"Isn't that exciting." Wakana says out of the blue in the middle of dinner.

"What is?" I ask.

"You will be going back to work soon, and I will be somewhat of a stay at home mother." I choke on the ramen I was drinking and look up at Wakana as she throws me a concerned expression. "You alright?"

"What did you just mean right there?"

She raises an eyebrow. "Huh? Did I say something?"

"When you said 'stay at home mother',"

"Eek!" She interrupts with a squeak before bowing to me deeply. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that!" I look down in surprise before letting out a chuckle.

"Geez, you're so cute." I tell her as I pick her up from the ground and grab hold of her by the waist.

"Now you're the one saying things." She replies with a bright blush.

"What I am speaking of is 100 present true, so don't deny it." Leaning into her, we lock our lips together and begin to kiss each other passionately before a distant noise catches my ears and I immediately part from her and listen to the surroundings.

"Kotaro?" Wakana looks at me in confusion as I stare in a certain direction.

"Someone's coming."

"How do you know?"

"Ninjas has very sensitive hearing; we can hear a footstep from a mile away." I stood up from where we were sitting and walked over to the front door.

The snow has slowly been melting so there wasn't too much snow around. Yet even with my boots, the snow went up to my ankle. Continuing to listen to my surroundings, I narrow my eyes in the direction I hear the hoofbeats of a pair of horses. Wakana stood at the doorway and watched me in silence as I stood in the crisp air of the ending winter. And before long, two horses with riders made their way towards the residence in a galloping gait. I stood motionless as the two approach me. As they neared, the horse's gaits slowed to a trot and down to a halt. Silence stood between the man on the black horse and me as we stared at each other with unreadable expressions.

"So the legendary Kotaro Fumma heard me from a distance. I'm impressed." I didn't say anything as I continued to stare at him. "Guess you're wondering who I am and why I am here. Well, my name is Reizei Hiroyasu. The son of the headman in the city of Kikohoma. And this is my mentor who is accompanying me, Satomi." Yet he nods towards the older looking man behind him, I continued to glare at the brat in front of me as I figured out who he is. "Don't talk much?"

"What are you doing here?" I finally ask.

"You have something of Master Hiroyasu." Satomi says in a hoarse voice.

"My father's little slut. I know she's here." I continue to narrow my eyes at him as I pursed my lips. "Let me explain to you why she is ours. My father bought her from some punk back in the early spring and she has caught my eye. I remember the first time I was able to get my hands on her. She enjoyed it like she was in the heavens." Reizei dismounts from his horse and walks towards me with a sly grin across his face. "Several times, she has been mine. But my father has taken that chance from me."

"You're the one who impregnated her." I growl under my breathe.

"Yes. And the born sons would have been mine, but my father took them away from me." His grin changes to a frown as he looks at me from the corner of his oval eyes.

"She was never yours to begin with."

"Heh." Reizei lifts his chin and looks up to the sky. "I made a deal with my father. If I find her and bring her back in one piece; she's mine. All mine."

I grit my teeth and swiftly pull out my sharple and point it at him with the barrel aiming to his forehead. My thumb was at the end of the hammer as it stayed up and middle finger firmly against the trigger. I will shoot him the next time he says something about her.

"You wouldn't do that." He says with a confident grin.

"I don't care if you were the headman, you are not gonna take her away from me." I tell him.

"Oh, well look who was boosted some feelings for the little whore." Reizei walks towards the gun without a drop of concern. Like he doesn't care if I blow his head off.

"She's not a whore. She was abused."

"By my father. But I would have given her everything she wanted. Especially children." I bite my bottom lip before looking back from the corner of my eye and see that Wakana has left the door and went to hide.

At least she is safe.

I look back in front and met eyes with the little brat. He still held his cocky grin and a confident face, even with the barrel inches from his forehead. But just as I take my grip off of the trigger, Reizei twists his body and swings his heel into my side causing me to drop the gun in the snow. I fell to one knee as the pain in my gut increases and my entire body began to spasm.

"You're an elite ninja and you drop at a small attack like that?!" He laughs as he watches me struggle in the snow. "You are so weak!" He says as he again attacks me with a kick in the face.

I fell into the snow before he pins me down with his foot on my neck.

"Give the girl to me and I might just let you live." I look up from the snow and see his mentor still sitting on his horse with a blank expression.

It was silent between us three for a moment before a click was heard from behind. Reizei's weight subsides a little and I look back to see Wakana holding my gun in both hands. The gun slightly shook in her grip and she just looks plain scared even with just standing in front of the man who made her in bare.

"Now you wouldn't shoot me would you?" He asks confidently. But Wakana doesn't answer as she instinctively pulls the trigger.

Reizei flew to the side, letting me get up from the ground and grab the gun from her hands.

"She shot me!" He shouts as he held his left shoulder. I wrapped my arm around Wakana's shoulders and pulled her close before pointing my gun again to the ass.

"I have a better aim. So I suggest you leaving us alone. And now." Reizei doesn't say anything as he looks at the two of us with a frown and slowly made his way towards the horses. His mentor hasn't flinched at the action that just happened, which is strange.

The two finally rode away from the residence before I finally lowered my sharple. But I suddenly grew weak and the pain in my gut wouldn't seem to cease. My grip around Wakana loosened and I collapsed to the ground again. Wakana calls out to me but my vision was going blurry and I could barely hear my surrounding. And without surprise, a figure covered in crimson and gold appeared from the blue and stood next to Wakana.

"You're an ass, Goemon." I say before I lost all consciousness.