The Soldier and the Nurse, from Normandy to Berlin (Faith and Samurai)

June 6th, 1944, outside Saint Lo Village, Normandy, France

Grey clouds scattered the blue sky above Normandy, France. The 1st Infantry Division had somehow made it through the strong Nazi blockade of Omaha Beach. They were now weaving and darting in Nazi trenches on their way to the village of Saint Lo. Throughout the day the division had encountered tight German resistance, which had not let up since. There was hardly a lull in the fighting.

Captain Sean Greymore Hiruki took one of these lulls to grab a drink from his canteen. He sighed in relief, for that was the first drink he has had all day, unless you count the sea water he swallowed after nearly drowning in the waters off Omaha. Sean wore the standard green-ish tan Army uniform and helmet. On his left hip was something not so standard, but very important to him; His katana. It had been by his side since the 16th Century, making it the longest he has ever used a single weapon. He put an American Spirit Cigarette in his mouth and lit it with his army issue zippo lighter.

Time to leave the trench. Sean jumped out, M1 Garand Rifle in his hands. He shot down every German who tried to shot at him. He was in the middle of the grassy field when the German Officer came out, brandishing his saber. He shouted a praise to Hitler before charging Sean.
Sean dropped his M1 and helmet to the ground and unsheathed his katana. Their blades met in a clash of steel. They matched each other, blow for blow. Neither could wound the other. The two men were equally matched. Well, almost. Sean saw an opening and took it, slashing into the officer's chest, the blood bursting into rain.
"Rest well, soldier" Sean said in German, his tone filled with no emotion. He sheathed his katana and was about to gather his weapon and helmet when three more Nazis came from the trench in front of him. Sean reacted in an instant, swiftly pulling out his Colt 1911 A1 Semi-Automatic pistol and firing two shots per man, killing them all. Sean sighed as he put his pistol back into his hip holster.

There was a sudden CRACK and Sean felt an intense burning pain in his gut. He looked down and saw scarlet quickly stain his uniform. His vision started to blur and he turned back to where the shot came from. The officer he had just fought was doing his best to hold up his Luger, which was smoking. Though he had been cleaved through, he still found the strength to lift and fire his pistol.
Sean lost all feeling in his leg and he fell to the ground, still facing the officer. The world blurred. He could see another man walking towards the officer and seemed to be speaking to him. The moment before his world went black, his vision cleared and he saw the man's face. It was a face Sean knew all too well. The man's name burned his lips as he tried to speak it.
"Lucifer..."
---------------
Field Medical Tent, Two days later
Sean awoke to near silence. The world was white at first, but slowly grew normal again. He was in a small tent made for one patient. His torso was wrapped in gauze and he did not feel any pain in his stomach where the bullet had gone through. The shot had been off center and though it went straight through him, it had missed most of his organs. He let out a sigh and looked at the nurse who was by his side. He knew her face, smiling warmly at her.
"Ni Hao, Zhi" He said in a tired, but loving voice.

Lacey had been working on a soldier when a new one was being brought in, in a rush and a gasp came from her lips when she saw just who the man was being brought in. "Sean." She said softly to herself, she quickly asked one of the other nurses to take over for her as sh quickly went over to the men who had her husband. "Here, put him in this bed." She said before she started to get to work on him once they had left her alone wit him. "Oh Sean, I thought that I woul never see you again." She said softly as she removed bullet and used her magic to heal what needed to be right away but no one would notice.

"Hey Lacey, are you ok?" One of th other nurses aske as she peaked in at the 'young' woman who had stayed in the room with the american who had come in earlier.

Lacey looked up at Kim and gave a nod of her head. "This man...he's my husband, I haven't seen him in years." She said with a soft smile on her face as she reached out and ran her fingers through his hair slowly.

Two Days Later
Lacey walked back into the room with a tray of water and some chicken broth for Sean. "My love, I hope that you wake soon, I've been so worried about you." She said a she sat down on the bed next to him, again running her fingers through his hair and gasped when his eyes opened and he looked at her. "Ni Hao, Sean." She said as she leaned down and lightly kissed his forhead. "I have missed you my husband." She added softly, trying to keep herself from tearing up with joy.

