Akane looked around. The wall was high, wooden gates rise high above surrounding trees and fauna. He took a deep breath and readied himself to begin his first mission as a grey badge. "Up until this point I've always done work at HPA head quarters, I hope I'm capable of handling this." He wrapped his fingers around a rapier he had at his side and with no more hesitation, knocked on the large wooden doors.

There was silence for a moment, his heart pounded loudly and he could feel it in every part of him. He was anxious to see the doors open and could wait no longer.

He knocked again, His hands trembling as he did. "Answer." He mumbled.

The gates, however, stayed closed.

He stood there for a moment unable to comprehend this.

"They should be answering." He mumbles and then steps back to give the gate a kick, it was loud but at the cost of his leg. He put it down and winced the kick was uncalled for and only caused him unneeded pain.

"This is ridiculous." He spoke not only of the unmoving gate but of his whole situation at the moment. He had only just been given the title of grey badge a day ago and he was already out on this mission.

He looked up when the doors in front of him began to creak. A smile found its way onto his face and he clenched his fist excitedly.

He stepped back and waited for the walls to open, when there was enough room for him to squeeze in he did.

"Oh, yer a tiny on aint ya?"

The man was tall, large buff arms, six of them to be exact covered in lime green hair, his others were thin rags, and his six hands calloused, he had a thick lime bears on his face and if it wasn't for his intimidating appearance he would have looked very jolly.

"Yes, forgive my impatience. I wanted to see what was in here." He apologized, his voice soft.

"No problem sir. We got word you'd be here, been keepin our eyes peeled fer ya target and errything. Enjoy yer stay sir." He man fell to one knee in a bow.

"Eh? What are you doing?" Akane question, he has extended his hand for a hand shake but felt oddly out of place do so now.

"Oh sorry sir, ain't know I'd be getting the privilege." He pushes himself up and firmly takes his hand. "Welcome to town sir."

Akane nods and smiles softly. "Thank you." And with that he took his leave. Off into the town before him.

The town was dreary and dark, people sleeping on the side of the road, children playing with glass bottles, families coming and going out of their small wooden shacks. It was a bit painful to watch.

"In all my years of living in van town I've never seen anything like this..." He thought out loud. Where he had grown up was in the opposite direction of this town, a mostly human city that was protected by HPA and usually was the one giving sector 1 headquarters their supplies. The town had been called vanity at one point because of the old popularity of the place for being the best place to buy the hottest new fashion.

He stepped around a young boy sitting in the road in front of him.

Akane raised a brow, the boy couldn't be any older than 10 or eleven. "Excuse me young man." Akane said turning around to talk to him. He looked up at him horrified, his violet eyes tearing up. "Y-yes?" He said holding up his arms and scooting back.

Akane backed up a bit and tilted his head. "Are you alright? I don't want to hurt you I just have a question." He tried to assure the boy he meant no harm, and to his pleasure it worked. The boy put his arms down and returned to his relaxed state of sitting on the ground in the dirt, his grey rags of an outfit were covered in the brown dirt like he had been rolling in it.

"Where, are your parents? Aren't you to young to be out here alone?" The raven haired solider questioned.

The boy looked away and frowned. "Valerie labs. Mom and dad got stolen to Valerie labs."

Akane winced at the very memory of the only person he knew with the name Valerie, Sairus Valerie number three of sector 1, his acid colored eyes that seemed to look right through him like the x ray machines littered about the walls of his stark white lab.

"I uh..." What was he to say? Was he supposed to apologize to this young man for the fate of his parents? Was he supposed to lie and say they were fine?

"It's ok mister. I don't need nothing from you, bye." The boy walked off leaving Akane to wallow in his guilt. He decided to just forget the whole encounter and walk off, forget what he had just seen.

He turned back to continue deeper into the town. The roads were all dirt with bits of what was at one point most likely an actual road. Approaching the center of the town he found stores, more like stalls, all set up with HPA humans running each one. Most were numberless and upon seeing him stopped what they were doing to bow, followed by the towns people. It became clear to the young solider just why Shira hated this. It was actually quite nerve wrecking to suddenly have all attention on you. Akane furrowed his brows and then stood up straight and walked towards one stall, trying to emulate Shiras prideful style of walking, but ended up looking more like he was goofing off. No one mentioned it though, he was their superior and mocking him could have very well lead to instant death as far as they knew.

