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Sakura Kingdom wasn't the wealthiest township on Drum, but it had a solid foundation. Rather than having its worth staked into the royalty in control, it was a town that was built by the people for the people. Blacksmiths, shipwrights, doctors, tailors, and even scientists were the backbone of its creation and the bedrock of its economy. While other towns may fall on hard times, it was Sakura Kingdom that always stayed constant due to the hard work and dedication of its citizens. It was also because of these rumors of stability that lured Bogart into visiting while he was on Drum.

Some towns weren't fond of strangers, but the business that Sakura Kingdom brought had long since made the citizens well adjusted to newcomers. Any business they could get, they'd happily take and turn out a quality craft to boot. Yet, Bogie wasn't one that fought with weapons, normally, and wasn't involved in the seafaring life of pirates and marines. He wasn't wounded, was fond of his current attire, and wasn't in need of any scientific instruments. His interest was simply in experiencing the livelihood of those that lived on Drum; he wasn't here for the typical things that people visited the kingdom for.

Bogart walked through the central district of the Sakura Kingdom, the street on which most of the shops were located. He trudged along the snow-covered road huddled into his favorite, fur-hooded jacket to protect himself from the cold, eyeing the shops from outside and taking a mental note of the number of bustling people and popularity of certain shops. Nothing that would prove to be useful information, but the reason he was visiting the kingdom nonetheless. Sakura Kingdom's crime rate was astonishingly low considering the amount of people that visited to purchase things, but it was Bogie's presence that seemed to bring bad luck upon those around him.

Whether he was an ominous omen or simply holding poor luck, unfortunate events followed the young hunter around like a stray puppy. Shouting could be heard further down the street, perking his ears right up, but it wasn't until a window smashed that Bogie truly took an interest. Looking up from his jacket, he could barely make out the form of a man running out of a shop and taking off down the road away from him. It was none of his business, but the good-natured Bogie couldn't leave well enough alone. Setting off at a dead run, he ran down the street in the same direction that the thief had gone.

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Bogart was a young, healthy man, but in comparison to other people, he wasn't fast by any measurement of the word. The only thing he had going for him was his full-sized stature as compared to the thief, who seemed to be a child from the distance that he was chasing him at. The two of them ran down the street before the thief darted down an alleyway, Bogart hot on his heels, but by now the thief had taken note of his pursuer and had planned a path accordingly. Unbeknownst to Bogie, the thief had chosen an alley that connected with several others, but was also filled with vagrants and trash [bins] of all kinds.

As Bogie chased after his target the thief began to topple the piles of garbage and leap over sleeping bums, all of which were lucky obstacles in his strategic escape. Bogart, try as he might, was losing ground as he tried to jump over the trash and avoid running into any of the people that fill the alleyway. By the time the hunter had come to an intersection between alleys, he'd totally lost sight of the target he'd been chasing. The thief had managed to get away, all while tiring out the man that'd been chasing him, and Bogie was left standing helplessly in the alleyway trying to catch his breath.

Since the alley seemed to be a popular gathering place for vagrants, the footsteps that had built up in the snow over time were useless in trying to track down the thief. There was no lead in finding him then, but Bogie wasn't done chasing down the injustice that he'd witnessed. Retracing his steps, he slowly and begrudgingly walked back through the alley on his way to the shop that had been burglarized. If there was anyone that could help him identify the thief, it'd be the shopkeep that had to deal with him to begin with.

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Having given up on his chase and decided to turn back, Bogart took the walk as a chance to catch his breath. Along the way, he retraced his steps exactly in order to clean up the mess that he  and the thief had created. Straightening out trash cans, picking up broken items, and overall just trying to return everything to the way it had been prior to him coming through, if not better. The young man wasn't entirely focused on cleaning things up, but leaving a mess he'd helped cause didn't sit right with him. It was the right thing to do, at the very least.

As Bogie walked up the street back to the shop that had been burglarized, he could see the shopkeep sweeping up the broken glass and picking up items that thief had dropped in his escape. Bogie waved to the clerk as he neared, greeting him before they got down to business.

"I tried chasing him down, but the guy was pretty tricky. I couldn't keep up with the mess he was making."

