I still lost a lot of blood. I was too light-headed and the heat was starting to get to me. Everything's fuzzy just after the end of the battle.

"I see," so Lavender had yet to hear this portion of the story. "After the battle with Astor, Lilium had reappeared. When I exposed her identity, she immediately phased herself away."

Lavender was clearly disturbed by this news. "It's still hard to believe that fragile little girl was capable of such a thing, but I guess betrayal always takes you by surprise. It seems like she will need to be dealt with in the future. Apart from that, what of your mission?"

Nas raised a cocked eyebrow at the two men. He, in fact, was never given the details of the Black Letter's true objective. Since they never asked him to leave the room, he would stay and pay close attention to detail.

"Yes sir, Kyto began. In order to create a diversion to reach the safe house, I started a fire to allow the opportunity to break in. In all honesty, I was expecting Rose to be the one to come and put it out, but it soon became obvious that she was not present and the fire soon went out of control. In the end the blaze took the house and the files were lost. It was a miscalculation on my part and I apologies, but it seems that the child will fall into neither hands."

Lavender leaned back in his chair and covered his forehead with the palm of his hand. Their was a slight grin on his face like he had just discovered an important piece and put a puzzle together. After a moment he calmed himself and face the young man once again, "That is regrettable, but it cannot be helped. It would have been a disaster if the rebels had gotten to her, but since they didn't we still have the clear advantage in this conflict. I guess this could still be considered our victory, you should be commended for your effort. Is there anything you would like to add?"

Kyto's eyes narrowed just slightly. Right then, when Lavender was leaning back in his chair, his heart began to began to beat faster and the blood rushing to his face made his temperature rise just slightly. He was lying, but about what? He didn't make any statements that could easily discern the truth, so maybe something he didn't say was more correct then to lie. For all the analytical abilities the young man possessed, there was too little information to read between the lines.

"No sir, that is my report."

"Very well, you may leave."

Just as Kyto was heading to the door, "My morning duties are also complete," Nas said, "so I will take my leave as well."

After exchanging exit greetings, Nas followed Kyto out the door. After walking a good distance out of earshot of Lavender's office, the younger man started the conversation.

"You remember everything that happened, didn't you?"

"Yes I do," Nas proclaimed. "Lily didn't phase away, she ran off on foot after you let her go. You lied directly to our leader's face."

"If you didn't tell him what happened, then the same could be said to you. Wasn't there two other's there that could have told the truth?"

"Sakura has been with you since we returned and she has of yet to give her report. In Aconitum's tale it was he who bested Astor. His testimony was immediately discredited."

"So you wanted to see what I would say if given the chance to invent any story I wished. Since it's you Lavender might believe it if you say, 'I lied to you to see if he would lie.' But since you didn't expose me the moment I committed a crime, you must still want to know why I lied."

"Traitors should be executed on sight. Even major nation militaries still accept this practice. You should have let me kill her."

Kyto stopped his pace and took a deep breath. "Killing a child is a bit inhuman, don't you think? Lilium is the youngest of the SEEDs, and she has never known the field of battle. Out of everyone here, she is purest, most innocent soul. Destroying such a beautiful flower is a sin I couldn't bare. Could you?" There was no response. "I know you have always doted over her like a brother, so I have a good feeling the kind of breakdown you would have if I had let things continue."

"So the only real reason was because you wanted her to live?"

The young man nodded, "The kind of woman Lilium is, I can't help but think her strength is greatly underestimated. You should put trust in that strength and the decisions she makes."

Nas was somewhat confused, "But betrayal in of itself is..."

"Kyto, I challenge you to a duel!" came the shouts of a third voice.

Da ta ta ta! Finally the start of volume 2! It's been awhile, I know, but I haven't given up my stories. Stuff in my personal life has made things a bit difficult to find the time to get these things done, so don't expect the kind of speedy releases I had with volume 1. Nevertheless, I will continue the story. Through the Fire and Flames comes from the closing arc I have planned for this volume (my personal favorite through the entire series), so heres something to look forward to. -Kyle Castorena