A New Beginning

Crying Child

Everything had to die at some point, and everyone had to deal with that goodbye from their loved ones.

However not many are able to do that. This mostly applied to a young girl, who after watching her sister die, she couldn't be at peace.

Days after the incident no one had believed her, they tought that the poor girl had finally lost it, and soon the villagers made an agreement to send her to a temple where she could be cleaned from those said illusions and stop talking nonsense about demons, and if that didn't work then her uncle from far away will have to be called out.

The fiancee who was about to marry her sister had suddently dissapeared the exact day when they found Tsutako's body with a crying Giyuu over her.

Rumours spread about the fiancee killing such beautiful and generous woman. But Giyuu was the only one who knew the truth.

The day had arrived where she would be send to a temple, or maybe be sold to be a servant, the village didn't care, she was an orphan now.

Just as usual Giyuu had been trying her best to stop the elder woman's grip and trying to let herself go while begging to be believed.

Luckily a man with red hair and eyes had been passing by the streets that day. His eyes where locked on the pityful display and Tanjuro, with his heart of gold, he couldn't stand there now could he?

"Young Miss may ask the problem?" his smile suddenly felt like the sun had begun to shine the second time, his gentle tone which almost made Giyuu tear up for reminding her of the lost relative.

"My sister...she was eaten by a demon--" before she could finish a hand from her elder had slapped her shut. The man stanting there could only watch in worry.

"You foolish child, you are 7 and this is how you act! By lying to the elders that pity you and playing the victim!!" the woman's words hurt more than the slap itself, tears wouldn't stop no matter how much she wanted them to, she didn't even dare to look at the man anymore for he might have the face of dissapointment, or the  frustacion and confusion like the many she had seen.

But that was far from the opposite, to everyone's surprise, the man only raised his hand to pat the little raven as he slowly made the elder let go of her hand.

"Its alright now, it must have been a horrible thing to see for you." Those words that had sounded so sincere is what finally made Giyuu break down and accept the death of the person she had loved the most, while a pair of warm arms embraced her without any judgement.

"She is an orphan now. It is better to send this girl to a temple or at least serve at rich man's house."

"I'll take her instead, that is if she wants to come."

Someone had finally listened to her without judging and was rather compassionate about it instead of just telling her to stop the grief of an unimportant one, they even dared to think that everything would have been solved if the fiancee hadn't run away and rather courted the younger one later on.

They didn't feel a single amount of remorse, and those who did only gave it after a few days. No one in the village had wanted to feel sorry for a peasant and an orphan.

But the man that had come down on a sunny day did, not only that but he also wished to provide this unlucky girl a place to stay.

So without hesitation she nodded her head as the man caressed her hair letting her calm down before taking the answer, but either way she said the same.

"I hope you don't mind traveling for a few days, and also, we live in a small house at the top of the mountains, so you might have to learn some self defense."