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Interlude

They hid in a bamboo grove when they noticed the group of riders approaching them. An advance-guard with the mon(1) of Lord Noriyuki rode past them and a short time later, the main force.

A small group separated itself from the main force and slowed down while the rest rode on. Makiko cursed their luck when the riders stopped exactly in front of them. Probably one of the riders needed to relieve himself and had chosen this of all spots.

They didn't dare to try to sneak away because the grove wasn't very thick. Makiko hoped that they would be able to avoid a fight or they would have the rest of the riders coming after them in no time.

One rider, a white rabbit with long ears, smiled when he said: "Makiko-san, I'd like to have word with you."

Makiko was confused until she recognized Pau Tai amongst the riders. She couldn't help laughing. Her mother had already warned her that Pau liked big scenes. They rose and stepped on the street.

"My name is Miyamoto Usagi. I'm a priest of the Goddess Ookaa'h and a pupil of Pau Tai," the rabbit introduced himself. "Please, share a distance of the way with us."

He gestured at three horses without riders. Makiko thanked him and they mounted them.

Since they rode fast, there was little talk during the day. In the evening, they joined the main force again when they were busy erecting the camp for the night.

Voyage Home

While the horses were lead away, Usagi took the three former ninjas to the side.

"There are two important things which you need to know: Lord Hikiji is dead and Pau Tai is not here," he explained and pointed at T'he: "His name is T'he and he is just a historian."

"I understand," Makiko replied and Usagi knew that she really did. It was a strange feeling.

Since Ookaa'h had changed him, he was loosing more and more of his own memories. Instead, he began to remember things which he hadn't experienced himself. He didn't guess, he knew what happened around him. If he saw someone doing something, then he knew for sure why this person did this now. Therefore, he didn't regret it when his own past became more and more volatile.

He smiled and thanked Makiko because that was the best reaction. This way, he made sure that she would behave as he wanted. Just like Pau had done all the time.

Next, he introduced everyone. No one was astonished because he knew the names of the three newcomers even if the guessed reasons were wrong.

His companions had marveled at his change but they guessed that it was because of Kusanagi. Since knowing that he was a real priest of Ookaa'h for only a short time meant no advantage to them, he didn't tell them about their mistake.

Usagi also knew, now, what Pau had really done with Khassar and why. He could now accept Paus actions since he knew everything even if he pitied Khassar for his fate. Still, Khassars sacrifice had helped to avoid a lot of unnecessary suffering. He knew that Khassar would understand if they could release him someday.

In the evening, Hikiji, who called himself Hajime(2), came over. Makiko recognized him immediately but said nothing.

"What are your plans, now?" Usagi asked him.

"I haven't decided, yet," Hajime replied. "I thought that I might stay in Lord Noriyukis services for a while. Maybe in his army or as one of his advisers."

"Have you heard about the Shiroi Usagi Dojo?"

"Your fighting school? Yes, I've heard about it. But I'm probably too old to be accepted as a pupil and what could I teach?"

"Calligraphy," Usagi winked.

Hajime laughed and the Usagi joined in. But Usagi knew that he had planted the seed for Hajimes fate with these words. Hajime wouldn't think about it during the next days but he would remember after stepping into the school. And follow his name.

Soon, Kimi and Katsumi left them to enjoy each other. Makiko hoped that they would show enough self-control and not disturb the rest of the camp.

The others talked until long after midnight. Makiko and Usagi enacted more typical situations of the Japanese everyday life at the request of T'he and answered his questions. Usagis companions were intrigued by this rigid and still elegant culture that was so much unlike the TAURUS.

Later on their journey, Usagi asked Makiko about her plans.

"I would guess," Makiko replied, "that there are already plans for me?"

Usagi smiled. As former leader of a ninja clan, Makiko was used to get directly to the point. But she also could be diplomatic.

"You are right. Katsumi will leave with us because he wants to evolve further and he can't do this, here. My youngest daughter Yumi will marry Hajime and you will marry Lord Noriyuki," he stated.

Makikos mouth fell open and she stared at Usagi for some time. "This is a joke, right?" she finally asked lamely.

Usagi only smiled politely.

Noriyukis Secret

While they got ever closer to the Geishu province, Usagi performed his duty as a priest: He cared for the souls of the people around him. Since he knew everything about everyone, it was easy for him to start a conversation with someone and to help them.

Noriyuki of course noticed this. Almost every day, the mood in the group got better and Noriyuki thanked his friend very much for his help. Usagi smiled, bowed and thanked the lord that he could do this for them.

"In a few days, we will reach the borders of the Geishu province, at last," the lord said contentedly. "And again, I will be able to enjoy the horribly boring things again like ruling my subjects."

Usagi smiled. "They might be boring but they also give you a deep satisfaction."

"That's true," Noriyuki admitted, "they really do."

The lord smiled amusedly: "It's astonishing how much you resemble Pau Tai, now. Like him, you find the right words with a startling precision."

"I've been able to talk with almost everyone under your influence," Usagi said intricately, "but there is someone who avoids me."

"Oh?" Noriyuki asked. "Maybe I should have word with him or her? Who is it?"

"You."

"Oh," Noriyuki sounded. "A lord has only little time for himself," he excused himself.

"Lord Hirano simply told his subjects to care for themselves for two days," Usagi gave him an example.

"Oh, really? I heard the rumors. Did Pau Tai really heal him?"

"Yes."

"I was amazed how much he had changed. I have to admit that I couldn't believe that he could accept something like that. He was always so ... reserved."

"You are afraid," Usagi stated.

"I ...," Noriyuki trailed off but not because of the shocking way in which Usagi had publicly addressed him. Usagi was absolutely right. He was afraid.

"I already know," Usagi helped him.

"You ... know ...," Noriyuki choked. A horrible nightmare which was haunting him for three decades, now, began to turn into a horrible reality.

"Yes. And you are still my friend Noriyuki. You are what you are. There is nothing you or I could change. I don't think less of you since I know."

"I'm sorry," Noriyuki said with a choked voice. "I don't want to, but ..."

"I can help if you allow me to," Usagi offered calmly.

"Help ... nobody can help me," the lord said in open desperation.

"Not in the way you want to," Usagi confirmed, "but I can help you to accept you as you are. Then you will be able to rid yourself of your feelings of guilt and shame and to concentrate on a solution."

"That's easier said than done," the lord tried another attempt to avoid the inevitable.

"Lord Hirano managed to overcome his distrust and to make one first, tiny step towards his healing. All what was necessary was to make a decision," Usagi drove his argumentation on mercilessly.

Desperate, Noriyuki shook has head. Usagi bowed and rode back to his companions. The seed was planted and further words would have had no effect. He knew that Noriyuki would make a decision within the next three days.

Now, he had to choose a place where they would be alone.

Noriyukis Healing

"What do you think about him?" Usagi asked.

"Does that matter?" Makiko asked back.

Usagi shook his head laughing and Makikos face showed her anger.

"Sure," he finally said, "you will marry him anyway. But maybe you could bring yourself to like him, nonetheless."

"We are but tokens in your hands," Makiko replied frustratedly. "Would my feelings make any difference?"

"You already accused Pau of the same thing," Usagi said amusedly, "and I did, too. Only the answer is always the same: You dislike the methods which we use. You would happily agree to what we force you if you could decide on your own."

"Maybe it would help," he went on, "if you thought of it this way: We know what will happen and we tell you in advance so it doesn't hit you that unexpectedly."

"You probably expect us now to be thankful," Makiko retorted.

"That would be most welcome," Usagi admitted.

Katsumi had followed the discussion but hadn't said anything so far. "Do you regret that you have enjoyed me, Makiko?" he asked humbly.

"Well, not really," Makiko admitted, being a little embarrassed because Katsumi mentioned this in front of Usagi.

"So why did you try to resist for such a long time, then, Makiko?"

Makiko was unable to answer on the spot.

"Fear," Usagi said and she nodded. She had been afraid to loose control. To give herself over to someone else. Allow someone to step over her most personal borders even if that person was completely dependent on her.

And there was also the fear to abuse Katsumi. To be unable to stop herself from pocketing him. To turn him into a toy of her desires.

"Lord Noriyuki and I will retire from the rest in a few days. Maybe you would like to join us? It would be a good opportunity to come to know the man behind the lord."

"I will think about it," Makiko evaded an answer despite of having made her decision already. Usagi smiled. 'Like me, she doesn't try to avoid what she has to do. Still, she stands her ground as long as she can.'

In the meantime, the companions of Lord Noriyuki had problems of their own to worry about. Since Usagi had spoken with the lord, Noriyuki was erratic and couldn't quite concentrate. Their respect before their lord didn't allow them to speak to him about this but they still worried greatly. And that in turn was noticed by Noriyuki despite of being absorbed by his own thoughts. He realized that he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

He didn't want to open himself to anyone, not even Usagi. Too long, he had carried this weight and buried it deep down in his soul. That there might be another solution, maybe one which would stop his suffering, was inconceivable.

Furthermore, it would mean that he had tortured himself unnecessarily for decades.

But he was also unable to evade his responsibility. The worried looks of his companions burned on him. At night, he had nightmares that his carefully kept secret was revealed and everyone would turn his back on him.

Noriyuki was utterly afraid.

On the third day, he had to realize that he couldn't carry on anymore. Like Pau before him, Usagi had caught him skillfully in a trap. With a few words, he had disrupted the delicate balance in Noriyukis soul and pushed something in motion against which the lord was helpless.

Strangely, though, he didn't bear a grudge against Usagi. Somewhere in his heart, there was a voice which told him that Usagi was right. So Noriyuki went to see his friend.

"What do I have to do?" Noriyuki asked.

"To heal you will take three days. We should leave the others and go to a place where we will be undisturbed. Then, it will be most simple to talk about everything," Usagi proposed.

Noriyuki nodded and went to make the necessary preparations.

Meanwhile, Usagi met with Makiko to tell her that she had to decide, now. "I also would like to have Katsumi join us," Usagi asked.

"Sure," Makiko replied in surprise.

In the evening, all preparations had been made and Noriyuki proposed to leave the rest of the group at first light in the morning.

"We will leave now," Usagi decided, "or you will be restless for the whole night thinking if there wasn't some reason why you can't do this."

Noriyukis shoulders sagged but he agreed.

But when he saw, that Makiko and Katsumi would accompany them, he started to protest: "I thought, just we two ...," he tried to talk Usagi into leaving them behind.

"Unfortunately, I can't teleport like Pau," Usagi regretted. "It's possible that we will need the help of those two and therefore, they must come with us, now."

Noriyuki wasn't really convinced but stopped protesting.

With sunset, they left.

Soon, it was too dark to ride on without light. Thus, Usagi ordered Kusanagi to fly above their heads and to glow brightly.

About one hour after sunset, they arrived at a deserted, remote hut deep in a forest.

Usagi asked Makiko and Noriyuki to sleep inside while Katsumi and he would make themselves comfortable outside. To Makikos surprise, Noriyuki actually seemed to be relieved and readily agreed to this.

While they spread their blankets, Noriyuki chatted politely and in a relaxed manner with Makiko. She was very reserved with information about her past but Noriyuki didn't seem to mind. 'He probably is used to a lot in this respect from Pau Tai,' Makiko assumed.