The shopkeeper looked up from his cleanup process, a dejected sort of look slapped on his face. "Ah, well, I appreciate the effort. I had a bad feeling when the kid came in, but I couldn't force myself to kick him out into t he cold."

"A kid did this?"

"You'd be surprised. The island is cold, so people resort to all kinds of things to survive. Business suffers thanks to him, but it's not like I can blame him."

Bogie nodded. He couldn't imagine himself doing something like that, but when you're in dire straits and have been in dire straits, it's understandable that someone could resort to thievery - if not worse. He'd always been the empathetic type, but he didn't expect others to be that way all the time, especially when they were the victim. "I respect your calmness about it. If you know anything that might help - maybe describe the way he looked - I'd be happy to try and help find who did this."

The shopkeeper leaned against his broom, giving Bogie a sad smile. "I'm waiting on the police already, but," he began, moving back to his sweeping process, "if you're not busy, a more personal type of help would be much appreciated. The law is pretty busy around here as of late, after all."

Once again, Bogie nodded, signaling the shopkeeper to continue. The young hunter quietly and patiently listened to the man describe the thief. It was a young boy wearing a hooded cloak to hide his face, but the clerk had briefly seen his face before the kid took off with the items. Other useful information included what the thief had stolen, if only a general idea. The shop belonged to a tailor and the kid had only managed to grab a handful of clothing off a single rack before darting out the door. Even if it didn't give him anything to go on at the moment, the fact that the thief had stolen clothing rather than food was useful enough information to go on.

Having a basic idea of what the kid's face looked like and what he was looking for, Bogie thanked the shopkeeper for his help. Wishing him luck in his cleaning endeavor, the hunter turned around and carted himself off back up the street. Bogart fancied himself a novice investigator and he had an idea of where to at least begin his search for the culprit of this burglary.

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He'd chased the thief, retraced his steps back to the shop, and after talking to the shopkeeper, Bogie now once again retraced his steps back along the way he'd followed the thief. The fact that the thief was expected to be a child gave a little insight on his route of escape. There was no proof to this thought, but Bogie was under the impression that if the thief really were a child, he wouldn't have planned an escape route meant to throw people off his trail. Instead, he fully expected the kid to have tried to beeline towards his goal, meaning if he searched around where he'd lost track of the thief, he could find a lead in solving the case.

Upon reaching the alleyway, Bogart once again took note of all the footprints in the snow. The snow was constantly falling on Drum, but it wasn't strong enough at the moment to cover any of the tracks. This was useless information, but Bogie was banking on the idea that maybe there was a clue left uncovered because of it. The young hunter ran his hand along the stone walls that created the alley, scanning his eyes over every nook and cranny looking for anything out of the ordinary. Idle debris, vagrants sleeping under makeshift tents, footprints, but none of it seemed useful as a trail to follow. That's when it hit him; the idea that maybe the trail had ended abruptly for a reason.

Bogie quickly scooted his way out of the alley onto the street, taking another look around. He'd entered onto a side street belonging to smaller, more secluded shops - as expected. The alleyway had been little help in finding a clue, but one thing that was easy to miss were all the back entrances to shops that broke up the monotony of the stone wall. They were the doorways that allowed workers to empty trash during their day or take shipments directly into the back without interrupting customers at the front. While these may be the normal usage for such an entrance, they also made a convenient escape route. Taking a shortcut through a local business was, after all, much easier than routing through individual alleys and streets to shake a tail.

The young hunter - self-proclaimed investigator - had found a possible lead. He didn't know much about the thief he was trying to catch, but knowing that he was a kid would potentially slim down the list of shops he'd use to escape and destinations he'd been heading towards. It would, however, involve a little bit of research. The back entrances lined both sides of the alley, meaning that the amount of doors the thief could have used were relatively high. And unfortunately, the only way Bogie could build a list of possible escape routes meant he'd have to resort to basic footwork.

Walking along the streets, Bogie took a mental note of all the locations that seems plausible for a child to use as a safe route. Businesses like pubs or brothels were - almost - out of the question, so for now he'd count those out. The only part of that line of thinking that may prove helpful was the fact that they were on a side street rather than the main shopping district, meaning that there were more unsavory businesses than there could have been, slimming down the possibilities based on the search criteria.

