Brave Young Hearts~ By Saiichi Bloodbane

[Bloodbane]

This Story explains the origins of Loving Embrace.

To Read Loving embrace click here >??Loving Embrace
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He takes her hand and stands up.

"we might as well start packing,we are leaving in a bit and im sure uto went to pack already."

"Okay.." she exclaims sullenly as she walks towards the kitchen. "I need to clean up this mess in here first".

"Alright!!" He exclaimed as he walked to the room,thinking to himself about the past and things that have happened so far.

He starts remembering the first day he met Aneko,Just a regular day, Nothing too special.

The vivid image is burned into his memory just as if it was yesterday.


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Aneko had been sent on a mission to the Payon Caves; "Bring back 5 decayed nails from the zombies inside as proof that you're ready to proceed in your training of ridding the world of its evils". the High Priest had said to her before she left.
She sweat drops. "Why does father want me to be a priest anyways and why did I get sent to this cave that I heard was so dangerous"? (she remarks to herself)

She was ready with staff in hand as well as her small shield. She brought a few potions with her so to not use her healing ability on herself. She figures that the easiest tactic would be to run in and out of the cave "Heal Bombing" then since the zombies would not go out towards the light. She stands outside the cave and closes her eyes taking in a deep breath.."Well, this'll either turn out good or very very bad" she says to herself. She says a small prayer before taking a step into the darkness of the cave.

Saii has been all morning practicing at the shooting range right outside the cave,he noted the girl there and being at his age of 15 he had started taking interest in girls, so out of curiosity he followed her into the cave completely ignoring all the warning and danger sings at the entrance.He seemed to enjoy her faint smell of perfume that was trailing behind her,his archer training also focused in heightening the 5 seances that a human has beyond the threshold,he seemed to smell her perfume from a few meters behind and he was enjoying it.

Unexpectedly as he followed her into the cave he slipped on a small puddle of mud and landed face first, making a thud sound that echoed in the cave.

"Shit she heard me!!"

She turns around quickly "Who's there"?

He quickly seeks cover behind some rocks that were near by and in the process he slams his face on one of em making a faint flinching noise.

Aneko prepares her shield thinking that it was the noise of a zombie. "Come on out vile monster"! she yells as she walks slowly towards where the noise came from.

"Squeak squeak" came the noise of a bat as it fluttered around her head. "Kyaaaaaah" she yelled as she swung the staff at the bat knocking it against the side of the cave.

"Agh, bats" she shifted her hair back as she continued walking deeper inside the cave, completely forgetting about the noise she had heard before.

He sighs in relief as the girl he is following??seems to not have noticed his presence and he continues along down the cave,following silently and approaching Closer and closer as she hadn't even noticed his presence.

"Hey..." He said in a low tone..

She turns around swinging her staff "Who's there?" She looks to see the eyes of something else that at first glance didn't seem human.

"OH MY GOD STOP!! IM HUMAN SEE!! SEE!!?"

He pulls out his archery license, "I am an archer in this village,My name is Saii,nice to meet you ."

She looked coming out of her small panic. "Oh my, dreadfully sorry about that" she remarks. "My name is Aneko, what're you doing here?"

"I kinda...followed you.. cant help myself that such a cute girl
would be hanging out here all alone,so i decided I should company you till you reach your goals yes?"


Aneko stares at his goofy grin. "I appreciate the offer but I must really do this on my own. After all, its one of my initiation tests to become a priest" she smiles slightly.

He sweat drops heavily as he is overpowered by her smile.(She is so pretty)

"But anyways I must be going forward, it was nice meeting you, uhh, what was your name again"? She says extending her hand to shake his.

"Sa-Sa-Saiichi" He grabs hold of her hand and almost looses balance.

"Oh!" she says almost falling over. "Are you ok?"

He regains balance just in time as a zombie managed to sneak behind him,he dodges its arm swing and drags Aneko away from it as he shot two arrows knocking it to its knees.

"Oww" she whimpers as she falls to her behind. >< "What was that all about?" "A zombie!!" "I must have its decayed nail"! she says, scrambling to her feet.

"The nails?"

He shoots the zombie again but this time with a white gleaming arrow that pierces through it entirely and dissolves it leaving only the the toe nails behind.

He picks it up and hands it over to her as well as a small pouch that had over 400 nails in it.

"You could have asked for some ya know?"

O_____O; "I can't accept these!" She exclaims. "I,I have to do this myself, otherwise...I'll never get any better"!

"How about i cut you a deal"
He takes the pouch and stashes it away in his pocket.
"your an Acolyte yes?"

