Author's Notes: Well, here is the rest of chapter two that I decide to make into its own chapter. It's shorter than the last two but still long enough, in my opinion. Let me know what your think? Is it worth continuing?

The girl woke up about fifteen minutes later at his side and groaned in discomfort. It was not pain from any wound she might have gotten, but whatever she had been laying on. She moaned as she tried twisting in a more comfortable position.

"Careful," she heard Soujiro's voice.

She slowly sat up on her side and noticed right away that her sleeve had been ripped and used as bandage to wrap up the cut on her arm. She was puzzled, not because of her sleeve, but she couldn't quite grasp where they were. "Where are we?" As she spoke, she tilted her head in bewilderment seeing the birds on the ledge across from her staring back. They tilted their head in response looking just as confused as she did. She then noted the rooftop the birds were sitting on, and then another one that had even more birds sitting along the edge, and then the others roofs surrounding them. She then turned her attention to what she had been laying upon and saw it looked just what the other birds were sitting on.

Her eyes went small and she paled in the face. As her lungs started to fill with air to scream, Soujiro's hand came over her mouth. She screamed anyway and squirmed in his hold. "Quiet. I just lost them. If you're not careful you'll slip and fall." At hearing the words fall, she frantically started reaching out for something secure to hold, which at first was Soujiro's arm he held up to cover her mouth. Still, she felt her rear start to slide off a few tiles from her desperation and anxiety. She then latched her arms tightly around his waist to stop herself from sliding. He had no choice but to let her, as one hand was working to stabilize his own weight and the other was working to muffle her cries. "Are you crying?" He could feel her tears on his hand. "You'll face your fears for a random peach, but not for the sake of keeping us from being caught?"

At that, she finally ceased her crying, but still maintained a death grip on him. Soujiro slowly lowered his hand and when he felt she would stay quiet, he lowered it completely. He grimaced at her tight hold and tried to subtly pull away from her, but she wouldn't release him. She finally looked up to see his face cringing and remembered he had been hurt. She released him and saw her arm slightly stained with his blood. "I'm sorry!"

"Quiet," he hissed. His eyelids wore heavy on him as he lay back down to face the sky and held his injured side. He had started to close them when he felt her small hand clutch his own. He opened his eyes turning to face her to find she was simply ignoring his gaze, once more. He naturally pulled his hand from her grasp.

"Stop grabbing my hand. We're not even friends."

"No, apparently you're my brother," she said, her hand still threatening to grab his arm at least. It was not exactly that she wanted to hold his hand, but she felt like she might as well as be balancing on a rope and would fall without some kind of support. She was already fighting against her nausea and to not have a nervous breakdown.

"I didn't say that because I felt sorry for you. In fact, you're to blame for all this. It was never my intention to enter Gifu."

"Then why did you say it? Why not just throw me to the wolves? I know I deserved it." Even as she spoke, she managed to at least grasp part of his sleeve without him noticing. It was better than nothing. She was pretty sure her face had changed a different shade.

"I had my reasons," he plainly stated. "That's all I'm saying."

"Did those reasons involved you protecting me and bandaging up my arm?"

"Yes."

'Oh." She looked down in shame.

There was truth to what he said. It would have done no good to claim her as his sister and then leave her in the dust. It was supposed to be a cover, after all, and leaving her behind would not prove his lie to be true in their eyes. He had to make it look real. Though, he felt even now it had all been for nothing. He clearly revealed to be something more than just a little thief's brother.

"How long are we going to stay up here?" She asked.

"Nightfall."

"Nightfall!" She barked. He shifted his eyes towards her irritably when she raised her voice. She cleared her throat and repeatedly more softly: Nightfall? I don't think my rear can take another minute of this." She didn't think emotionally she could take another minute, but she was trying to hide that part from him.

"They're still out there looking for us and I'm sure they have eyes looking to the roofs. It's best to wait when they won't be able to see us."

