Everything seemed to be moving so fast once I agreed to Mr. Fox Man's proposition. Every morning I would gingerly sneak out of my brother's shack to meet Mr. Fox Man on the Shimabara bridge. His white hair would flutter in the gentle breeze as he would hand me a map outlining the different routes within a certain city he planned on making his appearance. I tried to understand his reasoning behind making himself so conspicuous, but he brushed me off with a rough pat on my head. And so we marched on into town, him jauntily and myself warily. Once spotted we would break off. I would find myself in low places in between alleys while he would leap from the rooftops. Whenever shots were direct towards him I would find the culprit and shoot off the grip from his palm. This proved to be a very delicate operation, but with my superior gun-handling skills it proved to not be much of a challenge. One by one the two of us would drive these gangs away. Sometimes they would come back out of revenge other times they would no longer bother us out of fear of the "hunter-girl". Just like that, I found myself losing count of the days until Mr. Fox Man decided to take off his mask in public. Everyone was shocked to find a handsome face underneath. I remember that day clearly, we were standing in the middle of the town square. The simmering of tea, the shouts of cart-sellers, the giggling of old women huddled in a corner of a small tea shop, and whatever else you can imagine occuring in the center of town couldn't touch the both of us at that moment. "And now your payment" without hesitation Shino, no longer known as Mr. Fox Man, handed me a heavy bag of coins. My hands started to shake. From my apparent hesitation Shino asked me if I was alright. With a hand still shaking, I nodded my head but couldn't bring myself to look into his eyes. The chattering of the group of women and the simmering of the tea died out. The bustling town couldn't reach my ears. All I could do was stand at my spot waiting for Shino to snap me out of this paralysis. My heart felt as if it could shatter the moment I took the bag away from Shino's hands. "S-s-Shino..." I manage to stutter out. "What is it?" With a suddent jolt of the head I gaze into his eyes, and ask him "After this will we not be with each other again?" The simmering of tea and the cackles of the tiny group of women grew loud again blanketing us from those around. He pushed the bag into my pocket. "Stop talking nonsense." I grew red and became flustered at his response. He didn't wait for me to beat my fsts against his chest instead he drew me into his warm embrace. From then onwards we've been traveling from town to town, exploring alleyways, crawling into strange ditches, and running across bridges found in the strangest places. His company became worth more than any bounty laid out there.