She thinks to herself whether she should trust someone she just met but she figured that he looked harmless enough. "Okay, yes, I'm an acolyte in training for her priest test".

"How about you earn these nails, in exchange for helping me take out an annoying wolf that has been plaguing the town"

She looks at him with a determined look on her face. "Okay, what do I have to do"?

He takes her by the hand and drags her out of the cave with a smirk,his fast paced sprinting is no match for her slow running so he takes her into his arms and dashes to the town"

"All you gotta do is keep me alive"

"Woah, Woaaaah" she exclaims clinging to him. "Where are we going"? "Keep you alive??" She says with wide eyes. "I don't think Im ready for such a feat"!

He continues running fast past the town,the forest and stops near a traveling road.

"Its easy, what we are looking for is the vagabond wolf and he has been attacking all the travelers recently."


He says as he climbs on top of a sign and starts scouting his surroundings.

"I've never heard of such a creature" she says worriedly. "I-I, I don't think I want to do this anymore" "It sounds too dangerous"


"Its easy Peasy,I only need someone to cast heal on me while i take hits."
He holds his thumb up at her while smirking.

"I can take it down fairly fast so no worries"

"He sound so sure of himself" she thinks to herself, sweat dropping. She looks at him and sighs. "I still don't know..."

A rustling through the tall grass is heard in from the left as a large figure races across the plain from a considerate distance at a high speed.

A thunderous roar and snarl can be heard in the distance as it came closer and closer.

"GRRRHAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!"

Aneko gasps out loud "God Almighty what is that"? she says with her eyes wide open in fear

He takes his bow and aims it at the sky as if waiting for something,he pulls on the string with all his might and holds still while sweating a bit from his forehead.

"BLESS AND AGI ME QUICKLY!"

Aneko still??staring wide-eyed snaps out of it from his yelling. She runs closer to him her hands clasped together.
"Bless !!"
"Agility !!"

He shoots the Arrow as the gigantic wolf leaped towards them for a one hit kill,landing it on its rib cage and sending it a few meters away from them keeping safe for the moment.

"BOOOYA!!!" He exclaims as the wolf tries to stand up but is struggling to do so in large amounts of pain.

He takes a Poison tipped arrow and aims at it pulling really hard.

Sudenly the wolf stands up and dashes extremely fast at Saii landing a scratch on his left eye badly injuring him and breaking his bow.

Aneko quickly grabs into her purse and pulls out what looks to be a few big pieces of meat. She was saving this for her lunch but figured this might be a good time to start her diet anyways. She whistles and waves the pieces of meat around.

The Wolf Begins to charge at Aneko but Saii quickly grabs onto it and sticks the 2 remaining poison coated arrows in its neck making it crash at Aneko's feet snarling and getting weaker by the moment as Saii was bleeding badly from his eye and his chest,he had been injured but hadn't given up and was wrestling the wolf to keep it away from Aneko.

"STAY BACK!!! Its Dangerous now!!"

Aneko jumps to the side out of the way to avoid any contact with the jaws or claws of the Vagabond. She notices Saii is injured. She clasps her hand together and calls out: "Heal!!"

Saii Feels refreshed and Energized as he strengthens the grip on the beast,and it starts to slowly loose power as its life drained away due to the poison.

He gets up and notices his Chest wound is healed and so is his face, but he notices something funny,He cant open his left eye.

"MY EYE,MY EYE I CANT SEE THROUGH MY EYE!"

Aneko runs over to where he was. "Lemme see, lemme see" She puts her hands around his hands and pries on them so she can get a better look.

"NUUUUUUU!!! IT HURTS AS IT IS!"

He resist all struggle she commands him to remove his hands from the eye.

"Fine, Im going to drag you to the doctor then" She clasps he hands together "Warp Portal!!" After a gleaming portal of light extends from the ground she grabs onto Saiichi's vest and drags him into the portal.

He resists but its too late as the light engulfs him and they appear in some strange town he has never been to,so he starts to freak out at the sight of so many people.

She looks at him weirdly. "Whats wrong?" "You act like you've never seen people before" She says as she tugs him by the vest through the crowds of people.

He stares off in the distance seeing the so many numerous vendors at the streets,he is enticed by the many new smells of foods that some vendors are offering and his eye gleams like gold when he sees a vendor holding up a rudra bow.

"Ah, here it is" she says as she pushes her way into the door, still dragging him by the vest. After signing in they take a seat and wait for a few minutes. She looks over at him. "Strange new land to you, huh"?

