"Stop for gate interrogation," the soldier at the city entrance commanded as he stopped Toshi and the woman. It was pretty common for cities to try to keep track of everyone who came and went these days with criminals running all over the place. Yet it was a rather pathetic attempt at keeping order.

"Okay, I'll go first," Toshi informed the soldier.

"Name?" the soldier asked.

"Toshi Yokutsu,"

The soldier laughed. Toshi wasn't surprised. It wasn't unusual for people he met to not believe that he was the famous Bandit Hunter Toshi Yokutsu. What did surprise Toshi, however, was that the soldier didn't ask his name again, he merely wrote "Some joker who thinks he's Toshi Yokutsu" in the name blank on his sheet of paper.

"Age?"

"21," Toshi replied honestly, even though he was somewhat angry at the soldier's attitude.

"Sex?"

Toshi rolled his eyes. Why did they ask that? Wasn't it obvious? "Male," he replied.

"Occupation?"

"Bandit Hunter,"

The soldier nodded, he was finished writing down Toshi's stats. "Now how about you?" the soldier said referring to the woman, "Name?"

"Sierra," the woman replied.

"Full name, please," the soldier replied annoyed.

"That is my full name," Sierra replied.

"Fine, fine. Age?"

"20,"

"Sex?"

"What the hell? Are you blind or just plain stupid? How could I be anything but a woman?" Sierra yelled at the soldier.

The soldier said nothing, he just wrote "female" on his paper. "Occupation?" the soldier asked while silently fuming.

"Blade Dancer and Temple Guard for the Shrine of Rekos,"

The soldier asked a few more seemingly random questions before dismissing them.

"Alright, you two get out of my face," the soldier commanded after finishing his writing.

Toshi and Sierra walked into the city. As the soldier interrogated the next person trying to enter he muttered ". . .asses. . ." so that neither Toshi nor Sierra could hear him.

"So your name is Sierra?" Toshi asked once inside the busy streets of the city.

"Yes, I'm surprised you didn't ask earlier,"

"Well, with your attitude I figured you probably wouldn't tell me, so I didn't bother asking. But I must say, that's a very beautiful name,"

"Do you always act this way around women?" Sierra asked, slightly annoyed.

"Only the pretty ones," Toshi responded with a mischievous grin, "So why don't you have a surname?"

"Well, I did once. It's a custom that once you enter the order of the Rekos Blade Dancers you drop your surname, don't ask me why, it just is," Sierra responded.

"Hmm. . .I see. . ."

"So, why did the soldier react the way he did when you told him your name?"

"What? Isn't that obvious?" Toshi was honestly surprised.

"Huh? Should it be?"

"You mean, you've never heard the name Toshi Yokutsu before?" Toshi was astonished that Sierra had never heard of him. Although not many people had met Toshi (and realized who he was) his name was famous in the region as one of the most skilled and deadly Bandit Hunters.

"Nope," Sierra simply said as Toshi directed them into a nearby restaurant.

"One table for two," Toshi said to the waiter. Toshi and Sierra were lead to their table and they looked over the menus for a minute before continuing to talk.

"I'm Toshi Yokutsu, one of the most famous and feared Bandit Hunters in the area. Of course, if I go to any random person on the streets and tell them that I'm Toshi, they won't believe me. You must live quite a ways away to not have heard my name before,"

"Yeah, I do live a ways away. I live in a community far to the east. The bandits I killed earlier were from a gang that had raided one of our community's villages. They took a very important item from us and I was sent here to get it back at any costs,"

"Hmm, that's right. . ." Toshi said pondering.

"Yes. . .that is right. So, shall we begin naming prices on the items you took?"

"Oh? Now you want to buy them off of me instead of killing me and taking them?"

"Well. . .you are a rather skilled opponent. I wish to fight you again, but as competitors, not as enemies. Besides, the people around here will miss their Bandit Hunter hero if I kill you,"

Toshi chuckled, "What makes you think you'll beat me?"

"I'm more skilled in combat than you are," Sierra said matter-of-factly.

"Is that so?" Toshi asked slyly.

"What would you like to order?" the waiter interrupted as he walked up to the two.

"Hmm, I think I'll have shrimp tempura," Toshi said as he handed the waiter his menu.