She let out a groan as she folded over her knees. As she did so, her rear slipped off another tile and her feet started skidding downward. She let out a shriek of terror before it was cut short from Soujiro having to sit upright and clasping his hand back over her mouth while swiftly catching her around her waist to stop her from sliding. He even slid a few inches but keeping his feet grounded slowed him to a stop. A tile broke off and slid down the slight slope before it fell over the ledge. Soujiro held his breath for about four long seconds and cringed when he heard the tile shatter on the ground. After waiting about thirty seconds for an alarm to be raised, Soujiro relaxed. They were fortunate that time. He lowered his hand about to reprimand her for her carelessness until he saw the fear her eyes expressed over what had just happened. Something must have happened to her to make her so afraid, he thought.

Strangely, she felt much of her pain and nausea leave her at feeling what she felt was a protective hold. He had been and was protecting her as far as she could tell. Even if it was somehow to benefit him, she was certainly benefiting from it.

"Be more careful," was all he could bring himself to say to not further agitate her. She nodded as he attempted to try and lay down but was hindered when she hugged his arm. "I said to not-"

"I'm not touching your hand," she cried softly as she buried her head into the sleeve of his arm. He tried to pry it free. She felt she had already nearly died twice being up this high and he had been the one to keep her from falling.

He couldn't fight too hard and risk her going into hysterics. "Let go, " he spoke in a lower, darker tone. "If you would just sit still-"

"I know this is all my fault, but I still hate it up here. What's wrong with me just holding your arm? Please? I won't talk anymore." Her voice cracked. "It all goes away when I-when you-"

Soujiro looked he might lose his temper for once. "What goes away?" He finally sighed out loud in defeat. "Nevermind, the less I know the better. All right, fine. Just let me lay back down." Even now, his wound at his side was burning and laying down was the best way to take the pressure off. If he could lay down for good at the cost of lending out his arm, it might be worth it. He lied down clutching his side to keep the pressure on it and exhaled as he worked through the worst of the pain.

She could only stare at first, knowing she had been the one to cause his pain. And she was doing nothing to make it easier for him. She awkwardly followed suit on her side and gently clasped his forearm with the fabric of his sleeve. She closed her eyes shut for a moment trying to envision herself anywhere but on top of the roof. As she hoped, whatever controlled her fear was diminishing from just being able to hold on to him.

"Gomen nasai." She whispered softly.

"Mm?" He grunted out irritably.

"I'm sorry for the trouble I-"

"You said you wouldn't talk." He said in an abrupt tone of voice. An apology was not even close to easing his anger over the trouble she had stirred and what it could cost him down the road. He had rather not hear it.

"Gomen. I'll stop talking." She had been going to ask for his name after realizing she never learned it, but he clearly wasn't interested in exchanging names.

As nightfall approached, she began dozing off into sleep, which added to the peaceful atmosphere. The air was crisp and activity in the town was slowing down and the rough winds had died down to a gentle breeze allowing Soujiro to finally have some peace and time to recover. The elasped time had also allowed Soujiro's anger over the day's events to soften a bit. The girl had obviously been alone for too long and their whole episode this morning was just her trying to survive, even if it wasn't the best and brightest way. She certainly couldn't have planned for this day to be like it was either. He could even reason that she had saved him. His body has been ready to quit on him until she intervened and distracted the policeman. I guess I'm pretty useless without a sword, he had reasoned. Even now, his exhaustion was catching up to him. He contemplated spending the night on the roof and had even allowed a few hours past darkness to slip by. He had even dozed off a few times. The last time he was about to fall asleep was when his head rocked to the side and he felt something warm brush against his face. He thought nothing of it at first until he felt the weight of her head pressing into his shoulder. His eyes snapped open when he realized he had rested his head on hers, which had only encouraged her to nestle against his arm. She had naturally done so with the temperature dropping and her arm being exposed to the chill of the night. He raised his head in alarm and sat up on his side slightly, the desire to stay on the roof for the night completely leaving him. He was somewhat relieved to see she was still asleep to not witness what he had done.

