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The kenmin-maru glided onto the azure canvas of the mediteranean. Its bow, built from the most durable woods of the yoshimikage forrest’s trees, plowed through the inconsequential waves below, and the light rain above plucked onto the deck at an inconsistent rhythm.Underneath the wooden planks of the boat’s surface, both of the ship’s occupants sat on their knees face to face, the room lit by small sets of candles illuminated by tiny flames dancing in the humid mediteranean air. The steam emitting from the kettlepot near them filled the quarters with the rich aromas of green leaf, and the two women’s chuckles filled the room as they took a sip from their cups.‘’and so, I told Cassandra to tone it down, that getting a medal was enough but she is so stubborn.’’ The blonde woman, in her 30s, told her far eastern friend as she checked for any stains on her fitted white tunic or her pants, her voluminous blonde mane loosened out of her ponytail. ‘’she really wanted to smash that record. So much so that she picked up a cramp on her thigh midway through.’’‘’did she get it?’’ the far eastern woman, roughly the same age as her gaijin friend, asked as she calmly took another sip from her cup. Her pink kimono, a gift from her best friend Chie back in her teenaged years, still embraced her lithe form gracefully, even after all these years.‘’nah, she was off by a couple tenths, but she still won comfortably.’’ Sophitia answered, brushing aside a stray of hair from her serene blue eyes. ‘’but wouldn’t you believe it, after she got her medal, she challenged the male swimmers to let her in the men’s 400M race!’’ a warm laugh came out of the blonde’s mouth as she recalled her younger sister getting in the face of one of the swimmers while their father, Achelos, and her husband Rothion intervened. ‘’that little devil, sometimes…’’‘’her spirit is strong, as well.’’ Taki commented as she took the final sip of her cup before she picked up the kettle. ‘’it runs in the blood, I guess.’’‘’I mean, there are some differences between me and her, but yes, I can confirm.’’ Sophitia added with a smile.As she carefully dropped some more tea into their cups, Taki obsverved her friend. Noticeable hints of softness were present in her thighs, and her mid-section bore the marks of motherhood. Her bosom, already consequent, now had more volume than in the past. It didn’t take long before everything clicked in the kunoichi’s mind and the question to be asked.‘’you’re a mother?’’Sophitia, taken by surprise, inadvertedly shook her tea cup, with liquid spilling onto her pants. Both women bursted into laughter at this sudden development.‘’Gomen na sai!’’ she managed to say in Japanese, one of the few words that her old friend taught her over the years.‘’no, I should be sorry.’’ Taki said as she offered her handkerchief. ‘’it was a bit impertinent.’’‘’no, no, no! it’s alright, really!’’ Soph reassured her as she deposed the cup and grabbed Taki’s handkerchief. As she wiped the stain from her thigh, she cleared her throat. ‘’yeah, i have two children.’’ She answered. ‘’my daughter, Pyrrha, just turned 10, while her brother, Patroklos, turned 9 the previous month.’’‘’you remember their ages?’’ Taki asked, surprised.‘’yes. I keep a calendar with me all the time.’’ Soph answered. ‘’I wrote down their birth dates in my journal, then I always buy a new calendar every year, then write down all the important anniversaries in my life. My own birthday, my parents, my sister’s, my kids, me and my husband’s anniversary…’’Taki listened intently. It was one of those western things that, deep down, has always fascinated her about Sophitia’s world, ever since her first voyage to find the demon sword. Back home, in Japan, they used a seasonal time system, where the day was divided into day and night based on dusk and dawn, with each period divided into 6, called ittokis. The calendar was its own system, the Koki system.However, the kunoichi’s mind was soon preoccupied by that last part…a husband…the thought seemed so foreign to her, a lone wolf her entire life, whose background and line of work never made a place for anything like…‘’How…’’ she began, interrupting the blonde greek woman. ‘’how did you…meet your husband?’’Sophitia looked into Taki’s eyes, of a chestnut brown, and saw the sudden determination in her voice. A thought appeared in the blonde’S eyes as she took in her question. In all those years, after everything they have been through, fighting fygul cestemus, taking out soul edge and ending the reign of terror of the azure knight Sophitia formerly knew as Siegfried…they didn’t really knew each other that much.