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Pursuing this train of thought, Bogart slowly walked the surrounding area, only to be disappointed in his findings. Even having walked back and forth to the spot twice already, he hadn't realized where the thief had led him until he'd deliberately looked. The thief, although allegedly a child, had led Bogie through the alleyways to the red light district, a couple of blocks of town filled with little more than brothels and shady taverns. None of these businesses were kid-friendly and put his idea to shame. Even if the child was indeed a thief, self-preservation had taken precedence over anything else, forcing him to take whatever route necessary in order to escape without being caught.

Moving forward with this new information, Bogie simply began talking to the business owners on either side of the alley that he'd last seen the thief. He went door-to-door until he found someone that could help him and point him in the right direction. The trail had been covered, but bread crumbs were all that were needed. If one wanted to find what they were looking for, the most basic tactic was also the most fruitful. Grinding the pavement and asking questions would eventually lead to a conclusive end. Fortunately for Bogie, that end wasn't too far off.

Sakura Kingdom was large for a town on Drum, but it was still just that - a town on Drum. The castle that overlooked it was on the top of a large mountain overlooking the surrounding area with the one actual segment housing people being considerably small. A couple blocks in one direction would lead you to the edge of town or, in this case, exactly where Bogart needed to be. A large building rested away from housing and the rest of the businesses, allowing it to have a larger plot of land to use. This made sense once the young hunter realized that it was an orphanage. Any facility meant to house a number of children would be required to have a decent amount of space and a large yard for them to run around in meant they'd be less likely to get in trouble... usually.

The orphanage was in the same direction the thief had exited the alleyway from and, given that he was rumored to be a child, made sense that he could be living there. A well-off child wouldn't resort to things like thievery, but an orphan may in order to survive above the lowest level of what could be called "surviving."

Walking up the street through the light snowfall, Bogie rapped his knuckles against the large wooden doors of the facility and waited patiently for the door to open.

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A few moments passed by and the door opened, revealing a small, elderly lady peering out from within. She held the door only cracked open, speaking through the small opening without letting out what was within. "Hello? How may I help you?" From behind her, the squeals and shrieks of children could be heard down the hallway. At that moment, it also appeared to Bogart that the old woman's dress was being tugged on from behind the door; no doubt the reason why she hadn't opened it all the way.

"Yes, hi," Bogie began. "I'm here with some rather poor information. Do you mind if I come in?"

The old woman sighed, tilting her head down for a moment before once again looking up and beginning to speak. "It's not me you're looking for. You want Thomas. Him and his friends live here, but they're... troubled." She paused for a moment, hesitating to open the door and glancing down at the child clinging to her. "I'm kind of busy right now, but you can probably find Tommy in the woods behind the building. If you walk out there, you'll find his little hang out."

"Actu-" the door snapped shut, cutting Bogie off mid-sentence and finalizing their meeting. The elderly woman seemed to have a lot to deal with and didn't want to add more to her plate if she could help it. If this Thomas were the culprit of the burglary, then it wouldn't matter in the end. All Bogie had to do was retrieve the stolen stuff and the situation would be resolved.

Sighing, Bogart wheeled himself around on his heel and walked off the porch. Making his way through the snow, he rounded the side of the orphanage to peer into the forest before walking straight back. The old woman had told him to just keep walking forward, so there was little for the young hunter to do but follow the only information he had present to him.

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As Bogart entered the woods, the frigid breeze that had been blowing down from the mountains was muffled by the countless trees. Although a winter island, the slight coverage from the wind helped warm things up by a noticeable amount. The trees were mostly barren save for the few spruce trees that stood out among its naked neighbors, allowing for the snow to still cover the ground in front of him. The soft crunch of snow and fallen branches were the only company the young man had on his stroll through the woods. It had a calming effect and would have been enjoyable had he not come for a different reason.

Bogie didn't know what he was looking for, but it wouldn't be long before he would come across what it was. Straight back through the trees, set out of direct sight of the orphanage, was a lone tree house built between a few closely grown trees. It was shabby and looked to have been built by amateurs, but it was sturdy in its foundation.

