As Aimee and Taiyo made their way back across the Southern Highlands the two of them sat in the back of the cart in awkward silence. Neither one of them were ready to discuss the events of the day and Wyald's strange outburst after being arrested. Taiyo was filled with questions, but after seeing the way Aimee reacted to Wyald's taunts and cryptic message, he didn't dare ask. They sat on the back of the cart for a number of hours as the massive Kuduruu bird tugged it along until the sun had finally reached the horizon. It was about half way through their journey back that they had passed back through Rigora town, and once again Taiyo desperately wanted to ask if Aimme had any plans of stopping to see River and Brooke, but she only continued to keep quiet the entire time they spent passing through. They now sat at the southern lift to highlands, where their mission had first begun. Unfortunately the lift didn't operate at night, and the operator had already retired for the evening. Leaving Aimee and Taiyo with the only option of making camp for the night. Although the kind gesture from the town of letting them use the Kuduruu bird had cut the length of their trip in half, they would still need to make the rest of the trek by foot after catching the lift in the morning. The two of them silently set up camp and tied off the bird for the night, eventually finding themselves quietly sitting by the fire.
"So." Aimee said in a soft and somber voice as she stared into the flames of the campfire. "When we debrief Hiro about the mission…" Aime said, her voice dragging a bit with a sense of defeat. "Well tell him we arrested Wyald and headed home," Taiyo replied before she could say anything else. "Once he was in cuffs the mission was over… so whatever happened after that… can stay between us," Taiyo added, trying to show some empathy for his mission partner. Aimee lifted her head and stared at him with a blank expression for a moment, making Taiyo's eyes dart from side to side as he tried to gauge her reaction. "You're an idiot," She said flatly before turning back to stare at the flames. "If you got caught omitting information from a mission like that, I'm not sure even your uncle would overlook it," She said as she picked up a stick and poked at the logs. "So… What do you want to tell him then?" Taiyo asked cautiously. Aimee let out a sigh as her head and shoulders sank a bit with some kind of weight. The silence lingered in the air again for just a moment before she slowly began to speak. "The message that Wyald delivered while he was being arrested… was from my older brother Emitt…"
Taiyo's face lit up with both confusion and surprise as he tried to reconcile what he had just heard. "Wait? You- you have a brother?" he asked in shock as Aimee turned her face away from him a bit. "I don't talk about my family…" She replied, her tone becoming even more grave than it already was. Taiyo sat beside her as the shadows and light of the fire danced around them both. "Come to think of it… back in Rigora town when we met River and Brooke… I realized I had never seen any of your family during all our years at school…" Taiyo's eyelids dropped a bit as he began to piece things together. He didn't have to see Aimee's face to feel the pain that was radiating off of her, he was far too familiar with it already. "I was nine when we lost my mother…" Taiyo said as he shifted forward a bit and stared into the fire alongside her. Aimee took in a sharp breath as he spoke. The mention of Taiyo losing his mother brought forward a well of her own emotions as she began to quietly tear up. "She just left for a mission one day and never returned… My father, Hiro and Kyuen all spent six months away from home looking for her… but they never found so much as a trace…" He continued as he lowered his head a bit. "I remember…" Aimee said as she wiped her face and let out another sigh. 'I think that was the only time I didn't feel like beating you up when we were kids," Aimee replied. "Thanks for that I guess," Taiyo said with a smile that only lasted a brief second. The logs on the fire cracked and shifted as the air between them fell silent once more. After a moment Aimee shifted a bit and faced more towards Taiyo, her eyes slightly blood shot and her cheeks flushed. Taiyo was caught off guard just a bit by the sight of her. Any other time she had maybe showed any emotion she would shy away from him and cover her face. Unless it was to show her annoyance, but now she sat facing him as the two of them sat under the weight of the same burden. "Can I ask you something Taiyo… Do- do we hate each other?" Aimee blurted out as she turned her head to the side a bit, waiting for his answer.
Taiyo stammed a bit trying to respond. Her question was the last thing he had expected to hear from her at that moment. "Well I- Ummm- I mean we- I…" Taiyo paused for a second to gather his thoughts and stop his rambling, before taking a deep breath and meeting her eye from across the fire. "No. I don't think we hate each other Aimee, do you?" He said in a calmer and more controlled tone. Aimee took in his answer for a second, looking back down at the fire before letting out yet another sigh. "I was kinda hoping you were gonna say yes but… I don't think we hate each other either…" She replied as she crossed her arms across her chest and appeared almost begrudged. "Is that a bad thing?" Taiyo replied in confusion, he was starting to lose track of the conversation after her uncharacteristic question. " Ugh I don't know if you uncle planned this or something but… he can really get under my skin sometimes," Aimee said as she leaned back and looked at the stars and moons above them. She exhaled through her nostrils and brought her gaze back to Taiyo as she slid off the log she was sitting on and onto the ground.