Noriyuki, on the other hand, turned out to be a very enjoyable partner of conservation. Unlike many men which she had met in her life, he was gentle and friendly. Somehow, he seemed to lack the hidden aggression that she had noticed with many men.

Soon, they joked and laughed together. Unwillingly, she had to admit that Usagi was right: She really liked Noriyuki.

"What do the symbols on your necklace mean?" Noriyuki asked innocently.

Involuntarily, Makiko touched the slave-ring. She realized that she would have to decide to speak now or to stay silent forever. If she didn't tell the truth now, it would hurt him even more should he find out later. And he didn't deserve this.

She let her hand drop again and looked directly at Noriyuki. The lord noticed that he had touched something embarrassing and was about to apologize but Makiko stopped him with a gesture. Then she concentrated.

"I ... like you," she admitted hesitantly. Noriyuki smiled uneasily. "Therefore, I don't want to hurt you. But I also think that it is important that I answer this question."

She looked down, at a loss for words. "If you find it unbearable, then say it and I will leave."

Noriyuki was openly confused.

"I'm property of Pau Tai," Makiko explained, "like Katsumi."

If anything, Noriyuki was only more confused: "What do you mean? Do you serve him?"

"To put it simple, the slave-ring around me neck forces me to do whatever Pau Tai asks," Makiko elaborated.

Noriyuki began to understand. "And what did he ask from you?"

"Nothing."

Noriyuki shook his head in confusion. "Please, the whole story instead of pieces."

Makiko wanted to point out that he just had to say when he couldn't stand it anymore but this time, Noriyuki lifted his hand: "I know, I will tell you when it becomes unbearable for me."

"My full name is Katsushika Makiko," Makiko started her report. "I was the leader of the Neko Ninja Clan which has been eliminated by Pau Tai about two weeks ago. One could say that Kimi and I are the sole survivors ..."

She spoke for a long time and talked her frustration off her chest. In Noriyuki, she had found a patient and attentive listener.

When she had finished, she felt much better, already. She thanked Noriyuki for hearing her out.

"I thank you for your frankness," Noriyuki smiled. "There are only a few people around me who would be as open with me as you are. And then even without the ulterior motive of expecting anything of me."

Makiko wondered if she should tell him that Usagi planned to marry them but something in her heart told her that it was too early.

"And why are you here?" she asked.

The situation from before repeated itself but with different signs. While speaking the words, she felt that she had touched a sensitive spot.

Both lifted their hands. Makiko, because she wanted to apologize and Noriyuki because he wanted to offer her to stop him when she couldn't bear it anymore.

The situation was so funny for them that they had to laugh.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then just say it," Makiko proposed after they had calmed down again.

"My fear is that it will be unbearable for you to know," Noriyuki replied.

Makiko laughed out: "I think nothing could compare to what Pau did to Katsumi."

She shook her head: "Just imagine: He turned a ninja, even one of my advisers into a love slave!"

"That sounds like Pau Tai," Noriyuki commented dryly.

"You probably know him for a long time," Makiko guessed.

"I witnessed the battle near Joge(3)," Noriyuki told her.

"Pau Tai as well?" Makiko asked in surprise but she should have expected this. "There are the most strange rumors about what happened there."

Relieved to be able to postpone an answer, Noriyuki gave her a short report about what had happened at that time.

"He knows like no other how to unnerve someone," Makiko agreed. "Katsumi was in his hands for only three days and he would already do whatever Pau asked him."

She told the lord how Marena had returned Katsumi, naked and leashed. How Katsumi had acted.

"He really didn't seem to mind. At that time, I didn't understand it but for the first time in his life, he was truly happy. He was actually thankful for being a slave. That didn't even stop when Pau told him to take off the ring and then ordered Katsumi to satisfy him. He really did it without the slightest hesitation."

Noriyukis face showed how uneasy he had got and Makiko waved off: "I thought the same way at that time. It was unbearable for me to see one of my men humiliated in such a manner. It was almost as if Pau had done it to me. But in the last few days, I've spent a lot of time with Katsumi and learned about the reasons for his behavior. As unbelievable as it may sound, he really likes what has happened."

"You can ask him yourself, if you don't believe me," she proposed. "As long as he wears the ring, he must follow my every order and answer any question truthfully."

Noriyuki shook from disgust. The conversation started to touch areas which he wanted to avoid.

"I'm sorry," Makiko said when she realized what she had done. "That must be most unpleasant for you. I didn't want to hurt you."

But there was something which Noriyuki still had to know. Even if it would cost his soul. "What do you think about him, now?" he asked anxiously.

"Come again?" Makiko asked in surprise. She hadn't expected this question but she still turned her attention inside of herself and tried to put her feelings into words.

"I don't know," she admitted. Then she smiled ashamed. "I spent almost every night of the last week with him. I think that he has no problems whatsoever with what he is. And I envy him in a way. His life is so simple and carefree. He is only what he is, now. He doesn't try to reach any goals, anymore, most of which he would never reach, in the end, anyway."

"Or to say it differently: He now tries to reach goals which will make him happy when he reaches them instead of bringing misery to himself and others," Makiko tried to explain.

Noriyuki had become very quiet. "I should have guessed," he murmured more to himself, "when you said that you are Paus property."

Makiko looked at him questioningly. Noriyuki gave a sign: "You must get used to the thought that probably nothing, what has already happened in your life and surely nothing, which will still happen in your life, happened by pure chance. Pau has planned for all of this very carefully. He is manipulating us. Only very rarely, we will see one of the threads, by which he pulls us, to reflect the light of the sun. But they are there, always."

"I already guessed as much," Makiko admitted, "when Usagi spoke to me." She searched for words which wouldn't hurt him. "Do you like me?" she asked eventually because she couldn't think of anything else.

Noriyuki immediately assembled the facts into a picture: "We will marry."

Makiko tried to apologize at once: "If you don't want ..."

"Would you like to become my wife?" Noriyuki interrupted her.

"Yes," she said without hesitation.

"Why?" Noriyuki asked curiously.

"I couldn't think of anything which would speak against you," she replied honestly.

"I could," Noriyuki said slowly and watched her reaction. "I don't find you very attractive," he said warily, trying not to hurt her feelings. 'Oh, how much she reminds me of Tomoe. Tomoe whom I miss so very much.'

"Well, I'm surely not the most beautiful woman in the land," Makiko said, being more confused than hurt.

"I didn't mean it that way," Noriyuki stopped her in a depressed tone of voice and forced himself to say the words: "I find the idea of making children with a woman ... unpleasant."

"That's right," Makiko said and baffled him completely with that.

When she saw his face, she laughed friendly: "Since we came here, I wondered what makes you so ... uncommon."

"Uncommon," Noriyuki repeated uneasily.

"I had several samurai in my service who also preferred her own gender over the other," Makiko explained not unfriendly. "Of course, I had to step in when I had to notice but with time, I learned to see the ... signals. The ninja Aki and Ikki were lovers."

"Very impressive ninjas," she admitted outright. It felt strange to Noriyuki when she praised the qualities of her killers. "They managed to complete all my orders to my utmost satisfaction without unnecessary attraction. I actually felt sad when I had to send them on a missing without return when they had carried their relationship to excess and I was unable to stop the rumors in the castle, anymore."

"You don't seem to mind," Noriyuki dared to hope.

Makiko didn't try to belie him: "Two weeks ago, my reaction would probably have been different but no, I really don't mind. I can accept it, now."

"I can't," Noriyuki said sadly and prepared to go to sleep.

"Noriyuki?" Makiko asked him from behind.

"Hm?" the lord sounded without turning.

"One can learn to accept," she said.

Interlude

"So you are Katsumi," Usagi said to start a conversation while they prepared their beds at some distance from the house so the occupants would be undisturbed. Kusanagi watched over them and would warn him in advance should someone approach them.

"Yes, master," Katsumi replied humbly.

"How long are you Paus property, now?" Usagi asked despite of knowing the answer already. Still, he tried to retain the simple forms of social contact to appear as a normal human being for as long as he could. Paus ability to guess the thoughts and motivations of others with an unnerving precision had always irritated him greatly.

Of course, now he knew why Pau did it: It simply didn't matter. Pau always pretended to know only as much as the others could accept. This way, he simply saved time. But Usagi didn't want to live at the expense of someone else, yet.

"Since 22 days, master."

"And what do you think about him?"

"He is far-seeing, master," Katsumi replied without hesitation.

Usagi laughed out. He wouldn't have used these words but the slave was right in a way.

"What can I do for you, master?" Katsumi asked.

Usagi didn't answer right away. As sure he was when it came to others, as little he knew about himself. A wise man had once said that one should try everything at least once but Usagi was really unsure if he actually wanted that. And how much he would have to pay for this.

He knew his motivation and also that he wanted to try it. But he didn't know what the result would be and that unsettled him. But he soon realized that he simply tried to retard it.

"Can you give me a massage?" he asked.

"I wasn't trained, master, but I'll give my best," Katsumi promised.

During the night, Katsumi painstakingly explored what Usagi liked.

Noriyukis Healing

Katsumi and Usagi washed off the traces of their nightly activity from their bodies in a small stream nearby. Usagis feelings were mixed. On one side, it had been interesting and he had learned many new, surprising things about himself but on the other hand, this wasn't something which he took great pleasure in.

Katsumi, on the other hand, was happy with himself and the world.

Now, it was Noriyukis turn to make a move. He had already done his first one the evening before and all that Usagi had to do now, was to wait.

In a relaxed atmosphere which Usagi had already noticed during his first healing, they ate their simple breakfast.

"And what happens now?" Noriyuki asked after the meal.

"Whatever you want," Usagi offered him.

"I thought that we would go inside and act out one problem for each of us?" the lord asked a little surprised.

"We are too few for this. When Sanshobo visited us and offered to heal you, you have solved several problems of your childhood but not this one. Therefore, I didn't take enough people for a positioning with us. We will solve this in a different way."

"How?"

"In every way which you can allow."

Noriyuki laughed out. "I was already hoping that I wouldn't have to decide anything for a few days."

"Maybe we should start with getting to know each other better," Makiko proposed. "I am Makiko."

"I'm Usagi."

"I'm Katsumi."

"My name is Tamaro," Noriyuki said.

"Do you want to lean something about you, Tamaro?" Usagi asked.

"Well, maybe," the lord replied uneasily.

"I can tell you the answer to every question," Usagi promised.

"Any?"

"Yes. And the same rules as for Pau Tai apply: Some answers are dangerous. But I'll try to warn you in advance."

"Thanks," Noriyuki said sourly who remembered how horrible some of the answers of Pau Tai had been. "Can I be healed?"

"You are not sick, so the answer is: No. To prefer one sex over the other is determined like the own sex while one is born and it's not easy to change either, afterwards(4). I know of ways to change this preference but these also change the soul in a radical way. Afterwards, you simply wouldn't be the same person, anymore."

"What causes this?" Noriyuki wanted to know.

"There are great differences in behavior of men and women which are not caused by social influences. Women plan ahead while men favor try and error. Men prefer to dominate while woman prefer to cooperate. Women avoid violence or endure it while men like to use it."

"Of course," Usagi went on, "these are only rough pictures. Each person makes its own choices. I, for example, try to avoid violence and aggression when I can but I don't avoid or endure it when I see a way to fight back."

"So there is a lot of a woman in me," Noriyuki realized.

"Yes, you like to cooperate with others instead of simply ordering them around, you plan ahead instead of plunging head over heals into action and you try to avoid violence even at a high cost for yourself."

