"I can't believe it. We just had the peace treaty signed and already we're back at war?" the voice of Yam Koo now come into sound, as they hear the news, or quite possible, hopefully, rumour of the slaying of the Highland's Unicorn Brigade, from the Private Detective, Richmond, who had already left for Radat the moment they came onto KusKus. He was sure in a hurry. "Are you surprised? With the way people are behaving these days, war is almost as common as dinnertime" Tai Ho replied back to his little brother.

"Yeah, I know, but still, it seemed that the Unicorn Brigade was slain way before we found out that the peace treaty had been signed"

"Heh, leave it to Shai to give out a late news REALLY late"

"Yeah... but still..."

"Hey, look at it this way, in three days, the people of Coronet would have found out that we're back at war" Tai Ho said jokingly.

"That's not really funny you know" Yam Koo upsettingly replied to Tai Ho's attempt to make things brighter.

"Okay, I'm sorry, look... why not we just go fishing at the pier over there. It'll clear our minds up at least"

"Yeah, I suppose we have nothing else to do now"

Both the brothers then grabbed their fishing sticks from their pack and head for the pier. "Whoah, hold on, what about a place to sleep for the night?" asked Yam Koo, worrying that they won't be in time to book a room at the local inn.

"Don't worry about it, if we don't get a room at the inn, we'll just camp out here for the night"

"Goddamn it, I told you we should've gotten a place to sleep first THEN fish" scowled Yam Koo at his brother-in-law, who is at fault at their loss of a sleeping quarters.

"Hell, we have our boat, right? We'll just sleep in there for tonight"

"Who in their right mind would sleep in a boat?"

"Do you want a place to sleep or don't you?"

"Ohhhh... all right" Yam Koo agrees, reluctantly.

Just as they were about to make a move to the exit to sell the wads of fishes that they have caught during the day, Tai Ho was suddenly still and silent. Yam Koo went on ahead to the exit only to enter a few minutes later when he realised his older brother wasn't tagging along behind him. He looked at Tai Ho, who just stood behind a row of seats looking at something. At a stage.

"Brother Tai Ho, what are you..." his sentence cut short as he saw what has his big brother entranced, "Ahhhh, okay"

It was a dancer on the stage. An extremely beautiful girl who has purple hair and covered her face with a veil and a pink harem pants that you can see-thru. It was quite surprising, Yam Koo do recall that when they enter the inn, there was no one around the place that even matched up to this sultrous looking woman, who now almost had himself entranced by her gracefulness as well. But of course, to keep his brother-in-law in check, he has to develop a strong will, "Come on big brother, we need to set up our boat so we can sleep in it tonight without fear of sinking it to the bottom of the ocean"

"Uh huh" Tai Ho answered back without even realising that he is concious. Or maybe he is unconcious.

"*sigh* What to do of brother Tai Ho's whims" Yam Koo muttered under his breath as he dragged his older brother out of the inn.

Meanwhile, back in Coronet, a long haired, blonde woman, quite tall for a female, and beautiful for her age entered Tai Ho's little hut.

"Hmmmm... he's not here. Well, I suppose I can stay at this town for awhile until he comes back" the woman said as she turned back and went out of the hut.

The night falls and Tai Ho is lazily lying at the center of his boat, closing his face with a clean rag, wheezing thru it playfully, while Yam Koo is sitting at the other end of the boat, fishing. It's not that they did not fish enough during the daytime, but it's more to say that Yam Koo is just too worried to sleep. Tai Ho can see it in his face. He's probably worried about the little Unicorn Brigade incident. Hell, it's not like it happened anywhere near us. And it's not like anybody we know is in the Unicorn Brigade. The people we know are all City-State people and Toran people, Tai Ho thinks to himself. Yam Koo worries too much. Tai Ho then sat up slowly so he wouldn't rock the boat so much and made Yam Koo loses his fish, and took the rag off his face.

"You worry too much, little brother" he said in a low voice, so he wouldn't disturb the fish in the lake, or wake up their sleeping neighbours.

"Maybe. But then, those Unicorn Brigade are just children. Why would anyone in their right mind slaughter them so?" Yam Koo replied back to Tai Ho, "I don't know... as long as we have been living in City-State, I don't think anyone here would do it"

"But how do we really know that? We don't really know any of the bigwigs that's in charge of the office and military actions and whatever" Nor do I really care, Tai Ho thinks to himself.

"Yeah, I know, but I just have this feeling something big's going to happen, you know?" Yam Koo finally relishing himself of his worries to his older brother, "Like another war or something"

"Heh, sounds like it would be fun" Tai Ho jokes.

"Heh, yeah, it kinda does" Yam Koo replies, and this surprises Tai Ho. Yam Koo had never been one to always agree with Tai Ho, in fact, one can say Yam Koo is the exact opposite of what Tai Ho is, but hearing Yam Koo say this... it's just unprecedented.

Yam Koo then notices the bewildered look on Tai Ho's face, "Well, it kinda does. I have to say, even though I never really show it 3 years ago, I actually had fun during the days we were with the Liberation Army. Hell, we got to meet up with Anji again, and even fight side by side with him and his cronies, we went to war, big brother. Where everything happens at once. Hell, I had a near-death experience"

"Yeah, when the arrows just went into your shoulder at the Shasarazade battle, all I was thinking was how am I suppose to live without you" Tai Ho said as he reminisce the days of old.

"You did? Wow, and here I thought that all you think about was who's going to do the fishing" Yam Koo jokes.

"Well, I do... hey, wait a second, in a way, when I thought about how to live without you, I suppose it is like thinking who would do the fishing" Tai Ho said amusingly.

They both stared at each other for awhile and then laughed out loud at the joke that they had accidentally came up with. A light of a nearby house then suddenly went on and a silhoutte of a man can be seen through the window.

"HEY!!! Shut up you two!! Some people do sleep you know?" A voice can be heard from inside the house and at this loud interruption of their little tete-a-tete of old happenings, they instantly shut up and closed their mouth with their hands. Tai Ho then got up and shouted a little apology back to the man only to get more 'shut ups' from other neighbours and Tai Ho continued on apologizing to the other houses from which more people got up and scowled at them, begging for them to shut up, and finally Tai Ho sat back down and laughed with Yam Koo and what he has done to cause a ruckus in the little town of KusKus.

"Well, I guess we should leave early tomorrow morning, before the people here lynch us, huh?" Yam Koo asked Tai Ho wondering if what they did tonight would make them pay tomorrow.

"Naw, KusKus people are nice to us, tomorrow morning, they'll just think back to what happened and laugh at it. That is the beauty of KusKus, little brother" Tai Ho reassures Yam Koo that they are definitely safe to stay at KusKus for the remainder of the week as they planned.

"You're right. It's always better here" Yam Koo agreed and picked up his fishing stick and put it to the side of the boat, settling it for the night. He then takes his pack and took out his futon and sets it up at his end of the boat, "Well, good night, brother Tai Ho"

"Good night Yam Koo, and sleep well"

And the night stood still, as both Tai Ho and Yam Koo drifts off to sleep, dreaming of the day when the world will be at peace.

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"Tai Ho" and "Suikoden 2" are (C) Konami This chapter was posted on December 13, 1999