"I lost my mother when I was six… and two months later I lost my father as well…" She began to say, her expression going blank as she picked up her stick again and poked at the fire. "I'm so sorry Aimee… I shouldn't have brought up your family… I don't talk to others about my mother much either…" He replied, trying as best as he could to be sensitive to what she was saying. Aimee looked up at him a bit, but Taiyo couldn't tell if she looked upset or angry or relieved. "My mother had a psychotic break… she tried to kill both me and my brother in the middle of the night after coming home from abandoning one of her missions… My father tried everything he could to stop her but… but he ended up having to kill her…" Aimee said as she began to open up to her mission partner. "It broke him… being responsible for her death was too much for his consincous… and two months later he killed himself…" She finished saying, her face now even more expressionless than it had been before, as if recanting the story of her parents drained her of all emotions. Taiyo was almost frozen as he listened to her words. Just a moment ago he felt as though he could finally relate to Aimee for a second, even if it was over something as grim and depressing as losing a parent, but as she described the events of her childhood he realized there was more pain behind her voice than he could have imagined. A wave of guilt washed over him for all the times he and his friends had talked about her behind her back and some of the things he had said when they were in school together. "My brother was nineteen when this all happened," Aimee continued on. "He ended up having almost all his family taken away and being responsible for a six year old girl just a few months after he had become a Sentoki…" A similar wave of guilt washed over Aimee's face as she continued to talk, as if she felt somewhat responsible for being a burden to her brother despite being just a child at the time. "He tried to take care of me for a while, but it was too much, and he was angry. He was angry at the world. Angry at my parents. Angry at me, even if he didn't show it then, but he had no one to blame… and so he found someone to blame… The Sentoki."
"My brother came to the conclusion that the Sentoki had overworked our mother… She was an incredible Shishogan user, and so she was sent out on countless missions, many of them being on the mainland doing god knows what, but he believed that that was what led to her break… and so he began to hate the Sentoki all together. During all of this he had started to drink. A lot. And by the time I was eight years old, he had all but renounced his title as a Sentoki before finally disappearing on me one day… he didn't even leave a note…" Aimee finished saying as a tear ran down her cheek. "Aimee…" Taiyo began to say, his voice filled with concern as he looked at his partner in a different light. "Don't." Aimee interjected before he could say anything else. "Dont do the whole sympathy shpiel… we've both lost people, we don't need to gush about it… I'm only telling you all this because… well I know you'll understand. So don't do the whole thing, okay?" She said as she pulled herself back up onto the log and reached into her bag to pull something out. "One of the villagers gave me these… I was gonna keep 'em both but… here." Aimee tossed a small bottle of liquor across the Fire and to Taiyo. Without replying he cracked open the seal on the bottle and held it up in her direction. "To dead parents," Aimee said with a dark sarcasm as she put her head back and took a swig. Taiyo let out an audible sound of uncomfortability at her toast but threw his head back just as quickly to drink.
"So how do River and Brooke fit in?" Taiyo asked as his face contorted from the strong burn of the liquor. "Mmm. Well, River and Emitt were sort of sweethearts during their younger years at school, but she had moved back to Rigora town after her graduation. So they had kind of broken up, but when Emitt disappeared from my life, I guess he started showing up at her doorstep every so often, drunk of course but… she always let him in nonetheless. He still shows up from time to time… he's Brooke's father… and now she's pregnant with his child again, she's such an idiot." Aimee said somewhat harshly. "Wait he comes back? And… he doesn't see you?" Taiyo asked before he realized how insensitive a question it was. Aimee shot him a bit of a glance before reluctantly answering. "I only learned about all this years later when River had finally reached out to me… but I guess around when I was ten years old, Emit left Kamikochi all together and joined Miruso… effectively making himself a criminal… he can manage to sneak into Rigora town from time to time, but he'd be arrested instantly if he set foot near Do'kobu or Kaika temple… plus… he's not the person he used to be… He's drunk so much over the years that he drowned himself in liquor and hate… River says he only comes to see her during random bouts of clarity, but even that's hard to believe…" She said, her fist now clenched and her knuckles white as she talked about how Emitt had abandoned someone other than herself as well. "That's why I took this mission… cause one day I'll face him for running away…" she said as she watched the flames continue to crack in the quiet night air.