"You care for your subjects like a mother would for her children, master," Katsumi added.

"And, even if the word is dangerous in this context, a "normal" woman, would also prefer men over women," Makiko added to the picture.

"Maybe I should have been born as a women," Noriyuki mused thoughtfully.

"And Tomoe as a man," Usagi couldn't help to throw in.

"Yes, she was always very head-strong," Noriyuki remembered. "But how does that help? All I know now is that I can't do anything."

"Only that you can't change it," Makiko corrected.

"So the only way out is to learn to live with it and to accept it," Usagi supported her words. "In the end, it's not all bad. It's the main reason for your enormous popularity among your subjects."

"And you should also consider," he went on, "that your problem is not your desire but the social proscription of it."

"That's not true," Noriyuki refused the notion. "I find the thought to make love to a man disgusting!"

"But the feelings are different," Usagi tried to explain. "When you think about loving a woman, then you feel disgust. The thought to love a man raises feelings in you that you don't want to have. That's rejection."

"But you only reject the longing, not the act as such," Usagi explained.

Noriyuki let his shoulders sag. If he was true to himself, he had to admit that Usagi was right. With an unsettling precision, Usagi had put his finger exactly on the sore spot. Like Pau.

"What will happen if I simply go on?" he asked weakly.

"In a few years, you will find yourself unable to control your longing, anymore. Eventually, she will take control of you and then, it could happen that you would pitch into someone."

Despite of the terrifying prognosis, Noriyuki felt the urge to laugh when he imagined how he tore the clothes from one of his advisers during a conference. It would have been funny hadn't it been so serious.

"How can I get a grip on it, then?"

"You must live it out," Usagi proposed.

"You're not serious!"

"I'm open ..." Usagi began.

"... for better proposals, I know," Noriyuki moaned. "And how on earth should I do that?" he asked angrily.

Usagi grinned. "I can only show you a working solution."

"Oh, yes, right," Noriyuki groaned, "all the petty details are of course to be solved by the people who have to live with the solution afterwards."

"Of course," Usagi readily agreed. "Otherwise, life would be pretty boring, wouldn't it? And I would end up having to tell everyone what they have to do."

Noriyuki groaned again: "Pau did abuse the same excuse."

"And? What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing, that is exactly what irritates me so much!" Noriyuki snapped but he realized that he was loosing this battle.

"Why don't you take a walk and think about what you have learned?" Usagi proposed. "Maybe you will get new insights."

"Is it safe to go alone? Maybe there are bandits around?" Makiko worried.

"There are none. We are alone," Usagi said confidently.

When Noriyuki came back, it was late at night. He ate his dinner in silence.

"I've thought for a long time about what you said, but I couldn't come to a decision," he finally admitted.

"Why not?"

"I'm afraid of the consequences. Of course," he waved off, when he saw that Makiko was about to disagree, "I realize that I could find ways to act out my feelings. But as a wise man once said: It's easy to live in total abstinence; moderation is hard."

He looked at Usagi: "If I allow it now, will I be able to keep it under control? What will happen should I fall in true love with somebody?"

"Solve a problem when you face it," Makiko repeated a proposition from the ninja training. "To expect problems when there are none will only drain your strength and will not change anything."

"It's easy for you to say that," Noriyuki complained. "It won't be your head that will be taken."

"As your wife, it would."

Noriyuki had to admit that she was right. If he would be dishonored, then she would suffer as well because a woman ruling the Geishu province was unthinkable. Even if many lords listened to and some of them were even controlled by their wives, having a woman in a higher position than a man would never be accepted -- at least officially.

"Why should I marry her anyway?" Noriyuki asked to buy some more time.

"Ookaa'h wants a son from you."

"I shall conceive a child with her?" Noriyuki asked full of terror. This prospect was even worse than anything else!

"Yes. Tonight or tomorrow."

"No," Noriyuki flatly refused. "Never."

"Unfortunately," Usagi regretted, "this is something where neither I nor Katsumi can help you." He showed a weak smile: "If she was married to you and she would give birth to a lion or a rabbit, that would be quite hard to explain."

Noriyuki frowned: "Didn't you listen?"

"There is nothing I can offer you," Usagi apologized. "It will happen. With or without your consent. Your subjects need this child."

"Is that really necessary?" Noriyuki plead.

"You will enjoy your fatherhood very much," Usagi promised.

Noriyuki just groaned. "Are there any more surprises like that?"

"Hm," Usagi acted as if he had to think. "With whom do you plan to spend the night?"

At this very moment, Noriyuki was on the brink to bolt. Unfortunately, he realized that Usagi was completely right. The pressure inside of him to act out his longing had grown with the years, especially in the recent months. The war had helped to distract him but now, he found himself craving to kiss one of his companions or even to retreat with one of them.

He realized his chance but on the other hand, he had suppressed this part of himself for so long, now, that he couldn't imagine anymore to accept it.

"And with whom should I spend the night?" he asked but he didn't actually want to hear the answer.

"Katsumi would be best," Usagi replied immediately and kicked off a whole avalanche of emotions in Noriyuki, who was completely taken by surprise by this. He felt his fear, his shame but also the desire

'But oh, there are two hearts in my chest,' Noriyuki thought. On one hand, it was tempting to finally live out his desires. To find out if love actually was as wonderful as everyone said. And the fear of the proscription, the lost respect or even the loathing.

Of course, he knew the rumors about other lords who allegedly enjoyed having male lovers but the list was short and it only contained people which Noriyuki found disgusting or dishonorable. Under no circumstances, he wanted to associate himself with them.

"Jomoi, the son of Lord Fujishima shares your desire," Usagi said at that moment.

Noriyuki remembered him. Someone seemed to have made a similar comment but Noriyuki hadn't paid heed at that time. To be close to him had been uncomfortable for Noriyuki for some reason. 'I probably felt somehow that being close to him could be dangerous for me,' the lord thought.

Then he realized how perfect Usagis comment had fit to his train of thoughts. "Are you reading my mind?" he asked untrustingly and instinctively moved away from Usagi.

"I ... remember things that I have to know," Usagi replied slowly. "When I wondered what I could say to help you, this thought came to me. I don't know where it came from or how it works. But since I'm a priest of Ookaa'h, I always know what I need to."

After speaking the words, Usagi knew that it had been a mistake to tell them. If this knowledge got into the wrong hands, it would become very dangerous. Eventually, this openness would turn back at him.

"That's also why I know that Katsumi can help you to accept yourself. I spent the last night with him and I'm also available should you prefer me but he would be better."

"Really?" Noriyuki asked in surprise. "Why?"

It was easy to misunderstand this question but Usagi knew that Noriyuki wanted to know his reasons for sleeping with Katsumi. The real reason was that it would be easier for Noriyuki to decide for Katsumi after he knew this. But to say this would have prevented the desired effect. So he replied: "So you can choose."

"You would ... tonight ... with me ... ?" Noriyuki asked very carefully.

Knowing that he really would but wouldn't have to, Usagi answered honestly: "Yes."

Noriyukis gaze wandered from Katsumi to Usagi and back. 'I'm too close to Usagi,' he thought. 'He is my friend and would do this for me but I really cannot ask this from him.'

Horrified about himself and looking forward to it at the same time, he decided for Katsumi.

Usagi smiled friendly and rose together with Makiko. "In this case, we will leave you. You know that Katsumi has to follow your every order? If you want to stop, just say it and he will have to."

A bit unsure about the implications of this, Noriyuki looked at the smiling Katsumi. Katsumi didn't seem to mind these prospects but Noriyuki didn't really know what to make of it.

"And he can only speak if you allow him to," Usagi added. Then he vanished between the trees together with Makiko.

Uneasily, Noriyuki looked at where they had vanished. And then, with even greater uneasiness, he looked at Katsumi.

"Well," he said sheepishly, "what now?"

"Maybe we should take a walk, too, master?" Katsumi proposed submissively. 'No,' Noriyuki corrected his first impression, 'humbly. He doesn't bow and scrape but takes himself back. Offers to me without ulterior motives.'

"Why did Usagi say that you have to do whatever I say?" Noriyuki asked to buy some time.

Katsumi laid both hands on the flexible, silver ring around his neck. Makiko wore the same ring and it had the same, strange symbols engraved on it.

"This is a slave-ring, master," he explained friendly. "As long as I wear it, I have to do whatever my master asks me to do."

"Anything?" Noriyuki asked horrified.

"Yes, master," Katsumi replied with the same tone as before. As if he didn't mind.

"And if ...," Noriyuki thought for a moment, "what if I would ask you to die?"

"Nobody has asked this from me, yet, master, but I think I would drop dead instantly."

"That must be horrible," Noriyuki choked.

"No, master," Katsumi said gently while they walked through the dark forest. A thin moon provided them with a little light on their path. "It's horrible for you but for me, it's ... reassuring."

"How can that be?" Noriyuki asked unbelievingly. "I can't imagine to be able to endure the thought that someone else could have such a control over me."

"It actually comes down to trust, master," Katsumi tried to answer the question. "I'm the property of Pau Tai and he watches over me. He passed me on to Makiko and she did to you but I'm absolutely sure that you won't abuse the power which you have over me, either."

"You might be right," Noriyuki said, looking at the blackness around them. The thought to hurt someone who was the property of Pau Tai was unsettling.

They arrived at a small pond which lay in the moonlight like a mirror. Would they have been normal lovers, Noriyuki would have been intrigued by the romantic ambience. But they weren't and Noriyuki got more afraid by the minute.

"I can't," he admitted after a long pause, "I simply can't."

Katsumi remained silent.

Frustrated, Noriyuki sat down at the edge of the pond and began to throw little stones into it which quickly destroyed the calmness of the surface. Katsumi sat down next to him and patiently waited for orders from his master.

"What could I possibly do?" Noriyuki asked.

"Would you allow me to lead you, master?" Katsumi offered.

"Please call me Tamaro," Noriyuki replied while he thought about whether he should accept Katsumis offer or not. He was so incredibly uneasy and he wasn't used to that. To his fear and longing came uneasiness and frustration about himself.

"You will have to stop when I tell you?" Noriyuki reassured himself once more.

"Yes, Tamaro," Katsumi promised honestly.

"Very well," Noriyuki decided finally and felt the relief to have made the decision.

"May I sit behind you, Tamaro?" Katsumi asked gently.

"Why?" Noriyuki immediately demanded distrustingly.

"Do you trust me, Tamaro?"

Noriyuki laughed unhappily and angrily threw another stone into the stupid pond. "Right now, I don't trust anyone, not even me," he admitted.

"It's hard to trust when one doesn't trust oneself," Katsumi said wisely.

"That's right. Oh yes," Noriyuki nodded.

Katsumi took off his belt and Noriyukis uneasiness grew. To his surprise, Katsumi didn't go on undressing himself but handed the belt to him. Reluctantly, Noriyuki took it.

Katsumi closed his eyes. "Please blindfold me, Tamaro," he asked.

Still uneasy, Noriyuki did as he was asked. It was quite complicated to put the belt around Katsumis long snout so it would really cover his eyes.

"Please lead me around the pond, Tamaro," Katsumi asked when Noriyuki was finished.

Curious what he was up to, Noriyuki rose and took Katsumi by the hand.

