Ivey Felicitas Dreamlands 2 Back To The Dream

Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

Dreamspinner Press

www.dreamspinnerpress.com

First published in 2010, 2010

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Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

CONTENTS

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Don't Miss the Beginning
Published by

* * * *

Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

* * * *

This book is for Robert Ivey, my father, who showed me

there wasn't anything I couldn't do. His love for reading had
no boundaries, and he made sure that I had none. Thank you
for everything you've done for me and the pride you had in
my writing by reading my first two books.

I just wish you could read this one too.

Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

Foreword

When Dreamlands first came out, I was surprised my

family read it. Not that it was a bad book—it was just I didn't
think it would be to their taste, being a gay fantasy in a
Japanese setting. I was very surprised, even a bit shocked,
that my stepmother's sister, Sister Thomas, read the book
and enjoyed it, skipping over the naughty words and bits, of
course. But this sweet, eighty-plus-year-old nun told me she
only had one problem with my novel, and it wasn't the gay
sex (she had skipped those parts; she does that in all the
romances she reads). It was the fact that she got very
confused about who all these people were and how they were
related. So this is for you Sister T: a list of who's who in the
Trust and the Dreamlands. The Japanese names are family
name first, then given name.

Cast of Characters

The Trust
Mason Kairns Trouble Consultant, avatar of Inumura

Daikaku

Wolf Dieter Trouble Consultant, avatar of Inuyama

Dousetsu

Caitlynn McGann Staff Psychologist, Boylston Street, a

psychic

Mrs. Elizabeth Stewart-Adams Trustee
Collins (deceased) Sent team to the Dreamlands the first

time

Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

Fairinox (deceased) Opened gate to the Dreamlands the

first time

Heisig (deceased) Man who tortured Keno at the Trust
The Dreamlands
Tamazusa A lord of a kuni in Nippon
Samojirou Aboshi Her consort, an oni
Inuzaka Keno His lover, Hakkenshi, avatar of first Inuzaka

Keno

Sakura Keno's secret identity
Tan'yu Tamazusa's healer
Okita Tamazusa's master-at-arms
Takehito One of Tamazusa's samurai
Tadanori One of Tamazusa's samurai
Yukiko A maid in Tamazusa's estate
Yoshinoko Courtesan who trained Keno as a tayuu
Fuse Spiritual Mother of the Hakkenshi
Yatsufusa Spiritual Father of the Hakkensh
Inuzaka Keno Hakkenshi, Samojirou's lover, now deceased
Inusuka Shino Hakkenshi
Inusuka Hamaji Shino's wife
Farusawa One of Inusuka's samurai
Inukawa Sousuke Hakkenshi
Inukai Genpachi Hakkenshi
Inuyama Dousetsu Hakkenshi
Inuta Konbungo Hakkenshi
Inue Shinbee Hakkenshi
Inumura Daikaku Hakkenshi
Inumura Hinaginu Daikaku's wife
Noma One of Inumura's samurai

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by Felicitas Ivey

Iida Hideaki Lord of Tsushima, a small island
Mawatari Kappei Iida's samurai guard
Sazuki Iyusa Lord of a large kuni on the island of Kyushu
Takaneda Kosaburou Daimyo on eastern shore of

Tamazusa's kuni

[Back to Table of Contents]

Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

Acknowledgments

While writing a book is usually a solitary venture, getting

one published is not. I'd like to thank everyone who helped
that happen.

A huge thank you to Elizabeth at Dreamspinner Press for

taking a chance on me and publishing my first book, which is
the prequel to this one. To Lynn and her team of editors for
polishing my baby for publishing and going over the
manuscript for both grammar and continuity. Any mistakes
made are mine and not theirs. To Anne Cain for her wonderful
cover art that brought Keno and Aboshi to life for lots of
people.

Big thank yous to Mark, Ed, and Tim for the long walks

around Castle Island and letting me bounce ideas off them
and arguing with me about plots and logic and listening to me
babble about my research. A huge additional thank you to Ed
for his lifesaving effort of looking over and editing my
manuscript as both a work in progress and as the final
product before I submitted it to Dreamspinner Press. Thanks
to my family for their support and their excitement that I was
published.

And as always, I wouldn't be where I am today without the

support of the husband. Thank you, Russ.

[Back to Table of Contents]

Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

Chapter One

Keno
I glanced over at Tamazusa. She was dressed in a kimono

a shade of black that seemed to absorb light. Samojirou wore
an indigo kimono and was her escort for this gathering. I
trailed behind the two of them, dressed as Sakura, my
feminine persona, my kimono and obi as colorful as theirs
were dark, various shades of gold and red, with many layers
and my obi tied in front. The only concession to the party
being outdoors was that I wore small geta, not the tall ones I
usually wore, which were the kind all tayuu wore. I still
dressed as one when I went anywhere with Samojirou. Aboshi
and I had been together for more than a year now, and we
had become a familiar sight to the lords of Nippon. But
Tamazusa accompanying us was unusual, and she created a
small stir when people started to recognize her.

Tamazusa looked relaxed and happy, and Samojirou was

thrilled she was here. Even if I had lost Samojirou's undivided
attention for the evening, I was glad she had come with us,
since I thought Tamazusa spent far too much time alone. We
were here to attend a sakura—cherry blossom—party, since it
was the beginning of their bloom. There were any number of
parties going on in Nippon, scattered all over the island, in
celebration of the event, and I knew our entire week would be
devoted to attending as many as possible. Samojirou was
able to take us anywhere we needed or wanted to go using
his ability to walk the shadows. It was an advantage few of

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by Felicitas Ivey

the other lords had, and Tamazusa had decided to take
advantage of it.

"Sakura-chan, attend us," Samojirou said as they settled

into a corner of the orchard. Two tatami mats had been laid
out underneath a couple of cherry trees, along with a low
table. The three of us were to sit and admire the flowers'
beauty. While we were doing that, Tamazusa would also be
playing the Game, and Samojirou would watch over us.

Samojirou's words sounded like an order, but I didn't

mind, knowing Samojirou and Tamazusa trusted me to guard
them as well as serve them. They would play the Game—
which was, to me, an incomprehensible combination of
scheming and power plays most of the lords of Nippon
participated in—and I would be observe them, silent and
unseen, in a manner of speaking. Lesser beings usually were,
even in this outfit. I nodded and bowed deeply to him. We
were still working with the "no speaking in public" rule. I got
a kick out of it, really. I was also nervous that I would slip
somehow and embarrass him if I actually talked to people.
But Samojirou's mysterious, mute companion intrigued
people, so we continued with the charade. There were a lot of
wild theories about me, and I was grateful that none of them
even came close to the truth.

I glided over to where the basket with the sake, tea, and

snacks had been left for us. It was supposed to be someone
else's job to serve, but I wasn't going to let anyone else near
them. Tamazusa was here to relax, mostly; but she'd never
stop playing the Game, and having someone else serve her,

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by Felicitas Ivey

someone who might overhear an important remark, not
meant for his or her ears, would put her on guard.

I was making my way back from the area where the

refreshments were located when an older samurai stepped
into my way. I looked up at him, my head tilted down,
peeking up at him through my lashes. I recognized his mon,
the crests all samurai wore to identify their rank, clan, and
family, as belonging to a lord from the far south of Nippon.
He was named Iida Hideaki, Lord of Tsushima, an island off
the coast. I had memorized the mon for all the lords of
Nippon, so I knew who they were, even if I didn't talk to
them. He stared at me for a moment before stomping off. I
hesitated a second before returning to Samojirou and
Tamazusa, confused about exactly what had happened.

"That was interesting," Tamazusa said with a small frown.

"I wonder what issue he has?"

"Rude," Samojirou drawled, his eyes hard and flat for a

moment before smiling at me. "That was most insulting to our
Sakura-chan."

I bowed to them before starting to set out the snacks and

sake. Samojirou looked like he wanted to kiss me. Tamazusa
shook her head at the two of us as she asked, "I take it that
everything is arranged?"

"Of course, my lady," he said smoothly. "Would I have it

any other way?"

"You wouldn't," she told him with a smile. She sat down

gracefully, elegant in a way I could never hope to match.
Samojirou moved behind her, and I continued to serve the
two of them.

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by Felicitas Ivey

One of the lords came over to speak to Tamazusa,

accompanied by his concubine. She sneered at me for doing
what she considered to be such a menial task, one that a
tayuu left to others. I stared back at her with a cool smile. I
knew what my worth was. I saw that her clothing wasn't as
fine as mine, and I thought she was either a temporary
companion or one only worthy of short-term contracts,
perhaps an oiran or even one of the other lower-class
concubines.

"Lord Sazuki," Tamazusa purred, "It has been too long

since I enjoyed your company."

He bowed. "Your beauty has grown over time."
Sazuki Yoshinobu was a high lord who ruled a large kuni

that was part of the island of Kyushu in southern Nippon. He
had a very formidable wife, and they lived very separate
lives, from what I have been told. I thought it was very odd
that Tamazusa and Samojirou seemed to have a better
relationship than most married couples.

"You flatter me," Tamazusa said. I noticed his companion

wasn't bold enough to sneer at her and hid my smile.
Tamazusa wasn't someone who she would dare act snobbish
with as she had to me.

"I see that you have added to your household," Sazuki said

with an empty smile, fishing for information. That was stupid,
since it wasn't like Samojirou and I hadn't spent the last year
together. Or did he think I was a different person than the
one who had accompanied Samojirou everywhere? "A pretty
little thing."

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by Felicitas Ivey

"Sakura-chan is dear to Samojirou-sama," Tamazusa told

him with a chilly smile. "As he is to me."

Sazuki nodded, realizing he was coming close to insulting

both Tamazusa and Samojirou. While not a lord, Samojirou
was a very powerful oni, someone to be feared for any
number of reasons. I was just wondering about which he
Tamazusa was talking about: Samojirou or myself?

Nothing was said for a moment until someone else stopped

by to talk with us. I wasn't surprised to see that it was Fuse,
and her consort Yatsufusa, since she was very fond of
Samojirou. Fuse was dressed in a rich, deep pink kimono,
looking no older than sixteen, even if she was wearing a
kimono of a married woman for once. Yatsufusa, as usual,
appeared as the dog he had been in the real world, one of the
ones that had been caught up in Tamazusa's curse.

"Samojirou-sama," she called out, ignoring the tension in

the air. "We are looking forward to viewing the blossoms with
you."

Yatsufusa drew back his lips in a half-snarl at Samojirou,

but that was normal. He loathed Samojirou for a number of
reasons. But he wasn't going to cause a scene if Fuse said
they were going to be visiting with Tamazusa and Samojirou.

Sazuki raised an eyebrow at Fuse, and she smiled coolly at

him. "Samojirou-sama mentioned that he would be here when
we met at an ikebana exhibit two weeks ago. Yatsufusa-sama
decided to accompany me, since some of our sons would be
here also. He also enjoys the blossoms."