She sat there, a little surprised he was even awake. His Chinese goddess in white. Well, it was almost white, Army Issue Nurse's uniforms have plenty of patches on them to indicate name and that they were United States Medical Support. She was as gorgeous as he remembered. He had left after Pearl Harbor was attacked. They didn't even have time to see each other when he was shipped to England. They had to call each other on the damn phone. They had no time for romance back then, since she was still reeling from the battles in Nanking she fought in. Now his beloved wife, Zhi Jin Hiruki, or Lacy as she was called in America, sat next to him, obviously watching over him after she herself treated his wound.

With a little effort he raised his hand and touched her cheek. His lips curled in a loving smile. "You haven't treated my wounds since Gettysburg. it appears I burden you once more, my love. I apologize." His thumb rubbed her cheek gently. "She-She, Zhi. I have missed you greatly." He thanked her in the Han warrior's native tongue. The tongue they married to and met using. Energy slowly found it's way back to him. Unlike Mingyu, he could not heal his wounds instantly. Well, he COULD, but it would cost him far too much and he only did that with life threatnening and serious wounds. The bullet through is stomach, while painful and scar inducing, was not deadly.
He tried to sit up, but failed. A few more times he tried, until he was able to sit up straight while holding his wounded side and breathing a little heavy. Even with morphine, it was hard.

"My husband could never be a burden to me, it's my job to make sure that you are alright just as it's yours to make sure that I'm safe." Zhi said as she brushed some of her long brown hair back out of her redish eyes, an odd affect of the water she had drank so that she could be with Sean forever. Her eyes slipped closed at the feeling of his finger running over her cheek and she couldn't help but to sigh softly. "I wish that we didn't have to be apart just because of this war, I wish I could join you on the battle field like before." Lacey said with a frown on her face before she lightly shook her head and watched as he sat himself up.

"I can heal you if you wish, I know that it wouldn't be all the way, but I can help you enough so that you don't feel as much pain." She said as she reached out and lightly ran one of her hands over his side, sending some of her power to her hand to help speed up the healing. She knew that she had enough energy stored that it wouldn't affect her to much to heal her husband...now that she couldn't have childern, that's where all her magic energy, it was something that saddened her since their only child had been killed before he had been old enough to drink the water that would have kept him alive like they where.

Sean sighed as he felt some of the pain leave him. His wound still hurt like hell, but the pain was bearable now. He put his hand on her's to stop her from using any more power. "Thank you, my love. That should be enough. I do not want you to waste your power on such a trivial matter." It was hard for him to move much, but gods below he wished he could have kissed her. Two years. Two fucking years without her. It was damned hard. He wished it could have been like the civil war, where soldiers brought their families with them to camps and left them only to fight the battles.
Ah how he remembered the many nights he spent with her back then.....

Sean mentally shook his head, bringing himself back to the present. He noticed her face and knew exactly what she was thinking about. She wore that face when ever she thought of Fei Hong, their only son. They had him a year before she drank the immortal elixir. In a sort of equal exchange the elixir takes away one's ability to have a child.
Fei Hong was killed in the battle of Hu Lao Gate at the hands of the famous warrior Lu Bu. He was only 16 years old. Sean and Zhi never fully got over their loss, for a father should never have to bury his own son. At the time Sean had no memories of the fact that he was an Angel.

He squeezed her hand gently and smiled warmly at her. He HAD to get her mind away from their lost son. He had to see her smile again. "My beloved Zhi Jin. How I have longed to see you again." He could not help but grin, "And with you on the battlefield, this war would have been over already. I have not seen you in battle in many ages."

Lacey couldn't help but to giggle at his words, a blush crossing her cheeks, it always amazed her how he was able to distract her oh so easily like that. "Oh Sean, you think far to highly of how well I can fight." She said before she moved so she could cuddle up at his side a soft sigh slipping from her pink lips. "Do you think...do you think that maybe when we get back home that we could adoped a child when we get back home?" She asked shyly as she nibble on her bottom lip, she really needed something tht could fill that void that only having a child could fill.