He turned his attention to the woman at the stall who scurried away quickly, and then the woman running it. She was tall and thin, her long platinum blond hair hanging in curls around her face and shoulders, a sharp face covered in freckles and brown eyes that somehow managed to be as cold as ice despite their warm color.

"May I help you sir?" Her voice was deep and quite monotone, yet suited her greatly, perhaps she was one of those like satsuki. There was no telling.

Instead, he raises his head, trying to appear confident in his own abilities. After all, if this woman wished, she could kill him there and take his place if she saw fit.

"Yes you can help me. I'm looking for a Giza man with brown hair. He was spotted in the woods not to far outside of this town and I was thinking that he may have escaped here."

The woman's face twisted into a frown. "I haven't seen any new faces in this town in a long time sir. My apologies, but I haven't seen your target." She shrugged and crossed her arms. "Sorry."

Akane nodded. "It's no problem, thank you for your cooperation." He says as he turns away and heads back into the busy row of stalls. The people all part to allow him through and bow, both Giza and humans alike revering his presence.

"This is just awful it feels like everyone is staring at me." He whispers. He turns his head only when he hears a loud shriek followed by laughter.

"Look at her face! She's gonna cry!" One child says twisting the tail of an older girl, she looks to be in around her teens while the child seems to be a very young human boy. There are two others around the same age as him tugging her skirt up and pushing her around.

"Leave me alone!" She shouts and tries to pull her thin scaly tail from their grasp.

"I'm gonna get my daddy to take you to the Valerie labs! Then they can find out why you're so ugly!" One boy shouts and the other two laugh.

Akane's blood boils, whoever let their children behave like this needed to be punished. The children themself needed to as well.

"Get away from her you trouble makers!" Akane shouts, marching over to them.

"Woah, grey badge! Sorry sir!" And all of them back away.

"You all should be ashamed, bullying this lady, you all need to go home and think about what you did and never do this again. Shouldn't you kids be home studying today is a week day and young men such as yourself should be bettering yourselves."

One boy was bold enough to talk back. "But she's just one of the Giza that dad don't like!"

That phrase was unsettling, he had read in a history book, once on the old home planet earth, people had always harassed those who were different for minor differences in appearance. There were full scale wars, countless murders, every cruel action you could think of. This felt like the same situation.

"You should go now, or I can have you all shipped to Valerie labs to find out why you're all disobedient children."

The look of horror on their face was amusing as they all ran off, offering apologies.

"Ah, now that that's over," he began as he turned to the girl. "Are you alright?" He asked with a smile trying to appear more approachable.

His efforts however, were in vain as she still cowered back.

"I'm very sorry about that sir. I didn't mean to bother you with my problem."

She was unusually pretty, spare for the dirt in her silver locks and the scales in strange patches on her face. Her teeth were sharp and pointed like a snakes, her eyes were orange and full of fear. What was she so afraid of? Himself? Akane could not think of why she would be afraid of him? He had helped her.

"I'm really sorry I didn't mean to bother you!"

"It's nothing, I'm just glad you're alright." He placed a hand on her shoulder and she flinched. "What's your name miss?" He tried to be as polite as he could, to assert that he meant no harm.

"Uh...my name is Leia. I really am sorry for making you worry it won't happen again!"

She bows and akane can feel the eyes of the entire crowd on him.

"It's no problem but uh, if you don't mind you're making a scene." He whispers.

She blushes and stands back up. "My apologies!" She shouts.

Akane smiles sympathetically. "Would you mind doing me a favor? I don't know my way around this little city, could you guide me?" He really didn't need a guide for such a small town, but she was interesting to say the least. It would not hurt to keep her around.

"Yes sir!" She shouts nervously and salute to him.

"My names Akane Mori It's nice to meet you. I'm very greatful for your help, now before we go, can you tell me if you've ever seen this man?" He holds the photo out to her but the way she looks at it, he already can tell she has not.

"He's a wanted criminal for violating color code, be sure to keep your eyes peeled."

The two of them walk off from the busy row of stalls and off towards the other side of the town. The place is littered with small crumbling tenements, more people Lying around, people of all ages looking just barely alive.

"I-I live around here. And uh, most people come into town from around here so maybe you'll find the guy around here?" She wanted to be helpful, it was not every day a human had requested anything of anyone Giza so surely doing so would benifit her somehow.

