A Ninja's Reveng(closed)

"It's not done yet," Ronin said softly, giving the stew another stir, adding in another herb and some more meat.

It still smells good." She said as she got up to move closer to the fire. "What herbs have you added?"

"Rosemary, sage and basil," Ronin answered, looking over at her for a moment with a twinkle in his eyes. "Why?"

Fiona smiled. "It smells like my mothers deer stew..." She said with a smile as she sat there. "I've missed that smell.

Ronin gave a soft chuckle. "I've always made it like this," he said softly, stirring the stew again, checking the meat and thickness of the stew.

"It just reminded me of my mom." She said with a smile. "She would have liked you."

Ronin gave a small grin and looked over at her for a moment. "And father would have liked you," he said softly.

I'm glad you think so." She said with a smiled as she held out her hands to be warmed by the fire.

"Oh, I know he would," Ronin stated, straightening his back and proceeding to deepen his voice in mock-amusement. "'Now son, you need a woman like your mother: Sleek, independent and headstrong. A woman who can take care of herself and give you all you need.'"

Fiona smiled and laughed softly. "Well that sound like me doesn't it. My father never like it when my mother would talk of me getting married or anything like that. He always said he would make sure anyone I was with would be good enough or I would have no one."

Ronin gave a soft laugh of his own. "Mother was the same way," he said softly. "Always declaring that, if I was going to marry, the woman would have to be exactly right. Get this!: She wanted to marry me off to some pompous puffball who thought she was better than everyone else!" Ronin gave a snort and stirred the stew again. "Father quickly put an end to that."

Aye. My father wanted to arrange a marriage for me as well. To a young Irish assassin but mother had words with him about it. I did love my father though.

"Oh, I loved mother too," Ronin said, stirring the stew once again and checking on the meat. "It was her choice of wife for me that I hated! Always tried to pair me up to noblemen's daughters. Said that she wanted me to have what she never got to have: a mate with money. Pff. Nothing I hate more than having to rely on someone else to bring money in."

Fiona smiled. "My father was well off but he taught me money was not everything and that one could live fine without it." She said with a smile.

"My family certainly got by without much," Ronin stated, stirring the stew once again. "Father always made certain I had clothes to wear and food on the table. I didn't need much else, really. While everyone else had toys to play with, all I really needed was my imagination and a fort outside that my father built for me. Pretended that I was fighting a war and saved a bunch of people who treated me as a hero." Ronin's eyes gained a faraway look to them all of a sudden and a weak laugh escaped his lips. "How differently my story turned out, compared to how I imagined it."

Fiona smiled as she listened. "If it makes you feel better... I think your a hero. Mine in any case." She said with a smile. She meant every word of what she said and she wanted him to know that. "Do you think your mother would have liked me?"

Ronin looked over at Fiona and grinned, his cheek bones rising from his mask and causing his eyes to narrow slightly. "I'm pretty sure she'd say that you reminded her of herself when she was younger," he said softly.

Oh would she?" Fiona asked with a smile as she watched the food cook. "I think my father would have liked you." She told him with a sigh. "I still wish they were still here..."

"Everyone who's lost their parents wish they were still here," Ronin said softly, testing the meat for a moment before giving a nod and pulling out a couple of wooden bowls, into which he poured the stew and handed one to her. "Now me...I wish my father were still here."

"I would have liked to meet him if he were still around." Fiona told him before taking a small bite, causing a smile to appear on her face. "It even tastes like her's..." Fiona said before she had to sit the bowl down to to couch. "Sorry Ronin..." She said as she picked her bowl up once again.

Ronin grinned at her and began to eat his own bowl of stew, thinking back to the days when his father had taught him to shoot a bow and wield a sword. Slowly, the smile faded from his features and his eyes became dull, as though wishing for something long past.

Fiona could read his face easily. "I know how it feels to want them back... When we meet at the burnt shell of what was once my home I feel the same way...." She said as tears began to fall.

Ronin gave a soft chuckle and stared down into his bowl. "Father once told me that he would always be there," he said softly.

He is... You may not be able to see him.. but he''s here. I speak to my father and mother sometimes you know. I know they can hear me but I can't hear them. Perhaps you should try talking to him?" She said with a smile

Ronin gave a soft chuckle and drank some more of the stew, his face hidden in shadow. "I think I will," he said softly, a small nod bobbing his head up and down. "And I'm pretty sure my parents would like you."