A/N: Hey guys, this is going to be a short(ish) collection of stories featuring Gino and Kallen. I love this pairing ^_^ Gino is so freakin' cute. So please enjoy, it'll probably be all fluff and ridiculous sentimentality because that's all I'm really good at but it should be okay. I tried to keep to the story as much as possible, but I will probably change some parts.

WARNING: contains some spoilers for R2 (probably later on.) I'm still writing the rest so I'm not too sure how much it'll give away, but you have been warned.

Please enjoy and review if you like, but I don't really mind. Just have fun reading, that's all it's here for :)

Prologue – Prisoner 107

It all began on the battlefield, but Gino didn't see his attacker's face properly until she was put in her cell at the Tokyo headquarters – where they kept the really dangerous terrorists.

Gino knew vaguely what she looked like, but the last and only time he'd seen her she had been with her Eleven friends. She looked like one of them. Now, she looked totally different. She didn't look like an Eleven in that pretty yellow dress. Gino wouldn't have thought she was a terrorist if he saw her on the street. Her short, spiky, blood red hair had been combed and now seemed somehow strangely elegant. Her eyes were the same dark, thunderous blue, her thin eyebrows tugging into a frown.

Gino had planned on seeing her before, but he had been held up in a meeting. He had asked Nunnally if he could visit the prisoner, and she had said it was alright, so he wasn't sure what Bradley was doing there too, during Nunnally's meeting with the prisoner. Gino could be sure that he hadn't been granted permission.

Luciano Bradley was a strange man, but personally Gino didn't find him particularly threatening. His sadistic nature and obsession for antagonising both friend and foe certainly made him dangerous, and Gino knew Bradley would kill him if he wanted to. But he valued his position as a Knight of Rounds far too much to risk it. He might be unpredictable, but every person has transparency of some sort or another. Bradley was the Vampire. He was far too proud to let that go.

And Gino walked quietly towards them as they spoke, and soon he was close enough to hear them. Nunnally knew he was there but he touched her hand gently, and she held his as though to feel if he was good or bad. It was uncanny, the way she did that. She could tell if someone was lying or if their intentions were wrong. Gino wondered how she did that, but he could wonder later. She nodded and he kept moving forward quietly so they didn't hear him.

And then he heard her speak. Her voice was confident and full of pride, despite the fact she was imprisoned and helpless. Strong spirited, thought Gino. "Does that mean that I will be sent back to the mainland?" she said, speaking in an almost demanding tone.

Bradley smiled cruelly, his sharp-featured face twisted in a sadistic grin, his bright orange hair reflecting the light from above as he stared down at Prisoner 107. "No, you'll be staying here as a hostage," he said. He put his hands on his hips and leered at the girl. "What is needed of prisoners?" he asked, but she didn't respond. He went on, "Life – that's what's needed." His eyes narrowed and he grinned again, and said, "As long as you're alive, whatever happens to your body…"

Bradley's sentence drifted off and the prisoner understood what he meant, and her scowl fell away as her eyes went wide in shock, and she stared down at the floor, a small embarrassed blush creeping across her pale skin.

Gino felt that he was in a position to speak now. "Where is your pride, Lord Bradley?" he called out, walking towards him. He looked at the girl, who blinked in surprise, then back to his fellow Knight and said, "Putting your hands on a defenseless woman."

Bradley laughed, and turned to face Gino. "You're so naïve. Just a rich kid with nothing but his family's nobility to show." He was taller than Gino, who was still only 17, and he was certainly stronger, but Gino didn't shrink away.

Instead, he chuckled quietly and said, "To be approved just because of my family's name – is it that easy to become a Knight of Rounds?"

The Vampire's smirk fell away, and he glared at Gino, before he stormed off, pushing past him angrily. Gino let himself get shoved away, but smiled victoriously as he watched Bradley stride away in his defeat, and then he turned to look at Prisoner 107. She didn't say anything. She only glared at him momentarily, before returning her stare out to the blank space beside her small glass cell. Gino was about to speak, but then Nunnally said in her clear, calm voice, "Thank you, Gino. I'm sure Bradley won't return."

Gino wasn't stupid. He knew that Nunnally and the prisoner's conversations were confidential. He said, "Of course, Princess. I'll let you continue with your conversation." He sneaked one last look at the prisoner, who sat with her arms crossed, not looking at him, before he sighed and left the chamber.

She might be a ruthless killer when she was in her Guren, but what - or who - could keep her safe now?