The task turned out to be much more difficult than Noriyuki had expected. Katsumi probably would still have been able to peek around his blindfold be he never did. Even if he stumbled over an invisible root, he didn't blink. Put himself trustfully into Noriyukis hands.

Noriyuki tried to avoid the thickest scrub but there was no path on the other side of the pond and the plants grew directly at the waterfront so they couldn't walk on the edge. Several times, he had to leave Katsumi behind to try to feel a way through the almost complete darkness.

And he would always find Katsumi at exactly the same spot where he had left him. Trustingly, he followed every order of Noriyuki. When they arrived at the place where they had started, he had many more scratches than Noriyuki but he didn't seem to mind them. With a new respect, Noriyuki looked at his companion who had been able to put himself so completely into his hands.

Unhastily, Katsumi took his blindfold off and held it in front of Noriyuki: "Would you like to try it, too, Tamaro?"

Thoughtfully, Noriyuki looked at the belt which lay in Katsumis hands like a present.

He closed his eyes and nodded.

Noriyukis First Time

Noriyuki had to admit that Katsumi took a lot more care than he had done before. He hadn't stumbled over anything, yet, and Katsumi had lead him successfully around all tree branches. And they still made good progress.

Katsumi had to leave him behind several times, too. For quite some time, he had been standing there, alone, sometimes with nothing besides the silent rustling of leaves in his ears.

Strange thoughts had crossed his mind.

Funny ones: What would someone think if he saw him right now?

Thought-provoking ones: Despite of hearing nothing when Katsumi tried to stare through the darkness, he wasn't afraid. Sure, Usagi was somewhere watching over them. And Katsumi was unable to throw him into the bond or to lunge at him. Hit him over the head with a stone. But it was still hard to trust his leadership as much as he had done when Noriyuki had lead him. Still, he wasn't afraid. His trust in Katsumi began to grow.

Two times, Katsumi didn't take his hands but just told him what to do. Once, he even had to jump somewhere and Katsumi caught him with a reassuring grip.

His round seemed to be much longer but it was probably only his imagination. And he began to enjoy it. Maybe he would try to turn this into a parlor game at court. It would be very interesting to see how everyone reacted.

Then they were back at where they had started and Katsumi helped Noriyuki to sit down. He was about to take the blindfold off in triumph when Katsumi spoke: "Do you want me to go on or to stop?"

Noriyukis fingers stayed on the cloth for a moment. "Go on," he decided and let his hands sink down again. He would try to trust Katsumi for as long as he could.

He could hear cloth rustling and Noriyuki heard Katsumi stepping around him. He was probably undressing. Immediately, his uneasiness was growing again but he could still control it and so he remained silent.

"May I help you to take off your kimono, Tamaro?" Katsumi asked friendly.

Noriyuki had to take a deep breath before he was able to nod. Together, they loosened the belt and Katsumi helped him to take off the Kimono. Then Katsumi took his arm and helped him up. 'Now, he probably wants my trousers,' Noriyuki thought and was about to tell Katsumi to stop when Katsumi asked him to kneel down.

Surprised, Noriyuki accepted. "Please lay down on your stomach," Katsumi asked.

Noriyuki stiffened: 'Will he take me, now?' his thoughts raced.

"Go on or stop, Tamaro?" Katsumi asked gently.

It took Noriyuki some effort to pull through. His hands touched the ground and he felt cloth. Noriyuki guessed from the quality of the cloth that it was the Kimono of Katsumi. Reluctantly, he lay on it.

"Please lift your head once more, Tamaro," Katsumi asked.

Noriyuki pushed himself up once more and Katsumi stuffed a roll of cloth beneath him. Noriyuki touched it and recognized his own Kimono. Carefully, Katsumi helped him to make himself comfortable on his bed.

Then he started to massage Noriyuki who felt like an idiot. Katsumi only had wanted to massage his back and he had already expected the worst.

He took a deep breath and tried to relax. In the pale moonlight, Katsumi's smile was satisfied.

The massage was really good. The tension of the last few days and especially today's had left its mark on him.

Katsumi relaxed his arms, the shoulders and the neck.

"I would continue with your legs, now, Tamaro," Katsumi offered.

"Of course," Noriyuki readily agreed and took off his trousers. Katsumi spread it on the ground so Noriyuki wouldn't have to lie on the cold earth and then started on his legs after he had laid down again.

Next, he asked Noriyuki to turn on his back and continued with the calfs and the soles of his feet. 'That is astonishingly painful,' Noriyuki thought, 'especially when one takes into account that my whole weight rests on them the whole day.'

Then Katsumi started to tickle him. Noriyuki squirmed and tried to get out of Katsumis unerring fingers but of course, he couldn't. Still blind, he could only curl up laughing and try to protect his sides with his hands but Katsumi would always find a gap in his weak defense.

So Noriyuki fought back. It took him no time to find one of Katsumis legs. From there, it was no problem to reach his side and to return the tickling. Astonishingly, though, this didn't work. While Noriyuki found Katsumis probing fingers irresistible, Katsumi didn't move when Noriyuki tickled him.

Still laughing, Noriyuki lifted his hand in defense. Katsumi immediately stopped and Noriyuki slumped back, still shaking from laughter. It took him some time to catch his breath.

"Why doesn't it work with you?" Noriyuki asked curiously.

"It only works when one tenses, Tamaro," Katsumi replied happily. "Try to relax!"

Katsumi again touched Noriyukis side and the lord again winced.

The next time, he tried to relax and really, that helped. A short time later, he had managed the trick and no matter what Katsumi tried, he didn't have to laugh, anymore.

"Go on or stop, Tamaro?" Katsumi asked gently.

"Go on," Tamaro replied convinced.

He could feel Katsumis hands caressing his head. Memories of his mother filled his mind. She had done that ever so often when he had been unhappy. Then he felt something soft touching his lips and an incredible new sensation filled his head.

Katsumi had kissed him.

With that, something in Noriyuki broke free which he had imprisoned for so many years. The retained feelings behind the barrier washed his reason away. Like someone drowning, he wrapped his arms around Katsumi and gave him a long, deep kiss.

The Day After

A yell called through the night. Usagi didn't look up. It was just Noriyuki who had found out what they had done.

Before sunrise, Makiko came back, openly content with herself. To the question if she now carried a child from Noriyuki, Usagi just nodded with a smile.

"He was pretty upset," she smirked.

Usagi nodded slowly. "He will calm down, soon. He is used to make sacrifices for his subjects."

Makiko sighed: "Well and what about me?"

"He will show a lot of understanding for you," Usagi soothed her worries that she would have to live like a nun from now on.

"Is that something to be happy about or not?" she asked with another sigh. "He's such a kind man. And surprisingly skilled at that. If he just would be able to get his disgust in check."

"Give him more time," Usagi proposed. "So much has happened to him in such a short time. When some time has passed, you can send for a priest of the Zen monastery of Head Priest Sanshobo to help him some more."

In the morning, Tamaro and Katsumi came back, too. Both were still wet from swimming in the pond and they carried their clothes in their hands.

Katsumi was as happy as always but Tamaros face darkened when he saw Makiko and Usagi.

"That was not nice," he sulked.

"It's strange," Usagi thought aloud, "I help the people and they not only don't thank me, no, they even accuse me for doing it!"

To punish this impertinent answer, Tamaro threw his trousers after Usagis head.

"At least breakfast is ready," he rumbled while he ate their remaining supplies with great appetite.

While they had breakfast, Noriyuki tried to vent his wrath at Usagi but Usagi didn't play along.

"Thanks a lot that I was allowed to help you," he said instead, rose and went away.

Speechlessly, Tamaro stared after him.

Without looking back, Usagi mounted his horse and rode off.

That made Tamaro snap out of his torpor. Cursing, he jumped up and rode after Usagi naked and wet as he was.

After a short time, he had caught up with him. Usagi didn't seem to pay any attention when he appeared next to him: He neither stopped nor rode faster.

"I'm sorry," Noriyuki apologized. "Maybe, instead of accusing you, I should be angry at myself because I didn't trust you when I should have."

He sighed. "It's been entirely my fault. In the heat of the moment, my head somehow got below the surface and both tried to save me. When I felt four hands all of a sudden, I got suspicious instead of trusting my friends. I should have just leaned back into their caring hands instead of taking down my blindfold to see what was going on."

They had arrived at a lake. Tamaro could see fishers working on it near the opposite shore and he suddenly realized his missing clothes. Usagi still hadn't shown any reaction to his words. Instead, he looked into the dark water.

Before Tamaro could say anything else, Usagi had made Kusanagi appear and had thrown it into the water in a wide arc.

"What ...?" Tamaro asked in surprise when the sword already shot back out of the water.

Three large fishes stuck on the blade. Dumbfounded, Tamaro saw when the sword flew back into Usagis hand who gave the fishes a quick examination. He seemed to like what he saw because he took a bag out of his saddle bags and pushed the fishes into it.

"I thought," Usagi said airily, "that after the long and exhausting night, you might want something more filling than rice and dried fruits. But I didn't really listen. Did you say something?"

Tamaro looked down. "Nothing important," he replied thankfully.

"Then we should be on our way back. As wet as you are, you'll catch a cold."

"Thanks," Tamaro said.

"I'm happy that you accepted my help," Usagi replied.

Half-way back, they met with Makiko who had followed them with a blanket and the clothes of Tamaro. Thankfully, the shivering Tamaro wrapped himself in the warm blanket.

When they arrived back at the old hut, Katsumi had already started a fire and Tamaro warmed himself while Usagi cleaned the fishes and Makiko cut some branches which would allow them to roast them.

Soon, the delicious smell of baking fish filled the air before the hut.

With an enormous appetite, Tamaro bit into his fish. To sleep with Makiko and Katsumi, swimming in the cold water and then the fast ride with his wet fur took their toll.

After lunch, he was very tired and went into the hut to get some of the sleep he hadn't had. Katsumi followed after finishing his meal so he would be at hand should Tamaro need him.

Makiko threw the rests of her fish into the fire and sat down under the canopy to enjoy the warming rays of the autumn sun.

"What will be the excuse which allows me to marry Noriyuki?" she asked Usagi. "I would think that being the leader of a ninja clan doesn't make me a socially acceptable bride for a lord."

"In this case, it would be best if you simply told everyone that you are Lady Katsushika of the Neko Clan. During the war, your clan was wiped out but it also made you end up in the arms of your great love."

"I can't believe," she said unbelievingly, "that this could work."

"It will," Usagi reassured her.

"How does this "knowing everything" work? Do you also know the future?"

"That's a dangerous question," Usagi told her.

To what extent?

"It was a mistake to tell you how my ability works. Being near Pau Tai still protects me but soon, I will have powerful enemies of my own who will try to collect every scrap of information about me."

"I understand," Makiko said thoughtfully.

"Yes," Usagi confirmed. "There is something else," he went on.

"Yes?"

"Would you please give me your slave-ring?"

Usagitomoe

They stayed for the night and rode back the next morning when the sun was already high in the sky. Tamaro made good use of the time to explore his needs further with the help of Katsumi. When they arrived at the Geishu camp, he was tired but the strong tension in himself had gone.

During dinner, Noriyuki surprised everyone when he announced that he intended to marry Lady Katsushika of the Neko Clan. The air boomed from the rejoicing which astonished Noriyuki quite a bit. Just like Usagi, hadn't noticed how much his subjects had worried that he was still unmarried.