"Yes Yes Yes,Ive never been here, whats this place called"

"Heh, we're in Prontera, my hometown" she says with a??small smile. "Must be neat seeing all those vendors for the first time, hm"?

"Yes,its amazing" he says as he keeps looking through the window at the many passers by.

A nurse walks out into the waiting room and shuffles through her papers: Ms..Aneko?

"Yes, thats me" she says standing up. "Cmon Saiichi" she says grabbing him on the arm.

He walks with her still staring at the outside untill the door behind him closes.

"Hey wait a minute, where are we going"

She looks at him. "We're going to the back room to see the doctor for your eye" The nurse directs them to a room that has a few chairs as well as a table for patients to sit on and relax. After shutting the door behind them, Aneko sits in one of the waiting chairs. "Now we just wait a few more minutes"

"Whats a doctor" He seems extremely puzzled but then snaps to reality as grim memories come to him of a man in a white coat that put needles in him as a child and he starts sweating heavily as his eyes grow blank and small.

There's a knock on the door as the doctor walks in and shuts the door behind him. "Hello folks" he says with a nice smile. "Ahh, Ms. Aneko, long time no see"
She smiles "Yes doctor, Yomora, it has been a while, hasn't it?"
He nods, "So how can I help you kids today"?

Aneko bows. "My friend here had gotten himself hurt pretty badly and he needs his eye to be checked".

Saii is still looking around.

"Ahh yes, I can see that he has a pretty nice scar there" the doctor says as he walks over to Saii. "So, sonny, whats your name"?

"Saiichi Bloodbane sir" He speaks in a nervous tone as he doesn't know what will happen next.

The doctor smiles "What an interesting name there dear boy" The doctor puts on his stethoscope. "Now I'm just going to check a few things on you first so bare with me".

He dodges the stethoscope and black flips off the table while looking serious at the doctor.

Aneko looks bewildered. "Saii, what do you think you're doing"?
The doctor laughs. "No need to be afraid my dear boy".

He flips,jumps to the lantern and hides behind Aneko.
"White coat Needle man is evil." He said in an low tone as trying to not be heard by him.

Aneko looks at him with a scowl. "Doctor, could you give us a moment please"? He nods. "Sure thing Ms. Aneko". The doctor walks out the door and as soon as he shuts it you can hear some scuffling going on in the room."HEY!!!! AAACK!!! AAACKK!!! OWW OWWW!!!" HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLP!!!" After a few more bangs it suddenly got quiet. "Okay doctor..!!" Aneko says in a sing-song voice. "Hmm?" He says with a surprised look as he walks back into the room. There was Saiichi, strapped to the table that was in the room, stuck, while he was gnawing at one of the straps.

"Kraaarghh Neerhhh NNnnn MMmmhhhhffff"

He was Gnawing on the straps like a savage rabid animal trying to regain his freedom.

The doctor walks over and starts inspecting him by checking his heart-beat, blood pressure and whatever he could without getting bit. "Saiichi, now stop that this instant" says Aneko with a with a serious stare stomping her foot."

"He stops struggling but continues shaking nervously as the doctor kept touching him with a very cold object.

"When was the last time you've seen the doctor sonny"? Asks the doctor.

As soon the doctor finishes asking him he smirks and cuts loose a strap that as binding him with an arrow tip he had in one of his pockets,then he threatens the doctor with it.

"EVIL MAN WITH NEEDLES AND WHITE COAT!!!"

Aneko punches him upside the head, sick of his acting the way he was. "Now stop that"! she demanded grabbing his arrow and snapping it in half.

He snarls at her and screams lowly.

"YOU TRAITOR, YOU BROUGHT ME HERE TO DIE!!!"

Aneko taken aback by this brings her hand back and slaps him across the face. "How dare you think such a thing"! "I brought you here because I was worried about your injury and wanted it to be taken care of"! she says angrily.

He looks at her as tears built up in his eyes and closes them breathing deeply,waiting for the doctor to finish.


The doctor sweat drops and finishes his checkup. He tilts Saii's head back and drips some liquid on the skin. "This will help it to open so I can inspect it". After a few minutes the doctor gently pulls apart the skin and shines a light into the eye. "Well, it looks like you may have a damaged nerve that's beyond repair" says the doctor with a frown. "How did this happen"?

"We defeated the Vagabond Wolf that was roaming outside of payon attacking random villagers and travelers, and i got hurt protecting her."

