Tiger was still bleeding when he stumbled down from atop the hill. His body ached, every inch of him pulsed with flashes of pain. He nearly fumbled to the ground, but luckily for him various children swarmed him, and he would never allow himself to fall in front of them.

“Big brother Ty!”

“Are you alright?”

“What happened?”

Several of them were crying as they tried to clutch at his clothes, which were ruffled and sullied by blood.

“You guys are too noisy, quieten down eh?” Tiger pet a few of the children atop their heads with a bloody hand. “Ah sorry.”

He pulled away from the, and then wiped his hand onto his pants, chuckling as he did. He limped back towards the orphanage and the trail of children following him.

It was a destitute building crying out for attention, on the verge of collapse. Though there were no dust or cobwebs, the stonework was rough and the building was torn by years from the elements. He fell against the door, but grabbed it to remain upright.

“Tiger!” Called an older woman with a scowl painted across her face. She was short, heavily built, though was covered near from head to toe in black.

“What do you need, ah, Auntie?” Tiger hissed out in pain. He tapped the side of his head to get the blood out of his ear.

“What are you doing… coming in such a state.” Her lips pursed further into a frown as if she was suckling on a lemon.

“Huh? This state?” Tiger smirked.

She slapped him across the face, though she didn’t put much force into it. “You! You fool!” She stormed off.

Tiger winced and then shook his head before he stumbled towards the bath at the back of the building. The children had already scurried away, not wanting the wrath of the sister to befall them. As he stripped down, the sister returned with various cloths and bandages.

“Thank you.” Tiger flashed a sweet smile, though it didn’t work.

“You can do it yourself.” She almost threw them at him, but he quickly snapped them up from her grasp.

“Right.” Tiger chuckled to himself. She raised her hand to slap him again, but then clenched her fingers into a shaking fist, then finally turned and marched off with her face flushed red in anger.

Tiger bathed for a long while. The water became murky with his blood. He thought about the ache in his body as he massaged his soreness.

‘Dragon really didn’t hold back…’

He frowned as shame sank through him. ‘I need to train more…’ He flexed and grabbed onto the edge of the bath, nearly breaking pieces off of it, before hoisting himself up.

‘Damn it…’ He rubbed his chest and then dragged the back of his knuckles against it. He paused when he didn’t feel the cool metal.

“Damn it…”

“You took the ring…” He scrunched up his face in thought for a second, but then he shrugged and went back to bathing.

‘No need to worry about it now.’

He patched himself up, and then finally changed into a pair of robes. When he stepped out of the room, he was swarmed by the children once more. He scooped up some of the children who were crying and tugging on his clothing, who then switched to tugging on the sides of his beard. Another rubbed his bald head.

“Enough, enough.” He chuckled as he tried to push some of them away from him. “What are you guys crying about?”

“B-big brother Ty!”

“We thought you were going to die…”

“Are you okay?”

“Why are you so hurt?”

He was bombarded by more questions, but he chuckled until they quietened down.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Do you think I’d die to something like this, huh?” He flexed and then grabbed one of the children before throwing them up. They flew up to the ceiling and almost brushed it as they giggled. He caught them and swung them with the momentum, though his muscles burned with effort.

“Did you lose?” The boy asked as he was set down.

“Huh? Yeah.” Tiger cocked his head to the side and shrugged.

The boy looked up at him with a quivering lip. Tiger’s gut fell in response, as if losing wasn’t bad enough…

“What?” He pet the boy’s head and then ruffled his hair. “There’s nothing wrong with losing, ya hear? It’s not important anyway.” He yawned. “Alright, it’s time for bed you lot.”

“Eeeeeeeeh?!” The children all groaned.

“Don’t eh me. Hurry up and head to bed.” He shooed them away with a hand, and the smarter ones began to scatter away, though a few remained.

“Huh? Since you’re still here I guess I’ll make dinner fo-” The children fled quickly, the pair that were hugging his legs scampered away.

He still went to go cook though, making himself a vegetable stew. A good fight always made him hungry. Auntie was there as well, chopping some vegetables for tomorrow.

“Sorry.” He finally said, sipping at some of the soup. It was warm, and heavily salted.

“You’d better be.” Auntie threw her hand up towards him, but grabbed his beard and ruffled through it. “What happened, Tiger?”

“I was just speaking to an old friend.” Tiger’s eyes softened.

“The one in the black?”

He nodded. “Yes. I hadn’t seen him in… some time.” He smiled to himself.

“And he nearly killed you?”

“Yeah. That’s how we are.” Tiger shrugged.

She frowned. “Just what are you?”

Tiger chuckled. He glanced over towards the doorway. Heavy footsteps grew louder before a heavily armoured man with salt and pepper hair arrived.

“Tiger, I thought it would be you.”

“Huh?” Tiger shrugged. “Don’t worry about it Harold.”

Harold scowled. “I heard you came back into town dripping with blood.”

“Yeah.”

Harold crossed his arms and waited. He loomed like a shadow.

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Tiger chuckled.

“I told you… If you started anymore trouble I was going to kick you out, boy.” Harold reached back to the hilt of his blade.

“Yeah, I’ll be heading off soon.” Tiger replied back, still eating his soup.

Auntie rubbed his arm. “Not like this you won’t!”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine!” She snapped back to him.

“I don’t really have much of a choice.” Tiger shrugged once more.

Harold raised his brow, still clutching the hilt of his blade.

Tiger laughed. “I should probably go retrieve my ring.” His face was still wide with a grin as he continued to sip his soup.