A young man walked leisurely through the forest path.

He had short black hair and light brown eyes.

He had just finished hunting for the day and was returning home.

Though he had his bow and catches on his back, he wasn’t bothered at all by the weight.

Spring had just started again and he thought about the animals that he could hunt again.

He reached the end of the forest path and walked in to a clearing.

“WELCOME HOME!!!”

The young man was greeted happily by a little girl and a young woman.

They both had long, shiny black hair and brown eyes.

“Good to be back Emilia, Mila have you been good to your mother?”

The man said to his daughter as he approached.

“Of course, Daddy”

The girl said with a smile on her face.

“Here, let me take your bow, Ander”

His wife offered.

Ander complied and then picked up his daughter, and entered the house with his wife.

Emilia put the bow on its stand near the front door and took what Ander caught in to the kitchen.

Ander took off his shoes and stepped on to the straw mat floor of his house.

“Well I got us rabbits today so looks like its rabbit stew today”

“Oh, that’s fine but I need you to head in to town tomorrow”

Emilia replied as she was preparing dinner.

“Low on supplies again?”

“Yea and I was planning to go to the lake with Mila”

“Ok I’ll get them and meet you at home, I don’t want to stay in town long”

“. . .”

“Daddy here! This is what I painted with mommy today”

Mila triumphantly showed Ander a painting of what appeared to be them in front of their house.

“Hmm, why is your mother’s eyes red?”

Ander gave his daughter a confused look.

“TREE TRUNKS”

“Huh, well at least you got us right. Look you have your mom’s hair and my eyes”

“Realllly?”

“See? In the light our eyes become almost amber” Ander leaned close to show his daughter.

“Oooooo”

Emilia peered over from the kitchen and smiled to herself as her husband and child were talking.

She carefully made enough proportions for dinner and left enough for breakfast.

By the time she was done, Mila was busy showing Ander all the plants they had collected that day.

“Alright you two, time to eat go wash your hands”

Ander helped Mila wash up, and they all knelt around the dinner table on the straw mat.

They ate and spoke more about random topics that came up one way or another.

After dinner, they opened the sliding door that lead to their backyard/courtyard.

They sat there admiring the stars that were out that night as they had every night.

Soon Mila fell asleep in Emilia’s lap.

“Was this the right choice?”

“Hm?” Emilia responded as she was stroking Mila’s hair.

Ander turned to Emilia and looked in to her eyes.

“The fact that she has no one her age to play with, the fact that you have to stay here with her, and the fact that we live in

THIS house”

Emilia placed her hand on Ander’s and her head on his shoulder.

“As long as we’re together none of that matters, right?”

“Emilia . . . are . . . are you happy here?”

“Yes, don’t worry about me, we’ve been through a lot. But now Mila is with us”

“What about you Mila?”

“!!??” Mila tried hard to pretend to be asleep again.

“Heh come on Mila I see you closing your eyes really hard”

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“Awww”

“Well are you happy here?”

“. . . yes. With mommy and daddy”

Satisfied with his wife and daughter’s confirmations, Ander went to lay out their futon.

Though their house had two bedrooms and a guest room, they slept together as a family in the living room.

As Emilia tucked Mila in, Ander went to lock the doors and windows of the house.

Then with Mila between them, Ander and Emilia went to sleep.

When they felt the sun on their eyes, Ander and Emilia both woke up.

They left Mila to her dreams and started to prepare for their day.

Emilia quickly prepared Ander some breakfast while he got dressed.

Ander put on his cloak and brought his sword just in case.

He left after breakfast and was on his way to town.

When he had just past the town gate.

“ANDER!!!” A girl with shoulder length brown hair, and gentle brown eyes called out.

Ander smiled and replied.

“Hello Reimi it’s been a while hasn’t it, how are you?”

“Great! How’s Emilia and Mila?”

“Oh, they’re fine” Unknown to Reimi, Emilia and Mila had visited the town from time to time.

But Ander decided to not mention that to Reimi.

“. . . You haven’t been to town in a while” She said quietly.

“Yea . . . life’s been busy”

Though Ander and Emilia had used to be more active in the town’s activities, raising

Mila had caused them to withdraw almost entirely.

“You’re here does that mean Tai is too?”

“. . . Yea, my brother is around. We caught a lot yesterday so everyone decided to take today off”  

Reimi replied with some reluctance. 

“Hmm”

“I’LL ACOMPANY YOU”

“Eh?” Ander thought with a surprised look on his face.

“If my brother appears, I’ll tell him off. It’s not fair to you . . . after all that you’ve done for the town”

“Don’t worry about that, he’s entitled to that opinion. I mean he is going to be the next head just like your father, right? Let’s

just get through today first”

“You’re right. What are you here for?” Reimi tried her best to smile for Ander.

“Supplies”

And so Reimi joined Ander as he went through the town to put in delivery orders.

After he was done at the general store, Ander asked Reimi to wait for him as he quickly went to the blacksmith’s.

“Ander? Haven’t seen you in a while”  

“Hello Ren, I’ve come to get some whetstones” Ander said as he entered Ren’s shop.

It was mostly the same as any other blacksmith’s, Ren had a storefront and a forge in the back.