"Ah, I see". said the doctor. "By the looks of it, it has healed real fast already". "If Ms. Aneko had used the heal skill, it stopped the nerve from deteriorating more than it already had, so it's not useless". "However, it can't be exposed to strong emits of light". He reaches for the cabinets and pulls out the injections. "I'll be right back with some anti-biotic". He closes the door leaving the two alone.

"Phew, so your eye is okay". says Aneko out of relief.

"So i can open my eye now"

"I think it's okay since we're inside" she responds while she tilts her head to the side pondering.

He attempts to open it but closes it immediately in pain,it was obvious what the doctor said and it was best to leave it alone.

"It hurts..."

She walks over and sifts a hand through his bangs. "You'll be fine I'm sure". she said with a small wink and a smile.

pokes her side, "I have to go back and take the corpse as proof that i passed the hunters test."

She tosses the bag of nails up in the air and catches it. "And I need to deliver this to the clergy.." "I dont have Payon memoe'd but I can give you the zeny so you can use the Kafra warp services"

"Kafra warp services...?

"Oh! Thats right, you're a forest hermit of some sorts". she remarks. "Don't worry, I'll show you where they are".

He stares off in thought still waiting on the doctor to come back.

The doctor walks in with the Anti-biotic injection in hand. "Now, are you ready for this sonny"? says the doctor.

He uses all his might to lift up the entire table and runs with it straps and all attached to him trying to escape from the doctor at the very sight of the needle,his escape attempt was futile as he slams face first at the steel plated door.

While Sai was unconscious, Aneko sits on his back to keep him held down while the doctor readies the needle. "Okay, here we go...1....2....3." He sticks the needle in Saii's bum and injects the antibiotic.

He wakes up immediately the second the injection is poked in as he screams in pain and agony.

"KYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!" The building can be seen getting farther and farther away and a peco can hear his scream all the way in the desert while bawking in confusion thinking its another peco invading his territory.

Skipping to another scene, we see Aneko and Saii walking towards the Kafra teleport services. "See? the doctor wasn't too bad, I think your overreacted a bit Saiichi".

He walks with her while rubbing his butt,his pain was not felt by her so she cant even begin to understand what it must be as an archer,with all your senses altered to the threshold even pain is augmented.

"Neh..."

"How About I buy you something to cheer you up?"

"Like what?"

"Well you do need to cover that eye.... Mmmm" she says as she places her finger on her lip as she looked around the vendors.Suddenly she darts off to a vendor and she buys something from him as Saii stays there still rubbing his behind in pain.

"Here!" ^_^

She hands him over a strange piece of dark cloth that looked like a bandanna with decoration metal like squared ends.

"whats this?"

"The vendor told me its what old warrior archers from the western lands use to train,Apparently its Called a Dark Blinder and it covers the eyes so you cant see and use your other senses...Hmm leme put it on ya" She said as she took if off his hands and immediately placed it on him covering his bandaged eye.

"There ! Thats alot better now." She said while smiling softly and kissing his cheek.

"Thank you Aneko..." He said in a low tone as if feeling ashamed as he fiddled with his fingers one of the tips of the blinder.

They walk until they arrive to a lady who is standing at a stand that reads. "KAFRA TELEPORT SERVICES" "Here we are"! Aneko responds turning to Saiichi. ^_^

"So whats gonna happen here again?"

"Well, Im going to pay the Kafra for your trip home". "Remember how I dragged you into the hole of light earlier"? "Well, the same thing is going to happen here and it will take you to Payon"

"Oh alright,I might as well return home neh....?"

He looks down saddened at the fact they are parting ways already,when everything began to be interesting.He had wished for more adventures together and more fun,but well...all good things have to come to an and.

"Will I See you ever again?" He asked in a trembling voice as if he didnt wanna go,he wished strongly he could see her again since he had no friends back at the village, everyone made fun of him,He was lucky to be taken in by Master Icarus as an apprentice in the arts of archery.

Aneko was his first friend ever,he believed if he didn't see her ever again he would never make new friends,so his eye started to well up in tears slightly,enough to not be noticed by her...

She walks over and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm sure we'll meet again someday when we're stronger". ^_^

He smiles gently as he walks towards the arcane arts circle on the floor,and a huge surge of light covers him and in an instant he has disappeared,but something gleaming falls down, a tear drop lands on the circle marking the dry asphalt.She was going away so fast, so many things he wanted to talk to her about, so many??things he wanted to do.

She notices a glimmer of something had fallen and realized it was a tear. "Good luck on your adventures, Saiichi Bloodbane, Im sure we will meet again someday" she says with a smile as she began to walk off towards the prontera castle.

To BE CONTINUED!!~!~!