The pain in his side had lessen a bit and pushing the fabric of his clothes into the wound slowed the bleeding to a stop. It was well passed the time to leave.

He nudged his shoulder into her head trying to not completely startle her from her sleep. "Hey. Wake up." Thankfully, she wasn't too difficult to wake up. She moaned once before opening her sleepy eyes. "We should get going. Let go of me for a few seconds."

Once she reluctantly did so, he turned on his side until he was in a kneeling position on the slope of the roof.

"What are you doing?"

"Unless you can get down yourself, I'll have to help you. Just put your arms around me and it will be over." He mumbled over the last sentence.

She paled once more in the face and her eyes went small in dread.

You had to know this was coming. You can't scream either."

"How do you plan on getting down exactly?" She tugged nervously at her braid.

"Do you trust me or not?"

She could hear the patience wearing thin by the tone of his voice and had come to feel a bit of shame whenever she pushed him that far. She had only known him for a few hours and she knew she had tested his patience several times since they first saw each other. She swallowed nervously before she spoke. "Hai. Of course." She took a shaky step forward feeling like she was still balancing on that single rope line. The moment she took the last step to reach him, she tripped, but this time she didn't scream. She knew he'd catch her like he did before. He extended his arm out as he stopped her fall with it and she was allowed to use it for balance as she clumsily circled behind him to hold around his shoulders. Soujiro could hardly have known how that made her feel. To be able to have that trust in someone, not only to pick you up when you fall, but to catch you before you fall.

"All right. I'm ready."

He promptly stood holding her legs at his side and turned to face the ledge furthest from them. He shifted his weight slightly trying to get a sense of her weight to better calculate how fast he could go and when to jump. She was about to question his ability to perform the task, but made herself hold her tongue. He had gotten her up here, after all. Despite his reasons, he had protected her from her own mistakes and gotten her out of trouble. This should be easy for him. Her hold tightened slightly around his neck. "I trust you," she whispered more to convince herself it would be all right, but Soujiro had heard it.

He turned his head slightly towards her. "Hold on." At that, he thrust his foot on the ground and from there, he seemed to glide across the edge of the roof top. At feeling the cold air brush against her skin, she slowly raised her head to peer over his shoulder only to see their first jump fast approaching. She let out a small whine as her hold tighten in her efforts to hold down her cries. Soujiro's foot struck the ledge before he thrust himself off the ledge and to a lower roof below to make his way to the ground. She ended up making a small cry in mid flight but it eased into a gleeful cry as he swiftly landed on the next roof. "You really are a aoi-tori."

Soujiro had his eyes turned downwards to the streets below to see if there would be anyone on alert for them. The streets still had a few people mingling about, mainly to enter or leave a restaurant business after partaking their meal. None cared to direct their eyes skyward.

"It's like we're invisible," she spoke softly. "Stop. Stop!" She suddenly cried out.

Soujiro came to a stop right before he was about to make the last jump. "Is something wrong?"

"The river. Look at the river. It's beautiful," she said dreamily. Soujiro humored her and turned his gaze to the Nargara River just a short distance from them. It was glistening in the moonlight, no, it was perfectly reflecting the starry sky above from how still the waters were. "It's beautiful. I will consider this my reward for facing my fears today. It's because I faced my fears," she noted. Soujiro was started when she decided to rest her chin on his shoulder to continue gazing at the glassy waters before them.

Without warning, he decided to finish his last step and dropped to the ground below. He almost regretted doing so when she let out a shriek of terror and gripped his neck too tightly.

Somehow, he still managed to land on his feet, before falling over on his palms. "I… need… to breathe," he choked out.

"Oh… gomen nasai," she apologized as she released him and placed her feet on the ground.

