Author’s note: Please be reminded that the update of Chapter 20 and 21 has occured in a day. Making this a (sort of) double update. Don’t skip Chapter 20!!!

It was a lonely night.

Yasuo Namekawa stood on the Incheon battlefield.

His second in command, Sana, stood at a distance. Her almond eyes stared at his silhouette, illuminated by the moonlight. Sadness pooled in the bottom of her stomach, as she looked at his armless left shoulder. She knew that it hurt his warrior’s pride, for him to lose one arm. Even a finger was crucial in the life of a ninja. Losing an entire arm rendered him useless.

She had been training with him ever since they were recruited in Kyoto, and she was the only one alive to know him. To know his character. They had trained together, fought together, lived throughout the whole Kyoto incident together. They were inseparable.

To her, this leader was a hero, and she could not withstand him being hurt or maimed. He was the Dreamstrike, the legendary killer, and she could not bear for his reputation to be ruined. Heck, he was the greatest ninja in all of Japan.

He was still standing there, staring at the horizon. His eyes were fixed on the stars, which were gradually disappearing from view. A single tear welled in his eye, and he let it drop onto his cheek, his chin, then the soil. He bowed his head, and that was when he noticed her.

She went over and asked him if he was okay.

He replied that ninjas could never be okay.

This pained her heart.

He told her that he may never set foot on Japanese territory ever again, and he may die in this fight. He may die on this Korean land. He may die because of this injury. He may die, leaving his troops leaderless. He wanted her to be ready to take responsibility.

Which pained her heart even further.

He reassured her, he would take down as many Koreans in this battle. He’d even try to wipe out half of the population in the Korean Peninsula. He would bathe this country in blood and gore.

He knew that if he went back to Japan with only one arm left, he’d be sent to the dungeon for his trouble, and that was more frightening than fighting the whole of Hanseong’s Royal Army. That was his biggest fear.

She wept. She wanted to tell him that she loved him.

But she couldn’t. She needed to follow the ninja code. And that meant no falling in love. Ever. Feelings were forbidden. This had been a dilemma since the Kyoto incident, when she first fell in love with him. He was untouchable, he was unreachable, he was unlovable.

Sure, she loved him. But he would never love her back. The Dreamstrike was a devout follower of the ninja code, and he wouldn’t even blink when he rejected her. And so, looking at his silhouette, she felt such sorrow and misery.

She stood there, with him, gazing out to the horizon.

She didn’t want tomorrow to come. Because her hero might be taken away tomorrow, from her life. And that was her biggest fear. 

The stars started to fade from the sky. Would they be forgotten after this night?

She was not afraid of anything else. She could take on the whole world to protect him. But he would still fade away, like a star in the morning.

Sana cried once more.

Still awake. 

She was still awake.

Yeonwoo didn’t even blink as she saw Hyebin float past. She had been suffering the most, partly because she could see her. 

She did not even yawn. Though her body was tired, her mind was still running. 

Yeonwoo looked at the cute bundle sleeping in her arms and gave a tight hug. After all, she had neglected her when the battle was still raging. Now that the battle had stopped, it was time to take care of her love.

She knew, somehow, that Nancy hated the war. Because she cried in her sleep, because of the complains from Jane, because, in her heart, she knew Nancy disliked anything related to arguments and fights.

And so, tightly hugging her, Yeonwoo started to feel guilty about being involved in the war. After all, they had confessed to their feelings during the start of the war. She recalled the exact wordings that came from her beloved's lips.

"And during my time with you, I found out one fact. I love you, unnie. I want to care for you, to lust after you, even to die for you.”

Yeonwoo managed a half-smile. She was so tired, yet she could muster a giggle because of that sentence.

Hearing the noise, Nancy awoke and turned, facing Yeonwoo. "Still awake, unnie?" Nancy murmured sleepily.

"Yes. Sleep, before you end up like me." Yeonwoo muttered.

"But that'd be great..." Nancy shook her head.

Yeonwoo looked at the sleepy angel before her. If only there was no war. If only they were normal people, with a farm and a straw house, living peacefully. If only they were not tainted by the horrors of this cruel world. If only the world was as pure as the finest note of the flute, a melodic tune of mellow sounds. Alas, the world was too unforgiving to the innocent.

She cupped Nancy's cheek in one hand. How could this angel be so beautiful, yet so incorruptible? She traced one finger alongside Nancy's neck, feeling her skin, then she withdrew her hand. She felt like something was wrong, though she could not