The laughter of boys, ranging from seven to ten. They were all playing with each other and messing around as they were pretending to be warriors and fighting each other with wooden swords. They had all stopped when seeing a young boy, aged five approaches them all.

"What do you want?"
One of the bigger boys asked with their eyes upon him.

"Can I play with you?"
All of them laugh at him; they all thought this was just some joke. He looked rather fragile, delicate, they had all guessed he was perhaps a son of a noble; he seemed to be well looked after and a bit shorter than other boys his age.

"No."
The same boy scoffed, "if you hurt yourself, you're going to cry."
His smile faded, he knew that wasn't nice, he wasn't going to cry. He promised his father he wouldn't let anyone call him names.

"I won't cry. My father says I'm brave!"
The boys stared at each other then nodded after, "alright, we'll let you play with us."
As one of them handed him a wooden sword, clashing with others, just anyone for the time being until the eldest one suggested they pair off to teams and pretend one group were the Parsian's and the others, just some bandits they can fight off.

For this boy, he was on the side of the bandits while the older boys were the Parsian soldiers. All of the soldiers had used their swords to kill off the bandits as they fell and targeted the boy last, ganging up on him. Even when he had struck them where they were supposed to be 'dead' but were alive either way.

"You're cheating!"
He cried out, he couldn't believe this as they were hurting him than just using their wooden swords to his own and his stomach.

"What do you mean? We're not cheating."
They laughed, none of the soldiers collapsed like they were supposed to and he didn't like this one bit.
When he had fallen to the ground, he was already starting to get teary, he didn't like how this was turning out and wanted to stop.

Sitting up now, he had wiped some tears that formed in his eyes.
"We told you, what a baby."
The older children laughed, then looked away. Obvious they didn't want to play with him anymore.

"I'm not a baby, I'm five years old!"
His voice raised, a frown on his face as he stomped his foot. Yet the older kids weren't going to have their minds changed anything.
"Alright, fine. You're not a baby; we'll let you play with us again."

It never occurred to him that something was wrong about that, "really? Oh, thank you! I can't wait." He grinned, quite excited that this was happening. He was making friends and sure, they played rough, but he could learn to get used to it. That was how kids played, didn't they?

"What's your name?"
The oldest kid asked, staring down at the boy.

"I am called Sanaz."
Yes, this 'boy' was, in fact, a girl. How her father raised her to be.

They had all laughed at her, "you have a girl name!"
She was a girl, after all, frowning, her fists clutched and stomped her foot again. She hated people laughing at her, her name was what it was and she didn't want to change it.

"My mother gave me that name!"
Her voice raised at them, although Sanaz never really knew her mother, she had a feeling she would have loved her either way. She knew her mother died when giving childbirth to her, her father told her how her mother wanted to call their child that. She wasn't going to change it, no matter what anyone said.

"Aww, how sweet~ Well why don't you run to her?"
No one could say that she didn't like anyone looking down on her. "Tell your stupid mother to change your name, no wonder no one likes you."
That was harsh, she couldn't allow him to speak ill of her mother that way.

Her feet approached him and kicked him in the shins, she could see that it hurt and she didn't care. He deserved it after what he said.
"Take back what you said!"

She yelled, glaring at him. However, she wasn't expecting what would happen next; a punch to the face. Landing on the ground, she couldn't believe what he did; she had tried hard not to cry but ended up doing so. The adults that were around, not doing anything, no soldiers to even care about the matters of children.

"Baby."
He said, glaring and decided to take his leave but was stopped by the youngest boy, tough-looking, short black hair and golden eyes. He stood there in front of him and frowned.

"You should take back what you said, that was very unnecessary. Even if he has a girly name."
Just who was this stranger who was defending her? Sanaz had watched, wiping her tears with her shirt.

The boy was much bigger than the other; he looked as if he could beat up that younger boy up.
"What're you going to do about it? Nothing! I'm big and you're small, I'm strong and you're weak."

His exact words, that wasn't going to faze this boy, he may have seemed weak, but he was strong, he has a strong sense of justice and wasn't going to let him pick on a five-year-old child. Someone who was five years younger than him, it was pathetic and cowardice!

"I wouldn't look down on those you call weak, he's crying because he's hurt, he didn't like you insulting his mother. How would you like it if someone insulted your family?"
He stood firm, his seriousness never fading and would keep his stand.

The ten-year-old laughed, "I'd just beat up anyone who tried to."
Both the seven-year-old and Sanaz knew violence couldn't always be the answer; the boy went in to punch the older boy, knocking him to the floor.

He had just about enough from him, he was a bully. He was picking on the weak, someone who wasn't his size. That was enough, he wasn't going to hang around this guy anymore, a bully who laughed at others, made younger kids cry and insulted them and their families, it was unacceptable.

"Are you alright?"
He asked Sanaz, approaching her and stretching an arm out for her to take. A friendly smile to his face as she took it, her cheeks tinted red as she stood to her feet. Wiping the dirt off her as she nodded her head.

"Thank you for saving me, that guy didn't have any right to say that about my mother."
He had nodded his head; he knew it would be painful to have someone insult someone you care about.

"I know that my mother wanted to name me this, she died when having me…"
It was sad to talk about but it was nice that someone knew, he seemed to be sympathetic to her and understood why he had such a girl name.

"Don't worry Sanaz; we can be friends from now on! I'll teach you how to defend yourself, so you don't need to cry anymore."
A smile to her face as she had nodded her head.

"I would love that heaps!"
Her fists clutched, and could faintly picture it. She already had so much respect for him, it had also felt so nice, to make a friend. He was two years older than her and it didn't matter, how she couldn't wait to tell her father about him. How brave he was, he was heroic and how she wanted to be strong like him. She knew her mother would be happy, looking down upon her daughter and seeing her make friends. If she was alive, would she be happy with her father's decision to raise her like a son?

"…Oh wait, what's your name?"
Sanaz asked him, a smile came to his face and lightly hit his chest. The boy had a feeling they were going to be friends for a very long time.
Thus, the start of a friendship filled with secrets and heartbreak between Sanaz and Daryun.