Just as he was getting back to his feet, a shoji door just a little ways down was slammed open and a bitter looking woman holding a broom stormed out.

Now what?

"Who goes there?" She yelled. She spotted the two lingering at the corner of her restaurant. Her eyes fell upon the girl as she raised her broom threateningly. "You! You better scram you little thief before I drag the police down here. Go on! Get out of here!"

"Uh-oh," the girl mumbled to herself. She turned on her heel as she grabbed at Soujiro's hand and pulled him behind her. "Come on. I know where we can hide for tonight."

Soujiro pulled his hand from her grasp but still ran beside her. "You've got quite the reputation here, don't you?"

"Well, how do you eat, thief?" She gestured her head at his stolen sword.

"I don't get caught," he smiled, knowing it would irritate her. She scowled before turning her head and sticking her tongue out at him.

She led him outside towards the outskirts of the town, straight for the Nagara River. From there, they followed the river down a ways before Soujiro could make out the silhouette of a house as they neared it in the dark. She paused once and turned around to face him. "Shush. An old man lives here, but he's quite the grouch. So don't be noisy."

Look who's telling who to be quiet, Soujiro thought bitterly. He was tempted to end his adventure here with the girl, but she kept herself at a distance ahead of him, and he had a feeling she wasn't going to let them part ways so easily. So he trudged along behind until they finally arrived near the home.

"Down here," she waved him over towards the front of the house where a dock was stationed out towards the front over the water. She walked along the side of the river bed where it eventually led beneath the dock and crawled in towards the base of the humble home. Soujiro had to duck under the dock to follow after her and found her already making herself comfortable on the moist dirt. She was smiling when he entered, like she was showing off a castle to him.

"Is this where you live?" He whispered out loud to not disturb the owner of the house. "Underneath someone's porch?"

Her smile faltered a bit, but she still tried looking optimistic. "Well... It's where I sleep. I figured you wouldn't care since you were sleeping on the forest ground. This will be much softer than the rocky surface you were sleeping on."

"And wet," He spat in a curt tone.

The girl finally dropped her smile and lowered her head in shame.

"You'll be...okay here, then?" He asked, only to drop the hint he was leaving.

She raised her eyes, now looking slightly concerned. "... Yes. So will you." She then stood hurriedly making Soujiro risk a step back. "You're not leaving now, are you?"

He smiled trying to play it off as nothing and raised his hands in front of him in a calmly manner. "I wasn't planning on staying. I sure can't after all the commotion we caused. I have to keep moving."

"But you'll just leave here to sleep somewhere else tonight. That doesn't make any sense.

She actually has a point there. I'm exhausted. "Look, it's not... appropriate for us to sleep...near each other. It really would be best-"

"It's not like we're staying together in a room and even if we were, no one is going to question it with you as my brother."

"But I'm not."

"I won't say anything," she said and persisted by trying to grasp his hand to urge him forward, but he was able to retract his hand out of reach before she could.

"Enough." He whispered sharply.

The girl came to an abrupt stop before him at his abrupt tone and slipped in the mud before falling on her bum pathetically. Mud was tossed in the air when she fell and most of it landed on his pants. "Great..." he sighed in contempt.

When he looked back at the girl, he saw her sulking and sniffling in the mud. He rolled his eyes at first and even cringed slightly when she used her bare arm to wipe her runny nose. His shoulders dropped in defeat and his forehead fell against his palm as he spoke the next words. "Fine. I'll stay for tonight. You're right. It doesn't make sense to leave at this hour."

Her mood completely flipped at those words and she jumped to her feet while clasping her hands together. "Ah, arigatou gozaimasu," she smiled hopefully. "Come on, I'll show you the best spot where it's not too wet."

She went to grab at his arm to lead him to which he jerked away keeping his hand raised, "I don't need help getting -" he stepped back in the mud and his foot shot forward from beneath him and he was thrown on his backside, his arms, sleeves and back splashing in the water.