"Okay. Last question," Taiyo said as he took another swig from his bottle, almost polishing it off. "Who'd you grow up with then? Your grandparents or something?" Aime took another swig of her drink before answering his question. "No one." She said bluntly as looked at him from across the flames. "When my parents died my brother was old enough to take care of me for a while. We got financial support from the Temple, but that was about it, and when he eventually left, I refused to leave my home no matter how much the Temple tried. I knew I would just end up in some group home or orphanage. So instead, I made sure I learned how to cook, how to make my own clothes, and get myself to school. All that good stuff, and the Temple finally agreed to let me live on my own as long as I had a school official come check on me every few days. That person ended up being your stupid Uncle," She added before finishing the rest of her drink. Once again something clicked in Taiyo's mind, he had always wondered why Hiro seemed to pay close attention to Aimee over the years. He had always assumed it was because of her talent and potential as a Sentoki, but he was now in amazingment that he was so oblivious to the truth.
"I was going to keep these for myself but…" Taiyo said as he reached into his bag at his feet and pulled out two more small bottles of liquor and tossed one to Aimee. "You bastard!" Aimee said as she caught the bottle and looked at him with a subtle smirk. The two of them just laughed a bit before cracking open their second round and continuing their night by the fire. Despite the uncomfortable conversation and the revelations about Aimee's past, the two of them seemed to finally bask in the glory of their completed mission. They started discussing the ups and down of their earlier battle with Wyald, what went right and what went wrong. They drank and conversed with each other, both of them having a newfound respect for their fellow mission partner until eventually the both of them retired for the night, ready to make the final leg of their journey home in the morning.
It was even before the sun had risen that Taiyo And Aimee both seemed to stir awake, Their habit of not saying much to each other had taken back over as they broke down the campsite and made their way towards the lift that would be open shortly and return them back to the ground below. Despite things seeming like nothing had changed, Taiyo could feel something different in the air between them. It wasn't remorse or pity, or even friendship or affection that had come from their mission together and their sharing of their pasts. It was an air of respect.
Another hour or so later the two of them stepped off the lift and into the dingy little rest stop that sat at the bottom. The air was warmer and heavier than it was at the top of the highlands, making it feel almost like late afternoon in comparison regardless of the early hour. "I can believe what she said about her family… I know she doesn't want my pity but…" Taiyo thought to himself as the two of them walked quietly along the path that would lead them back to the city. For a moment, while he was lost in thought, Taiyo had fallen behind Aimee in his pace. He caught sight of her ahead of him, her back turned the same as it was when the pink-haired Senpachi had delivered his cruel and taunting message. Yet unlike in that moment he didn't see someone who was broken and in pain, he saw a young woman who had been through more than he could ever imagine and despite it she still stood ahead of him in life just as she did while they walked. "No… I'm getting confused… I don't feel bad for her… I feel bad for being so stupid about it… for being so childish for so long…" Taiyo's mind said in revelation of how naive he had been for so many years.
"Hey Aimee, wait up," Taiyo shouted as he hurried to catch up with her. "Hmm?" Aimee responded as she turned her head to see him bounding towards her. "I was kind of enjoying the silence, but…" Aimee thought to herself as Taiyo resumed his position beside her. "What's up?" She said casually, her tone far less annoyed than it usually was when he first started talking. "Well umm… I was just thinking… I mean I know this mission was kinda personal for you but… Since we did this together… Well… just… If you need help on more of this Miruso investigation… I wouldn't mind helping out again…" Taiyo said, floundering over his own words more than he had anticipated. Aimee paused for a second and let out a sigh, "You mean after you almost derailed the whole thing and I was forced to spill my guts to you, you want to keep shoving your way into my life??" She said with a sense of the same aggravation she usually treaded him with. "I… I didn't really mean it like that but…" Taiyo replied, his voice wavering a bit as he fell behind her pace once again. "Sorry, I-" Of course you're coming on the next mission," Said Aimee voice as it cut through Taiyo's start of an apology. Aimee looked over her shoulder at him with an expression that was almost more foreign to Taiyo than the faces of pain and anguish he had seen from her in the past week. She smiled, and not after some sarcastic remark or mean joke, she smiled at him with a face that seemed so much softer than her usual expression. Taiyo laughed a bit, her smile was all he needed to see to understand that things had in fact changed between them. It may have not been her nature to show it, but Aimee had come to feel the same respect that her partner now felt for her.
