[I know I should've posted this in Release, but eh. Oh, and this is an AU - Aoi is a Marine in this one, roughly seventeen years old. Tsubaki is sixteen.]

The first glimpse told her volumes.

Blackened and burnt, she weaved through the smoke; gray eyes wild and feral, blood dripping down her torso. Most - even those who claimed they had much potential in the Marines - backed away, retreating to a popularly called 'safe' distance.

There was blood. Its metallic scent permeated the air thickly, a copper taste flooding her tongue as she watched the injured girl. The pungent smell of burnt bodies clashed with its distinct scent, as Hanazono Aoi simply moved out of the 'barricade', ignoring the protests of several in her unit.

She scoffed. Really, who were they even terrified of?

The sound of gravel crunching underneath her strides brought the wounded's attention to the redhead. She craned her neck upward, dirtied fingers barely able to hide the prominent brand burnt into her skin.

"Who.. Are you?" Aoi's voice was soft, uncharacteristically concerned as she knelt before the trembling  girl.

"Yukari." The latter replied after a short pause, the dryness of her throat barely allowing her to speak at all. "I.. Am Himuro.. Yukari."

-To be continued?