For The Flag, By The Flag

They had been on a train for what seemed like three days, but had actually been closer to four hours. His job kept him moving during the day, always going to a new location for filming, and so he had taken an early train to Kitakyushu during the night.

He was off of work, but donned his tracker outfit anyway. Mainly because he liked the reactions he got from humans. But more than that...it's what he was comfortable in, what he was used to wearing. Without it, he was just a pretty face, a famous actor that never got to see any peace... and it was an annoying lifestyle to lead.

Sitting there with his legs crossed, he started out of the train's window as he watched the passing scenery, which to humans appeared to be moving fast, but to him seemed to be moving in slow motion. Sighing, he glanced back at Aka. "Just what is it that made you decide to follow me around like this? You know what my day job is...and know how you'll be treated for being with me...so why do you insist on following me around?"

Aka looked at him as he said that knowing what his day job was and knowing what his other profession was and yet there were things he wanted to understand and learn about Ryo. Things he was curious about that had no easy answer as he sat there on the train. An Ex-knight of her majesties royal knights he looked at his traveling partner and sighed. "I'm a bit curious......Just trying to figure out what made you decide to become a tracker." he said since they where in a private cabin on the train.

Aka looked out the window though seeing Ryo's reflection in the glass and shrugged. "I'm not overly worried about the mobs, that comes with hanging out with you."

Ryo sighed and closed his eyes. What made him become a... "That's a story I've not told to anyone before..." he answered lowly and opened his eyes, turning to look back out of the window. "It's not easy to answer...because there are two reasons..."

"One is because of my past...the other...is something you have to see for yourself..." he told Aka lowly as he looked out of the window, his chin resting in the palm of his hand. "But I suppose I can explain the first a bit for you..." he told him, turning to look at Aka again. "It's because I swing the creation of tomorrow..."

Aka tipped his head a bit curious about that one looking at Ryo. "The creation of Tomorrow?" he asked curious about that to no end, he didn't sound upset only a bit curious as if really wanted to know more and more about this one before him and he did. He wanted to know about Ryo.

"To see it....this other....it had to have made quiet the impression."

"My ability...it's what some of the elders used to call it..." he answered lowly as he looked at Aka, but then turned his attention back to the window once again. "Back then...I was a spoiled child who would do anything to get his way...even if it meant swinging around my abilities...so they said that I liked to swing around the creation of tomorrow..." he explained as he watched the scenery pass them by.

"My feelings always got hurt so easily back then...so I often threw fits just to get my way...even killed kids around me to get my point across..." he said lowly, his reflection showing his sad expression. Now that he was older, he regretted his actions as a child. He regretted his greed now...now that he had gotten to meet Hiketsu, Kuri, and Aka....

Aka looked at him and sighed. "It's hard when pressure to be a certain way is placed on you, wither by elders or peers doesn't matter. It can lead to rebellion to determination to be seen and heard to force them to accept you for who you are not who they wish you to become." Aka had done things himself but he had no idea the degree or scoop that Ryo had to regret.

"Honestly Ryo there is no one who does not bear regrets, things that when they look upon they wish they had not done, if there was such a person they would be a shallow soul. Everything that we are is an accumulation of our strengths and weakness's...." he sighed and turned his head to look out the window falling silent a moment. "Or so the Captain used to tell me all the time."

He reached over and picked up the bottle of water he didn't drink it the creation of tomorrow his ability to manipulate and create new things with blood. Aka shook his head as he leaned back against the seat and sighed. As Ryo was in his Tracker uniform Aka was once again in his Knight's uniform although he had left them he was one of them and honestly he was far more comfortable in it then anything else having worn it so very long. He turned his gaze to look into the water before him and sighed. "But those regrets....are part of the reason you decided to become a Tracker honestly it makes more sense to me then the money..."

Because if it was the money alone he would not have chosen so easily to give it up to stay by Asbel's side.

"Regret...is only a small sliver of the reasons I became a tracker...greed was my main reason...the money, the power...the fear it invoked in others...." he answered lowly and looked back at Aka. As well dressed and famous as he was...Ryo was indeed a very dark man.

Sighing, he turned his attention, once again, back to the window as he began to speak, "I didn't give a damn...not for a very, very long time...I spent my years as a spoiled noble brat who always got his way...and we he didn't...he killed...swinging around his powers as if they were a toy..." If Aka could have seen him back then...what would he have said? What would he feel about him if Aka knew him then?

"Only when he became part of something bigger did he realize what he had...only when I came to stand by your side did I realize what I had...and how important it was to me..."

Aka would have blushed at his words if he was a vampire capable of such things but he was not. He took a deep breath and sighed softly shaking his head as he looked at Ryo before looking out the window again. "You make it sound......like I'm some sort of rare hard to find treasure or something...." Aka grumbled not at all sure how to take that one.

But he did glance at Ryo out of the corner of his eye about the money......part of him couldn't believe it was just about the money. But then again he didn't know everything about Ryo's past either so it wasn't something he could really judge on.