Knowing looks were exchanged and no one suspected that there might be a different reason why Noriyuki was so tired and relaxed. Everyone guessed that he had spent the last three days with his wife and the humble Katsumi had accompanied them as some kind of servant so the high lady wouldn't have to miss all of the comfort she was used to.

Of course, they celebrated the announcement with a small festivity and it got pretty late before they could retire. The members of Noriyukis bodyguard almost fought for the honor to guard the tent of the bride. Noriyuki was very happy to see the enthusiasm with which his future wife was accepted by his men.

On the way to his tent, Usagi waited for Khassar. T'he, who was talking with Khassar, wished them a good night and then they were alone.

It only needed the wish and they stood again on the beach of Ookaa'hs dream. Khassar flinched.

"Since when can you teleport?" he asked distrustfully.

Usagi didn't reply immediately but waited until Tomoe came over.

"May I introduce Tomoe Ame, my first wife, to you?" he said instead of an answer. "This is Xut Khassar, one of the men who helped me to get Kusanagi back," he introduced Khassar.

"It's a great honor for me to meet you," Tomoe said.

"Hi," Khassar replied curtly. "Where are we?"

"Come," Usagi evaded the answer again and went away.

Again the strange smear-effect happened but this time, the sky got dark. Hypersonic MLA(5) projectiles flashed above their heads and they could hear the thunder. The bombs made contact near the horizon and bathed the sky into an eerie light for a moment.

Soldiers and battle machines suddenly appeared out of nowhere, ran past them and were cut down by enemy fire. Khassar had reacted immediately and pulled them into a cover.

When they arrived there, the scene changed again. They stood in the command center of a space ship. Commands were yelled, the alarm sounded, then the ground heaved. A long rapture ran along the ceiling and down the walls. Before the air could start to howl into the vacuum of space, the ship exploded.

They found themselves in the charred ruins of a city. Automatic battle machines patrolled the streets, searching for the remains of life, killing it. Khassar put his hand on the handle of his sword but didn't draw. Even with his superhuman reflexes, he wouldn't have been able to get the blade out of the scabbard before the high-tech sensors of one of the battle machines would notice and shoot them. But they were ignored.

"It's just a ... dream," Usagi explained.

Khassar cursed. "Can't you tell in advance?"

"It took me by surprise, too," Usagi admitted. "We are safe. Ookaa'h just wants to show something to us. Come."

With a confident stride, he lead them through the destroyed city. Tomoe stared at the mutilated wonders of a high-tech civilization with her eyes wide open. Uncountable amounts corpses of soldiers and civilians alike filled the remains of the houses, the streets and the squares.

The battle machines didn't care for the dead. Their sensors sought the living. With a cold precision, they dug those out who had tried to hide in the holes below the ground. But the hammering of their automatic weapons sounded less and less often through the ruins of the dying city.

After a while, they arrived on a large square near the center of the city. Tomoes face was ashen. It was horrible for her to see what horrors future wars would bring. As samurai, she couldn't believe that the machines didn't spare the civilians.

But they hadn't made a difference between soldiers, women, children or even pets.

Together with a growing number of the machines, they arrived on the square. On the square was a large statue, its head proudly in the air and whose hand reached for the stars. It looked a lot like Khassar and Usagi knew why.

Someone had "shot" it: Rockets had torn large holes into the chest and the head. Still its original form was easy to make out.

Two living beings were on the socket of it. One was crouching, desperate and stared at nothing. Around its neck was a slave-ring like the ones Pau used. It was Khassar.

Khassar had seen himself as well, now, and froze. Despite of being unable to remember anything, he realized that this must be his past.

The other person on the socket was a high-evolved battle machine. It had been damaged during the fights but the damages were only superficial. The artificial skin was torn at many places and the right arm ended below the elbow. Nonchalantly, it held a large automatic weapon in its left hand as if it didn't weigh anything.

Inaudibly, the battle machines on the ground gave their reports.

"That were the last ones," it translated for the Khassar who sat on the socket. "Now your the last of your kind."

The other Khassar didn't reply. His fury and hate had been spent a long time ago. Desperation filled his heart. He had tried everything to stop the machines but without success. Neither pleads nor promises nor threats had been able to stop planet destroyer #13.

With billions of battle machines, he had invaded this galaxy and started the systematic extinction of life. Of course Khassars people hadn't been completely defenseless. Their last war against the sole other, large race in this galaxy hadn't been far in the past. They had wiped out the others and secured their unquestioned lead in this galaxy by that victory.

They had just recovered from the wounds of the last war when they had already started with plans to pass the large gap between their galaxy and the next one to spread further.

So the machines had arrived in a galaxy which had been prepared for war.

Still, the military had only been able to triumph for a short time.

The machines had quickly established themselves in a couple, resource-rich systems and had started to reproduce themselves at a terrifying rate. When their number had reached the billions, they had simply overran the galaxy.

In a desperate attempt to save at least a few of their kind, Khassars people had tried to send them along with their knowledge to the next galaxy.

Against all reason, the machines had accepted any loss to stop them. Four weeks they had run against the defense of the system in which the ship was built. Khassars people had desperately defended themselves and sacrificed everything to save the project. Then the defense had collapsed under the pressure.

When the machines started to bombard the facilities in which the ship should have been built, cold terror spread through the galaxy.

The machines made no demands. They accepted no surrender, never made prisoners.

After they had captured a new system, it was often useless even for them because of the damages which they had inflicted on the planets.

Only six months after the first attack, they arrived on the main world and killed the last survivors or Khassars race.

Since then, Khassar waited to be allowed to die.

For more than 70'000 years, now.

When Khassar and 13 had vanished, the battle machines followed their last order.

The units on the ground came to one spot and were annihilated by bombardment from space. The robots in space then flew into the next sun.

In only six months, a whole, booming, aspiring civilization had been wiped out and their galaxy turned into an expanse of ruins which would not support life for millions of years.

All inhabitable planets were unstable or had already broken apart. Their atmospheres, no longer protected by a magnetic field and gravitation, blown into space.

13, who called himself Philmann Dark now, made Khassar immortal and erased his memories. When he was finished, Khassar had only his hate left.

Then the dream vanished and they stood on a flat, green plain. Tomoe shed bitter tears from the horror which she had to see. Usagi tried to comfort her as good as he could.

Khassars face was made of stone. The block which had kept his memories had started to fade by the pictures.

"Why?" he asked with a coarse voice.

"It's over," Usagi explained. "The sacrifice which your race has made has outlived its usefulness."

"So I'm allowed to die, now?"

"If you really want."

"What's left to live for?" Khassar asked bitterly.

"Come," Usagi said and lead them to the temple of Ookaa'h.

Khassar didn't move. This led to the strange effect that the ground passed below his feet. He didn't care.

Soon, they were back in the tiny valley. Curiously, Usagi looked around but he couldn't see a difference between last time. But he knew that besides the symbol of the stone circle, not much was of great permanence, here.

"She waits for you," Usagi said to Khassar and pointed at the circle.

"Who?"

"Ookaa'h."

"There are no gods," Khassar retorted in a monotone voice.

"She is maybe only a highly-evolved life form. What you see here is just a simple thought of her," Usagi helped him to understand.

"No material projection?"

"No. It's also no telepathic illusion. We are really here. It's real in a sense, as you would define the word but the laws of nature are ... softer. More simple to influence."

Khassar just didn't care. Now, after he had started to remember, the whole uselessness of his existence filled his mind. Nothing which had been important to him once was still existing. His faith, his friends, his culture, everything gone. There wasn't even anyone left who spoke his language.

His only way to have children would be by cloning or to find a race which was compatible with him. The loss of his two wives and the four children which they had had. His rank. His diploma "Flexible tactics during a battle with an unknown enemy" -- he was the only person in the whole universe which remembered that it had ever existed.

Now, he had lost the last reason to stay alive, as well.

Now, he remembered what he had lost.

"Khassar," Usagi said forcefully, but the man didn't look up. But also didn't cover his ears.

"You listened to me once. Now listen again. Step into the circle," Usagi pleaded.

Khassars laugh was bitter. "Didn't I suffer enough, yet? Is there still some usefulness left which you can squeeze out of me?"

"Yes."

Khassar just shook his head.

"How can you decide if you don't know the alternative?"

"More suffering? I'm sick of it."

"Then I'd like to put it this way," Usagi said. "You either step inside on your own or ..."

"Futile to threaten the dead."

"True. But one can grab his leg and pull him around."

Unwillingly, Khassar had to laugh out. "Why? Why am I so important for you."

"We're still on a mission," Usagi reminded him. "I'm still responsible for you."

"There's more," Khassar guessed.

Usagi nodded. "But I can't explain it. She can."

Khassar gave a sigh.

"I promise you a quick and honorable death should you still want to die afterwards," Usagi offered.

Khassar snorted. "That probably means that I won't want to die anymore."

Usagi smiled. "That's what I meant when I said that I'm the wrong person to explain."

Resigned, Khassar dropped his head. Despite of everything, he still liked this strange rabbit.

He stepped into the ring.

Khassar dreamed a dream. And Ookaa'h dreamed the other side of the dream.

He saw the universe but twice.

In one universe, his race was wiped out. It became what it was, now.

In the other universe, his race survived.

They brought death and destruction to a large part of the universe.

Their deeds encouraged others to follow their example. The few priests of Ookaa'h were unable to get a grip on the situation and the evolution of the whole universe was set back a tiny bit.

Khassar started to understand the reasons which had lead to the extinction of his race even if he couldn't agree. Dark had been too brutal; had ordered too many massacres on helpless civilians.

Slowly, the dream faded.

And Khassar dreamed another dream.

Out of black space, a planet appeared. Cities and artificially formed landscape rolled below the ship while it made it's descend towards the space port. Khassar left the ship together with other passengers and they went to the customs.

The customs officers looked a lot like him.

While he looked around the gigantic hall, he started to remember things which he hadn't known before. Unnoticed, Dark had relocated a small number of his people to a new place. Since there hadn't been any information about them anymore after the war, this had been possible.

Then he was back in the circle.

True, the members of his race would have changed during this long time. They probably wouldn't know much about their culture as he remembered it. But still: He would at least have a place to die which was close to home.

Usagi didn't ask if he still wanted to die. 'After 70'000 years, even small things can make one happy,' he thought half amused.

Then Usagi stepped in front of his goddess. He reported that Noriyuki had been healed and the requested son would be born. Ookaa'h seemed to be pleased. Since he was ready now, she gave him another ability which he could try out on Tomoe.

With a newly found will to live, Khassar had watched when Usagi had spoken to his goddess. He had examined the energy field which formed itself when Ookaa'h spoke to someone with his high-tech eyes but it didn't seem to have any effect itself. Khassar guessed that its use was to hide the actual effect.

This time, they needed almost two days to get back to the beach. During that time, Tomoe spoke a lot with Khassar because unlike Usagi, she had never met anyone who was so alien. They even fought a few rounds because Tomoe was curious to see his inhuman reflexes.

Usagi, on the other hand, was very quiet. He felt how his new ability changed him further. That was a strange feeling and he was afraid of it. But he also knew that he needed this new ability even if it took another large part of his humanity.

Arriving at the beach again, Tomoe asked him why it sometimes took very long to reach Ookaa'h and at another time, very long to get back from her.

