Red and White, Black and Blue

Prologue

Bright afternoon sunlight speckled by the shadows of falling cherry blossom petals filters through the two big windows flanking the desk of the main office of the Ryukyu hero agency. Besides that ornate desk, the office is furnished with several chairs and built-in bookshelves line either wall. Save for the desk chair itself (which is a comfy leather swivel chair) it's all fine dark hardwood, carved with an elegance to match that of the woman behind the desk.

She brushes her dark hair out from in front of her golden slit-pupiled eyes as she glances away from the guest standing opposite her desk. Her eye settles on a small photo frame to her left, one of the few purely decorative items in the space - though she has a fondness for fine things and trinkets, she likes her workspace functional. The rest of the desk space has just a few pens neatly arranged next to two stacks of papers, and a laptop.

"You're certain about this, Ryumi?" She says without looking back to the girl. The photo holds her attention still. It's several years old now, but remains a favorite, a memory of better times. Hero work was never what she'd call safe, but it was rewarding - personally and professionally. Now though...

It's a group shot. Four individuals, three adults and a child. Ryuko herself is on the left in her hero costume, a delicate looking embroidered crimson dress and claw-like silver hairpiece. Her grin shows off her pointed teeth, and her arm is around the shoulder of a navy-haired woman. The other woman is in hero gear too, a fairly basic but functional black martial arts style outfit with a bit of additional armoring around the neck and chest, plus some understated detailing at the edges. Of course, her most striking feature was the deep blue scaly wings spread behind her, and the matching tail just barely visible in this picture. Her eyes are slitted like Ryuko's, but a bright emerald in color. She too has a grin on her face, but hers is wilder, almost conspiratorial, and lacking refinement - but that's just how she was.

Maki...

"Of course I'm sure!"

Ryuko's gaze darts back to the girl. She looks and sounds more like her mother every day. On one hand, seeing her feels like a reunion with an old, very dear friend and sidekick - a sister even, though not by blood. But on the other, she's also a firm reminder that those days are past, and of a failing not yet forgiven.

The girl is in the photo too, much younger than she is today, and with a carefree look that's now replaced with cold but well-intentioned determination. Every bit her mother's daughter, she bears the same draconic features, slit pupils, wings, and a long tail - though her scales gradually shift from navy to black at the tips of each limb, and the wings bear silvery marks down the webbing in a pattern reminiscent of a lightning strike. She has her mother's hair, a stark natural navy, almost metallic in the sunlight, though she has a shock of her father's silver in front, all gathered together on just one side. Her eyes are as blue as her father's, and they shine with an almost neon glow. Then, as now, she's dressed in a simple school uniform, white shirt with buttons, long dark gray skirt, and a red tie just to give a little color to the look. In the old picture, she's flying above the other three, striking an overly excited pose and mimicking her mother's feral smile - a child's idea of heroism.

Her father, yes. The last person in the picture. Ryuko looks back from the girl as she considers what her answer will be.

He's on the right side of the picture, standing awkwardly on an uneven bit of concrete. Rescue operations for the event had concluded by then, but the cleanup was only just starting in earnest. He would be rather plain-looking by most standards, a little shorter than his wife if they were all on level ground. His hair is short, pure silver even though he's too young to have gone gray, and his eyes are a piercing blue somewhat marred by the visible dark circles under them. He's clearly overworked and tired in the picture, but he's still smiling. He's not a hero himself - at least not in the modern sense of the word - but a paramedic. He's wearing his hospital uniform and carrying a suitcase-like first aid kit in one hand, and holding his wife's hand in the other. Behind them all, the skyline is a bleak ruin of half-demolished office buildings. The area, of course, looks nothing like that today. The structures have been rebuilt, stronger and more resilient to the type of quake that brought down the originals.

The girl shifts a little, uncertain. "Well, auntie? Can you help...? I mean, I'll try on my own anyway, but with your standing in the hero rankings..." Her eyes are locked on Ryuko, pleading. She idly grabs her elbow with her other hand and her wings lower to her sides, wondering if this request had been too much.

Ryuko sighs and studies the girl as she is today: nervous to be asking for something from a person she perceives as famous, even though she's known her for years, but there's a flicker of drive and a commitment to a long and hard-thought decision too.

"...I miss those days. All of us, working together." She looks down at the floor, at her shoes. "I know it probably sounds weird to miss the chaos, or rude because people died in all those tragedies..."

"No, my dear. I understand." Ryuko smiles faintly. The girl really was becoming so much like Maki. A few more years, a bit more experience and training, and the confidence from that... "I can recommend you if you're sure." She watches as the girl's eyes light up and all the fear vanishes from her demeanor. Her tail twitches ever so slightly.

Ryuko stands up and walks out from behind the desk. "You know that doesn't automatically get you in, though. It will increase your chances, but even recommendations have to pass difficult written and practical exams. You'll still have to work for it, harder than anything you ever have before, you understand?" She sets her hand on the little dragon girl's shoulder.

"Yes! Yes, of course. I'll train every day - I..." She instantly and excitedly jumps into the plan she's clearly been thinking about for months, but her thought process runs off the end of the tracks before it can fully get going.

"You can use the facilities here, after class and over the summer. I'll even help when I have time." Ryuko offers a gentle smile as the young one hugs her.

"I'll go get started right now!"

"Okay. Just don't neglect your current schoolwork."

"I know, I know..." Her voice trails off as she dashes down the hall toward the training gym. Ryuko waits a moment, glancing back toward the framed photo, then walks slowly but purposefully along behind.