From the ground, Bogie called up at the tree house and those that may have been inside. "Hello? My name is Bogart. I'm just here to talk."

Rustling within the shack could be heard before the front door opened, revealing a small, blonde-haired young boy peering out. Squeezing around his friend, another, slightly older boy came into view. He stepped across the snow-covered balcony and looked down on Bogart from his high point.

"What do you want?"

The child's voice represented his youth, but the tone that it came with was far removed. The way he spoke was as if he were being heavily disadvantaged by Bogie showing up, but it also seemed as if it came from a position of little respect, if any at all.

"I'm here looking for someone that you may know. There was a burglary in town and I was just wonder if you had any information on the culprit."

"Don't know anything. Sorry. Good luck." The boy turned to go back inside his hideout, but Bogie wasn't content with leaving things off like that.

"That new jacket says otherwise. Just trying to figure out what happened."

The boy stopped for a second, glancing back at Bogart before continuing to walk into his tree house, leaving Bogart to stand there momentarily. A few seconds went by before the child came back out, leading a pack of another seven other boys, including the blonde-haired kid that had first looked out. They hopped over the railing to come down, standing as a group and looking somewhat menacing as they eyed Bogie up and down.

I told you, we don't know anything. If you're trying to fight, then we have no problem kicking your ass. Leave us alone."

Bogart looked around at all the children that had gathered. All of them were wearing a piece of new clothing of some kind or another, most of it being ill-fitting. The man that had been robbed had said that a pile of random clothing had been taken and it seemed like this might be it.

"I'm not here to fight. I'm just trying to take back the things you stole."

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From his pocket, the child in charge produced a small knife, causing the other children to do the same. The entire group looked a mixture of scared and agitated as they held up their weapons attempting to scare off Bogie. Reacting in kind, Bogart raised his arms as if he were giving up, but his face didn't have the fear to make his surrender seem sincere.

"Give back what you took and there won't be a problem."

There's already a problem. Get him!" Shouting his command, the child waved his arm and urged the others forward. Together, they ran towards Bogart with their weapons raised, none of them truly hesitating as they pushed the tips of their blades into various points of their target.

Bogart, hands still raised, tried his hardest to conceal his true thoughts, but a small, muffled laugh escaped his mouth. All of these children were truly troubled in order to attack a single man with intent to kill him, but they had chosen the wrong target for their animosity. As they blades began to pressure against Bogie's skin, they only had enough force to produce small cuts and a few drops of blood. "If this is what you want to do, then I'm taking back what you stole."

Flinging his arms around, Bogie threw off the children that were much smaller than he was. The cuts that they had done their best to create all healed over rather quickly leaving no visible wounds. Pushing forwards toward the lead child, Bogart gripped him by the wrist and began to pull the sleeve of the jacket with no intent to harm, allowing the child to slash at his face in close proximity. A small cut opened up, but once again, it healed leaving no sign of having ever been damaged.

Pulling and jerking the child around, Bogart ripped the jacket off the child and thew it over his shoulder. He hadn't come to fight a group of children, so he wasn't going to truly harm them, especially now that it was obvious they couldn't harm him either. Instead, he began to move to the other children, causing some of them to back up and retreat to the safety of their tree house. Slowly, he repeated the same action of manhandling all of them and tearing the newly acquired clothing from their bodies, but while he did so, the first child was shouting at him from behind.

"Who are you? Why won't you just leave us alone? This is none of your business!" The remarks continued, but Bogart ignored the majority of them, only thinking answers within his head as he went about taking back the stolen clothing.

"Bogart D. Weiss. A hunter."
"I can't leave thieves to do what they want, even if they are children."
"Not my problem, but you're hurting a someone by taking his livelihood."

The "fight" continued with Bogart healing over whatever wounds the children managed to cause him, ending the quarrel with a pile of clothes draped over his shoulder. With most of the children having been stripped of the over-clothing that kept them warm, they retreated to their tree house and left their leader with Bogie outside.

"If you have any more inside, I'd like to have it back. You shouldn't do stuff like this. You're causing trouble for people that haven't done anything to you, including the woman at the orphanage that helps you survive."

