The town was quite busy, the hustle and bustle of townsfolk going about their business. The square was full of stalls, so much on display for sale as hawkers extolled the virtues and deals of whomever had hired them.
He had no art supplies, so goods to sale, and no idea how much the medication costs, but maybe. . .
He had been a horrible delinquent as Akira, after he had lost his hope of adoption, and one thing he had been good at was stealing.
Hot wiring, shoplifting, pickpocketing, it had landed him a brief stint in juvie.
There were no vehicles to steal, but plenty of pockets, or purses. . .
He scoped out his targets, people with money, purses hanging heavy but no guards.
He slipped away with several coin purses, slipping out of town to hide it by the river.
He did this for two days, dumping the coins in the donation chest for the monestary at the end of it, slipping back in with the others.
Oh, he could tell from the looks that they had noticed him missing, but as long as he was able to get enough. . .
It was the third day that he got caught, his hand grabbed by his target.
"Thief!" cried the portly man, holding Kaidan's arm up in the air, and he could see a couple of guards approaching.
Kaidan struggled, that grip hard, painful, before resorting to biting the man to get him to let go.
Kaidan ran, pushing through the crowd, running and running through streets and allies, the guards shouting and running after him.
He found himself on the bank of the river flowing through the center of town, hearing the fast approaching guards, he jumped in and began swimming, heading towards the outside of town.
He could hear shouting behind him but focused on getting away, getting out.
He crawled out of the river, only to find his wrist grabbed, and he was pulled the rest of the way out.
Shocked, he looked up and into silver eyes, that handsome squire from the tourney!
"Well, what an unexpected catch!" the older boy laughed, still holding Kaidan wrist, "I wasn't expecting the pickpocket to pop up right in front of me."
Kaidan begin to struggle, trying frantically to get free. So close!
"Whoa! I just want to talk!"
Kaidan stilled, unsure, "really?"
"It's all right, just talking."
The teen guided them over to the rocks and released Kaidan's wrist.
"What?"
"Why? Why all this?"
Kaidan haltingly spoke of his friends getting sick, the conversation he had over heard, "I don't want them to die!" he burst out, sobbing.
A firm hand patting his back as he cried, a soothing voice murmuring gentle words of comfort.
Kaidan felt drained, empty as the tears ran out, sitting there dripping wet and tired.
"That's terrible, maybe I can help?"
"How? I don't even know how much we need, and we are just, just!"
"Just what?"
"Just orphans."
"Hey, you, your friends are more than just orphans."
Kaidan shook his head, "they'll still die. . ."
A piece of cloth is dangled in front of Kaidan, "take this, come to the keep tomorrow and tell them Takeru Shinosuki sent you."
Kaidan took it numbly, giving his name in response as connections fired up, he knew.
He knew exactly who he was, who this was, where this was.
And he looked over at the protagonist and knew himself as the antagonist, and knew.