"If Ookaa'h is busy with something else, then she allows us to spend our time until she can receive us. She also could simply have us wait somewhere but I think that she actually understands that we would be bored. Another reason is that one sometimes has something to learn before it makes sense to talk with her."

"The way back is usually short but this time, I was changed for a new ability and that took some time."

"A new ability?" she asked curiously.

"Yes," Usagi replied and smiled at her.

"Aha," she made, "and now you're looking for a victim, sorry, I mean a volunteer."

Usagi said ironically to Khassar: "How did she ever guess."

"Is there something I should know in advance?" she asked coolly.

"The dead have no voice," Usagi replied and laughed.

"So it's probably unpleasant," she concluded.

"It's unusual," he tried to explain, "but you should have no problems with it."

"Tell me what you will do, first," she demanded.

"You remember when Pau said that he's not one but many?"

"Yes?"

"I can do that now, too."

"You are many, too, now?" she asked astonishedly.

"Not yet. But with you, I would be two. We?" He laughed out: "The people who have invented our language probably didn't plan for this situation."

She joined his laughing. "So that's what she meant! Ookaa'h said that I should have patience. Soon, I would be closer to you than I could imagine."

"Would you like to try it?" he asked hopefully.

She nodded.

He let her vanish. Instead, he felt her presence.

'Tomoe?' he thought to her.

'I hear you, Usagi,' her thoughts sounded in his mind. 'Hm. I can hear and see but I cannot move.'

'Is that bad?' he asked her.

'It's not pleasant.'

"Did it work?" Khassar asked.

"Yes. She doesn't like it."

Khassar laughed. "Just imagine you would be trapped inside of her."

'Oh!' she thought amazed.

'What?'

'I can move again. Where am I?'

Usagi closed the eyes of his body and concentrated on his soul room. There she was. Curiously, she looked around.

'A bit bleak,' she told him.

'Yes,' he had to admit. His soul room wasn't connected to the outside by the black gaps of Dark. And since only he and she were in it, it was pretty empty.

'What is this?'

'My soul room. All beings which I will take in over the years will end up here.'

'Like a container for souls?'

'They don't dissolve here,' he explained. 'And they can see what I see, feel what I feel. When I died during my match with Master Heroito, Pau Tai put me into his soul room and has then sent my soul back into my body after reanimating it.'

'That must have been an interesting experience,' she thought with a bit of envy.

Since she was now a part of him, he could open her all the memories he wanted to share. She would now remember what he had experienced as if she had experienced it herself.

'Unbelievable,' he could hear when she realized how many souls made up Pau Tai.

'Yes,' he thought back and concentrated again on his own body.

"Any?" Khassar asked.

"She tries to get used to it," Usagi explained.

Then they stood once more in the camp of Noriyuki.

A much more relaxed Khassar bid good night to Usagi/Tomoe and went to bed.

'There are tents,' Tomoe said to him. 'Where are we?'

Usagi opened the respective memories for her so she knew what had happened in the last weeks.

'You tricked them,' she immediately came to the point.

'The truth would have simply hurt anyone.'

Then she remembered something else. 'AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT?' her thoughts yelled.

'He is all right,' Usagi tried to calm her down.

But she had already found the next memory: 'He did ... with Katsumi ...' she choked.

'Remember how much it helped him,' Usagi pointed out.

'If someone should ever find out, then ...' she flew into a rage.

'It will come out and it won't hurt him,' Usagi defended himself.

'It will ... ?' she thought horrified. 'That's his end! You must do something!'

'I already did,' he tried to calm her down. 'His wife will take care of it.'

'A ninja! You married him to a ninja! Are you out of your mind?'

Usagi gave a sigh. This went worse than he had expected. Sure, Tomoe loved him and he loved her, too, but she still was headstrong and stood her ground.

'And don't sigh like that!' she thought furiously.

'That's enough!' he thought back determinedly. 'May I ask you to remember the whole story before you heap the accusations on me? I've spent some thought on these things and I don't think that you already realized all of them, yet.'

She snorted but stopped her protests.

So he went into his tent, too.

He lay down to sleep and closed his eyes.

Then he floated in his soul room. He was a bit surprised but then, he remembered that he wouldn't sleep again, ever. He could put down his body to recover but his mind would never again need rest.

Tomoe floated next to him. 'What is it?' she asked.

'My body sleeps, now,' he told her.

'Does that mean that I will enjoy your presence four hours(6) every night from now on?' she asked with a sarcastic tone of voice.

'That's right,' he replied.

'Good,' she said openly relieved, 'I was already fearing that I would float here alone for the next couple of years until you add more souls.'

'I would have never done this to you,' Usagi reassured her and floated closer. He stretched out his hand and touched her cheek gently.

Unfortunately, his hand went through her without resistance. The body which he saw was only an illusion of his mind.

Tomoe gave a sigh. Five years had passed for him since her death but for her, only a couple of days had passed. He had had time to get used to the idea to never see her again while her wounds were still fresh.

To distract her, he told her what had happened in the meantime.

That Nara had turned against them didn't surprise her much. 'I knew for a long time that he was interested in your technique and I was worried. But I trusted in Himesama to have an eye on him.'

'Why didn't you tell me?' Usagi wondered and started to think what other secrets she might have kept from him. Until late, he had been too busy to hide his own secrets from her to think about that.

'What for? Nara had to walk his own path. If he would have chosen the right side, you would just have worried uselessly and in every other case, it wouldn't have changed a thing if you had known in advance. You would have just wasted our time with worrying.'

Usagi laughed quietly. In their family, he had always been the one for whom it had been most difficult to allow his children to make their own faults. Tomoe had never had any trouble with that. When one of their children had had any trouble, Usagi had always been there but Tomoe had always waited until she had been asked for her help.

Behind her back, several people had accused her of not caring enough for her children. 'But wasn't that exactly what Pau Tai did?' Usagi thought.

Tomoe would help him, now, to do the same.

'Didn't you ever wonder why I don't get older?' he wondered.

'After Pau Tai had you in his grip, such things didn't worry me anymore,' she thought back sarcastically. 'But I didn't mind. Since we met Pau Tai, I knew that our time would be short and I would have to be contend with whatever I would get.'

'But now, you can spend eternity with me,' he thought friendly.

It took a moment before she replied. 'Yes.'

And then she added: 'Unfortunately, you're no longer the man I married.'

Struck, Usagi remained silent.

Her gentle laughter filled his mind: 'I don't regret it. I had a wonderful time with you and achieved things I would have never believed possible. Alone to teach in our dojo as a full, official teacher and to be able to prove that a woman can do that as well as a man, had made it worth it.'

'Better, even,' he corrected her. 'All the pupils always wanted to be taught by you.'

'And were being harassed outside of the school for this,' she replied.

'They learned that honor and pride are different things. That one can have honor no matter what someone else says,' he argued.

'They made me proud,' she admitted. 'I just regret that I had no chance to say goodbye to them,' she added sadly.

'Well, you will get another chance,' Usagi pointed out. 'In at most two weeks, we will be back home.'

Back Home

Noriyukis return was celebrated enthusiastically. Since most of the male population would arrive later when the army units returned, it was mostly women and children which filled the streets.

Immediately after his arrival, the preparations for the marriage started. "Just to make sure that the fish can't get off the hook," Makiko had joked.

Jotaro had left his position and had accompanied his lord to the capital.

During that time, Usagi had told Tomoe everything. He had reported about his adventures on the TAURUS, about Tep and Käl. Tomoe knew now about his new companions, about Usagis relationship with the slaves Karla and Joshka and the unhappy events which had lead to Talias death(7).

Like Usagi before, Tomoe had a hard time to accept the fact that Pau Tai kept slaves. That Usagi had learned to live with that was only a small comfort for her. She really didn't look forward to meeting with Tep, soon.

In the dojo, Usagi was greeted with great relief because it meant that the pupils which had been recruited would be back as well, soon. Together with his other children, Usagi moved into the guest quarters of the dojo.

As he had promised, he became a teacher for the pupils for the time he would stay and he showed them how to care for each other. A whole day, one half of the pupils would have to obey to every command of the other half and on the next day, the roles were switched. On the third day, they would talk about what had happened during these two days.

Hajime really visited the dojo and had a look at the tuition. As Usagi has predicted, he enjoyed helping the pupils to draw and with calligraphy. But he couldn't imagine, yet, to become a teacher at the school.

Every evening, they would come together, telling stories of the past or from the day and to laugh. Even Jotaro would join them every now and then. Even if he had only been a pupil of the dojo and wasn't part of the family, nobody objected when he sat down in their round.

His amazing resemblance to Usagi had been the friendly focus of attention several times before.

Usagi enjoyed this time immensely. It was still some weeks until Noriyukis marriage because the lord wanted to wait until the men from the army had returned: "It would be unbearable for me if my subjects would be unable to share my happiness because their loved ones are not with them," he had decided.

And another of Usagi predictions had turned out true: No one seemed to figure out that Lady Katsushika of the Neko Klan was in fact the former leader of the Neko Ninjas. Or at least all people who had found out kept their thoughts to themselves.

But Usagi also knew that this carefree time would be over, soon. During the day, he often retired to his rooms and Tomoe trained to control his body. In the beginning, she had refused the very idea but after some persuasion, she was able to walk around and rise after she had stumbled. Only talking turned out to be impossible. Instead of words, she could only produce unintelligible babbling.

He also visited Lord Noriyuki and they spent a lot of time in the gardens of the castle where Usagi answered the questions of his friend.

"Are you missing Tomoe?" Noriyuki asked all of a sudden.

"No," Usagi replied honestly.

"I do," the lord admitted. "She was like a mother for me and often she was even like a father. When she was taken from us all of a sudden, that was a great loss for me."

"And when you vanished as well," he went on, "I suddenly realized how important you two had become for me."

"I'm very sorry," Usagi replied but his heart wasn't in it. "After I had to kill Nara, I just needed some time for myself. That is why I didn't return."

"I understand that," the lord reassured him, "because it also was a very difficult time for me, as well."

'Don't you tell him that I'm still alive,' Tomoe warned Usagi.

'You don't want to say goodbye to him?' Usagi wondered.

'Are you insane? I'm dead! To know that I still exist as some kind of ... appendix to your soul would only be a burden for him!'

'Hm,' Usagi thought.

'No mistakes now!' Tomoe threatened openly.

"I'm sure," Usagi said aloud, "that Tomoe would have preferred to say goodbye to you if she could have."

'And what about our children?' Usagi asked.

'What do you think? The same, of course!'

'I don't like this,' Usagi admitted and missed something which Noriyuki said at that moment.

Before he could ask, Tomoe told him: 'He wants to know how long you plan to stay.'

Usagi, who had already opened his mouth to ask, switched within the blink of an eye: "I think I will surely stay until after your wedding."

'How did you manage to listen to me and Noriyuki at the same time?' he wondered.

Tomoe laughed: 'It's still easy for me to guess your thoughts. And I spent half of my life to watch Noriyuki. It's probably in my blood, now. So to speak.'

'He is relieved,' she added because Usagi had missed the next words of the lord as well.

'That's not the real reason,' Usagi said knowingly. 'You have no body anymore and therefore, you can concentrate on other things. That's why you can listen to both of us at the same time.'

'Maybe. Now he wants to know if you are related to Jotaro in any way.'

Her ability to do several things at once amazed Usagi and he had to laugh.