He nods, having nothing more to say.

Itami sighs loudly in yurashi's ear. Wrapping his arm around the feline boys shoulders, he sighs once more at an annoying volume hinting that he wanted the boys attention.

"Speak English." Yurashi says slapping his hand against the brunette mans face. "Otherwise fuck off."

Yurashi wriggles out of itami's grip and goes to catch up with emerald.

"So, what are you guys going to do once we get you home? You said your city is awful right?"

She puckers her lips as though she had eaten something sour and crosses her arms across her chest.

"Actually I'm not sure. I guess were just going to go home and continue or regular life, you know?" She averts her eyes from him. "If it's not broke don't fix it. We've been fine so far so..." She trails off and drops the sentence completely. "Lets hurry up, alright?" She points at the roads ahead of them with newfound vigor.

"Nice to see you so enthusiastic about getting back to your supposed dump of a town." Itami says with his arm behind his head. "You could just come with us you know?"

At that yurashi and emerald turn around to look at him and shout a simultaneous "What!?"

"I-Itami, you can't be serious! I don't mind taking them home but these assholes tried to Rob us!"

Emerald gasped and pointed accusingly at yurashi, her other hand on her waist. "So that's how you feel about us!? Well, excuse me for starving to death in the woods!"

Yurashi put a hand on her face as he walked past and shoved her away. "Maybe if you weren't so stupid and had never tried to get to Kraya you wouldn't have ever starved! What would anyone want to go there for!?"

"You talk like you hate the place. I guess young boys do get bored with the same old same old, it's a pity I thought you'd have more pride in your hometown." Itami says. The man shrugs and stuffs his fist into his pockets,then shakes his head.

"For shame son, for shame."

Yurashi turns around to flip his party off. "Fucking shove it you guys! I love my town but it's not even all that interesting, the only really special part is that theres a shit load of water around the town. Nothing new!" The boy throws his hands up and yells.

"We're almost there." Noah says just above a whisper.

"The only sane one says were almost there you two!"

Emerald and Itami laugh at yurashi. "What a funny guy you are. Just a riot." Itami says, picking up his pace.

Akane bowed before the scrawny old man, he displayed the short dagger in his hands to the magenta haired worker.

"This is the only weapon I have sir, so if you wish to confiscate this while I stay here then please, you are welcome to." His eyes stay on the mans fur covered toes, skin as thick as leather from years of hard work.

"No sir. Keep your weapon, I wouldn't dare command you." He clasped his hands together and bowed.

"I'm more than happy to let you stay here and make you as comfortable as I possibly can. There are two rooms. My daughters room and my own. If you could please take my daughters room for tonight. I'm sure she's more than glad to let you, right Leia?" He smiles and places a hand on her head, fluffing her hair in his fingers.

"Dad please don't pet me in front of people." She poked out her lip as though she were pouting and the two of them laughed. They were acting as though akane were not even there. He couldn't help but smile at this warm display of family affection. It had been so long since he had seen his own family after all.

Leia smiled at him for the first time that he could remember. She didn't look half bad behind the dirt and scales. Rather, the two things just made her look good.

"Follow me, my rooms this way." She says taking his hand and guiding him to a cut away hole in the wall that lead to what was supposed to be her room.

The floor was nothing but an old rug spread across the dirt on the ground, her bed nothing but a pile of sheets, a hole filled blanket and a few dingy pillows. It was by no means all that welcoming. But the fact that it was something that someone was willing to give to him trying to be hospitable, it was good enough.

"I'm sorry about the- well everything. This city isn't the best. Only HPA members have nice stuff around here." She was back to being shy once more, her eyes averted and her fingers twisted together. "I'll be back." She quickly makes her way out of the room and back to where her father is.

He was now alone in this girls room. It was dark. Faded pictures all over the wall. Only one happened to catch her attention. It was a picture of a family. They stood in front of a large beautiful house, their clothes looked clean and new and their faces full of joy. It was Leia but not as he knew her. She was young about twelve or eleven. She had long golden blonde hair and green eyes just like the woman next to her in the image. She was tall and thin, her hands on leia's shoulders and smiling.

"S-sorry! I'm not human I swear!" Leia rushed over and covered the photo.