"I'll have everything from here to here," Sierra said indicating a range of about half of the menu's page.

"WHAT?!" both Toshi and the waiter exclaimed.

"What? Something wrong?" Sierra asked innocently.

"Who the hell is going to pay for this?!" Toshi asked while silently praying that Sierra wasn't going to try to force him to pay for it.

"I will, of course. My job as a temple guard pays very well," Sierra replied.

Later, when their food had arrived, Toshi slowly ate his tempura while staring in amazement that Sierra was actually eating all of what she had ordered.

"How do you eat that much and still keep your lean figure?"

"Fast metabolism rate," Sierra said without looking up from her meal.

"I think in this situation 'fast' is an understatement,"

"Hmm, maybe it is,"

"So," Toshi began, trying to steer the conversation away from food, "How much money do you have to pay for the items?"

Sierra stopped eating and leaned over the table to try to whisper her answer to Toshi, "Seven million gold pieces,"

Toshi's jaw dropped, he had been puzzled why Sierra had begun to whisper her answer but now he understood. Seven million gold pieces! If word got out in the town that she was carrying that much then every bandit from here to Atlas City would be after her.

"How do you carry that much on you?" Toshi asked.

"I don't. It's in the form of a blank voucher,"

"Ah I see, so you're authorized by your superiors to use up to seven million?"

"That's all the money our shrine has, you'll need to visit our community to get the money"

"Doesn't that kind of seem a bother? Oh well, I might as well start naming my prices, hadn't I?" Toshi asked while pleased that this might be an opportunity to get a LOT of money, even though it would be a bother to claim it.

"Well, let's see. . .the orihalcon statue. . .two million gold pieces," Toshi said.

Sierra winced at the price tag. That was more than fifty times its worth on the market.

"The chunk of platinum. . .five million,"

Sierra didn't wince at that price, she looked determinedly at Toshi.

"The amethyst flail. . .four million,"

Sierra frowned.

"Well, maybe we can haggle over the prices a little," Toshi offered, "But let's do that tomorrow, it's getting quite late."

Indeed it was pretty late, it was dark outside and all of the restaurant's other customers had left. The owner was standing impatiently at the front desk waiting for Toshi and Sierra to pay and leave.

The two went to the counter and paid their dues (Sierra's much larger than Toshi's.)

"There's a good inn nearby," Toshi offered, "We can get rooms there."

They went to the inn that was only a few blocks away. The innkeeper gave them two rooms to sleep in.

"Goodnight, I guess. . ." Toshi said to Sierra before he retreated into his room. Once in his room Toshi changed into his nightclothes and wearily lay down on his bed.

"Ohhhh. . .what an exhausting day. . .and tomorrow's probably going to be worse. . ." Toshi complained to the ceiling. He soon fell asleep.

Toshi woke to a strange melodious sound coming from the balcony to his room. He sat up. It was still dark outside, he estimated it to be past midnight.

Toshi walked out the doors to his balcony, looking for the source of the song. He listened, savored every note of the beautiful yet haunting melody.

Toshi looked to the balcony to his left, where the song was coming from. Sierra was sitting on a chair on her balcony with a small candle on the railing in front of her. She was singing this sorrowful and beautiful song. Toshi used sorcery to levitate himself silently over to Sierra's balcony. Her eyes were closed so she didn't notice him, but kept on singing.

Sierra stopped singing, she opened her eyes and looked at Toshi. She didn't seem surprised to find him there in his nightclothes; she just smiled a sorrowful smile. Toshi looked at her eyes; they were blue, just like so many things about her. He saw great sadness and pain in those eyes. He couldn't bear to look at the pain in those eyes anymore and turned his gaze away from her to the candle in front of her; however, his eyes soon shifted to another position. . .

"Do you like it?" Sierra asked, "It's entitled Midnight Blue."

"Beautiful. . ." Toshi commented a slight smirk showing across his face.

"It was taught to me a long time ago,"

"Oh! The song! Yeah, that was very beautiful too. . ." Toshi said without changing what he was looking at.

An expression of confusion appeared on Sierra's face, if Toshi hadn't been talking about the song, then what was he saying was beautiful?