‘’well…’’ she began, clearing her throat and putting aside her tea cup. ‘’I first met Rothion when I was still a young maiden. I always lived in the same village that I grew up in, helping out my family in our bakery, but he was the son of a blacksmith from the nearby city. One day, I delivered an order to the forge, and when I arrived, I saw him with his father, who taught him how to swing the hammer properly with the right force so as to solidify the steel, yet not too hard as to bend it. I saw how much care he put into crafting the blades, even at that age, and his eyes…his eyes were full of wonder, as if what he saw were precious. And then, he saw me.’’She could still picture the moment he first laid his eyes on her. How he stood there, completely still, as if he had found the lost city of atlantis. How her cheeks felt warm as she blushed. How her heart beat at a pace it never did before. The image of his legs shaking like a chicken made her chuckle.‘’he didn’t realise that the sword slipped from his hand. You should have seen his dad. He was literally plunging to save the blade from being stained!’’ She said with a laugh. Taki listened, her expression silent, but visibly intrigued. ‘’i deposed the basket of bread and I received some money. It was the first income I ever made, actually!’’Then, the image of his first visit to the bakery replayed in her mind. ‘’later that day, i was back in the village, and I was making some bread with my mother, Nike. The door suddenly opened, and there he was, still clad in his blacksmith uniform, standing in the doorframe. When he saw me, I could see how nervous he was. His lips moved on their own. He was clearly reciting what he was about to ask me by himself as he approached the counter. Poor Rothion. He couldn’t help but stumble in his words! I thought he was so charming!’’‘’so…was that how it started between you two?’’ Taki asked, eager to learn the rest.‘’well, I told him that he was welcome in the bakery anytime. After that, I started looking forward to seeing him, and he came to the bakery every day. We talked a lot, and soon enough, we began hanging out. He showed me his father’s forge, as well as all of his smithing tools and techniques, while me and my parents gave him a course in baking. You would think, with his callous hands, that the dough would be molded weirdly, but actually, he was a quick learner! His hands actually made for bread with soft, munchy dough.’’‘’how was it like…leaving him for your first journey?’’ Taki asked.Sophitia took a deep breath, her mind evoking the painful memories of leaving everything behind and all the moments of doubts and the fear of never seeing him again. ‘’it was…really hard. Every night, I thought about him. I longed for his smile. For the way he looked at me. The way he always listened to me, never taking me lightly…and his touch.’’ Her cheeks burned red at that last word, a warm smile forming. ‘’that day, after I defeated Cervantes…I was about to die. The last thing on my mind was my family. Cassandra. Him.’’Just then, tears began filling her eyes. Taki got closer to her, placing her hand into hers to comfort her. Sophitia smiled warmly at her.‘’thank the gods you came by.’’ She said. ‘’it is thanks to you that, well…everything else happened.’’ She said, putting her free hand onto her little tummy. The surreal and beautiful sight of Pyrrha in her arms, forever embedded in her consciousness, filled her mind, sparking tears of joy. She then faced her far eastern friend, then bowed before her.‘’Arigato.’’Taki smiled, and returned the bow. As the emotions winded down, Taki took a deep breath, sensing that it wasonly natural to share her story with her gaijin friend.‘’I don’t remember much about my childhood…’’ the raven-haired kunoichi said as the lush hills of iga province materialised in her head. ‘’all I remember is that I never knew my parents. I was an orphan, stealing and doing whatever I could to survive. Eventually, I tried stealing money from a man who was alone on the roads. But I was subdued quickly, and before I knew it, he brandished his short sword at me. I managed to roll away and took him down, placing my dagger on his throat. Only to feel the tip of his ninjato on my chest. He didn’t have any fear in his eyes. On the contrary, he was smiling. That was how I met toki.’’‘’from then on, he took me in. we moved to the village that belonged to his branch of the fuma clan, one of the main ninja clans in my home land.’’ She continued. ‘’that’s really where my life began. I trained relentlessly. Toki was merciless, ingraining in me everything he knew about being a shinobi: ruthless, silent, deadly…in my world, there is no place for emotions or dignity. You obeyed, without question. What’S important was the target. You have to do everything’’Sophitia took in her words. She found it incredible that her friend had such an upbringing. A world so suffocating, so relentless…her people’s struggles against the ottoman occupier was real, but her upbringing seemed priviledged in comparison.