"It is always an honor to be with you, hime," Sazuki said

stiffly, knowing better than to comment upon Samojirou's and

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by Felicitas Ivey

Fuse's relationship, as they were friends, having many
interests in common. Besides, while people may have said
many things about the two of them, everyone also knew
Samojirou wasn't interested in women. My being dressed as
one, as a tayuu, was thought to be an amusement for him
and not the disguise it really was. And I knew both Samojirou
and Tamazusa hoped I wasn't aware of why I needed to be
disguised. "And all your sons are always amusing."

"Shino-chan and Sousuke-chan," Fuse said, thawing

slightly with Sazuki. "I fear not all my sons are interested in
such things."

"And will the charming Hamaji-dono be with them?"

Tamazusa asked with a warm smile, using the older honorific
for "lady" for Hamaji.

"She will be," Fuse said. "She's looking forward to the

party."

I almost smiled at that. I liked Hamaji. We had met when

Fuse took me for a two-week stay at my brother Shino's kuni
when we had all gotten back from the real world after the
Trust had taken me by force from the Dreamlands and
Samojirou, Tamazusa, and my family, the Hakkenshi, banded
together to rescue me and stop the threat from the Trust.

As part of that trip, I had been introduced to my brothers,

the Hakkenshi, again, but as Keno, not Sakura. It hadn't been
the most comfortable trip for me, but it had been interesting.
I got used to the idea that I had a family again, more than
just Tamazusa and Samojirou. My brothers had to get used to
the idea that I was going to continue to live with my lord and
my lover, as unhappy as it seemed to make some of them,

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by Felicitas Ivey

Shinbee and Dousetsu in particular. They hated that I stayed
with Samojirou as Sakura rather than living with them as
their dead brother's avatar. But no one argued with me when
Fuse, my brothers' mother, made it clear that she approved
of my relationship with Samojirou and that I would continue
to be Sakura to the rest of the Dreamlands.

Hamaji had been the only one who had not argued with

Fuse about it. In fact, she had made a joking comment that
having another "girl" in the family would make it easier on
her. Aside from her husband, my brother Daikaku seemed to
be the only one involved with a woman, even if they didn't
seem to be living with each other. Not that I thought that the
Hakkenshi were all gay or something, but I thought they were
like Mason and Wolf, guys more involved in their work at the
Trust than relationships. Most of my brothers were lords in
Nippon, like Tamazusa and Sazuki. The ones who were not
were still powerful men to be feared, like Samojirou.

There was a pregnant pause, the silence almost becoming

uncomfortable, when Shino, Sousuke, and Hamaji joined us.
Shino and Sousuke were dressed as mirror images of one
another, in black and red kimono and hakama. Hamaji was
also in a deep-red and black formal kimono, her hair arranged
in a formal style. It was a shock to see her like that, since she
had usually worn her hair in a ponytail and dressed in very
simple kimono during the time I stayed with them in Shino's
castle.

"Mother," she called out excitedly. "I was hoping to see

you here."

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by Felicitas Ivey

Shino and Sousuke were a bit more restrained in their

greeting, bowing to Fuse and Yatsufusa, then Tamazusa and
Samojirou, before nodding to me.

"Please forgive my wife," Shino said dryly. "We don't let

her out of my castle too often."

Hamaji frowned at him, while Sousuke just smiled.

Yatsufusa let out a little snort of amusement and Fuse smiled
back at Hamaji. "You do know Sazuki-sama?"

Hamaji bowed deeply to him, suddenly formal. "I am

honored to meet you," she murmured. She also bowed to
Tamazusa and Samojirou. "I am glad to see friends of Mother
here too!"

"You must see if you can join us at the next ikebana

exhibit," Samojirou said with a smile. "And this is my
companion, Sakura-chan."

Hamaji blinked a couple of times and bowed. I bowed

back, all very proper and formal. She smiled at me and
announced, "I adore your kimono. I must have one like it."

Shino and Sousuke groaned as one, while Sazuki's

companion sneered openly. Hamaji ignored all of them to
smile at me, recognizing me under all the makeup I was
wearing, since I was dressed as a tayuu, a concubine,
someone no proper Japanese wife wanted to know about,
never mind dress like.

"Hamaji—" Shino started.
"We'll talk about it later," Fuse promised her, glaring at her

sons. "Now is the time that we need to be decorative and
admire the flowers."

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by Felicitas Ivey

I almost laughed at that one. Fuse played the Game

almost as much as Tamazusa did.

Sazuki and his companion moved off after a few more

pleasantries. Fuse looked at Yatsufusa, and he snorted and
sat down.

"I will be honored if you would all join us," Tamazusa said.
"Of course we're staying," Hamaji told her firmly.
"If only to start a whole host of new rumors," Fuse added

with a smile.

I spent the rest of the night serving them. Sousuke looked

like he wanted to say something, but a look from Shino
quieted him. Samojirou and Fuse made sure the conversation
didn't lag between the visits of the other lords. I wasn't
surprised to see that we seemed to be a popular group. I
knew many of the lords were trying to figure out if Tamazusa
and Fuse were negotiating some sort of an alliance after so
many centuries of frigid politeness. It didn't help that
whenever someone outside our group seemed to be near us,
Fuse extolled the virtues of one of her unmarried sons.

It was toward the end of the evening that Sousuke finally

brought up the topic that had been bothering him all evening,
from the looks that he had been giving me. I was pouring him
more sake when he grabbed my sleeve.

"How can you act like this?" he asked. I was relieved he

didn't use my name, and so for a moment I didn't get angry.
And then I did. It didn't matter that he was a little tipsy or
that he was family, he had no right really to question my
choices. At least not so publicly.

"Sousuke," Shino hissed.

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by Felicitas Ivey

Samojirou glared at him, and I said nothing. That seemed

to make Sousuke even angrier.

"How can you let him do this to you?" Sousuke continued.

"Come back with us!"

"No," I softly snarled at him, angry that he had ruined the

evening by doing this. "Samojirou-sama—"

"We are leaving now," Shino announced. Hamaji was

glaring at Sousuke, and I had a sick feeling in my stomach
about the fight I knew the three of them were going to have
when they got someplace private.

Fuse threw an apologetic glance at Tamazusa, who nodded

at her. Something passed between them that I didn't
understand. Shino, Sousuke, and Hamaji left, their goodbyes
formal and stiff. I was a bit stunned at what had happened.
Sousuke was usually very easygoing and had spent most of
my time with him teasing me. He had acted like the older
brother I had never had, almost like Wolf, who had been one
of the few people in the Trust who had treated me well. I
wondered how long he had felt like this.

"Sousuke-chan—" Fuse began.
"Your sons are old enough to make their own decisions,

Lady," Samojirou said. "I don't hold that against you. I know
that some of your sons are unhappy with me, as is your
husband. Frankly, I thought that Inuyama-sama or Inue-
sama would be the ones that wanted us to be parted."

I glanced at Samojirou for permission to speak. He nodded

at me. "Fuse-hime—"

"Mother," she told me with a smile. "There is no need to be

so formal."

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by Felicitas Ivey

"Mother," I said. It felt odd. I had never been that formal

with my birth mother, but calling a woman who looked
sixteen "Mother" was just strange. "You and Father must
know that I am very happy with Aboshi-sama and Tamazusa-
sama. I will not leave them, no matter how unhappy the
family is with my choice. I am sorry about that, but if they
cannot accept that, we don't have to meet. Please tell Hamaji
and Shino that I am sorry that things ended so awkwardly. I
look forward to seeing them again. All of them actually,
including Sousuke."

"We will be enjoying the entire cherry blossom season all

over Nippon," Tamazusa said quietly. "I do hope to see you
both again. I enjoyed your company. There is no need for us
to hold old grudges. I never thought that you were
responsible for anything that your father had done."

"Tamazusa-sama, you are as gracious as always," Fuse

said as she smiled. "My husband and I look forward to seeing
you at the rest of the festivals."

"Until then," Samojirou said. Yatsufusa nodded at him as

Fuse bowed, and the two of them left us.

I was aware that there were still some lords about, even

though it was very late. Most of them seemed drunk, but I
knew appearances could be deceptive. Iida was openly
staring at us. I thought that was very rude, but he was far
enough away for him not to have heard anything.

"I think that it is time for us to retire," Samojirou said.
"I agree," Tamazusa said with a small laugh.
"You seemed to have picked up an admirer," Samojirou

said, nodding at Iida-sama.

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by Felicitas Ivey

"I think it is your adorable Sakura-chan that he is

interested in."

Samojirou laughed and took each of our hands. With that,

he walked the shadows back to the shoen.

* * * *

Tamazusa
It was late when we returned home. The sake seemed to

have made me mellow and relaxed. It was a strange
sensation, since I usually didn't let myself drink that much.
But it had been amusing, playing the Game with Fuse, in
between the conversations where she extolled the virtues of
her four unmarried sons. She seemed to have been almost
ready to negotiate a contract with me. Shino had been
horrified, Hamaji and Yatsufusa amused, and Sousuke I
couldn't read. I had been as surprised as the rest of them by
his anger at Keno. And then there had been that incident with
Iida. I didn't know what the man wanted, and that bothered
me. He was a lesser lord of a small island, someone I
wouldn't consider either a threat or a potential ally. So why
was he so interested in me?

"Keno-chan, why don't you get ready to retire," Aboshi

suggested.

"Good night," Keno told us both with a smile and a shallow

bow before going to their quarters. I thought he knew Aboshi
and I wanted to talk without him about what had happened. I
liked the fact that he had defended us to his family.

"He is delightful," I said with a smile.

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"And I have you to thank for him," Aboshi said humbly. "I

don't know what I would do without him now."

"I don't think that Inukawa or Inuyama will be an issue," I

said, unexpectedly moved by his comment. "And Inue can be
controlled by the rest of his family. Yatsufusa, oddly enough,
seems to approve of your relationship. None of the Hakkenshi
will want to anger their father."

"I am not worried about that," Aboshi said. "Fuse-hime will

make her wishes known, and her sons will obey her or avoid
us. You remember the trouble that she had had with them in
the beginning, when we kept meeting at the same events?
This will amount to nothing, as that did."

"The rest of Nippon will be too busy wondering why we

seem to have allied after all these centuries," I said. "I will
make sure that no one guesses it is because your beloved
companion is Inuzaka Keno."

"Sakura is the perfect disguise for him for a number of

reasons," Aboshi said with a frown. "I had used it to hide him
from his family. Now it will be useful for any number of
reasons."

"Inuzaka Keno's reputation," I said after a strained silence.

"I must confess I haven't thought about that."

The first Inuzaka Keno had been a fierce fighter and one

with a reputation for being a cold-blooded assassin as well.
There would be any number of lords and assorted samurai
who would want to be the one with the reputation of
defeating or even killing him. This Keno was a gentle soul, not
one who could fight like that, even if he was competent. He
would never be a killer. Aboshi would fight through the hells

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to protect him, and I, too, would do anything in my power to
protect Keno from being a killer.