Sierra's expression of confusion was immediately wiped away as she followed Toshi's gaze and realized what he had referred to. Sierra just remembered that all she was currently wearing was a light and thin nightgown designed so that the wearer could keep cool in warm summer nights. With the darkness from the night, her thin nightgown, and the light from the candle right in front of her, the outlines of Sierra's figures were very visible.

Sierra blushed feverishly. She turned to the side in her chair so that her back was facing Toshi.

"I'm shameless, aren't I?" Toshi teased Sierra.

"In-Indeed," she stammered, still very embarrassed.

"That was a very beautiful song," Toshi said, changing the subject, "It seems so sorrowful. . ."

"It does," Sierra said, "My mother taught it to me when I was younger. She said she had learned it from my father's mother. She had learned it from her husband's father, he from his father, and he from a friend."

"So. . ." Toshi said calculating in his mind; trying to figure out family relations was always confusing, "It came from a friend of your grandmother's grandfather. . .on your dad's side?"

"Yeah. . ."

"Wow, pretty old song. . ."

"Yeah. . ."

"Why is it so sorrowful?"

Sierra sat in silence for a moment. She turned around in her chair to face Toshi, but not before blowing out the candle.

"Damn. . ." Toshi thought to himself.

"There may have been a time when that song was not sung out of sorrow, but when that was, I do not know," Sierra said after another short pause.

"What do you mean?"

Sierra was silent for a moment longer. "This is odd," she finally said, "I barely even know you, a few hours ago I attempted to kill you, we really aren't allies or anything like that. . .why am I opening up to you like this?"

"My charms?" Toshi grinned as he stated it

Sierra ignored Toshi's words. "I feel almost as if I know you. . ."

"That's ridiculous," Toshi stated, "We've just met a few hours ago."

"I know. . ." Sierra responded, ". . .but still. . .I can't shake this feeling that I know you. . .that I trust you. . ."

"What did you mean about your previous comment?" Toshi said trying to get the conversation back on track.

"My family is dead," Sierra explained, "They died a few years ago. They never told me anything about my ancestors aside from teaching me the song and telling me my family name. They said it was for my protection."

"I'm sorry to hear that,"

"There are only two things left for me in this world: my duty as a Blade Dancer of Rekos and my friend and fellow Blade Dancer, Terra. . .how about your family? Don't you have any loved ones?" Sierra asked.

"Me? No. . .I was raised in an orphanage. I made up my name because I thought it sounded good. I have no idea who I really am or where I come from. . ." Toshi paused, "What was your family name?"

"Gabriev," Sierra simply stated.

"Gabriev? Isn't that also the name of that mythical Swordsman of Light? What was his first name? Gourry? Yeah, that's it. . .Gourry Gabriev,"

"I guess so. I wonder if maybe I'm one of his descendants,"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Toshi exclaimed, "There never was any legendary Swordsman of Light, Gourry Gabriev. It's all just stories made up to tell around a campfire, it's probably just a coincidence that your names are the same."

Sierra looked at Toshi.

"What? You mean you actually believe that there was a Gourry Gabriev?" Toshi was shocked, "Oh, come on! Don't tell me you also believe in the Mazoku and the Ryuzoku!"

Sierra continued to look at Toshi, but now there was a hurt expression in her face.

"What's wrong?" Toshi asked.

"The Shrine of Rekos. . ." Sierra said, "Rekos was a Ryuzoku who my order honors with the highest regards. . ."

Toshi gasped. "I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't know. . ." he was afraid that he might have offended her religion.

"No, it's alright. . ." Sierra said, "It's only logical that you don't believe any of the legends. . .there's no proof to back any of them up. There are no currently known records of the Mazoku, the Ryuzoku, or anything of that sort. Not Gourry Gabriev, either."

Toshi was silent.

"But.." Sierra continued, "Have you ever wondered where the magic that you use comes from?"

"Huh?"

"Doesn't magic call upon the power of a higher being?"

"Nah," Toshi said, "The chants and all that are just meaningless words. The power of magic exists in the mind."

"Does it now?" Sierra stated more than asked, a skeptical tone was clear in her voice, "Well, I suppose that we had better go to bed, we have negotiations tomorrow morning."

"Right, well, good night," Toshi said before levitating back to his room.