Rewrote the flashback chapter. This tells the story of Rin's parents and their past. Also reflects a little bit upon the fisherman's village and the constant raids.

Chapter 3

Manami was the daughter of a soldier who died in battle. Her mother had already died of illness, which caused Manami to take care of herself, living a lonesome life. She had no family elsewhere and the slums she lived in were a total mess. The weak were hunted by the strong. Innocent people were murdered. Women had been raped and were abused frequently. Thieves ran rampant every day. It was a mess.

Eventually even Manami could no longer escape an abusive fate.

She was found at the age of fifteen by a man named Saburou. He helped her, provided her with food, clothes and a place to sleep. Day after day everything seemed to be fine. He was like a father to her, took care of her, sent her a soothing smile whenever he noticed she was struggling.

Everything seemed to go well until the man wanted something in return for his kindness and care.

Saburou forced the young woman to pay him back everything she owed him. She couldn't, because she didn't possess anything at all. She did not work. Her body was weak because of years of hunger. He was actually aware of this, so he made her choose, work, or suffer the consequences.

She was forced to sleep with other men.

Day in day out, week after week and month after month and time passed agonisingly slow. He kept hitting her, kicking her, yelling that she was just an ungrateful and lowly whore and needed to know her place. He called her an ungrateful parasite.

After a year passed, Saburou introduced Manami to a good friend of his, Yutaka. Although he was just a fisherman, Saburou claimed the young woman had to oblige to whatever Yutaka wanted because Saburou owed his life to him. The fisherman saved him from a fate of drowning.

It seemed that Yutaka, while being out to the ocean for work, saved Saburou as he noticed a man struggling and writhing in the wild waters. Yutaka pulled the other man to his boat. It seemed that the latter had committed crimes, and got chased by dangerous figures. Saburou never told Yutaka the details, but the fisherman figured that his friend was involved in very dubious endeavours. Whatever the case, it was none of his business, so he decided not to meddle.

When Manami first slept with Yutaka he had been very kind and warm to her. After some months they eventually fell in love. He had become the woman's regular customer, and she felt like he had become her safe place. Sleeping with him was the only time she felt like she could forget about her horrible life.

Their bond deepened, and they were no longer a prostitute and her customer. They became lovers and became closer. Eventually Yutaka urged her to stop her current profession. She deserved much better. He knew that she worked for his friend and that such a profession as this is very common, but Manami did not have to do this the rest of her life. She could become much more. She could become his wife.

Together, Manami and Yutaka faced Saburou, and told him that the woman's days of prostitution were over. Of course, he didn't take it lightly and did not want to accept losing one of his workers. Yutaka would have none of it.

An exchange of angry sentiments became a fist fight. Then the two friends stopped. Saburou yelled that he didn't care what would happen and yelled at Yutaka to take his whore and get out of here.

The fisherman said not a single word, but just took his soon to be wife's hand, left the village, and in the end the both of them managed to find a different place.

Time passed and Manami got pregnant. In their new home, within a new village, a fisherman's village close by the southern seas of Japan, the fresh couple had settled. Yutaka took care of his wife and before he knew it, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl.

They named her Shiorin. A name that might be somewhat unusual, but Manami was dead set on it.

Although both parents couldn't give the child much, they were happy and loved her dearly.

Eventually six years passed and Shiorin grew up to be a happy and playful little girl.

Yutaka was often away from home, off to sea, but he tried to be a good father and husband.

Their life was peaceful. They did not have much, but they were safe. They were happy.

After some time had passed, the village's peace was about to be disturbed.

On a fateful day, raiders and bandits began to plague the village. It started off as small-scale attacks by a low number. Occasionally fishermen and peasants were able to fend them off, but after several months the ambushes started to become consistent and the small fisherman's village started to succumb to extreme poverty. The attacks caused destruction. The destruction led to less supplies to be sold or to be taken hold off. Buildings and houses could not be repaired because the village simply did not have any resources to fix them. It was an endless problem.

Bandits deemed this village to be a place full of insignificant people. A place that herded the poor. It was just another easy target on the map. Sometimes, families were lucky to just hand over their properties and make it out alive.

Others did not get that privilege.