"What you also haven't thought about is Iida's interest in

us," Aboshi said.

I shrugged. "As for now, I'm not going to worry about it."
I felt too good to try and piece together what he wanted

from us. I could deal with it either tomorrow or even never. It
might have just been an isolated incident or even simple
rudeness. Not much was known about Iida. He was a
southern lord who held a small kuni off the coast of Nippon. If
I needed to know more, I could have my spies gather the
information. As for now, I was going to just enjoy the flowers
and not worry about the plotting of the other lords, at least
not much.

Aboshi smiled at me as if he were reading my mind. "I

think that I've corrupted you, my lady." He signaled to the
maid hovering in the background, and she scurried off to
assist me in my rooms.

I laughed and shook my head. "I simply am not worried

about someone who is so inconsequential."

I wasn't being rude about the man; his kuni was far away

from mine. While not one of the most powerful lords in
Nippon, I wasn't without influence. With Aboshi at my side, I
was stronger than I appeared to be. I treasured his support,
and I hoped he and Keno spent many years by my side.

"And you shouldn't neglect Keno," I mock-scolded him.

"The poor child is probably waiting eagerly for you in your
quarters."

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Aboshi laughed, which I wanted him to do. I didn't want to

spoil his evening by ending it with dealing with a rude little
man, such as Iida. "I will obey your instructions," he teased.
"My lord."

I smiled at him, knowing what he wasn't saying: that he

was loyal and would never betray me, something I had never
worried about with him, no matter that he had betrayed and
murdered Jin-yo, his former lord and the reason we both had
been banished to the Dreamlands. I retired to my rooms,
feeling almost giddy, and hoped Aboshi's night ended well
also.

* * * *

Samojirou
I walked into my quarters and wasn't surprised to see

Keno and Yukiko giggling over something as she gathered his
clothing to be cleaned and he removed his makeup. Yukiko
adored Keno, as did most of the servants and the samurai.
She bowed to me and bustled off to take care of Keno's
clothing before she retired. Keno looked up at me with a grin,
and I was struck by how beautiful he was. He didn't look
feminine now; his shoulders and arms were muscled from his
practice with Tamazusa's samurai every morning.

"Good evening, Samojirou-sama," he chirped at me.
"I was Aboshi earlier," I teased him.
He flushed. "I'm sorry that I broke the no-talking rule, but

Sousuke startled me. I don't know why he was upset. He had
been very nice when we stayed with him and Shino."

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by Felicitas Ivey

"I think that he is upset that you were Sakura tonight and

not his brother Keno," I said gently.

"I guess that not everyone can figure out that we are the

same person," he said thoughtfully.

"It is that ignorance that is keeping you safe."
He frowned at me, apparently confused by what I was

talking about. He continued with the disguise of Sakura
because it amused him, as well as myself. I didn't think Keno
realized he needed its protection still. I hoped he never
would.

He got up and gave me a kiss. "It's been a good evening,"

he said. "I'm not letting Sousuke ruin it."

I kissed him back. Keno was being bold. We had

progressed in our physical relationship to more than kisses,
for the most part, including the rare, treasured times of
actual sex. He was still uneasy about sex after suffering rape
and other abuse at the hands of the Trust. I didn't know if sex
was happening tonight, but Keno was willing, despite the fact
I knew it had been a long evening for him. He tasted like tea
and the sweets he had been nibbling on.

"A very good evening," I agreed, kissing him back, running

my hands up and down his back, savoring the feel of his skin.
He made a small murmur of pleasure, melting into my touch.

I felt him fumbling with my hakama and stepped out of it

when he got it untied. Keno undressing me would be
delightful foreplay. I didn't miss his hands lightly brushing
over my shaft underneath my kimono, and it was my turn to
moan. I let him undo my obi and open my kimono before I
unknotted his fundoshi, stripping him bare. He rubbed against

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me shamelessly, twining his arms around my back and pulling
me closer to him. I almost spilled myself at his boldness.

"So bold," I teased.
He laughed. "I think that I should show you how bold I can

be."

With that he dropped to his knees and started to tease my

shaft, licking the tip of it briefly before taking the whole thing
in his mouth, tasting the entire length of it before pulling back
to flick his tongue over the head of my shaft again. I groaned
in pleasure, my fingers twisting in his hair. Not to control him,
but because he made me lose any sense I had when he did
this.

"Let me get more comfortable," I pleaded with him after

an endless time, my world centering on the pleasure his hot
mouth and talented tongue were giving me. My legs were
shaking, and I felt that I was going to spill, but I wanted to
savor this longer.

Keno didn't say anything, but he sat back on his heels,

looking wanton and wild with his swollen lips and the way he
exposed his body to me. I managed to lie on our futon. Keno
slowly licked his lips when he saw me lie down, a gesture that
made me groan. I almost lost it when he rocked forward and
started to crawl toward me, wild and submissive at the same
time, holding my stare boldly. He was still staring at me when
he took me deep in his throat and bobbed up and down
slowly, driving me insane.

It wasn't too long before I was writhing underneath his

mouth, his fingers stroking my thighs and sac as gentle as a

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by Felicitas Ivey

butterfly. "I'm—" I choked out, before I spilled into his mouth,
feeling him drink it down eagerly.

When I was done, he went back to teasing licks to clean

me up. When he finished, he smiled at me, smug and
satisfied, even though his own shaft was hard and he had not
taken his own pleasure.

"Touch yourself," I ordered hoarsely. I wanted to see his

eyes when he did that. "Take your own joy."

He smiled, stroking his shaft slowly, but even that was too

much, and he spilled, whimpering in pleasure as he coated
me with his seed. When he was done, I grabbed him and held
him tight, smearing the seed over him too.

"I liked that," he said sleepily as he nuzzled my chest. I

was amazed by how quickly he could go from being a
seductive creature to the sleepy puppy he was.

"I did too," I told him, not trying to hide the amusement in

my voice.

I fell asleep shortly after he did, enjoying the feel of him in

my arms.

[Back to Table of Contents]

Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

Chapter Two

Mason
After the second incursion from the Dreamlands, the Trust

pretty much shut Boylston Street down. The place was quietly
quarantined within a week of our final, carefully edited report,
one that never mentioned that either Wolf or I were some
weird mystical warriors called Hakkenshi or their avatars or
whatever Fuse had told us. There was nothing in that report
about the fact that Keno had been one of them too or that the
mean fuckers who had invaded us were related to him in
some way.

Quarantine meant they filled the lower levels with

poisonous gas and cement to shut the monsters off from the
rest of the world. Not that I thought that would do jack-shit
against Tamazusa, because she seemed to be able to pop in
here anytime she wanted, wherever she wanted, and I wasn't
going to tell these fuckers anything different. The research
sections were shifted to other locations, like the Lowell and
Fall River branches of the Trust.

Keno's choice to leave us hit me hard, but Wolf was

devastated. He ended up going to a lot of shrink sessions
over it. Not with McGann, but to some guy out of Waltham, at
the nuthouse, which was convenient, since Wolf was now
stationed there. McGann was up in Lowell, making nice with
the state-run university located there, as our liaison.

None of us who had been on that mission were allowed to

talk about it, even with each other. We didn't see each other

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by Felicitas Ivey

anyway, not really. Murphy ended up being semi-retired, not
that he ever wanted to talk to me again after what happened;
Anya was out on the West Coast; Wolf was at Waltham. I was
sent down to Fall River, which was all research. My job was to
make sure the eggheads got what they wanted, which usually
involved a Dunkies run and making sure they didn't get
attacked by a rogue test tube. A big letdown from what I had
been doing, and the commute was a bitch, but it was better
than getting permanently retired by these people.

I was getting to know the eggheads down in Fall River

after being there for a couple of weeks when I got a message
that there was an assignment for me in Boston. I was really
surprised when I got to the meeting and the people there
were Elizabeth Adams, Caitlynn McGann, and Wolf Dieter.

Elizabeth Adams was a Trustee, a sweet little old lady who

was tough as nails. She protected Fuse, which was one of the
things that saved our asses, given the fact that Fuse's kids
were mean fuckers and not too happy about Murphy stealing
their mom and Keno. They had been almost as pissed about it
as Tamazusa and her boy toy had been. Mrs. Adams had
taken charge when Collins had disappeared and kept all of us
from being terminated, I swear. Most of the Trustees would
have been happy to see some of us in the lower levels while
they were pouring in the cement to close them off.

"Ma'am." I nodded to her. Being on a desk had taught me

to act a little more polite to people, sometimes. Besides, she
probably was the reason I was still breathing, so I should be
polite to her.

"Mr. Kairns." She smiled. "It's good to see you."

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by Felicitas Ivey

"I was told to report here," I said. It sounded kind of like a

question, mainly because the three of us had been separated
and it had been hinted that it would be very bad for us if we
ever talked to one another again. Good part about that was
Anya had to find some other poor shit to screw over besides
Wolf, because she had been part of that mission. Bad part
was I didn't get to see Wolf. Not to sound too fucking touchy
feely, but he was a good friend, about the only one I had. In
our line of work, you didn't get friends who lasted.

McGann looked tired, but she was still in a killer suit, and

her hair was pulled back in some sort of fancy bun. Wolf
looked older, not quite there almost. He seemed to have
changed a lot in the last couple of weeks. I didn't like seeing
the changes in him. He looked like he was on the edge of
breaking down. Losing Keno had really hurt him for some
reason. I figured it was because he felt responsible for him in
some way and that he hadn't known the kid had had the hots
for him. Me... there were nights I stayed awake with a bottle
because of the guilt, but Wolf's was eating away at him. Mine
was just keeping me company. Keno had made a good
choice, staying with the monsters, since they were a lot
better to him than we ever had been. Wolf would never
believe that, though, and that was what was killing him.

"The Trustees have a mission that we want you to go on,"

Mrs. Adams said. "We have managed to recover both Mr.
Heiseg's notes and Mr. Fairinox's work."

"What the fuck for?" popped out of my mouth before I

thought about who I was talking to. That it took this long for
the Trust to want to plan a return trip to the Dreamlands

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by Felicitas Ivey

again meant something. I just didn't know what. Maybe not
everyone thought this was a good idea?

McGann looked at me, and Wolf just shook his head, Mrs.

Adams was amused, though. "It seems that the Trustees
would like to see more of the Dreamlands, thinking that we
can make allies there. I doubt that we would be able to work
with the Nipponese, though, from the blunders that we made
there. From the research that Caitlynn and Anya have done,
there are a number of other nations we could deal with. The
Trustees want to contact one of them."

I stared at her. "Are they—" I started to say before I shut

my mouth.

"While I don't think that this is a good idea," McGann said,

"I will work with the Trustees."