The girl let out a snort of laughter before quickly cupping her hands over her mouth to hide her reaction. Her eyes immediately went wide in regret and she coward before him. "I'm sorry."

Soujiro tried to be angry at first, but at that moment, it seemed like wasted energy. The problem was he had no energy to be angry anymore. He shook his head, letting his arms fall in defeat back in the water. "I guess I was bound to get wet staying here." He stood, shaking off the excess water from his sleeves and was led by the girl where she promised it would be the driest, not that it mattered anymore. He almost had to get on his hands and knees as she led him up the corner where the dock started from the porch where there was some grass growing beneath, and he would be able to rest against the mortar of the house that was still visible from underneath.

"I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have laughed," she gave an awkward bow, as if unsure if she was doing it right.

"Forget it," he offered a forced smile. He regretted it when she sat on her knees beside him. He turned away slightly and carefully drew his sword from his side, slightly hoping it would scare her off, at least distance herself, but she hardly seemed phased by it. He held the blade up and began trying to use what fabric that was still dry on his yukata to dry the water that had gotten on the blade.

"I never got your name," she said, as if suddenly just realizing it.

"I never gave it." When she continued to stare expectantly, he caved. It was customary to be introduced, but that was likely to not happen and he couldn't expect a girl living alone off the streets to know any better. "It's Soujiro."

"Soujiro," she mimicked right away so to not forget it. "I'm Koharu. It's nice to officially meet you." She did another awkward bow, but he pretended to not notice and focused on drying the sword. She lowered her head sadly and folded her hands on her lap. "You don't like me very much, do you?"

He looked away, lowering his sword slightly and took a moment before replying. "You stole from me. You hit me in the head with a fruit... Amongst other things. What do you think?"

"But I tried to make it up to you...or I will." She suddenly threw in the last three words.

"How is that?"

"By going with you." She said in a more excited tone of voice.

Soujiro nearly dropped the blade in the mud at the thought. "How is that making it up to me?"

"Because I can look for opportunities to repay your kindness... and the trouble I caused you."

"I have done no such thing. I used you, remember? I'm going to tell you now the answer is no."

She clasped her hands together in front of her. "Please," she raised her voice as she begged. "I don't belong here anymore than you."

Soujiro was tensing up by how loud they were getting and was worried about waking the owner of the house. He had no intention of taking her and he desired nothing more than for this conversation to end. "I can't-" he tried a second longer to resist her begging. "Fine," he waved his hand dismissively before letting his forehead fall on the palm of his hand.

She gasped in excitement before Soujiro turned his head at her irritably and she knew she needed to be quiet. "Arigatou gozaimasu, Soujiro. You won't regret it."

"Mmm-hmm," he mumbled nonchalantly.

"We should both rest then. I don't want to be tired on our first day." She unfolded her legs and sat back against the base of the house leaving Soujiro a fair amount of space for himself. She sat there for a moment before laying on her side in the mud. There was another moment of silence before she spoke one last time. "O-yasumi, Soujiro," she bid him good night.

There was even a longer period of silence before Soujiro found the will to respond. "O-yasumi."

After she finally fell asleep, Soujiro made the mistake of turning his gaze towards her when she started snoring softly. He felt a pang of guilt when he saw and remembered he had ripped her sleeve to bandage up the wound on her arm. She was hardly wearing suitable clothes for the weather as it was. Even now, the air was chilly and the ground wet from the river flowing just a few feet away. He looked away as he untied the scabbard from his side and sheathed the weapon before placing it on his lap so it didn't rest in the mud anymore. It's not my problem, he convinced himself. I've done more than enough for her. If she's strong enough, she'll make it on her own. I had to.

He waited into the night and dozed off only a few times before he decided to leave her. It was still dark when he crawled out of the mud hole he had been lured into and he continued his journey north. Koharu would be waking up alone.