"Now then my love, would you like something to eat? I can get you something more since I had only brought you broth and water thinking that you wouldn't be awake just yet." Lacey said, knowing that she had to get her mind away from being a mother, if only for a little while. "We are even lucky enough to have some chocolate here since we just got some more supplies in yesterday." She said, she missed being able to cook whatever she wanted an whenever she wanted, she was so use to being able to do whatever she wanted since she had been a princess...but in America and here she was just a woman like any other and she was powerless to help.

Her question did not come as a surprise to Sean. They had been talking about adopting a child for awhile now. They knew it would not fully fill the void Fei Hong left, but by the gods it would help. Sean squeezed his beloved wife's hand and nodded. "Of course,my love. We will adopt as soon as we get home to New York City" He looked into her lovely red eyes with his own sea blue ones. Gods Below, she was almost close enough to kiss, but he could not do so without injuring himself further. He kept silent of his dismay, though. He knew where kissing always led. He could not count the many times they would have made a child if she still could...

Sean felt himself get hard, which is what he damn well gets for thinking of all the times Zhi Jin and himself made love. Yes, he never called it anything else. Not sex. Not fucking. It was always making love. Sean was a gentleman, dammit. He would not accept any other term for what they did in the bedroom...or kitchen...or sofa...or floor....or anywhere in their apartment in New York.

Zhi Jin's voice took him away from his thoughts...thankfully. As if to answer for him, his stomach made a loud roaring sound. "Yeah...food sounds lovely right now, my dear." At the word 'chocolate' his mouth watered. He had not had a bar of chocolate in two years! "And chocolate sounds...yeah..."

Zhi Jin giggled softly at the sound before she gave a nod of her head and got to her feet. "Then I shall be right back my love, don't go running off." She joked before she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the lips, something she had wanted to do when she first saw him being brought in just tw days ago. "I shall return with some beef stew and a nice big bar of chocolate for you." She said once she had pulled back, picking up the tray of broth and water, she walked off with her hips swaying as she went.

"Hey Lacey, how's your husband doing?" Kim asked her when she saw the young Chinese woman walk out of the room that she seemed to almost live in since her husband had been brought in.

"Wonderful! He's awake already and he is hungery which is great as well." She said as she walked over to the kitchen and started to dish up some of the stew that she had made earlier that day. "Do you know how much longer we're all going to be here?" She asked Kim, but the other nurse just gave a shake of her head. She was really hoping that she would be able to stay here for as long as her love was here, that just maybe...they would be able to stay together till the war ended and so they could go home together as well.

It didn't take Zhi long till she was back in Sean's room with the stew, a freash cup of water, and a bar of chocolate. "I'm back darling with your food." She said as she walked over to him and sat back in her place so she was facing him. "You wouldn't mind if I wanted to feed you, would you?" She asked as she scooped up a spoon full of the stew and lightly blew on it to make sure that it was cool enough.

Sean nearly lost himself when she kissed him. Gods, her lips were as soft and lovely as he remembered....Zhi's words brought him out of the daze. "Heh" He smiled, "I doubt I could even walk with this wound. If I did run off, though, it would be with you, my beloved"

While he waited on his food, Sean thought of the first day he met Zhi all those years ago. It was 180 AD, four years before the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Louyang was the capitol at the time and the city where they had met. Sean was a wanderer at the time, not knowing his real name nor what he was besides immortal. He would not learn he was really the Seraphim-Class Angel, Samiel until much later. By then he had lived through many wars already. He had survived the burning of Babylon as well as many battle along side many of Egypt's Pharaohs. Still, this was his first time so far east.

He sat in a small tavern, and soon found himself hounded by bandits. Sean had not made an effort to hide his blonde hair, so he was used to being harassed. He made quick work of the bandits, though one nearly managed to get away. He didn't kill any of them, mind you. Just...discouraged them from trying such things again. With the last bandit dealt with, Sean found himself outside.
That was when he saw her. The most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. She was the daughter of the, then dying, Han Emperor.
She wasted no time in ordering her guards to seize him. The guards lasted almost as long as the bandits did.......