Ryo turned to look at Aka and found himself smiling at the older vampire. "In many ways...you are just that Aka..." he answered lowly as he looked at Aka, smiling that warm smile of his.

"If I had not met you...I would not have been saved from myself...nor would I continue to have a reason to exist..." he said lowly and turned his attention back to the window. "To be saved by someone...I never anticipated that I would be saved by someone...I always anticipated that I would be killed...never saved..."

Aka sighed. "That's a horrible way to view life." he said meaning always expecting that he would die, never that he would be saved. Aka sighed and closed his eyes leaning back against the seat behind him. "I'm glad I could do that for you then.....save you. Although I had not thought being my fathers son.....that...I would be the one to save anyone....."

Aka had not once used his powers in front of him and if he had......he had two different sets of powers one over water and blood they were part of the same ability the other.......the dead were not safe from him. Some would say that they were safe when they were dead....to Asbel that was not the case. "I had always believed I would be the last person to save anyone....that such a feat was beyond me..."

Ryo chuckled a little and shook his head. "As a tracker, you know that one day you will be faced with a target who is stronger than you...it's a reality for all of us..." he told Aka lowly. "It's a reality that some must even prepare their wives and children for..." he said and looked back at Aka.

"Being your father's son is what makes you the perfect candidate to save someone...it means that you don't let your position in this world define you...it means you are like your grandfather...that you're like Hiketsu...and even Aoi..." he said and smiled that warm smile of his and turned back to look out the window as the train began to pull into the station. "Letting a position in life define you...often ends badly..." he said as he stood up and began to walk towards the front of the train to get off.

Aka nodded as he listened to his words and sighed before closing his eyes. "Suppose so.." he said as he sighed keeping his eyes closed he could make the dead dance......and there were those in Korea that still whispered how he is the son of the cursed. Many who feared even to this day his father who still called him the child born form the dead and refused to give him a name. Refused to call him by the name that Sarubia had given to him.

And now he glanced over at Ryo before shaking his head and sighing. "That often goes for most things in life it seems." Aka said lightly as he looked at him hearing the conductor announcing that they would be drawing to the station shortly. Soon they would be arriving where it was that Ryo had wanted to go.

"That is the life of a vampire in this world...hunt or be hunted...kill or be killed...this life of ours is survival of the fittest...and if you are killed, you were too weak to begin with..." he said lowly as he looked back at Aka. That was his true mentality, his true face. And if Aka didn't like it...he wasn't sure if he would be happy to hear Aka's response.

"Once we get off the train, I'll be taking you to see something that brought me to this life of mine...be prepared..." he told Aka and continued to walk, following the line of passengers until he was finally off of the train and could stretch his legs.

Aka sighed as he stepped off of the train with him having heard the words that he said before getting off about being a vampire. "Although for some......death is not an escape..or end..." he said lowly looking at his back and shrugging before walking off with him and stretching a bit having been on the train for a while.

Aka looked at him though as paused and breathed in the air around them before nodding. "I'm prepared." He said although prepared enough was the question.

Aka walked along with Ryo not sure how much time had passed or why he was suddenly taking him to this odd sorta outta place temple in the middle of seeming nowhere. Or leading him in for that matter as they walked in and up to the center of the temple standing on an odd platform that began glowing before there was a brilliant flash of light......and when it was gone they were in a temple but it was different the doors half hanging off of the front of the building and a scent on the air that Asbel knew all to well....the scent of death.

"Where are we...." he asked.

"Mars..." he answered simply and walked through the hanging doors and down the stairs and sat foot on desert sands. What lay before him was a wasteland filled with corpses and broken weapons and torn flags...all of them weathered by the desert wind and sand.

"This is the second thing...that lead me to this life that I have now..." he told Aka lowly as he stood there and stared out at the seemingly endless piles of bones and weapons.

Aka stood on the steps behind him and sighed softly. "Mars..." he echoed looking at the battle ground but didn't step off of the steps not in fear....because if he did he would know all of there deaths how they died, be able to make them stand up and dance as if puppets on strings. He stepped down though to just where Ryo was standing and looked at it.

"if we're not careful this is the fate that could befall Earth......these people....." A battle field grave yard they had never been buried properly they were left here because there was no one left to bury them no doubt.

"For the flag....
people die....
By the flag...
The people kill..." he said lowly in a near whisper.

"This is why I never understood people...why I was always so confused about humans...why I'm always alone and away from everyone else...I can't understand them, can't connect and understand why they want to die for something that makes no effort at all to save them, to protect them..." he explained as he looked at the wasteland before them.

Aka sighed as he looked at him the stores of people on battle fields.....stories that were lost to them and to them alone. He took a deep breath and stepped down on to the ruined red sands beneath his feet and took another step as if violating some sacred place. He walked towards the ruined area among the scattered corpses.

"Words....of the dead.....are not meant for living ears...." he answered as he walked. "The reasons to fight and die or live and run.....the reasons for a grave yard.....so big...."

