June 25, 1864. Mayu, my twin sister, and I sat on the beach watching the sun set as a cold breeze rolled in like the ocean blowing its cold breath in our faces. The memory of our father’s death was still in our minds like the killer fish in the blue goddess called Pacific. The moon rises to tell the sun he can rest, images of my father sitting between us like he had done exactly one year before. “Yuki,” Mayu said nervously holding a long, tin box wrapped in black paper, “Happy birthday.” I slowly untied the bow on top of the present as another wave crashed on my feet. The sun says its final farewell as the moon shines on my father’s Katakana. “How did you get this?
Wasn’t it put in that museum on Sanada lands?” The sword was made from a rare red stone that made it shine like blood in the right lighting. “I bought it from them,” she said merrily. I stand to my feet and take a few practice swings as another wave rises and falls leaving little droplets like rain on the sword. I awaited the next sunrise when I would get the chance to use this beautiful sword on the battlefield as my father had done years before.

Mayu and I returned home to find my mother sitting on the couch. Her pale skinned legs crossed diligently and her gray blue hair cascaded over her shoulder. In front of her stood a tall hansom faced man with the features of a prince who was hopping around our main room as if he was demonstrating something important. “Then, I stabbed him in the lag and said, ‘Next time you’ll never see another sunrise,’” he said. My mother clapped her hands together as if she had just seen the best play of her life. My sister and I exchanged glances as we entered the room and walked over to my mother. “Oh, Yuki, I’m glad you’re here. This is Yuuki Sanada. He’s an army general, just like you, and you two have been arranged to be married! Isn’t that great?” I could tell by the look on my mother’s face that she was serious. Mayu laughed, hard, and fell over. He extended his strong hand towards mine and kneeled down on one knee. “Nice to finally meet you, Yuki Tsuchihara,” He said. “Charmed,” I said so coldly that the air in the room stiffened as the word left my mouth.

June 26, 1864. It was just before dawn. The dew in the grass sparkled beautifully, grasping the last bit of moonlight like children catching fireflies. I put my father’s sword into the sheet and fastened it onto my hip as I’d seen him wear it many times before. I walked the busy streets of the never sleeping city of the sun, Endo. The love and support from my sleeping family traveled with me as if I was taking them to the battle field with me. I looked down at my father’s sword again just to make sure it wasn’t just another dream and looked up to run face first into a brick wall. “Are you ok?” said the brick wall I just ran into. The voice was strong and manly, yet softy and caring. I looked up to see strong, bright red eyes and red hair to match. My heart started to beat faster as he reached his hand down to help me back to my feet. Before I could answer someone tapped him on his shoulder and he ran off. What was going on with me?

“The battlefield is no place for doing your nails and gossip,” Yelled one of the solders in the other army. I stood in front of my army and waited for the other general to show. The other army split down the middle like germs when reproducing. The cloud white horses pranced towards me like gazelles in the open plains of Africa. The general of the other army rode on two of the horses balancing himself on the backs of them with his feet. He jumped down and calmly walked over to me. “My name is Caranomaru Kinoshita, but you can call me Cara. I’m the killer of your father,” I heard in the same tone and sweetness I had heard earlier when I fell in town. As he removed his helmet my heart dropped down into my stomach and rose back up again almost bringing my lunch back up with it, along with my rage. “You stole my heart and filled my thoughts. You filled me with so much guilt over killing your father that I almost lost my mind. You made me human again.” His words warmed my ice cold heart and moved my very soul. I almost wanted to cry, but I held my ground. “You took my heart as well, but we can’t talk about this here. Meet me at Yomichika’s tomorrow when the sun is high.” He smiled and nodded in agreement.

June 27, 1864. After a 20 minuet stalemate on the battlefield yesterday, everyone went home. I kept Mayu up all night telling her about my uncommon love. “You’re crazy! If mom finds out he, father, and you will be together and when dad finds out he’ll be killed in the afterlife!” Mayu told me as I was dressing to leave. “That’s a risk I have to take. I might be in love, Mayu.” “Yuki,” Cara yelled from the ground outside my window. “What are you doing here? If my mother finds you it’ll be over for the both of our lives.”
“I realize that, but I needed to see you and I couldn’t wait for the sun to rise.” He began to climb up the vines that led to my window. I quickly pushed Mayu out of my room and closed the door. Cara snuck up behind me and hugged me from behind. I felt blood rush to my face faster than I can swing my sword on the battlefield. “Cara, what are you doing?”
“I’m holding you. What does it look like?”
“Quit it. It’s embarrassing!” My door swung open and my mother entered the room. “What are you doing in here?” she said. I could hear my heart beating in my ears. My mother pulled me towards the door and whispered in my ear. “He’s a cute one. Treat him right.” Cara looked at me from his seat on my bed and smiled. “You two look so cute together,” She said excitedly. I looked back and forth between my mother and Cara frantically. “You know he’s the one who killed father right?”
“Yes, I know, Yuki.”
“You scared the samurai out of me!” My mother laughed as if I just told a joke. She laughed until it shook her foundation and caused tears to fall from her eyes, until she could no longer stand and she fell to the floor. Suddenly, heat flowed into my cheek followed by a burning sting of pain. My face began to swell as my mother’s laughing slowed to a stop. My eyes watered from the pain and blurred my vision, yet the voice that spoke was recognizable even to the deaf nearby. “You were supposed to love me, not that killer, you two-timing b****!” Another pain staking blow was landed on the opposite side of my face. Yuuki was thrown to the other side of the room as if weightless. The room began to spin like dancers as my mind went blank. Something heavy and warm fell on top of me and a warm sticky liquid oozed down my leg and on to my floor. Everything was quiet and dark.

July 3, 1864. I woke up from a long slumber after a short time in a comma. Cara was sitting next to me holding my hand softly like he would break it if he tightened his hand. I softly tapped his red hair which shined like a diamond in the summer sun. He raised his head and fixed his deep red eyes on my ice-cold personality and melted it without saying a word. He smiled humbly and placed his other hand on top of mine. “I love you, Yuki,” he said quietly tightening his grip on my hand slightly. “I killed Yuuki to save you,” He said bluntly. I began to laugh hysterically. “If you hadn’t I would have.” He smiled and softly kissed the engagement ring that was placed on my finger as I slept. “Marry me, Yuki.”