"You really have to admit, he looks a lot like you," Noriyuki joined his laughter, openly relieved that Usagi took the personal question so well.

"Yes, that's true," Usagi admitted, "and you are right."

"He really is your son?" Noriyuki reassured himself.

"Yes."

'Oh yes?' Tomoe asked highly interested all of a sudden.

Noriyuki laughed and shook his head: "You probably know that he has been mistaken for you several times, now."

Usagi nodded. 'He is the son of Mariko, the wife of Kenichi,' he explained to Tomoe.

'Hadn't he been one of your enemies?' Tomoe asked back.

'Yes, since our childhood. It was pure chance that he married her.'

'Clever girl,' Tomoe immediately corrected. 'After you had left her behind, she had quickly chosen someone else to wed so she wouldn't have to care for the child all alone. He wants to know who else knows about it.'

'Only those who have been informed by Jotaro,' Usagi replied.

Tomoe giggled: 'You should repeat that aloud or Noriyuki will wait in vain.'

Usagi repeated the words aloud and called himself to order. Sure, he had gone far but to talk with Tomoe and Noriyuki at the same time was still beyond him.

But the sharp eyes of Noriyuki had not missed that something was going on: "Is something the matter with you?"

Usagi could barely stop himself saying that he was talking to Tomoe at the same time. "There are a lot of things going on in my mind since I've been turned into a definite priest of Ookaa'h."

"That is probably related to your ability to be able to answer any question?" Noriyuki guessed.

"Uh, yes," Usagi evaded a direct answer and Noriyuki didn't press the issue further.

"Anything else I should know?" the lord and Tomoe asked as with one mouth.

'Please, not both at the same time,' Usagi asked Tomoe. 'I really can't concentrate, otherwise.'

"Katsumi will leave with me," he told Noriyuki who had known already but who still wasn't happy about it.

"Maybe you should talk to Sanraku about this, he might be able to help," Usagi promised.

"Sanraku, too?" Noriyuki asked astonishedly.

Usagi laughed. "No, but he knows the members of the bodyguard pretty well."

"Oh," Noriyuki joined him, "I was already guessing ..."

'He really seems to be happy about it,' Tomoe commented in amazement.

'He dislikes the idea to sleep with a woman as much as you do,' Usagi told her.

"Well, I really enjoyed to have been able to talk with you alone and in privacy," the lord said goodbye to him soon after that. "In about two weeks, the units of the army will be back and about one week later, the wedding will take place."

"Tamaro," Usagi said gently and spread his arms.

Noriyuki hesitated for a moment but then embraced his friend. "Usagi, I thank you for everything."

"Thank you, Tamaro, my friend," Usagi replied.

Noriyuki smiled when Usagi stopped at the entrance of the garden and waved before he left.

'I guess I'll have to get used to the idea,' Tomoe meant on their way back to the school, 'because you will probably not start to be celibate, now.'

Usagi chuckled. 'True. I'm pretty curios what you will feel when I meet my next mate.'

Tomoe didn't enjoy that thought as much but she had to admit that she was a little bit curious, herself.

In the evening, they sat together once more in a large round when Jotaro stepped into the room. He looked pretty unhappy.

"What happened?" Himesama asked who sat next to Hajime.

Jotaro sat down and gave a sigh: "I just got a letter from home: My father Kenichi has died."

Immediately, everybody expressed his condolences.

"How did it happen?" Hajime asked despite of not having been responsible for his former province for over a month, now.

"I don't know exactly, the letter just said that there had been an accident during the erection of a new house." Jotaro sighed again. "I will miss him."

"Me, too," Usagi said sympathetically.

"You knew Magistrate Kenichi?" Hajime asked.

"We grew up together," Usagi told him.

"Really?"

"He was one year older than me and would have turned 67, this year."

Hajime laughed out loud. "Of course, I know that you are much older than you look but just now, when I learned that you are as old as Magistrate Kenichi, I fully realize what that means. Magistrate Kenichi was already very old when I saw him seven years ago!"

"You knew my father?" Jotaro asked in surprise.

"Yes," Hajime replied quickly, "I was several times in the former province of Lord Hikiji."

"Really?" Jotaro said mistrustingly. "What I already noticed: You look a lot like the dead lord!"

"And you like Usagi," came the immediate retort.

"I see," Jotaro signaled his willingness to leave things at that.

But the others now looked questioningly at Usagi.

"Maybe," he tried to comfort everyone, "it is time to openly say what everyone already guesses."

"Everyone?" Jotaro asked and frowned.

"Well, at least everyone in this room. It would really help both of you if you would have someone whom you could talk to openly."

Jotaro sighed. "Of course, you are right. Yes, it's true. I'm the son of Usagi, Kenichi and Mariko. Mariko conceived me with Usagi and Kenichi brought me up. And I think of both of them as my fathers."

"Kenichi was unable to have children of his own," Usagi added. "And I was unable to rear them. That only changed when I met with Tomoe. In this and in many other ways, Kenichi and I have completed each other. It's really a pity that we were enemies for so long."

"Well, for me, I can only say that Lord Hikiji is really and truly dead," Hajime admitted. "But it's also true that I was the same person who lead the army from the north against the shogun under the name Hikiji."

"Not completely by your own, free will, as I would like to add," Usagi explained.

"Hm, well, I don't think of it that way," Hajime said.

"Kusanagis influence is really subtle so you didn't notice. But if you hadn't been influenced, you would have cared more about the well-being of your province instead of starting to get all of Honshu under your control."

"Well, maybe," Hajime agreed uneasily.

"If you want," Usagi offered to Jotaro, "then I can ask Qu'ral to get you home so you can pay the grave of your father your respects."

"I will think about this," Jotaro promised.

"This, of course, raises a few very interesting problems," Goemon commented amusedly.

"Like what?" Himesama wondered.

"Now, Jotaro is the first-born!"

"That's true!" Benjiro(8) agreed, laughing.

"Wonderful," Sanraku, the first-born, meant, "finally someone else is responsible for the family."

"Stop, stop!" Jotaro moaned. "Should anyone ever find out, my family would be dishonored."

"Don't worry," Sanraku promised, "to the outside, I will still be the first-born, of course. But now you are responsible for all the internal controversies! Those worry me! They are like children!"

The room boomed from their laughter.

"And not to forget," Goemon went on with delight, "now, since our father has turned out to be immortal, what happens to our heritage?"

"And what about the petty detail of my marriage-portion?" Himesama added maliciously. "If Waytiki-sensei wouldn't have stood in, I couldn't have married!"

"Ha! If you want money, go to work," Usagi proposed laughing. "Since I handed the school over to Master Waytiki, I've got nothing, anymore. Which reminds me: What has happened to the things which belonged to Tomoe?"

"After you left head over heels," Himesama told him with mild reproach, "I have put them into chests and moved them into the store rooms of the school."

"Good, I should look through them before I leave," Usagi resolved to do, "maybe Tomoe will want to keep some of these things."

'Fool,' came her thought and all eyes were on him.

Tomoes Farewell

Usagi smiled. "The soul is immortal. When we are reborn, we forget what we have been but in the state between our lives, we remember. She is here right now and she can hear and see you."

"Where?" Goemon asked and the others looked around curiously.

"No questions," Usagi refused the answer. "But if there is something which you want to tell her, then do it now."

They remained silent.

"We miss you very much," Himesama eventually summarized their emotions and Tomoe wept.

"She misses you all as well," Usagi said silently.

"One hour(9)," Pau Tai said who suddenly stood in the door. He stretched out a hand and a glowing, shapeless cloud floated out of his hand. Then he vanished without a trace, again.

Usagi felt the cloud tearing at Tomoe. He released her.

Despite of having left him, he could still sense her presence outside of him. Her soul floated towards the cloud and slowly, it began to change its shape until it had formed a glowing, slightly transparent image of Tomoe.

"Jotaro, please fetch Qu'ral," Usagi ordered while Tomoe examined one of her new hands full of amazement.

"Mother?" Himesama asked with tears in her eyes.

"Daughter," the voice of the dead sounded as if she was still alive and they hugged each other.

Together with their parents, the children mourned their loss.

After a short time, Jotaro returned with Qu'ral. Astonished, the wizard looked at the glowing ghost.

Usagi left his crying children for a moment, took a piece of paper and wrote something on it. "Please take Jotaro to the castle and return as fast as possible with Lord Noriyuki!" he told the two.

Immediately, they vanished.

"Thanks," the crying Tomoe said and smiled. She took his hand. Her glowing tears ran over his arm and shattered on the floor.

Usagi wrapped his arms around her. For the last time in eternity.

Her kiss was strong and intensive and still as volatile as a moment of luck.

He felt better afterwards, though, and she seemed to feel the same because her tears slowly stopped.

Then it was the turn of the children. Each hugged her and they quietly exchanged a few personal words.

During the rest of the evening, Usagi held himself back. He wanted his children to have most of this once-in-a-lifetime chance: "This is for you," he said. "To loose those who are dear to me will now be a part of my life, forever."

And so, to the mourning of his children about the loss of the mother came the one about the fate of the father.

But also many happy things had happened in the last five years and the children proudly told about them. They were especially relieved when Tomoe told them that she didn't held a grudge against them because they had fought at Hikijis side.

While they talked, Lord Noriyuki arrived. Since an official audience would be a too great honor for a former bodyguard, his companions waited below while he came up with his future wife and Katsumi.

This way, Tomoe could meet the people who had come closer to her lord than she would have liked.

Noriyuki was really happy to see her. He immediately stepped to her and she bowed as it was proper.

Gently, he took her by the shoulders. "Here and today, I'm just Tamaro," he said and hugged the woman who had protected him for so long.

It took a moment until Tomoe could get used to the idea of returning the embrace of her lord. He really had changed a lot since she had seen him last time. Now, there was a great strength in him where an anxious hesitation had been before.

She had to accept that the disgusting act which Usagi had allowed him to do had really been to his advantage. 'It would have been bad for anyone else,' she realized, 'but for this person, it had been the right thing to do.'

Tomoes pain left her with her tears. She held him tight while she cried.

When he wanted to let go, she held him back. "I know it," she whispered into his ear so only he could hear it. Immediately, he stiffened. 'He still cares greatly for my opinion,' she realized.

"And I'm happy for you," she went on and felt his relief. Then she let go of him and he took her hands.

"Thanks," Tamaro said openly, "this really means much to me."

And for a moment, he was once more the small, fearful child which she had brought to Edo 30 years ago.

Tomoe smiled and enjoyed his happiness. There had already been so much worry and suffering in the lords life. He really deserved something for himself even if everyone else condemned it.

"I would like to introduce my future wife Makiko of the Neko Clan to you," Tamaro said as if Tomoe was his mother. And she realized that in a way, she was.

"Tomoe-san," Makiko greeted Tomoe reservedly. "My future husband is full of admiration for you."

Tomoe saw the strong woman behind the words. 'Makiko is able to make hard decisions when she has to. Therefore, her aloofness actually speaks for her. She will be a great help for my protege.'

"I have to admit," Tomoe smiled, "that I've almost lost all my hopes already. He is so incredibly pretentious and many people have feared that it would be impossible to find a woman who could live up to his expectations."

Tomoe couldn't say if Makiko was only relieved because she had accepted her or if she was actually happy about the praise. Amusedly, she wondered if Noriyuki had spoken to her on his way to here. 'Maybe he has warned her how much my word still counts here even if I'm dead.'