That made sense, since those fuckers could make

McGann's life miserable because she was a 'path. "Once in,
never out" wasn't just the motto for some fucking terrorist
organization. No one walked away from the Trust. Keno had
been the first one I'd known of. Most of the time, the lucky
ones died, and the unlucky ones ended up in a nuthouse,
whether they needed to be there or not.

Wolf was still thinking about Mrs. Adams's offer, but I

could see he was interested. I didn't blame him, since it was
something for him to hold on to. Me, I thought that it was a
bad idea, starting with the fact that you needed to kill
someone to get us there and ending with getting back was
something that I didn't understand how it worked.

"I don't like it," I said into the really uncomfortable silence.

"And you know why."

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Mrs. Adams had the balls to look guilty for a second,

before turning professional. "I know, but.... We have
managed to work out some of the details and a much better
plan. It won't be the wild goose chase that Collins organized."
She paused for a second, taking a deep breath. "We are
losing this war," Mrs. Adams continued carefully. "Allies are
needed, and hopefully we can find them there, because the
Dreamlands are where all the monsters originate. We can
bring the fight to them and stop their incursions here."

"And you don't think that they're some poor fuckers that

got lost?" I nearly shouted. Shit, I had been thinking about
that for a while, which was probably the reason that I was
rent-a-cop now and not a Trouble Consultant.

"Mason," Wolf said. "I don't think that we have a say in

this." He then clicked his heels and bowed to Mrs. Adams. "I
am yours to command."

Wolf sounded nuts, but he looked less worn all of a

sudden. I didn't know what was going on in his head, but
McGann looked thoughtful. I was surprised Wolf wasn't pulling
a shit fit about what I'd just said. I was going to ask McGann
about that later, if she could tell me. 'Paths had rules they
worked under, and one of them was they couldn't tell about
anything they picked up in someone's head.

"Mrs. Adams," McGann said. "I won't commit myself to this

without seeing more of the mission statement, no matter
what I've been told."

"Caitlynn, I assure you that the Board's threats are

meaningless. You are valuable to us."

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by Felicitas Ivey

"So why send her on what might be a one-way trip?" I

asked, wondering if that line sounded as strange to McGann
as it did to me. "She had her shit together on the last op, but
if you're sending us someplace nasty, sending any woman
wouldn't be good. I know that her and Anya got all the intel
on the place, but you got their notes and shit. You don't need
to send either one of them."

I was feeling protective of Wolf and McGann, because

neither one of them was showing a bit of sense about this. I
felt guilty about Keno and wasn't happy with my life, but I
didn't know if I wanted to do this. But I would go along with
these two, because, shit, they needed someone to watch their
asses and I was the one to do so.

McGann just looked at me, kind of surprised I was arguing

about protecting her virtue, I guess. Mrs. Adams just looked
speculative. "I hadn't thought...."

I sighed. "I don't think McGann ain't got the balls to get

the job done, but how nasty is where we're going? Tamazusa
was a tough lady, and she'd've killed us if we weren't so
fucking funny to her and her boy toy while we were there. But
I swear she wouldn't have done anything really bad to us."

"Bad?" Mrs. Adams asked, sounding amused by my

statement. McGann just watched me. I thought she knew
where I was going on this. You didn't need to be telepathic to
figure it out, just street savvy.

"Rape and torture us," I said bluntly. "You're a nice lady.

You don't think of those things. I knew that Wolf didn't. Not
that he's stupid, he just hadn't been in a situation that he had
to think about it. He's a damned Boy Scout. Basically, this trip

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by Felicitas Ivey

should be guys. Big fuckin' bruisers that no one's gonna look
at and think that they'd be a good wife. You want to do the
nice-nice with these people, that's gonna be the second or
third trip when you know they're worth it, as much as I hate
to say it."

Not that I actually wanted to do multiple trips to this place

after how it happened last time, but I knew that given the
fuck-ups previously, we were going to have to do a lot of
negotiation with whoever the Trustees were trying to hook up
with.

Mrs. Adams looked at McGann, checking for her opinion.

"While Mason's assessment is a bit rough," McGann said, "he
does have some valid arguments. The Nipponese are very
civilized. Lady Tamazusa is a very powerful woman, and, from
what I found out, the only female lord in Nippon. Very few
pre-industrial societies allow women that power. I must
confess I didn't think about the other thing that he
mentioned."

"I don't think that—" Mrs. Adams started.
"You been in prison?" I asked, wanting her to see some

sort of light. "You ever have to watch out for the nasties?
Besides the other Trustees?" Maybe that wasn't the right
thing to say, but I wanted her to know how serious I was
about this. "You're a nice lady who don't have to worry or
think about this shit. Because if you did, you'd've protected
Keno's ass. You're thinking that these guys are going to be
playing by the rules. They ain't or at least not rules that we
know and understand."

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by Felicitas Ivey

"I doubt that things are going to be that bad," Mrs. Adams

insisted.

"It might not be," I snapped, "but I ain't setting up

McGann to be part of a train pull if it is. You're still thinking
that the monsters are the ones that you have to worry about.
Humans can be worse than the monsters. Trust me on this. I
saw it inside."

"What's a train pull?" Mrs. Adams asked, a slightly

confused look in her eyes.

"When a group of men line up to use someone sexually,

whether the person's interested or not," Wolf told her before I
could.

I was surprised that he did, but considering where he had

been assigned, he'd probably had to break up something like
that at least once. Depending how nuts they were at
Waltham, the inmates could be worse than those in prison.
And I knew that he didn't want to see something like that
happen to McGann. Or anyone, really. Me, I just thought that
sending bruisers might stop that. I didn't know if he thought
that would be good enough.

"I don't think that I can use that for any of the other

Trustees as an argument against Caitlynn going," Mrs. Adams
said.

I bit my tongue to stop myself from saying something

nasty, and McGann sighed. "Some of them might think that—
"

"I don't need to hear the rest of that," I said. I really

didn't. I had seen and done some nasty shit in my life, but I
never thought that setting someone up for rape was a way to

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by Felicitas Ivey

get even, like those fuckers did. McGann must have really
pissed them off.

"But what about talking to these people?" I continued. "I

know English and some Spanish. Wolf knows German,
Russian, and Jap, as well as English. Shouldn't we have
someone that speaks Latin or something?"

I barely remembered the map from my time in Tamazusa's

library, but I knew that the nations I had seen there, not all
of them spoke English, from what little that blue guy told us.
Not that I had been paying much attention to him; I had been
too busy talking to Samojirou and trying to figure out what
shit he was pulling.

"And McGann looked like she was going to puke the entire

time she was there, like she had a bad headache," I added. "I
don't think that it's going to be better this time."

"Mason, honestly, I can take care of myself," McGann

murmured. I could see she was amused I was fussing about
this. Shit, she was a good person who had been dealt a rotten
hand. I bet if she hadn't been a 'path, she'd probably have
had a nice, normal life being a librarian or something sane
like that.

I snorted. "Doubt that. You and Wolf... shit, you're good

people."

"I will take your concerns under advisement," Mrs. Adams

said.

Even I figured that was a polite "shut the fuck up." The

meeting broke up after that, and I was wondering if the
Trustees were going to smarten up and just leave the
Dreamlands alone.

Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

* * * *

Keno
Dousetsu showed up at the final cherry blossom gathering

as the blossoms artfully fell from the trees, blanketing the
ground with their beauty. I was surprised to see him there.
He was one of the more antisocial people I knew. He had
seemed very uncomfortable even at the family gatherings at
Shino's castle. I hadn't seen Shino or Sousuke since that
party the first night. Not that I expected to. The parties we
were attending were all over Nippon, and you had to either
have Samojirou's talent of walking the shadows or know
some sort of spell to teleport you around, neither of which
were common. If you couldn't do that, you either walked or
were carried in a kaga, a palanquin box, to where you wanted
to go. I had no idea how Fuse got around as much as she did,
but it had something to do with Yatsufusa. I thought he had
some sort of ability to teleport.

"Sakura-san," Dousetsu said, bowing to me. He bowed

deeper and more formally to Tamazusa. "Tamazusa-sama."
He ignored Samojirou. There was something there I didn't
know about and frankly didn't want to.

"Inuyama-sama, it is a pleasure to see you here,"

Tamazusa said.

"May I join you?" he asked.
She smiled at him. "You do know about the rumors?"
He looked uncomfortable but nodded. "That my mother

wants an alliance with you? Or the one that she's marrying
one of us off to you?"

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by Felicitas Ivey

Tamazusa laughed. "Both. You are safe, though."
Dousetsu looked puzzled for a moment and then relaxed.

"I don't think that we would be a good match."

I studied him. He didn't remind me of Wolf, or Wolf wasn't

like him, whichever it was supposed to be. I found it hard to
believe that Wolf was Dousetsu's avatar. Not that I had
anything against Dousetsu, I barely knew him, but I knew he
wasn't like Wolf from the few times that we had talked. Wolf
was a nice guy, kind, and gentle. I'd had a crush on him for
the longest time because of that. I couldn't even think of
Dousetsu in that way, knowing that we were related in an odd
sort of way. He was a hard man, from what I had heard, and
cold, for a number of reasons, none of which had been really
explained to me.

"So you are here to plead Inukai-sama's suit?" Tamazusa

asked him lightly.

Samojirou laughed and shook his head. Inukai Genpachi

was another one of my brothers. He was like Mason, tough
and street smart. He had been a ronin, a masterless samurai
for a while. He didn't always watch his language either and
had spent most of my visit teasing me about Samojirou,
making me laugh and feel embarrassed at the same time.
That he would be someone Tamazusa would be interested in
was laughable. She had the reputation of being elegant and
ruthless. Of all my brothers, I thought she would have the
most in common with Shino.

Dousetsu looked startled, and then he realized she was

teasing him. "I was thinking more of Konbungo," he told her
dryly, trying to fall into the spirit of the joke.

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by Felicitas Ivey

"Unfortunately that means that I have to deal with Inue-

sama," she said regretfully. "I don't think that will be pleasant
for either one of us."

My brother Inue Shinbee, to put it bluntly, has a tendency

to act like a brat, since he had been spoiled by both Fuse and
the rest of his brothers. Inuta Konbungo was a big man,
gentle and kind. He reminded me a lot of Wolf. He was never
far away from Shinbee, since he had been his nephew as well
as one of the Hakkenshi in the real world. Plus I thought
Shinbee needed Konbungo to keep him out of trouble.

"Then can I ask to stay on my own merits?" Dousetsu

asked.

Samojirou smiled. "You and the rest of the Hakkenshi are

always welcome."

Dousetsu looked angry for a moment and then nodded. "I

understand. However—"

"I also understand that sometimes the past is hard to let

go," Samojirou said softly, looking at me.

Dousetsu nodded, and Tamazusa signaled that I was to

pour him sake and serve him. He looked startled but then
relaxed a bit. I thought he just wasn't used to being served at
all, rather than he thought I shouldn't be doing it.