His whole rag-tag crew of orphans and he himself had all been defeated handily. Even with their weapons, they'd been beaten and scolded like any other child by an adult and had the only thing they'd achieved recently taken from them without a thing they could do. The child looked down at the ground, frustrated, and was silent for a moment.

"You don't know what it's like. Surviving an endless winter, no parents, no money, no one caring you're alive."

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With all the clothes in a neat pile on his shoulder, Bogart finally stopped to give his full attention to the leader of the gang of children. He was here on a mission to retrieve stolen property, but he could still acknowledge the suffering that these children could go through on the day-to-day. "Whatever struggles life puts you through, it doesn't give you the right to steal from others. Everyone is struggling in their own way."

"You're right," the kid acknowledged. Having been completely powerless, it seemed that the boy had had ample time to calm himself down. He was now speaking in a plain, accepting tone. "We have no right. But we're doing what we have to do to survive. Not enough donations to feed us every day, not enough to give clothing that'll keep us warm... We're barely alive." As if to accentuate his point, the child put a finger through one of the holes in his worn shirt.

Bogart sighed. He'd grown up with a family that had loved him and provided for him. His father had died at a young age, but even in death, he'd somehow been able to provide for his family. Acknowledging the struggles these children went through paled in comparison to actually living it. Being an orphan sounded hard enough, let alone on an island that constantly bombarded its inhabitants with snow.

"It's Christmas Eve," he started, No one should have to suffer on Christmas. The man you took from will suffer if I don't return these clothes, but I can't help but understand why you did it. Bogart once again quieted down, thinking about the situation he'd interfered with. He then dropped the pile of clothes on the snow-covered ground in front of him. "I'll tell you what. Keep the clothes. I'll pay the shopkeeper and we'll pretend this never happened."

The look on the kid's face portrayed pure joy and thankfulness.

"But, from now on, you can't steal. Resolve yourself."

The boy nodded, kneeling to the ground. "Thank you so much." It sounded almost muffled by tears, but from how the boy was kneeling and where Bogie stood, the hunter couldn't tell.

"Merry Christmas."

Bogart took his leave, leaving the children to re-gather their new clothes and watch as the man that had abruptly entered their life left. The hunter would never know the pain that they went through in their lives, but the least he could do was alleviate it - albeit only a little - at that moment in time. A little Beli to grant smiles to children during the Christmas season was well worth it.

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Bogart made his way out of the forest and back through town. Having done it several times already, he was able to get there with relative ease. What made it better than the first few times was the fact that it was free of any pressure. He wasn't searching for a thief and wasn't returning to relay bad news, at least not as bad as if he hadn't found the thieves at all. Without the added pressure, the light snowfall that was blanketing the Sakura Kingdom was beautiful. Although he'd grown up on a spring island, Bogie had an attachment to the calm provided by fresh snow.

By the time everything was done and dealt with and Bogart had returned to the shop, nightfall had begun to set in. As the young hunter peered in to the front window of the shop, he could see the shopkeeper peacefully hanging up new clothes and getting the shop in order to close for the evening. It wasn't until the shopkeeper noticed him and waved him in that Bogart was snapped out of the calm bliss of his walk. He nodded and moved to the door.

As he entered, the shopkeeper greeted him with a fresh spirit. "Welcome back! How did it go?" No time wasted.

"I found them," Bogart began, trying to find the words necessary to not cause undue alarm. "I had a talk with them and I'm hoping they'll never do it again. I left them the clothes as a donation in Christmas spirit."

She shopkeepers uplifted spirits seemed to sink with the delivery of the news. "What am I supposed to do then? That's a lot of money I just lost!"

"None of it was mine to give. You're right. It would be your loss. However, I'll pay your for all of it so no one loses."

The clerk almost seemed surprised that a stranger would do such a thing, but his shop would take a big loss if he didn't accept the kindness that Bogart was trying to give. He nodded, accepting the payment, and the two continued to chat for a short while before the young hunter bid him a merry Christmas and began to make his way towards the door until he was interrupted one more time.

"It's cold out. Take this muffler." The shopkeeper threw Bogie a red scarf to wrap around his neck and protect his face from the cold. "Merry Christmas."

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