The opening door broke Sean from his thoughts. He smiled warmly at he beloved and nodded, his stomach growling loud. "Of course, I do not mind my love." He knew she could be maternal whenever the mood hits her. Usually that is when he is injured. Zhi seems to panic whenever he gets wounded in battle. Always insisting on treating him herself.
Sean opened his mouth and drank the spoon full of stew without another word.

"I missed being able to do this, just sit together and talk." Zhi said with a smile on her face as she fed him a bit more. "So, tell me love, what where you thinking of when I was gone? You always have the most interesting thoughts after all." She said as she picked up the glass of water and handed it over to Sean since she knew that it was better to let him take his own drinks, she would always get so distracted watching him drink that she ended up spilling the water most of the times.

As she fed him, she couldn't help but to think back to when she was still a mortal, back before when they had first met and how she had tried to have her guards grab him...oh what a foolish mistake that had been. He had been even better then she had first thought, and of course with her foolish pride, she thought that she would be able to beat him and had taken her fans out. If it had been a few years later she may have been able to hold her own a bit better, but she had just starte to train in fan dancing and she didn't have her flute with her to give her the upper hand either.

"Would you like a peice of chocolate?" She asked as she opene the still wrapped up chocolate and snapped of a square to feed him.

"What else could I think of after so long, but you mine dearest" Sean answered. "I was thinking of our first meeting." He could not help but grin between spoonfuls of stew. "Oh I remember our first fight well. Your martial arts were great, even back then. I seem to remember that fight ended in a tie." He looked into her eyes once more, once again addicted to their crimson nature. It was yet another side effect of the immortal elixir she had drank. It was easy for Sean to get over the change. Those eyes of hers were already entrancing to him. The change from brown to crimson had just made her eyes far more mesmerizing.

Sean took the glass of water and began to drink. He knew not to drink too quickly, so he just take sips for now. Gods, he was thirsty. In between sips, he reminisced some more. "I remember how lord Cao helped us get married. And when he gave you the elixir after Fei Hong was born..." He took the chocolate piece with a nod of thanks and ate it....Odin's Beard it tasted amazing. Two years of army rations, while they kept him alive and fighting, also did not taste few good. That piece of chocolate was like finding fresh water in a vast desert.

Zhi laughed at that and shook her head slightly with a soft blush, she had still been so young when she fought him...so young and yet she was already married to a man that she really wanted nothing to do with. "I'm so glad that you took me away from that man I had to be married to." She said with a soft sigh as she gave him another bit of chocolate since she knew that was one of the things that he missed the most about being at home.

A knock came to the door before Kim popped her head in. "Hey Lacey, I hate to drag you away, but we need some help out here with a new soldier that just came in, he's really bad and we need someone good at keeping people calm." She said before she quickly left again to go and check on the man who had come in.

"Well, that's my call, I'll be right back, you just relaxe and eat some more, if you finish before I get back then just put your tray on the floor and I'll clean up when I get back." Zhi Jin said before she leaned in and lightly kissed him before she hurried off to get to work again, they had let her take two days off for the most part after all and that was more then she thought would happen.

"That I shall, my love" Sean assured her before returning the kiss. He sighed as he watched her run off to help fellow soldier. As he ate he made a vow to himself. He vowed that after his wound healed he had to find a way to get leave for the weekend. Just to spend the time with her.

Three Months Later, Paris, France
Sean had never been to Paris...Well, ok he had been in the area a few times, but that was long before it became a city. It had been a long hard fight to win the city back. Sean even added a new set of pains and injuries to his collection, though none were as serious as the bullet in his gut. Hell, that wound still hurt and it was already healed. All the aches and pains of the battlefield coupled with missing his wife had caused him to ask to use the leave he had been storing for two years. A full three days leave from the front lines was more than he could have hoped for and he was going to use that time well. Next to him was his goddess of a wife, Zhi Jin. He had three days with her in Paris, the city of love. What was he going to do with her? Spoil the fuck out of her all 72 hours of his leave, that's what. He wore the much more handsome, less battle practical, military uniform as a suit. He took her around the city. Wherever she wanted to go, they would go. Whatever she wanted to do, they would do. He had his hand in her's as the walked the streets.
"What now, my dear?" he asked with a calm, loving smile.