"To know this man, who means so much to me, to be in good hands means a lot to me," she added.

"Furthermore," she said honestly, "I would like to thank you for the great sacrifices which you have already made for my lord. Only few would have been strong enough for this and I won't believe that someone, who doesn't really love him, would have done it."

With that remark, the ice was broken. "I start to realize why your unexpected death meant so much for my beloved husband," Makiko sincerely praised her. "Your death was a great loss for the province."

Now, it would have been time to have a few words with Katsumi but Tomoe had to realize that she couldn't. His sheer existence was repugnant to her.

Katsumi bowed. "If you allow, mistress, then I would like to retreat."

All she could do was to nod. This way, she at least wouldn't have to see him all the time.

Lithe, he rose and left. A few astonished looks followed him but no one asked a question.

Then everyone lounged at Tomoe again because her time was running out uncaring for their emotions.

Noriyukis Wedding

The wedding was glorious. Lord Hirano had not hesitated to come despite of his age. It was his last journey. Many other lords and even the shogun had sent the happy couple their congratulations.

The soldiers were back for almost two weeks, now, and life had started to normalize, again. Thousands filled the streets when the Zen priest married them.

By unknown means, T'he had got Usagi some clothes which represented probably the only official garment which priests of Ookaa'h ever wore when they chose to announce their status. It was a frock in white on which constantly changing, black patterns danced.

The wedding guests were impressed accordingly because it meant that an actual goddess officially blessed the wedding. Just to be on the safe side, Usagi had asked before speaking the words.

Personally, Usagi was happy to see Gen again and Josuke, the son of Lord Hirano who would succeed his father as the next lord of the province, soon.

The first thing which Gen asked was of course to see Kusanagi. Smiling, Usagi made the sword appear and passed it on to his amazed friend.

To try it out, Gen cut a few arcs into the air. "Hm," he commented visibly disappointed, "nothing out of the ordinary except that it can be invisible."

"Typically Gen," Usagi laughed and caught the blade of the sword with his bare hand. Gen, who guessed that Usagi wanted his sword back, now, let go of the handle.

Usagi shook his head. He held the handle into Gens face: "Pull!" he invited him.

Luckily, the other guests seemed to ignore them at the moment. "It's your hand," Gen reassured himself before grabbing the handle and jerking at it.

As was to be expected, the sword started to glide out of Usagis hand after a slight initial resistance.

Horrified, Gen stopped.

Usagi let go and held his open hand into Gens face. It was unhurt.

"To administer such a shock to an old man!" Gen swore. "It's outraging!"

"But that's not all!" Usagi promised and took the sword back.

"What do you think now?" he asked and shove the sword though Gens good leg and the stone bench on which he sat.

Gen called out but more out of surprise than from pain.

"Does it hurt a lot?" Usagi asked feigning sympathy.

Astonished, Gen stared at the sword. No blood came out of the wound, neither at the top nor below. He felt no pain, just a strange resistance when he moved.

Distrustingly, he touched the wound. He still felt the pressure but no pain at all. Still the blade felt hard and real. He even cut his thumb when he touched the cutting edge but his trousers were undamaged.

"What the hell ...?" he wondered. He wanted to stand up but he could only move his leg along the blade. Even if it didn't cut him, it still nailed him to the bench!

"So, now that I know you're safe, I'll leave you and amuse myself with the other guests," Usagi teased him. "See you later!"

"Hey!" Gen called after him. "You can't do this to me!" With a growing desperation, he pulled at the handle of the sword but it didn't budge.

"Usagi! Come back right now! Usagi! Damn you!" Gen called angrily. "Just you wait! You'll regret this!"

A servant, who came over because of the yelling, almost fainted when he saw Gen trying to pull out the sword. He immediately ran away to get help.

A short time later, a dozen guards arrived and tried to help Gen to get the sword out of him. It was quite complicated for him to make them understand that he was unhurt despite of the fact that the blade of the sword did cut anything else.

Unfortunately, the only thing they could achieve was to lift the bench on which Gen sat. The sword was completely unimpressed even when four men pulled at it with all their strength.

"Ah, I see you've got help to turn the bench so you can comfortably watch the wedding," Usagi commented who returned a short time later with a drink in his hands.

"In that case, I won't bother you," he went on happily and turned as if to walk away, again.

"Please! Pull it out!" Gen pleaded.

"Oh well," Usagi gave in. Moved by invisible forces, the sword sprang high into the air, rotating in a blur and then shot down on Usagi where it vanished without a trace.

"Here," Usagi offered Gen a bowl of sake, "on the shock."

Relieved, Gen noticed that his good leg was really unhurt. No muscle had been cut, the bone was undamaged and the clothing, too. All that was left was a gap in the bench below his leg through which he could see the ground.

"Incredible," he commented while he held out the drinking bowl for Usagi to refill. "How does it do that?"

Usagi shrugged. "No idea," he admitted, "I just asked it to nail you to the bench without hurting you."

Gen took another sip. "It's a bad sign when one starts to talk to his sword," he meant.

"True," Usagi said amusedly and drank on Gens health, "and mine even gives answer!"

Both had to laugh.

Farewell for a Time

In the evening, Usagi bid his farewell to the lords.

"Will we meet again?" Noriyuki asked.

"I think that I'll return in a few years, again," Usagi promised and then towards Lord Hirano: "But we won't meet again."

"Miyamoto-bonze(10)," Lord Hirano said, "the Hirano Clan has so much to thank you for, that it would be impossible to mention everything."

"I thank you for accepting my help," Usagi replied.

"We are in your debt. Should you ever need anything, you can depend on the fact that the Hirano Clan will do anything possible to help you."

"And we also would like to thank you," Lord Noriyuki said and his wife smiled, "even if words are such a weak way to express our feelings of gratefulness for what you have done for us. The Geishu Clan will be in your debt, forever."

"I thank you for allowing me to help," Usagi replied humbly.

"And despite of all the things which you have already done for us," the lords wife said, "we would like to ask one more thing of you. Our servant Katsumi has asked to leave with you and since he has served us so well, we are unable to reject his wish. Will you accept him?"

"It would be an honor to me," Usagi replied honestly while Tomoe ground her teeth in the back of his head.

With that, the audience ended. Usagi bowed and left the room together with Katsumi.

On the way to the main gate, they ran into Gen.

"So you're leaving already?" Gen asked.

"Yes. It's made me rich to have known you, my friend," Usagi replied.

"So we won't see us again?" Gen assumed and looked very old all of a sudden.

Wordlessly, Usagi hugged his friend.

"I wish you good luck," Gen said and tears welled in his eyes.

Silently, the son of the lord had stepped next to them. Usagi hugged Gen one last time and then turned towards the future lord.

The son honored Usagi by bowing before him. "Your name will be remembered in the Hirano Clan, Miyamoto-sensei," he promised. "And even if it would be impossible to admit officially, I would like you to know that we feel the greatest respect for Tomoe-sensei and Keiko-sensei."

"I thank you. Your province will be in good hands with you," Usagi replied. With a bow, he and Katsumi stepped into the night.

In the school, his children had assembled meanwhile. On his way to them, he visited the store room where Tomoes things were stored and took some of them with him.

Jotaro was among them and Usagi was happy to see how naturally the others had accepted him in the family.

"It's now time for me to leave," Usagi announced, "but I will return in a few years, if I can, and visit you."

"A few days ago, we spoke about your heritage. While it's true that I cannot offer you money, there are still a few things which belong to you, now, since I leave this world."

Each of them got something out of the possessions of their mother which should help them remember the great woman she had been.

As the last thing, Usagi took off his daisho and put it into a bag. Then he asked Yumi, his youngest daughter to step forward.

"These are the swords of your mother," he said and gave her the bag with Tomoes swords. "They are now yours. And this," he went on and gave her his swords, "is my present for your wedding and your husband. I wish you both to become a happy couple. You have my blessing and I'm sure that of Tomoe, as well."

Crying, she accepted this great present. "Thanks, father. Mother," she wept and wrapper her arms around his neck.

The others were very surprised. "Who is it?" they demanded to know curiously after her tears had stopped. "Come on, tell us!"

She got all red and looked down at the ground, ashamed: "Hajime," she whispered.

"Really?" they said amazed.

"He will be a good husband for you," Usagi promised, "and I would like to ask you to welcome him. He has seen things that no man should ever see and yet, he survived. Give him the chance to prove that there is a man behind the reputation for whom the word honor really means something."

When they separated for the night, Usagi held Sanraku back. "There is still something we have to talk about."

"What is it, father?" Sanraku asked curiously.

"There is something you need to know so you will react in the right way," Usagi started carefully.

His son continued to listen. Cautiously, Usagi told him that Noriyuki might ask for certain member of his bodyguard, eventually.

"Well, he is the lord," Sanraku wondered. "It's his bodyguard."

"For something more personal," Usagi hinted.

Sanraku was a true child of Usagi. The few hints were enough for him to make the correct guess: "To spend the night with him?" he asked more unbelieving than horrified.

"Yes," Usagi confirmed.

"I don't believe that," Sanraku laughed but when Usagi didn't join in, he trailed off, uneasily.

"That is of no importance," Usagi said determinedly. "What is important is that you will be able to serve his wish when he asks you."

"Katsumi!" Sanraku whispered when he realized. Of course, many rumors and ironic comments had been made when Katsumi had gone into the rooms of the lord at night. But Sanraku would never have guessed at the reason.

"Yes," Usagi confirmed as well.

"That is ... horrible!" Sanraku said, being disgusted.

Usagis gaze got hard: "If you want to enjoy the other advantages of your master, then you will have to learn to accept. If you can't, then you must leave. But if you think that it's important that his subjects and servants mean something to him, then you must learn to live with this."

"But ...," Sanraku tried to find another escape.

Patiently, Usagi waited until Sanraku lowered his gaze. "I understand, father," the son complied.

"Sanraku, please remember always that it's not Noriyuki who has changed, but you," Usagi asked.

"Yes, father. I will give my best. I promise that I won't disappoint you nor my lord," Sanraku vowed.

"Thank you," Usagi bowed. "Your acceptance will mean a lot to Noriyuki."

Uncomfortably, Sanraku stared at the ground. "I don't know yet if I can do it," he mentioned.

"Learn to accept it as you have learned to accept that your mother taught you bushido or that Himesama can beat you in a sword fight any time. May it be another lesson of tolerance to you."

"Yes, father," Sanraku promised before he left with an unhappy expression in his face.

The next morning, Usagi said goodbye to Master Waytiki and his wife. She was very proud when Usagi told her that the lords Hirano and Noriyuki felt respect for her.

In the yard, all pupils of the school had assembled in the meantime. Some still wore their bandages or were unable to stand but many had returned from the war. Even those who were in bad shape had asked to be allowed to be present when the founder of the school would say goodbye to them.

There were 37 pupils and nine teachers, all in all. Usagi was very proud of what he saw and he told them.

"But never forget," he threatened them, "that I will return someday and I won't be happy at all when I find some of you stopping their training because of what I just said!"

They promised not to disappoint him. "Then, I can leave with a good conscience," he said, "and always remember that the motto of our school is to be better than the others rather than to look down at them."

On his way to his team, he ran into Yumi. She pulled Hajime along and seemed to expect that he spo