‘’one day, I was assigned an assassination of a clan deserter: a man named Hachibei.’’ Taki continued. ‘’when I confronted him, however, he told me that toki…he was possessed. He wanted the object he sought for so long, mekki-maru, was infused with demonic energy from the far west. Not only that, but hachibei was the father of…of my best friend, Chie.’’ A slight pain in her heart. ‘’I let them away. Once i came back to toki with Mekki-maru, however, I saw it. His eyes. His attitude…I saw the real him. The man I considered my father…was monster, all along. And he really was obsessed with mekki-maru…with the demon sword.’’‘’and so, it led to my first voyage out west.’’ She continued. ‘’and well, you know how that ended.’’Sophitia smiled.‘’but when I returned to japan…I was immediately atttacked by my own comrades.’’ She said. ‘’when I returned to the village, toki was…he had gone off the deep end. He learned that I took mekki-maru, his shinobi managed to find chie and hachibei in china and killed them. and during the ensuing battle, I saw it…a shard. He had a shard, somehow.’’A lump began forming in her throat.‘’I had no choice…i…I killed him. And, soon enough, I became a dead woman walking. I fled the country and ventured west...and that’s…how I got involved in the whole nightmare debacle.’’Sophitia posed a hand on her shoulder as taki’s head fell down. ‘’being a kunoichi…it’s…it’s hard.’’ Taki said, hints of emotion coming out of her voice. ‘’the blood one sheds through a lifetime…the constant stress….not to mention…using…my body….’’At this point, her mind couldn’t take it anymore. As she finally broke out all the years of pent up feelings, sophitia hugged her friend in a tight embrace. Lending her shoulder, she gently grabbed the raven-haired kunoichi’s head and carefully posed it. She felt the stream of pain onto the left strap of her white tunic.After a few minutes, the crying subsided, and taki, still reeling from all the emotional and psychological trauma leaving her body, looked at sophitia with dry tears down her cheeks. With the kunoichi’s handkerchief in hand, sophitia wiped away the remainder of the pain that her friend kept inside for so long. she offered her a warm smile, one that told taki that she was safe. The raven-haired beauty then bowed in front of the blonde greek warrior.‘’arigato.’’ She uttered in complete sincerity. Her body still trembling a bit from the emotions. She then felt the warmth of her embrace again. This time, she returned the hug, her slender arms tightly wrapping around the warrior…nay, the mother’s maternity-softened figure. Her left cheek found its way onto her ample bosom, offering a safe, comfortable cushion as her body calmed down to the sound of sophitia’s stable, soothing breathing and heartbeats.‘’arigato gozaimasu!’’ she uttered again. Within this safe space…she drew a smile…an honest, sincere smile. Something she never thought she’d make again.‘’Taki…’’ Sophita called, prompting the kunoichi to look at her straight in her azure eyes. ‘’I can’t even imagine what you’ve been through. You might think that you’ve lost everything, that you don’t have a home to go to other than this ship.’’She listened intently.‘’…but it doesn’t have to be this way.’’ Sophitia said, her warm smile appearing again. ‘’if you want to, you can come live with us, in our village.’’ She suggested. She smiled even more upon seeing taki’s eyes widen like that of a tormented soul being offered a chance at redemption. ‘’me and my family, we will welcome you with open arms. Just like we did with Cassandra’s partner, Hilde. You’ll be able to build a new life with us. Not only that…’’ she giggled at the thought. ‘’…but Rothion can help you craft the finest blades just for you, and we’ll also gladly teach you how to kneal dough and bake some delicious bread with us!’’Taki couldn’t believe it. For the longest time, ever since she deserted her clan, she thought she was a dead woman walking, wandering aimlessly, waiting for the day the grim reaper will inevitably claim her. Yet, amidst all the odds, here was a second chance, offered by the very same person she saved from near certain death all those years ago…‘’you…you really mean it?’’ she asked her.‘’of course, I mean it!’’ Sophitia said. ‘’Friends are supposed to help each other.’’Taki smiled, then got back up. Her stance was straight, her raven ponytail bopping backwards as she stretched and took a deep breath, her pink kimono radiant under the candle light. Then, with a renewed vigor in her eyes, she looked at her blonde friend.‘’do you have any demons I can take care of, where you live?’’A bright, proud smile appeared on Sophitia’s visage. There was nothing more satisfying than seeing her best friend simply…be herself. The real Taki. The brave sword…and braver soulΤΕΛΟΣ終わり