Zhi couldn't believe her luck, she had been shipped off at the same time as her husband to Paris, France, it was the first time that she had gotten to be there and she was amazed by the place. "How about we find somewhere that we can sit down for a bit, I think we've walked all over Paris already." She joked with a soft giggle, she loved to be alone with Sean, when it was just the two of them she could go by her real name with out people giving her funny looks or stumbling over her name.

"How about we go and see a movie? I've been trying to learn more French, maybe you can help me during the movie." She said, though she knew there would be English subtitles, she liked to here Sean's voice since it proved that he really was here next to her. Every time she got to be near him and touch him, she was amazed that this man had saved her from the man that she was married to and had taken her as his bride, he had done so much for her and yet he expected nothing back in return unlike any other man she had met in both her mortal and immortal life.

Sean could not help but chuckle. "Honestly, my love, I could do without the French language for four score and twenty decades. But, for you, I will gladly suffer through a film." As they walked his mind was full of memories. Memories of how he took his beloved away from the evil man she had wed for the good of a Dynasty that was already long dead. This man was a virus that cultivated the seed of destruction and chaos planted by the Yellow Turban Rebellion. This man controlled the young emperor Xian, Zhi Jin's little brother, like a puppet as he wreaked havoc on the country.
This man's name was Dong Zhuo.

Sean was a vagabond back then, doing as he saw fit. And by the gods he saw fit to save this poor young woman from the monster whom she was wed. He had taken her in the night while all others slept and her husband...well former husband was bedding another woman by the name of Diao Chan.
He did not expect her to stay with him, so he gave her a choice: Either go with him or he would find her a good family to live with and he would be out of her life for good.
Needless to say, she chose the former. At the time, it surprised him.
It was a damn nice surprise.

Back outside his thoughts and memories, they walked towards the nearest theater. The only motion picture showing that day was
"La Loup-Garou"
The Wolf Man.
Sean looked at his wife. She knew he actually love this film. "Well, I am not complaining. Shall we?"

Zhi Jin smiled at his words, she had known that this movie would be playing here since she had read the paper earlier that day while she was making breakfast for the two of them. "How wonderful, I haven't seen that movie in a while." She said as she walked over to the ticket seller and smiled sweetly at her before looking back to Sean since she never carried around money with her when it was the two of them, she knew how much Sean liked to pay for things when it was the two of them together after all.

He was so different then her former husband, she had been lucky that her flute had kept her safe from his touch and had kept her pure for Sean. She just wishes she had been able to keep Dong Zhuo away from her brother to keep their people safe, but would she still have been able to meet the love of her life if it wasn't for him? Maybe she should be thanking Dong Zhuo for having been such a horrable man.

Sean paid for the tickets, speaking as little as possible to the seller. Sean knew many languages including all the mostly dead ones (Mostly dead because people in the supernatural circles still spoke Latin and Ancient Etruscan among others), but French was not a language Sean was fond of. Give him Han Chinese or English any day.

The theater was a little run down due to the war, but it was still nice enough for film viewing. The movie was just as good as Sean remembered. Sean had an almost child-like fascination with film. The mere fact that film existed at all was astonishing to him, being a man who lived through most of human history. Hell, he remembered being just as interested in photography when it first was invented in the mid 19th century. Both Photography and cinema were testaments to human intellect and cunning.

The film ate up a small chuck of the day. By the time it ended it was already an hour until dusk. Sean's stomach growled loudly as the left the theater. "Well I suppose it is time for dinner, my love. Where would you like to eat?"

Zhi stayed curled up closely to Sean through out the whole movie, she could remember when films and cameras first came out, though she still wasn't to sure about cameras, she had come to love going to movies with her soul mate. "I would love to have some noodles, but I don't think that we're going to find a good Chinese place in France during a war." She said with a soft laugh as they walked, trying to think of what a good place to go and eat at would be.

As they where walking past one resturant, Lacey looked over to it and tilted her head to the side slightly. "How about we eat here?" She asked as she looked in the window, there where only a few people inside but the smell coming from the open doors was just so very tempting and she wanted to go in. "The food smells amazing." She said as she lightly sniffed the air again, her own stomach giving a growl to show that she wanted something to eat as well.