A little something ive been working on while battling writers block. Never done a strictly romance piece before so im interested in the feedback I get on this one. Just a little brief prologue here, much more substantial stuff to come.

Enjoy!

xxxxxxx

All around was the sights and sounds of war. Miyu Tanaka had grown used to them during the extent of her service with the CDF, though she was just a mercenary. Though that appeared to be coming to an end very soon, here on Venom itself. The lynx was clad in black form fitting armor over tan fatigues that were well suited for the arid and toxic landscape and terrain of the planet. In her hands was a standard issues DC-38 SMG, her weapon of choice in these tight quarters. She sat with her back to a wall, smoking a cigarette. All around her were laughing and looting CDF soldiers, trying to take home a piece of history from Andross's imperial palace.

Technically, the war was over already. Word had been passed around that Fox McCloud had dealt with Andross himself, and there were still soldiers cheering and carrying on. Miyu herself was somber, there were still bodies lying in the halls and main foyer of the palace, from both sides. The 515th Venomian Elite, Aka the famous Shadow Guard, had put up quite a fight. They were fanatics and refused to surrender, the CDF had been forced to kill them to a man. At least so far.

Miyu took a moment to look around at the high ceiling and luxurious hallways adorned with jewels and fine stones. This place was once beautiful, now ruined by the horrors of war. She stood up and threw away her cigarette and decided to rejoin with her unit, a ragtag group of mercenaries from Macbeth. She made her way past laughing soldiers and throngs of looting parties back to the main foyer, a massive room meant to accommodate the most expensive social gathering the Andross could muster. Her squad was achieving pretty much what she had been doing, lounging around, waiting to get off this dreadful planet.

Miyu sat down next to a good friend of hers that she had known since her school days, a orange stripped tabby named Ayers. He was busy looking over something on his PDA and nodded to her as she sat down next to him.

"What a day." Miyu muttered under her breath.

"Tell me about it." Ayers said as he reviewed a document. "At least we hit our bonus for this mission. Nothing like ending the war on a monetary high note."

"Ha, thats true. Though I really, ill be glad just to go h-"

Miyu was suddenly thrown off her feet as the foyer was rocked with a massive explosion. Her sensitive ears ringing with deafening pain, she groaned as she tried to get back to her feet. The foyer was covered in smoke and fire, and a few slain soldiers lay on the ground. Miyu quickly checked on her companion, who lay unconscious on the ground a few feet away. After checking to make sure he was alive, she readied her weapon as a voice cried out.

"Venom infantry! In the foyer!"

A few shots rang out as Miyu slapped on her infrared goggles to see in the smoke. She had barely finished this movement when a shot lanced through her right shoulder. She fell to the ground with a cry, clutching the wound. She was set upon by a masked Venomian trooper, clad in the black and silver armor of the Shadow Guard. All around her was the sound of erupting blaster fire and the cries of the wounded and dying alike, but she had her own struggle to deal with. The masked soldier who attacked her pulled a dagger from his side and brought it down to plunge it into her chest, but was blocked by the armored wrist guards that Miyu swung up to protect her.

With a clang the dagger was thrown aside by her motion and Miyu tried to bring up her weapon with her free hand, but the Venom soldier on top of her stepped on her blaster with an armored boot. He swung his head down in a vicious headbutt that slammed her head down on the hard floor, causing Miyu to cry out in pain. Her enemy wasted no time in delivering several hard punches to her while she was still disabled for a moment, before Miyu regained her composure. Swinging her knees upward into the back of his kneecaps, this caused him to loose his balance and Miyu took this moment of opportunity to throw her entire weight forward and press him into the same position she had just been in.

This seemed to catch him by surprise, though he quickly brought his arms up to block several of her punches. After wailing on him for several precious seconds, she switched up her attack to mimic what her foe had done to her earlier, bringing her head crashing down in a headbutt. This blow stunned her opponent for a few moments as they both groaned in pain. But the battle had already been lost for her enemy, as Miyu had already found the knife dropped earlier. By the time the Venomian trooper had regained his wits, Miyu had already stabbed into the unprotected area around his neck.

The ape grabbed the shaft of the dagger with a gurgle as blood squirted out and over Miyu's hands. After a few moments struggle, her enemies hands fell downward, her foe killed. Miyu stared at her victim for what seemed like hours as the battle around her came to a swift conclusion. Her heart was beating what felt like 100 miles an hour, and her senses were numbed by the brutality of her fight. Eventually, Miyu looked up to see that all had fallen comparatively silent, as CDF soldiers had finished off the remainder of the attackers, many of them tending to their fallen and wounded comrades.

Miyu stood up and stepped away from the body, turning to walk back to check on her friend. Ayers was still unconscious and Miyu took a moment to look him over to make sure he was not wounded. Satisfied, she sat down next to him and covered her head in her hands and wept. The savagery of her close quarters fight left her shaken and battered, her shoulder was bleeding profusely and her head had several new, black bruises. After a few minutes, she sighed and stood back to her feet. She would have time to mourn the savagery later.

A few more shots rang out and Miyu grabbed her weapon off the floor and went to investigate. She ascended the stairs back up the hallway to where a group of CDF soldiers had formed a line and were firing at something at the end of the hallway. As Miyu pushed her way past the soldiers, she could see that the hallway lead to a dead end, thanks to the other doorways being blocked by debris from aerial attacks. At the end of the hallway, was a single Venom soldier.

Miyu could see that he was a serval, and a badly wounded one at that. His wounds seemed to be mostly in non vital areas, something that caused confusion in her until one of the CDF soldiers fired again, piercing his arm. The young feline cried out in pain and fell to his knees, clutching his arm. Miyu's jaw dropped as the soldiers laughed.

One of the laughing soldiers turned to Miyu and spoke between guffaws. "He was running earlier, but hes all but given up now. But we wont give him the satisfaction will we boys?"

The other soldiers continued to laugh until a superior officer arrived. The captain pushed his way through the ranks and yelled out in a bellowing voice. "Alright, break it up! Clear out of here in case the media shows up."

With a groan the soldiers dispersed and Miyu was left alone with the captain. The elder CDF officer pulled his sidearm and pointed it at the kneeling serval. Miyu thought quickly and gently touched the officers arm.

"Wait sir! He's shadow guard, shouldn't we take him prisoner?"

"Shadow Guard are fanatics, mercenary. Its all the more reason to put this poor bastard out of his misery."

"But wouldn't he give us vital intelligence?" Miyu said in a hopeful voice.

"Vital to what? The war is over merc! There is nothing he could give us that we don't already know."

Miyu bit her lip. Why was she protesting so much over the life of her enemy? Was she really getting soft? Had that last fight affected her judgment?

"Please sir, let me take him prisoner. I...Ive seen enough death today."

The dog sighed and reluctantly placed his pistol back in its holster. "Fine, but he's your prisoner. Not mine. So you get to take him back to forward base."

Miyu let out a soft breath. "Thank you sir."

The officer said no more and left to resume his duties of cleaning up the mess the war had left in the palace. Miyu called for a medic and moved down the hallway and knelt down next to the badly wounded soldier that had once been her foe. He looked up at her with questioning eyes as the medic tended to his wounds. Their eyes met for what seemed like hours and Miyu had to stop herself from staring.

His eyes were a beautiful ruby red that seemed to stare right through her, one might even call them mesmerizing. He wept as the medic tended to him and he looked up at her once again and gurgled. "Thank you."

Miyu nodded a weak nod and turned her back to look out the only window that wasn't broken in the hallway. Venom had fallen silent. She wasn't a religious sort, but she prayed a quick prayer for the fallen and sighed to herself once more.

What a day indeed.