"Quit apologizing I don't want to hurt you and I never will. I'm just a person you know!" He had just about had it with this attitude. He could no longer see her behavior as respect. A girl following his ever command, her father revering his existence in his home, being allowed to keep his weapon. Sick of all of it, he just wanted to be treated like a person. He wanted her respect.

"Could you please just have enough respect in my wishes to stop treating me like I want to hurt you!" He had not noticed how loud he was until he has yelled and she cowered back in fear.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm very sorry!"

"What's going on in here? Leia?" Her father barged into the room his fist clenched ready for anything.

"What are you two doing?" He asked calmly as he could with akane looming over his only daughter.

"Nothing sir I was just leaving." He sighed and extended a hand towards the man. "I'm sorry I would hate to be a burden to you, I'm leaving." He held his hand out a minute longer and after no response he puts it down to bow. He turns to bow to Leia and exits the home.

The sky was dark and the only guiding light akane had was the flashlight he had received on his first day in HPA.

There was nowhere for him to go. He knew perhaps if he found another HPA member living around here they would have space. No, he didn't want to intrude. Instead he looked around at the many people around him sleeping on the dirt below. Not a bad idea. He dropped down right where he was and for a moment was glad his long hair had been cut, less dirt to clean out later.

"What the hell kind of place is this? Sleeping outside? Afraid of the mere mentioning of humans or HPA. Are we really that bad?" He thought out loud. Pausing for a moment he rolled on his back and looked up. He remembered the cruel words and actions of shira, satsuki's conditioned cold nature, sairus's disregard for the lives of his victims to further his research, Melina's cheery attitude and blind eye to the gore and misery around her, the human children's threat to send Leia to Valerie labs, their so called giza hating parents. Even he himself had been an offender, killing a fellow HPA member to take his place in their little system. "We really are that bad, we really are." He mumbles turning back on his side.

"Hey you..." A voice from in the dark called. Akane jumped, grabbing his flashlight as quickly as he could and shining it at the voice.

"Leia?" He sat up. "How did you find me?"

She sat down next to him. "Well, I could see you. With your flashlight."

Her lips fell into a solid flat line and her eyes went to the ground.

"My dad sent me to apologize."

Akane wanted to roll his eyes but resisted. At this point he was just about too tired deal with her.

"So you're still going to ignore my request? Oh well, do what you want."

She shook her head and for the first time touched him. Her hand was light on his shoulder, unsure of weather he would accept the gesture. Only this time it was to be expected. She couldn't be sure he wasn't going to react with all she had done, and honestly, it was a nice feeling. A smile crept across his lips.

"Thank you. For you understanding." He nodded to her, her features barely visible in the night.

"I shouldn't have treated you like that. You were so nice to me, and I thought that you were...well you know trying to...you know."

He raised a brow. "Rob you?" He finished.

She stared at him for a moment and then smiled. "Sure. But, it was wrong to assume you were like the other humans. I... You're the nicest man I've ever met."

Akane smiled. "It's fine really. I was thinking and really, there was nothing wrong with how you acted. HPA members are...quite unpredictable." For a moment he imagined sairus ripping into her with a saw in the name of his so called science. Unsightly.

"It just bugged me because I'm not used to bring feared like that. It kind of hurt you know? But I think I understand. If shir-my boss and I were trapped in a small room I'd fear for my life too."

She poked his arm. "Can I ask you a questionable question?"

He nodded. Fire away.

"Why are you in the HPA? Even with your scary boss, and how cruel they are, you're nice." She said softly.

"I'm not that nice I mean. I have to kill a man to get my job done and I had to kill another to get this job. I'm by no means some innocent guy."

She sighed. "Did you really want to? Do you really think what your boss wants you to do is right?"

"Of cour-..." He stopped. Did he really? Was it so wrong for the man he killed to keep his job? Was it really so bad that this Kiriyuu Itami had brown hair? It was just hair, and Shiras hate seemed so unfounded.

"Well I..." He couldn't answer. "Since I was about 16 and the HPA had first started as the kings personal guards and all the way until he was executed, my family has told me to make something of my self with them so, I'm here, twenty one and unsure of weather or not Actually really believe in what shir-my boss stands for."

Her eyes were on him, staring into his brown orbs. "You're too nice for this. I wish you were the boss, mabye then we wouldn't suffer like this."

The words lingered in his head as she stood to walk away. "You can come back, my room is still open."

He nods at her.

"Sounds nice."