Usually he made equipment but wasn’t too bad in making things like utensils as well.

 “Here a fresh shipment just came in from the city”

The large man, Ren, said as he handed Ander a couple of wrapped stones.

“Anything new in terms of weapons Ren?”

“Naw, just the same old, unless you have a design in mind. Though I wouldn’t mind looking at those swords you and your

wife have.” Ren said wishfully.

“No can do, I can’t have you breaking our only links to the past”

“But they’re made so well they could even be national treasures, if I found out their secrets. . .”

“We’ll just leave it at that.” Ander said as he cut off Ren.

“Well I have other things to do so see you later”

“Yep see you later” Ren waved as Ander left.

True to Ren’s words, Ander and Emilia did both own swords that were unlike any others.

While his was black from the handle to the guard and blade, Emilia’s was white at the handle and had a silver blade.

They both seemed to emit a low hum of energy, Emilia’s as a calming wave and Ander’s as a raging tide.

But now they were locked up tight in their house for personal reasons.

“Is that Ander I see! Oh? And Reimi too”

A familiar voice called out as they walked by.

“How have you been granny? Long time no see” “Hello”

After entering the bakery and chatting with the shop keep for a bit, they prepared to leave.

“Oh Ander, here for your wife and growing child”

The old shopkeeper, Kona said happily, as Ander and Reimi left.

“Thanks for the extra buns Kona” Ander called back.

Though he didn’t notice Reimi slightly wince when the old baker mentioned his wife and kid.

“See? A lot of people miss you, you should come through more often”

Reimi causally mentioned as they headed for the gate.

“Well I would but . . . anyways thanks for coming with me today, I’ll say hi to Emilia and Mila for you”

“. . Yea, at least we didn’t run in to Tai right?”

“Yea. . . strange you’d think he would come to bother me. Well, see you next time Reimi, it’s been nice to see you again”

Reimi saw Ander off before going back in to town when she noticed someone nearby.

“Having fun Reimi?” The slightly charged words came at her from the man. 

“Tai . . .” Reimi said with some reprehension in her voice.

The figure was indeed her brother, who had mostly the same features as her only he didn’t have her gentle eyes and was

sterner looking.

“It’s a simple question. When I see my younger sister smiling and walking around with THAT man. It makes me think what

else is he trying to take”

“STOP IT!! Emilia is Ander’s wife . . .and now they have Mila too. You have to let go of it”

Reimi sharply replied to her brother.

“That’s all in the past now”

she continued in a hushed voice.

“Really? It looks like you haven’t forgotten”

Tai indicated to the two small tears that had streaked across Reimi’s right cheek. 

----------------------------------------

It took him awhile but eventually Ander noticed the figure waiting for him on the side of the path.

He was about two thirds of the way home and now it seemed so much further away.

“About time, I was starting to get tired of waiting for you”

The figure said cloaked in the shadows of the trees.

Ander nervously gulped some air since he knew exactly who this was.

It was someone he had spent chasing for a number of years in the past.

Though he and Emilia had amnesia when they were brought to the town, it was not the whole truth.

There were some things they hide from the people.

And there were some things Ander hid from Emilia, like recovering his memories.

“You must surely remember who I am, right Ander?”

They continued with a spite filled voice and pointed their sword at him.

“Yea, I knew this day would come” Ander nodded solemnly at the person.

“Good then I won’t feel guilty about killing a man who forgot his crimes”

The next second, they leaped at Ander with an overhead slash.

Ander predicted this and dodged to the left.

In the same movement, he dropped everything on his back and placed his hand on his sword.

“Oh? You never change still using those BLADES?”  

The attacker shouted as they closed the distance.

The sword that Ander currently had was one with no guard and a long slightly curved edge, the Katana.

His fighting style was landing fast lethal blows on the opponent and katanas suited him just fine.

He hesitated to draw his blade this time as he didn’t want to kill this person.

And so, the fight continued with Ander dodging their attacks as much as he could.

Even if he fought back, this person could block his attacks easily.

Their sword shone in the moonlight as they lunged at Ander with a straight thrust.

This time Ander leaped backwards to avoid the follow up that would come from the sword turning left or right.

He rushed in planning to land a punch on their stomach but he was met with an elbow from the assailant’s sword hand.

“KUH”

It landed on Ander’s left cheek with a lot of force.

No sooner had that happened when they continued with a kick to Ander’s chest.

‘Shit’ Ander thought as he was sent flying backwards.

‘This is really bad, I never could take you on one on one’

Ander’s ultimate weakness was always endurance and so he usually overwhelmed his opponents to compensate.

But against someone with high endurance and high defense, he would always lose unless he came prepared.

Running out of breath and with his left cheek starting to swell, Ander turned to his final option.

He dropped his cloak and blade in to the darkness and ran in to the forest. 

“HEY CAN YOU GRAB MY STUFF IF YOU”RE GOING TO CHASE ME?”

Ander shouted back to the other person.

With that the assailant watched as Ander ran in to the trees.

Though they were after his life, they knew exactly where he was going.

So, they sheathed their blade, picked up Ander’s belongings and started to walk.

Their long silky black hair shone in the moonlight that was out.

Though their sword shined brilliantly as well, casting off silver flashes as they marched on.