"Sakura-chan has no problem with our relationship,"

Samojirou said. "I hope that you do not either. We were
surprised that Inukawa-sama seemed to have one."

"My brothers don't always agree, no matter what the rest

of Nippon seems to think," Dousetsu said dryly. "And I assure
you, whatever issues I have are with you and not with either
of your companions."

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by Felicitas Ivey

"As it should be," Tamazusa said with a steely smile and a

glance at me. I didn't know what she was trying to tell him,
but it seemed to me he understood the message.

The parade of lords started soon after that. The rest of the

evening was filled with banter and bargaining, since many of
the lords were very interested in the fact that Dousetsu was
with us. Iida was there also, staring at our group. He had
been at many of the other gatherings, too, but hadn't
approached us. That had made Samojirou and Tamazusa
notice him all the more. I didn't know what any of them were
plotting, but I knew Samojirou worried about it, for some
reason. He didn't mention it to me, but I saw the look in his
eyes when Iida was watching Tamazusa—he wasn't happy. I
don't think he was jealous or anything like that. Iida was a
puzzle to him, one he didn't like. I didn't know how Iida was
able to afford to be at all these gatherings, because he didn't
seem to be a rich lord. His clothing was plain and not very
expensive-looking, and he didn't have any companions with
him, except for the lone samurai that followed him around
like he was his shadow.

"You are happy here?" Dousetsu asked me softly at the

end of the evening.

I looked at him and then nodded. I wasn't going to start

defending my choices with him.

"Good," Dousetsu said. "While I will never forgive

Samojirou for what he did, I have made my peace with it. He
has made his own peace, it seems." He frowned at my
confused look. "Did he ever...? Probably not." He sighed.
"Talk to him."

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by Felicitas Ivey

I gave him a cross look that made him laugh. I didn't know

why he thought I didn't talk to Samojirou! The mute act was
only for outsiders.

"I think that there is much that you need to discuss with

him about his relationship with my brother Keno," Dousetsu
said.

I was confused and curious. What did he know about that?
"I knew," he said softly. "And I know what it cost the two

of them. Talk to Samojirou about that." He hesitated for a
second. "Samojirou did me a grave injury in the real world."
Another pause. "And I know that I wasn't entirely innocent in
the matter, either, which may have been part of my hatred
for him. Our relationship wasn't the best for many reasons.
But I, like Samojirou, tire of the hatred. Please tell him that.
And give Tamazusa-sama my thanks for her kindness this
evening."

With that he bowed and strode away.
"I hope that he wasn't rude to you," Samojirou asked me.

I shook my head, and he smiled at me. "I think that we need
to leave soon."

I glanced over at Tamazusa and saw Iida was staring at

her again. He was too far away for me to see the expression
on his face, but he seemed off to me. He was watching her
for a reason, and it wasn't one that seemed nice. If I didn't
know better, I'd say he was stalking her. Samojirou saw
where I was looking and frowned. "Him again."

He leaned over and kissed me. Tamazusa broke off her

conversation and shook her head, amused and annoyed that

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by Felicitas Ivey

Samojirou was being so bold with me. Nipponese society
didn't approve of such public displays of affection.

"Tamazusa-sama?" the lord she was talking with asked

when she seemed to not be paying attention to him.

"I was distracted for a moment," she said smoothly.
He saw where she was looking. "I haven't seen Samojirou-

sama so enamored of a companion in ages."

"He hasn't been," she agreed.
I noticed Iida seemed to tense up when he saw what

Samojirou and I were doing. I laughed and smiled at
Samojirou, trying to tell him with my eyes to watch Iida,
because the man felt dangerous to me. I didn't know if he got
the message.

"Sakura-chan," Tamazusa called. I hurried over to her side

and bowed deeply to her. I figured she wanted to separate us
before Samojirou acted any more outrageous. We knew she
wasn't angry, but it also looked like the act of a jealous
woman. "Attend me."

The rest of the evening passed peacefully, Samojirou

amused more than angry at what Tamazusa had done. I
believed he knew he had acted indiscreetly with that kiss. And
not that he had offended someone with it, but that he had
showed these people how much he cared for me. That could
be used against him in the future. And I hated the fact that I
actually had thought of it.

* * * *

Tamazusa

Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

I wanted to strangle Aboshi when he kissed Keno. Really,

such boldness wasn't the best move in the Game. But Aboshi
was madly in love with the man, and I knew that affected his
judgment. I separated the two of them for the rest of the
evening. Actually, I had hoped Keno would learn something of
the Game when he was with me. As Aboshi brought us home,
I smiled and apologized to him.

"I fear that I overstepped my bounds," I said lightly.
He laughed. "My lady, you would never do so. I know that

I was reckless. But Iida-sama sneaking and staring annoys
me, and I wanted to give the man something to watch."

"Iida." I repeated the name thoughtfully. "I noticed him. I

don't know if he is just rude or shy with the way that he
acts."

"Rude," Aboshi said promptly.
"Dousetsu told me that he appreciated your kindness,"

Keno told me quietly. "I think that he's shy."

Aboshi laughed at that, but not unkindly. "That could be

said of the man," I told Keno.

"He seemed shy when we were at Shino's castle," Keno

said. "Like he wasn't comfortable with anyone but Hamaji."

"She reminds him of his sister, actually half-sister," I said.

"The Hamajis looked and acted a lot alike. It caused him grief
when Aboshi used the first Hamaji for his own ends and she
died. Dousetsu... unfortunately he was part of what
happened, and he found out that she was his half-sister when
she was dying in his arms. It was a shock, I've been told,
when he met Shino's Hamaji, for she reminded him of his
half-sister strongly."

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by Felicitas Ivey

Keno looked shocked at this for some reason. I then

remembered how young he was, how sheltered even with all
that had happened to him. Aboshi looked annoyed, and I
simply stared at him. I wondered why he hadn't told Keno
about these things, and then I realized he couldn't. Keno
wouldn't understand. He didn't... couldn't understand the
hatred of our time in the real world. That Dousetsu had killed
his own sister because Aboshi had tricked and confused him
with illusions. Illusions Aboshi wasn't able to spin anymore, as
he was stripped of most of his power when the first Keno had
banished him.

"I'm sorry," I told Aboshi.
He nodded, accepting my apology, and Keno looked even

more confused. "Inuyama has had a difficult life," Aboshi told
him, trying to explain to him a little. "He dedicated his early
life to avenging his father's death."

"That sounds intense," Keno said thoughtfully. "I don't

know if I could do that."

Aboshi and I looked at each other. The first Keno had done

more than that, but I didn't know if either one of us could
explain his ancestor to him.

"I think that I want to retire," Keno told us, apparently

ignoring the currents that swirled around him. He smiled and
bowed to Aboshi and me before gliding away, still firmly in his
persona of Sakura the tayuu. It seemed to be more of the
"real" him, or it could be that he was finally confident about
who he was. This was a great change from the frightened
young man he had been when I rescued him from the Trust.

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"He is so different," I said when I knew he was out of

range of hearing.

"Very different," Aboshi agreed.
"He wouldn't understand," I said, happy about that

somehow. This Keno was a gentle soul and one who was a
good match for the man Aboshi had become over the
centuries. "But I think that you should tell him what has
passed between you and Inuyama."

"I will try," Aboshi said. "But not tonight."
"Tonight," I said with a laugh, "he will be having a much

different conversation with you."

* * * *

Keno
I was still awake when Samojirou came to our room. Even

after all our time together, I thought of him by his last name
more easily than his given name.

"You're still awake," Samojirou said as he crawled into bed

with me, stretching out on his back. I snuggled up to him,
laying my head on his shoulder. He started playing with my
hair. It was nice and cuddly, something we both enjoyed.
Even after a year with him, I was still a bit skittish about the
physical act of making love. Thankfully, he still understood.
And that didn't mean we didn't get very inventive at times.
This just wasn't going to be one of those times.

I wasn't surprised there was a note of worry in his voice.

There had been something neither Tamazusa nor Samojirou
wanted to talk about around me. I thought he was worried I
was going ask him about that. I wasn't. But I was going to

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take Dousetsu's advice and ask him a little bit about what
exactly his relationship with my ancestor had been like. I
knew they had been lovers, and I guessed that my ancestor
had been a fighter like the rest of the Hakkenshi. But
Samojirou never really talked about his relationship with my
ancestor. He might be just being polite, since there might be
some unwritten rule that you don't talk about an old lover
with a new one. Or it could be that he just didn't want to talk
about it. He had mentioned once or twice that they hadn't
had a lot of time together. And I didn't know what he felt
about someone who had essentially thrown him in jail for
centuries. His feelings about that were probably as confused
and illogical as my crush on Wolf had been.

"Dousetsu thinks that we should talk," I told him.
Samojirou gave an odd laugh. "He is the last person that I

expected to tell you that."

"I think that he's trying to help," I said. "But I could be

wrong."

"He knew that we were lovers, before," Samojirou said

quietly. "Something that none of the others knew."

"I'm not going to ask you about why Dousetsu was angry

with you," I said softly.

"That isn't something that I am proud of," Samojirou said.

"My only defense is that I was caught up in the hate and the
moment. And for that, I let an innocent girl be killed, even if
she had been trying to kill herself earlier, and used another
one shamefully."

"You didn't!" I started, jerking away from him.

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"Rape?" he asked me, turning over on his side to face me.

"Not of her body. But... I did use her to communicate with
Tamazusa, who didn't feel that both of us should be absent
from her kuni. She was still consolidating her power. It had
only been a few decades that we had been in the
Dreamlands. I, unfortunately, couldn't resist tormenting the
Hakkenshi. My hatred of Satomi was so strong. I think it
helped that I wouldn't let anyone else near Hamaji during that
time."

"Shino's Hamaji?" I gasped, shocked.
"Other than that, I treated her as an honored guest. She

had the misfortune to be one I could use to communicate with
my lady, since it wouldn't have worked with everyone. It was
also because she was Fuse-hime's sister that I used her, so
that the spells succeeded. Those ties helped me reach my
lady."

"That was—"
"Disgusting is one word that can be used to describe it,"

Samojirou said calmly. It was his tone that made me mad. I
was angry that he could admit what he had done so easily.

I got up with a jerk and grabbed my yukata. "I'm going for

a walk."

"Please wait," Samojirou asked of me. "You... you are so

innocent of all this. Should I tell you that Hamaji was
relieved, even grateful that I was not interested in her body?
That she accepted what I was doing eventually? Not that she
enjoyed it or even has forgiven me for what I had done, but
that she has decided not to hate me for it?"

"I don't think that it makes it any better," I told him coolly.

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"And this is why I hesitated about telling you anything,"

Samojirou said, sadness in his voice. "We all did things that
you wouldn't have understood."

"I know that," I said stiffly. "But I don't think that I can

just sit here calmly after you told me something like that."

"Please don't go yet," he almost begged me. "I wish to tell

you more. I don't think that I can make you any angrier with
me."

