A/N: Just a little oneshot. Kinda thought it up while passing a graveyard while listening to Trace Atkins Arlington. Be warned. This isn't a songfic. Please enjoy and don't forget to respond. If you don't, Santa won't bring you anything nice for Christmas. ND

Medal of Honor

Ami walked silently next to the horse-drawn carriage. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm but the occasion which found these people here cast a pallor that dimmed the sunlight and chilled the breeze. The carriage was drawn by a pair of beautiful white horses. An enlisted sat astride one of the horses, guiding the steed. Atop the carriage, was a flag-draped coffin. A fallen hero returning home.

People, both military and civilians, mourners alike, lined the road. They filtered silently to their seats as the carriage drew to the open grave. In the front row, Ami spotted her parents. Her mother and father had refused to be seen in public with each other since their divorce when Ami was a young girl. Together now, they shared their grief.

Ami listened absently through the prayers, hymns and eulogy. Apparently, the soldier had saved several members of her company by providing cover fire, allowing them to escape before being killed by an enemy's grenade. Due to the valor she displayed that day, she was to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Ami was honored to have known this hero so personally.

She was startled from her reverie by the twenty-one gun salute. A bugler played TAPS as a pair of Marines, resplendent on their formal uniforms, carefully folded the flag and reverently presented it to her parents.

As the funeral concluded, Ami knelt before the headstone and read it.

AMI MIZUNO

Sunrise: September 10, 1972

Sunset: September 28, 2010

"FOR EACH LIFE GIVEN, ONE IS STOLE"