CHAPTER 3

—It's your fault. You were the one who crossed the arc —Kurogane was frowning at his brother, walking visibly upset.

—You weren't ask to join me in my adventure —Even when the older was glancing at him, Fai's face reflected the excitement he felt—. And weren't you the one that said we still are on the house's garden? We just have to search for a way back, right?

—Well, yeah, but you should take things more seriously, you know…

—Keep it simple, dear Kurogane, keep it simple.

—Do not repeat what that doll said!

—So you are accepting the things here have the ability to talk?

He just put the head down and kept marching, making Fai whisper something about winning and bursting into laughter after that.

They were walking through the sort of path the older had find, through the same green grass, cut so perfectly it didn't look like a savage place at all, giving the impression it was the same garden, but the deeper they went, the more unknown the place became.

There were many reasons to think that, making the blonde be fascinated and the dark haired be startled. The tree's oddity was one of them, they were much bigger than the ones they were used to see, their branches having a weird, strange shape. The flowers were different too, being from kinds the men had never seen before.

The most quirky thing was that they had been walking for a good time, so they should be going out of the garden… but it only looked like they were entering deeply into the garden.

After some time they started talking again, Fai saying he was convinced they weren't on the house territory anymore.

—Why are you so convinced?

—I don't know… I just feel like we are not anymore there…

—You are telling me you can feel when we are on the house and when we are not?

—No… I mean, it just feels like we're not anymore on the place we used to be… When we were kids I used to spend the most part of my time here… but after growing up…

—You still spend lots of time here, you know… I constantly see you entering the garden and returning after hours.

Fai just pressed on, leaving Kurogane and the conversation behind. The man just shrugged his shoulders and kept walking, trying to catch up with the other, who had gone away really fast.

Even when the conversation had stopped, he couldn't stop himself from remembering the old times; he easily could remember the time when he would play hide and seek (or any other game his brother's imagination could come up with) inside the vast house.

Imagination. There was a time when he had it, he was sure of it, but he couldn't set the time when he completely lost it.

He knew he grew up and stopped playing and running with his 3-years-younger brother and started getting interested in other things. Even when that changed, there was something that always stayed the same: Kurogane never enjoyed being at the garden, and he knew he never would grow to like it.

He was trying to remember a time when he had gone outside for the only pleasure of doing it, when someone tapped on his shoulder.

—Kurogane… we are heading to a town…

Fai was behind him, a worried look on his face.

—Wait… what?

—I said, "We are…"

—I know what you said… it's just you shouldn't be here.

—What do you mean by that? A while ago you said it was my fault that we were here, then I told you I needed to stop for a while and kept talking; I thought you didn't listen to me, so I decided I would catch up later. And now you say I shouldn't be here!— Both of them knew it was a banter, so the complaining weren't taken seriously.

—Stop joking, Fai. Remember you passed in front of me a while ago, how were you able to appear behind? You find a way to come back?

—I'm not joking when I say I've been behind you all this time.

The men were standing on a slope, facing each other.

A red stare was looking for answers inside the sky-blue gaze, waiting to find the truth on them.

He sighed when he realized his brother wasn't lying, he could tell because his expression's seriousness and calmness… it was a different one when he lied.

Also, he decided to trust him because he finally understood they weren't on the garden anymore, and the wooden town that could be seen at the bottom of the hill was there to prove it.