He didn't have quiet the control his father dead not when soo many corpses lay around him and once he was among them he turned eyes closed to once again face where Ryo was before the bones and dead began moving an arm lifting a head shifting slowly Aka opened his eyes and looked at them among them the skeletons that began to move as if getting ready to get up and sing and dance as if some dark macabre play......

"In a moment....you'll understand....why I'm not someone I thought would ever save someone...." He said shaking his head. "Why.....I hesitate to let go of someone like you.....but its not fair to you....because you don't know."

Ryo just stood there not moving, not flinching, not running, unafraid. "Amazing..." he finally said, after what seemed like hours of silence from Ryo. And after speaking, he began to move, finding himself moving to stand before Aka and looked down at him.

"I don't think anything about you is anything less than amazing..." he told Aka lowly and smiled that warm smile of his that said that even if the world was ending, everything would somehow be ok.

Aka looked up at him surprised by his words amazing? The very power that made him so feared back in Korea. Back home. This one found amazing he looked up at the younger vampire and took a deep breath as he looked at him and the bones moved standing they weren't fighting but they were the solders of Mars. The men and woman who took up arms and fought.

"Beware the Varso.....beware the men who fight for the serpent"
"Beware the God of Corruption and Death beware Varnel the snake...."
"Our world is all but lost.......destroyed by Varnel's whim we were fools to try to stand up to the death god"
"Find the dragon......only the dragon can stop the serpent..."
"Find and destroy it.....destroy the source of the end that Varnel seeks. Find and destroy the Destruct Code the living code that will end all words once activated on it."
"Varnel activated the destruct code half way....used it to kill the dragon......"
"The dragon will return.......the battle will begin again. But if Varnel gets the Destruct Code......nothing will matter and all will end."

And the bones fell silent there story what they had been fighting for not a civil war which the Earth was known for but, for the fate and lives of everyone on there world. Aka closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. "This....is only part of my power.....bringing them back to hear there story.....I can make them fight make them walk do whatever.....it....is why I find it amazing that you say that I saved you.....my mother was alive as you are....my father was born from two vampires but....he was born several days after she died from her corpse.....I am his son, the one in Korea who will like his father will never have a name.......and mother defied them by giving me one anyways."

Ryo looked down at Aka and let another smile spread across his face as he brought a hand up and put it on Aka's head. "Silly Aka...I don't care about your powers...anything you do is amazing...because to me...I see you...I see Aka...and Aka is the one I will always see..." he told him lowly and smiled so warmly that he had to close his eyes just to continue smiling. True happiness...he had finally found it.

"I will never think any less of you because you are a necromancer...I've seen it before...and to me...it's an amazing ability...to myself who can make a living person dance at will...can crush a person from the inside out...you are an amazing person...and never let anyone tell you different..."

Aka looked at him and sighed stepped forwards not able to explain it but in the face of everything he needed to feel more then just Ryo's hand on his head and stepped into the taller younger vampire wanting to feel his touch.

Aka sighed softly. "But I can do that to....crush a living person make them dance for me....it was my mothers gift passed on to me both living and dead are mine to play with if I so choose." he said as his hand came up to rest against Ryo's chest as they stood among countless skeleton's. He took a deep breath as he relaxed there and then let them go back to there rest as he sighed. "Thank you for saying so Ryo."

Ryo just sighed and shook his head as he wrapped his arms around Aka. "It doesn't matter about strengths and weaknesses...not when you've found someone who is the most important person in the universe to you..." he told Aka lowly as he looked down at him.

"Nothing matters when you can truly be happy...when you can say with a smile that you will fight to protect what you live for...what you adore...what you love..."

Ryo sounded just like Takeshi in that moment in time. And his mother Samung-ui would tell him all the time that when he found the one he loved and adored nothing else would matter and really nothing else did. He leaned there against him holding on as he closed his eyes listening a moment or two before taking a deep breath and tipping his head looking up at him.

"I understand that much because I've found someone I love and adore and want to protect as well I just know he's gonna be stubborn about it." he said and it was true he doubted that Ryo would let Aka get into danger to protect him regardless of wither or not he could fight back.

He sighed softly as he leaned there for a moment and despite the fact that he was kissing the mask that Ryo was wearing instead of Ryo himself kissed the mask were his lips would be. Although it seemed silly to do so it was an affectionate sign from Asbel when he wasn't the sort to give many.

Ryo snorted and nodded. "You're damn right I'll be stubborn about it. I vowed to protect you. There's no way in hell that I'm letting you get your ass into trouble," he said, confirming Aka's thoughts. If it meant Aka getting involved in the fight...he would rather run from battle all together.

But as he watched Aka lean up and kiss his mask, his eyes went wide and he fell silent. He had never had someone be so willing to get close to him before. To have Aka so willingly make a gesture like that...it stunned him a little, but at the same time...he found himself...

Bringing his hand up, he took his mask off and leaned down, leaning in to return Aka's kiss without a guard, without the mask to prevent their lips from touching. And as soon as their lips met, he found himself consumed by passion and returning Aka's gentle kiss with that burning passion that consumed him.