"Just upset," I said, my anger draining out of me. "I

can't.... Listen, I know that you did bad things—"

"That would be an understatement," he murmured.
"—I've done them too. Well, not me, but who I was. So I

don't think I have a right to be angry with you. Because while
I don't know what my ancestor did that was so bad, I know
that it must have been really terrible, because no one wants
to tell me about it. I'm not stupid. It's like an elephant in the
room whenever I'm with my family. No one wants to tell me
what I was like, and considering what the Hakkenshi are, it
must have been pretty bad."

"Do you want to me to tell you?" Samojirou asked. The

look in his eyes begged me to say no. And I really, really
didn't want to know what I had been like.

"Not yet," I said, compromising. I didn't think I was ready

to hear that. Maybe in another decade or so I would be, but
not now.

He looked relieved. I didn't blame him.
"You banished me so that Inuyama wouldn't kill me,"

Samojirou told me instead. "Of all the Hakkenshi, you are the
only two who could do such a thing: kill me in the real world

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by Felicitas Ivey

and make sure I died a true death and not escape to the
Dreamlands. Inuyama Dousetsu knows the rituals, because
he masqueraded as a priest and he has a small talent for
rituals. You had the magic to banish me permanently and had
decided to do so, no matter what it cost you. You thought it
was better, since your loyalty to your family outweighed the
fact that we were lovers. Or maybe not, since you should
have let Inuyama kill me."

"Being here," I whispered, sounding raw, understanding

what he was trying to tell me: How much he had been hurt by
my ancestor because of what he had done. "Not ever being
together again."

"I think that you didn't know the price," Samojirou said

gently. "Since... since there was a promise in your eyes that
you would join me."

"But I never did."
"It was karma and the price that was paid for our love,"

Samojirou said, getting up. He walked over and kissed me on
the forehead. "Walk and think about what we have talked
about. Please... please don't be angry. And I have you now.
You are the Inuzaka Keno I love, and not a ghost of my lover
from the ancient bloody civil wars, the Sengoku Jidai, the
time of fighting before the Tokugawa ruled Japan. Think of
that as you walk."

"I wasn't like this before?" I asked.
"Your innocence died when you were a child," he said.

"And I refuse to say more than that."

"I won't ask you more," I assured him. "Because as upset

as I am, I also know I don't want to know who I had been

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by Felicitas Ivey

before this." I hugged him and slid open the door. "Thank
you."

"For what?" he asked me, bewildered.
"For being honest with me," I said as I slipped off into the

night.

[Back to Table of Contents]

Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

Chapter Three

Mason
It was a week later that I was called back to Boston again.

It was another briefing, and this time, along with McGann,
Wolf, and Mrs. Adams, there was another guy. He looked to
be in his midthirties, average height and weight, with a good
tan, like he had been working outdoors for years and years.
His dirty blond hair was buzzed short on the sides, a bit
longer on the top and toward the back, with a couple of long
braids that hung to his shoulders, tied off with colorful thread
. He had green eyes and looked really confused about why he
was here. I was just wondering what he'd seen to get him
stuck in this mess.

"This is Doctor Logan Sawyer," Mrs. Adams said.
We all shook hands and made all the right noises, like

normal people. Sawyer didn't look totally useless, even with
his weird hairstyle. I couldn't bitch about it because I was
shaving my head now; it seemed easier to care for, and I
didn't see the grey.

"Please call me Logan," Logan said. "There's no need to be

formal."

"Logan will be the fourth person for your expedition." Mrs.

Adams told us. "Medic and expert in Mayan culture."

"Can he speak Mayan?" I asked. A medic was good thing, I

thought. McGann still going was not.

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by Felicitas Ivey

"I can try," Logan said, not sounding too confident about

it. "But there isn't anyone who can speak the language. We
can only say what we think it sounded like."

"Shit," was the only thing I could say. It wouldn't help us if

the one guy who knew the language really didn't speak it. It
probably wouldn't be any better than charades, and we ran
the risk of calling someone's mother a pig or something. Not
a good idea with the people we had to deal with. I didn't care
what the "experts" said; no matter how civilized someone was
supposed to be, they were all still touchy about insults to
their mothers.

"How good a condition are you in?" Wolf asked.
Logan hesitated for a second. "Good to fair. I just came off

a dig season. I'm good at lifting, not so good at running or
shooting."

Well, that was something I was going to have to get back

into, too. Not that I slacked off at the range or the gym, but I
was getting older and slower.

"Can you shoot a bow or use a sword?" McGann asked.
"I did bow hunting when I was younger," Logan said.

"Nothing recently. I was a fair shot."

"You're up on the rest of us," I muttered.
I'd had a couple of days to think about this. I was pretty

sure the Trust could find someone in their ranks who swung a
sword, was fluent in the couple of languages they needed,
and wouldn't freak at the weirdness. So why were they
sending us again? Wolf, I could see; McGann, maybe, since
she was a 'path, which would be useful; but me, it didn't
make sense. This wasn't cheaper than paying me a pension.

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"Last time guns were useless," Wolf said.
I grinned at the memory of Murphy's face when he found

that out. Logan looked confused but tried to hide it.

"You're all scheduled to leave in two weeks," Mrs. Adams

said. "Briefing will be the day before that. The rest of the time
will be spent trying to drill you in the basics of several
languages and a few other things. I assure you that it will not
be the disaster it was before."

"Not for us," I muttered.
Wolf frowned. "What about Anya and Murphy?"
I bit back a groan. I really didn't want them on this mess.

Mrs. Adams said, "Ms. Romejinoff is now assigned out in the
Seattle office, and Jim's a bit too old for this. Besides the
other issues we had the last time."

"I still don't like McGann going," I told her.
McGann laid a hand on my arm. "The Trustees think I

should go, and that is that."

She didn't look happy when she said it, and Wolf looked

concerned. So, he might be thinking bad thoughts at last. Not
that I wanted him to turn into the cynical asshole I was, but it
was nice that he was aware of the problem.

"I've been told this is the first time someone's done this,"

Logan said. He wasn't trying to be an ass about it. He knew
he was the new guy and the odd man out, not a very
comfortable position. He was smart enough to know that
rocking the boat was a bad thing.

Mrs. Adams shook her head. "This actually is the second

time. The first was a several weeks ago, and it didn't end
well. We were reacting to an on-site disaster and didn't plan

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by Felicitas Ivey

things out as well as we should have. The operation was
mishandled from the beginning due to the influence of one
man."

That was an understatement. We had lost more than a

dozen people, lost as in not here and hadn't shown up at the
landing site in the Dreamlands, plus all the ones who had
gotten killed when Tamazusa showed up here. I wasn't going
to be the one who told Logan that, though. I wasn't surprised
Mrs. Adams was dumping all the blame on Collins. It was the
smart thing to do, considering he was most likely dead and
had been a huge asshole. And I knew she was swimming with
the sharks that were the Trustees, which meant she was one,
too, underneath being a nice lady. She wouldn't take the
blame even if it had been her fault.

"Ended well enough," I said instead. "Considering

everything."

Wolf looked at me, and I wanted to bite my tongue,

because it looked like I had sucker punched him. Shit. I
forgot how bad this had... was still hitting him. "Keno..." he
started, and then he took a deep breath. "We lost someone
we shouldn't have."

"Those mean fuckers didn't kill all the eggheads, at least,"

I said, trying to cheer him up. "They were pissed about their
mom."

Logan looked confused, and Mrs. Adams had the grace to

look guilty. "That situation was mishandled. I had no idea that
Collins had instructed Murphy that he was to bring hostages
back with him."

"As was Keno's situation," Wolf snapped. "What he did to

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by Felicitas Ivey

him—"
"It could have been much worse and you know it," McGann

told him gently. "And what did happen was much better for
him."

Wolf looked like he wanted to argue about that, but a look

from McGann shut him up. I don't think they wanted to argue
in front of the new guy. And McGann also knew Keno was a
lot better off where he was. Plus, there was the matter of the
little going-away present he had given us, wiping out as many
of our databases he could. I hadn't thought he'd had the balls
to do something like that. I was impressed that he had done
it, even if I didn't say it out loud. I wasn't that stupid.

Mrs. Adams looked over the four of us. "I don't think it will

be a surprise to any of you that Mr. Dieter is your team leader
for this operation. Gentlemen and lady, I hope that you all
come back safely."

Wolf bowed to her, and I was relieved. I had been worried

for a second that Sawyer was going to be the one in charge of
this mess. I never thought it would be me. Wolf was the best
choice. As much as I respected McGann, this wasn't the kind
of op she should be in charge of. Fuck, I wanted her as far
away from this mess as possible.

* * * *

Tamazusa
It was over a week later that a courier from Iida and his

escort arrived. I let him rest overnight before I gave him an
audience. I received the courier in one of the smaller public
rooms, since he appeared to be one of Iida's higher-ranked

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by Felicitas Ivey

samurai. He had been Iida's only companion during the entire
time Iida had been stalking me, for lack of a better term. He
named himself Mawatari Kappei but gave us no other
information. There was something strange about the man,
and he seemed very uncomfortable in my shoen. Not like he
was a country bumpkin overwhelmed by what he saw, but
more as if he thought there was something wrong in my kuni.

I had Aboshi at my side, and I made sure that Keno wasn't

with us. Not that he cared about such things, since Keno was
wonderfully disinterested in any sort of power. I had a
sneaking suspicion Iida's message was of a personal nature,
since the courier looked offended that I had Aboshi at my
side.

"Iida-sama sends his regards," he intoned solemnly.
I raised my eyebrow at this. The man had traveled

hundreds of ri to tell me this?

"Iida-sama, since he has come to the Dreamlands, has

been impressed with the skill with which you rule your kuni,"
Mawatari continued.

I nodded. I had used my time to gather information on the

man, since Iida seemed to be interested in me. Iida had only
been here a decade. He had died in the modern age, unlike
many of us who were heroes and demons from the time
before Japan had been opened to the West. He had managed
to gain his kuni thorough his skill with a katana more than his
intelligence. It was an island off the coast of Nippon that had
been known as Tsushima in the real world, isolated and small.
My land was rich, to the northwest of the Kanto plain, with
many resources. I had been courted before because of my

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by Felicitas Ivey

kuni, but Aboshi at my side had usually discouraged any
serious interest, as I had more than once had called him my
consort, even though he was more my karo, my chief
counselor. However, with Keno accompanying him as Sakura,
it apparently had changed the balance of power in our
relationship, or so people thought. Iida was a modern being,
one who might have no issues with taking advice from a
woman since things had changed in the real world concerning
the position of women. I still had no interest in him sexually
nor wanted an alliance with him.

"I am flattered by his interest," I said lightly. I was more

curious than flattered, but I wasn't going to tell the man that.

"Iida-sama wishes to discuss many things with you."