It wasn't long before the towering red stone skyline of Do'Kobu city came into view. Taiyo and Aimee had broken their silence, they had continued discussing what Aimee had learned of Miruso on missions before as well as their training schedules and how the investigation might proceed after their discoveries during the last assignment. Taiyo listened carefully as Aimee described to him the so-called 'mission' of the Miruso Organization; To steal enough wealth from 'Corrupt' countries so that they can found their own sovereign independent country without poverty and corruption. "They say they want to make a better world… but they just use that as an excuse to justify whatever crimes they see as a means to an end…" Aimee said to Taiyo as they walked along. "That's messed up… They want to create a country like Kamikochi, yet they point the finger and call us corru-" Aimee's hand suddenly swung out across Taiyo's chest, cutting off his wards and startling him a bit. "Did I say something wrong?" Taiyo asked as he turned to look at her. "No… but you should pay more attention…" Aimee said as her face curled into a smile and she took a step back from something Taiyo was unaware of.
Taiyo looked around, Aimee's reaction had left him confused as to what she was talking about when suddenly he felt a surge of pressure that felt like Ki coming from above his head. Taiyo jumped back, as something sailed past his face and into the ground. It was just a blur of swirling green Ki and clothes that fluttered by. "What the hell??" Taiyo thought to himself as his own dark red Ki flared up in response and he took up his guard. "Get ready!" a familiar voice shouted asTaiyo's attacker turned on their heel and lunged towards him. Taiyo's jaw dropped and his face filled with astonishment as Eiji's face revealed itself, a smile painted from ear to ear as the young Umitasora used the moment of surprise to land a blow directly in Taiyo's gut. Taiyo's guard was rendered completely useless as Eiji sprang forward, his face lit up with excitement and his fists opened to embrace his younger brother, only to be met with a punch that felt more like a boulder being hurled into his stomach. "Whaaa-!" Taiyo was cut off as he doubled over and fell backwards into the dirt. "I told you to get ready!" Eiji said with a proud laughter as he stood over his older brother on the ground. Behind him Taiyo could hear a small chuckle come from Aimee as she walked past them both, briefly placing her hand on Eiji's shoulder and saying a small congratulation before continuing on. "Meet me at Hiro's office later today for the debriefing!" Aimee shouted back at Taiyo, before she headed off, leaving the two boys to enjoy their moment.
Taiyo was in awe, he sat there on the ground for a second looking up at his smiling kid brother, his eyes glowing with the green color of his matching aura. "And guess what? I have the Shishogan!" Eiji exclaimed as Taiyo sprung to his feet. "The Shishogan? Seriously?? That's so cool!" Taiyo exclaimed as he grabbed Eiji by the shoulders. "Tell me everything! Tell me what happened! Of course the one week I'm away you open your eyes! Come on, spill it!" Taiyo went on as his face lit up and he waited for the details. "Well um… actually," Eiji's posture shifted a bit, his excitement faltering enough for even Taiyo to tell. "Well I can't talk about it right now… It was kind of a whole crazy thing… but I'm going to see Uncle Hiro now and maybe after I tell him I can tell the rest of the family…" Eiji said as he scratched his head awkwardly. It was unlike him or any of the siblings to ever really keep things from each other, but in spite of that Taiyo felt the urge to trust Eiji's words, especially since he had mentioned talking to Hiro about it all.
Taiyo stood up straight and brushed himself off before simply extending his closed fist out to Eiji. Eiji smiled as he touched his own fist to his brothers, neither of them needing more words to explain what could be left unsaid. "I should get going actually, I don't wanna be late. See you at home for dinner?" Eiji asked Taiyo before taking off towards Kaika Temple, leaving Taiyo on his own to finally make his way back home. As he stepped forward, the spot in his stomach where Eiji had landed his surprise attack shot another twinge of pain through Taiyo's body, making him instinctively grab at his ribcage. "That's weird…" Taiyo said to himself as he lifted his shirt slightly. The height of the moment must have caused him to ignore the pain, but to his surprise Taiyo saw the spot under his shirt had quickly bruised a dark purple color, and he could feel the familiar sensation of having a cracked rib. "Damn… he can hit that hard already?" Taiyo thought to himself as he made his way along the path.