Mawatari paused and glanced pointedly at Aboshi. "Alone. My
lord hopes this will be a quiet visit and one that is not shouted
about across Nippon. He would like to show you the beauty of
his kuni and converse with you about the nature of ruling and
rulers."

"Iida-sama flatters me," I told him, deliberately sounding

humble. "I am but a simple lord, not a powerful one, like
Ishihara-sama or Sakamoto-sama. Surely they would be able
to give him better counsel?"

Both those men ruled large kuni in the south of Nippon,

spread over several of what had been separate provinces in
the real world part of the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku.

"He doubts it," Mawatari replied smoothly. "My lord

admires both your intelligence and your beauty. He would be
overjoyed if you would join him for a journey to his kuni—"

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"My Lady is flattered by Iida-sama's attention," Aboshi

interrupted effortlessly. "But as lord of her own kuni, she
rarely travels. And she wouldn't travel alone."

That was true, after a fashion. I rarely traveled the

Dreamlands, but I did travel to the real world whenever I
wanted to. I also took advantage of Samojirou's ability to
travel in the shadows to occasionally visit parts of the other
realms of the Dreamlands, but on the whole, I was content to
stay on my own land. It was like that with many of the other
lords. And Iida was a fool if he didn't think I would bring a
handful of my Reavers with me. I doubted they would let me
travel alone, less so than Aboshi. Even now, I could sense a
few of them waiting outside this room, as was their custom. I
wondered how Mawatari would feel if I invited them in with
us.

"As I have said, I am flattered by Iida-sama's interest in

me," I repeated, "but I must discuss this with my karo before
I make any sort of decision."

Mawatari looked at the two of us. There was almost a faint

sneer in his attitude after I said that. I ignored it.

"Your advisor might be biased in this matter," Mawatari

said, after a small silence.

I smiled sweetly at him, knowing what he was hinting at.

Aboshi was no longer to be trusted because of Sakura, since
he was strong enough to rule his own kuni. Mawatari was
hinting that he would overthrow me while I was gone and
replace me. Unfortunately, Aboshi's reputation still haunted
him after all these centuries. He shifted, but that was his only
reaction to Mawatari's accusation.

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"I trust him," I said, with a slight emphasis on the I. "He is

family."

Mawatari said nothing for a moment. "My lord would be

overjoyed to meet with you. He would escort you by water,
aboard his personal yacht, to his kuni. He desires to meet
with you alone, since he also wishes to discuss a delicate
matter of a personal nature." He bowed and took his leave.

We were silent for several minutes before Aboshi spoke.

"Iida is not to be trusted."

I laughed. Not because it wasn't true, but since Aboshi

sounded like an outraged brother more than my levelheaded
advisor. "I know that!"

"Meeting alone means that he is plotting something."
"It is the nature of the Game to be plotting," I reminded

him. "We just have to figure out what he exactly wants. Is
Iida interested in my power or my beauty?"

"Probably both," Aboshi told me without hesitation. "You

are a fascinating woman. You also have not taken a lover in
the centuries you have been here. To be the one who coaxes
you into his bed would be a triumph for Iida."

"I have no intention of bedding the man!" I exclaimed,

trying not to gag at the thought. "And I have always thought
of you as my consort. You have been my dearest friend, here
and in the real world."

"If I had not assassinated Jin-yo," Samojirou said, "then

Satomi wouldn't have killed you. I was not a good friend to
you."

"Jin-yo was a pig," I said softly, trying not to shudder and

failing. The man had been crude, had treated me like a

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by Felicitas Ivey

dockside whore more than a trained concubine. I had been
simply enduring the man's attentions, hoping my next
contract would be better, when Aboshi had arranged for Jin-
yo's hunting "accident." I had dreaded my next contract. I
was getting older and that had made me less appealing to
most samurai. When Samojirou informed me blandly that he
would be assuming my contract—but expected no sexual
relations—I almost wept, for I was so relieved at his news.
Aboshi's tastes were known to me, even if he had been
discreet when he had been with Jin-yo. He had no sexual
interest in women. "And you had no idea that Satomi would
betray me like that."

"I should have known that it would have happened and

protected you in some way."

I laid my hand on his arm. "You did all that you could," I

reassured him. "And you have supported me here in a
manner that no one else would have."

* * * *

Samojirou
I wasn't surprised Iida was interested in my lady, since she

was an interesting woman and a powerful lord. She hadn't
been that social in the past few decades, so when she chose
to grace our society with her presence, she had attracted
admirers. I hadn't known Iida would be among them. But the
man was new here, a younger lord who probably didn't
understand all the rules here.

Iida was intrigued by the three of us, even with his

rudeness to my Keno. Did he think Tamazusa would be

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by Felicitas Ivey

jealous of him? Or threatened? The man was an idiot if he
thought either of those things. But why approach my lady
now? Was he interested in her or was there another plot
here?

"You are worried," Tamazusa said flatly.
"What does he want?" I posed. "Besides your body? Is he

thinking of another kind of alliance? Does he want you as an
ally for another reason?"

"It does sound like that," she said thoughtfully. "But I

doubt if I am going to know unless I talk with the man."

"I don't like the fact that he doesn't want you to have an

escort," I said.

A lord would always travel with an escort, even if just

attending business in his kuni. To travel to another lord's
lands, Tamazusa should take with her a small army of
retainers, called a Hatamoto, whose duty was to protect her
at the cost of their own lives. She had the habit of traveling
with just her Reavers, which was unusual, maybe because of
her ability to Gate to the real world. But if she were going to
meet with Iida, she would need to do so with the traditional
escort of a Hatamoto, even if the man had no idea what it
was. It was the traditional guard from the Warring States era
that had survived until the Meji Restoration, even if it had
changed under the Tokugawa to more of an administrative
position, as it was here.

"That is something that I can bargain with him about," she

told me briskly. "You and I know the Reavers will not let me
go alone, even if he objects to any kind of escort. If Iida

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by Felicitas Ivey

doesn't understand that, then he isn't worth playing the
Game with."

"Is this more than a move in the Game?" I asked softly.

"Do you want something more? I see you looking at Keno and
I, and there is something about you...."

"I am content with my life here," she reassured me. "I am

overjoyed that you and Keno are so happy. I have no wish to
have a man or anyone else in my life. You and Keno make me
happy."

"I can never thank you enough for finding him," I said

huskily. I couldn't. I shivered when I thought about what
could have happened to him in the real world in the hands of
those animals. "He is a joy."

She smiled. "You're getting that look in your eye again."
"That look?" I repeated.
"The look that means that you want to find your blossom

and do something scandalous with him."

"My lady!" I protested.
She laughed. "Let me think about Iida's offer. Alone. There

are a number of issues with it, but it also might be an
innocent offer. Iida may feel better getting advice from a
woman rather than one of the greater lords. Or he might
want to ask advice on how to search for a consort, something
he might not be comfortable asking another man about."

"I had not thought about that," I said. "Even if I don't

think that is what he wants from you. There is something
more to this. We just have to figure it out."

"We do not!" she told me with a laugh. "I will think about

this, and you will go and spend time with Keno."

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"My lady, I can—" I started.
She laughed again, and I took the hint. She wanted to be

alone. I wondered if it was because she wanted to think about
the implications of Iida's offer politically or personally. I know
she has never sought a relationship with anyone here, even
after all these centuries. She had chosen not to deal with a
formal alliance, but she could have amused herself with a
paid companion or a lover of either sex. But she had not, and
I grieved for her, concerned that she couldn't find the
happiness I had with Keno.

Thinking of Keno quickened my step. It was early

afternoon, and he would be studying in the library. I went
there and was rewarded by finding him in one of the side
rooms he had taken over for his own use. He was sprawled on
the floor and reading.

"Samojirou-sama," he greeted me formally, rising easily

and gracefully.

"Keno, we are alone. There is no need to be so formal," I

chided gently.

He blushed. "I'm always afraid I'm going to forget one day

and call you Aboshi in public."

"Since Sakura is still as mute and charming now as she

was in the beginning, I don't think that is something you have
to worry about," I reassured him. "And we are very alone
right now, aren't we?'

"I think that Hikura-san mentioned he was going to be

away for the afternoon and that I was to just leave my books
here instead of putting them away," Keno said.

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I leaned over and kissed him when he told me that. I

wasn't surprised that he was kissing me back eagerly. He
wasn't such a shy flower anymore, even if we didn't always
consummate our relationship physically.

"Hikura-san would be very angry if we made a mess in

here," Keno murmured after a couple of minutes. He sounded
very dazed and a light brush against the front of his yukata,
told me that he was as eager for me as I was for him.

"Then we will just have to be neat," I told him. "Or just

messy on you."

"Whatever you want to do," Keno managed to whisper

hoarsely.

I was touched by the trust he had in me. "Messy on you, it

is," I teased him.

We continued to kiss, our light cotton yukata growing

damp in the heat our bodies generated. I managed to undo
both our fundoshi and our obi between kisses, Keno's body
grew slick and pliant, his arms wrapped around my neck. My
fingers wandered to his hidden opening, and when I brushed
against it gently, he moaned into my mouth, a needy sound
that went straight to my shaft.

"Please...."
"No oil, my sweet," I said regretfully. "And I will not take

you without it."

I didn't let him say anything else as I pulled him tight

against me. I teased his opening some more, aware of the
fact that he was slick enough for something else. Controlling
him with kisses, I eventually had him sprawled out on the
floor below me, his yukata spread out below him. I knelt

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between his legs, pulling back long enough to admire the
sight of him open to me like this, vulnerable and so sexy. I
cupped his sac, stroking the delicate tissue, watching him
arch into my touch as my fingers wandered lower.

Keno bit his lip to stifle his moans, not wanting to

enlighten the whole estate as to what we were doing. I
thought of another way to quiet him and shook my head. As
much as I wanted his mouth on me, I would take our
pleasure in another manner. He gasped in pleasure as one of
my fingers started to penetrate his entrance. He was slick
enough with sweat, but I knew it still would be uncomfortable
for him.

"Tell me if this is too uncomfortable," I murmured.
"No," he moaned. I have to confess I heard an edge of

pain in his voice and it excited me in an odd way. I
maneuvered us gently, my finger barely in him, until we were
a tangle of arms and legs, lying on our sides and facing each
other.

I said nothing more but kissed him hard, my finger sinking

into his body deep enough to find that special spot in him. He
was whimpering and writhing, kissing me as his hands
explored my body. Keno arched into me, clutching my back
and rubbing against me mindlessly, lost in the friction
between us. I was having a difficult time holding back,
wanting more than a bit of my finger in him. I found what I
was looking for, and he came, moaning in my mouth as I
stroked his center gently. When he was done, I wasn't
surprised to feel his hand slip between the two of us to stroke
my shaft.

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by Felicitas Ivey

I bucked helplessly after a few strokes, burying my face in

his neck and biting his shoulder in my passion. When I was
done, I didn't want to move, even with the mess drying
between us. It was with great reluctance that I rolled to my
back for us to cuddle. But even then, I couldn't stop fingering
him, just to listen to the sounds he made.

* * * *

Keno
We were cuddling when Samojirou mentioned what was

bothering him. Granted, we would have been more
comfortable in our bedroom, and I didn't think I could forget
we had made love here, but I was drowsy and content,
listening to his heartbeat. I was enjoying his finger in me and
the way his other fingers were playing with my balls. I didn't
think I could have a coherent conversation with the man. Part
of me wished we had done more, and I made a mental note
to carry oil around with me all the time, even as I moaned as
he touched that good spot inside of me again.

"Iida has sent a messenger," he said quietly. "He wishes to

meet with Tamazusa alone."

I gathered my wits and tried to think as well as feel with

him. "That's not going to happen. The Reavers don't even let
her sleep alone."

It wasn't that bad, but they hovered around her even more

than they did me. Right now, I knew there were two or three
of them outside the room in the garden. Was I embarrassed
that they had listened to the two us? Kind of. But having

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them listen wasn't as embarrassing as either Tamazusa-sama
or Okita-san listening to us.

"She is thinking about it," Samojirou said quietly.
"Tamazusa-sama must think that it is a good move in the

Game," I muttered.

Samojirou kissed the top of my head. "She does."
"You're worried."
"I don't trust Iida," he told me.
I thought about it. The man had spent the past couple of

weeks stalking us. It was a little creepy, but I wasn't one to
really talk about creepy, since I was living with oni. But the
important question was, why was he stalking us? He had been
rude to me on the occasions we had met, but that could mean
nothing more than that the man had no manners.

"What do you know of him?" I asked, nuzzling and licking

his shoulder like a dog. With what he was doing, Aboshi
wasn't going to get anything too intelligent out of me.

"He holds a southern kuni, a very small one, poor but part

of our southern defenses," Samojirou said. "He's new here.
No one knows much about him."

"Is he an oni or something else?" I asked, more to get him

to think than out of any real interest in the answer.

He frowned, "No one really knows. He seems to be like

your brothers, rather than like Tamazusa or myself. He's not
a spirit, either. He had been of the real world at one time."

"A man of mystery," I commented. "You know that this

just might be something innocent. He may just be too
Western to realize he's doing something strange, since he
seems to be a modern spirit."

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"His advisors should tell him he is being foolish,"

Samojirou snapped.

"What if he doesn't have anyone like that?" I asked, trying

again to put my brain in gear. "What if he's just realizing that
he's got to do something like that? What if he just wants her
advice about setting up a court and everything because he
doesn't want to deal with the other lords? You know that it's
something they'd never let him forget about, that Iida-sama
hadn't known such basic etiquette. And you know, no matter
how modern someone is, he might think this is girl stuff and
ask her to come because of that. And if Tamazusa-sama
comes with troops, it might mean that she'll try and take over
his kuni. Iida may be many things, but he isn't stupid. You
don't let someone walk into your castle with a potential
army."

"It also might be something else," Samojirou muttered. "A

Hatamoto isn't an army."

"He might have a crush on her too," I said.
Samojirou laughed. "Who wouldn't? I think I understand

what you are saying with that word. She is a woman who is
charming and intelligent."

"And beautiful," I added. I wasn't jealous of his admiration

of her, since they had been together for centuries. He loved
her like a sister.

He kissed me again. "As are you."
We were silent for a while after that, content to be with

each other. He eventually withdrew his finger from me, but I
still didn't want to move.

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by Felicitas Ivey

"You know that he might not be able to feed a lot of extra

people," I said sleepily. I was ready to fall asleep right here
and worry about that wrath of Hikura later. He'd be upset that
we'd had sex here, but I had made sure the book hadn't
gotten damaged, so he wouldn't be too angry with us. He just
thought that libraries should be used for studying and not
fooling around in. I usually thought that too. But there was
something about Samojirou that made me do these mad
things.

"There is that too," Samojirou remarked thoughtfully.
"And you know she isn't going to go anyplace without a

maid, because I really don't think that Iida has sent one with
Mawatari's escort," I said. "She wouldn't be without someone
of her household."

"I still don't like it," Samojirou said.
I made some sort of noise, agreeing with him, because I

really didn't like it either. But I knew Tamazusa could take
care of herself, and that if Iida did something to piss her off,
she'd do that spell on him, the one that had turned Heiseg's
insides to mush, and then Gate to the real world. Samojirou
was just worrying over nothing, which was cute, in an odd
way.

* * * *

I realized I had fallen asleep when I woke up back in our

bedroom. It was late, and when I wandered into the other
room, I discovered a tray had been left for me. I wasn't
angry, since I was pretty sure they were hiding me because
of some move in the Game. Sakura, Iida knew about. I was

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by Felicitas Ivey

pretty sure he didn't know about me. I knew that sounded
strange, but we were really two different people at times. It
was no secret that Sakura was a guy, given that Samojirou
had been openly gay for all of his life and unlife.

I really didn't want to have to deal with whatever plan

Aboshi and Tamazusa were dealing with. And I wasn't going
to be presentable until I cleaned up, so dinner alone sounded
like a good idea for me. Even if I wasn't involved in the
Game, I had a lot to think about with whatever Iida's
proposition was and how it affected us.

I was finishing off my salad when Samojirou walked into

the room, looking angry. I resisted the urge to squeak like a
mouse and dive for cover.

"She's agreed to leave with him," he snarled. "In the

morning, with only a handful of Reavers and a maid to
accompany her on Iida's ship. She will have an escort of her
own gokenin only as far as the western shoreline. Mawatari
claims there wouldn't be room for them on Iida's ship. He also
pointed out that it would be only for a month and that she will
be treated as if she were Iida's sister."

"She knows what she's doing," I told him. Gokenin were

lower ranking samurai, like Seki or Takehito.

"Does she?" he snapped.
"The Reavers can protect her, and it's not like she's

helpless," I said, getting up to give him a hug, "I don't think
Iida knows she can gate to the real world or that she knows
that spell."

"I don't like this," Samojirou said, his anger seeping out of

his body as I hugged him.

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by Felicitas Ivey

"So she can take a maid?" I asked after we just held each

other for a while.

"She is," he said.
"I know that this sounds silly, but...."
"Keno?" Samojirou prompted when I didn't finish my

sentence.

I felt really stupid, but I had to say it. He could laugh if he

wanted, but I was going to make the offer. "I can be her
maid."

"Keno!" Samojirou exclaimed.
"I know that I can't really fight, but I'm good with a fan,

and they won't expect it. I know that someone else would be
a better choice, but I'm offering to do this, to protect my
lord." I finished in rush.

Samojirou was silent for a long time, and I got nervous. "I

suppose that either Okita or one of the other of my lady's
samurai would be a better choice as a fighter, but I doubt
they would be able to be a maid as well as you can."

* * * *

Tamazusa
Aboshi's suggestion that I take Keno as my maid to my

meeting with Iida was a surprise to me. I didn't think that he
would stand to be parted from his blossom for so long.

"It would be a move that Iida wouldn't expect," Keno said

shyly. "I know that you can take care of yourself, but I think
Samojirou would feel better if you had someone with you. I
know Okita-san is a better fighter, but I don't think he would
make a very good maid."

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by Felicitas Ivey

"Iida-sama has seen you," I pointed out.
"He's seen Sakura," Keno said. "I don't think he'd

recognize me. No one really seems to see beyond the makeup
and the outfit."

I thought about that for a while. I knew that to be true

from my time as a companion. In fact, I doubted that Iida
would even notice Keno if he was my maid. He would just see
her and nothing else. I met Aboshi's gaze over Keno's head,
and I didn't like the look in his eyes. He was worried, and I
knew he didn't want Keno to go with me. But he was going to
let his lover guard me because he was also proud that Keno
had offered to do this.

"It was his idea, my lady," Aboshi told me. "And I confess

that I don't like it, but I think that I would like it less if you
went without him."

"I think that Keno-chan would be the perfect choice for

me," I said. "We just have to think of a name for my new
maid. It's unfortunate that my usual one has fallen ill and will
not be able to accompany me."

"A pity," Aboshi commented dryly.
I just hoped he didn't arrange for it to happen in truth. It

would be a good thing to do so, but I doubted Mawatari would
be able to find out if this was true or not, and I didn't want
the poor girl to suffer. The man would think—and it would be
true to a certain extent—that Aboshi sent this maid with me
to keep an eye on me. Mawatari would think she was a spy
rather than Keno protecting me. Mawatari had shown us that
he had thought Aboshi was not to be trusted and would make
the assumption Aboshi didn't trust me.

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by Felicitas Ivey

"But let me introduce you to Rikako," Aboshi said

seriously.

Keno looked at him and smiled. "I have to find out what

your obsession with flowers is."

I laughed too. While it wasn't an uncommon name, plum

blossom was close to cherry blossom—sakura. But I doubted
Samojirou had thought about the name too much, and most,
if not all of the maids on the estate, had some sort of flower
name because they were kashin—flower spirits. "I am
delighted to meet you," I told Keno.

He smiled and bowed to me. "I am honored to serve my

lord."

* * * *

We left the next morning, Keno and I secluded in a kaga, a

traveling box carried by four trained bearers who were
changed frequently. It was slightly faster than walking, but I
didn't look forward to spending days in it. However, a lord did
not walk anywhere, and oxen carts were useless outside a
city or other civilized areas, as was riding a horse, even if I
knew how to ride.

I had been right. Mawatari had barely glanced at Keno

standing behind me, dressed in the drab kimono of a maid,
his hair pulled back tightly in a bun, eyes staring at the
ground. I didn't even know where he had gotten such an
outfit, because the maids dressed better than that. Mawatari
had been more upset about the fact that the Reavers had
refused to leave us. A half dozen attended Keno and me,
studying Mawatari carefully. It was unnerving. It was meant

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by Felicitas Ivey

to be. They were not going to let either of us out of their
presence. They were my escort along with several squads of
my samurai under the command of Seki-san.

"Tamazusa-sama!" Mawatari protested.
"They will not leave me," I said calmly. "They are part of

the kuni. They do not wish me to be alone at any time. This is
something Iida-sama is going to have to accept."

Mawatari frowned, getting what I was hinting at. "That

would be something you have to discuss with him."

"I will. I am interested in anything that Iida-sama wishes

to discuss with me."

Mawatari glanced up at Aboshi, who was glaring down at

us from atop the shoen's wall. I was surprised to see
"Sakura" standing behind him. I forced myself not to glance
over at Keno as I wondered exactly who was standing with
Aboshi. The look that Aboshi had given Mawatari promised a
slow death if anything happened to us. Most of my samurai
would be staying with Aboshi while I was gone, and they were
unhappy that they were not escorting me. I had added to
Okita's duties the role of karo. I wanted to leave Aboshi with
a competent staff, since I wanted to have a kuni to return to.

"I see that your men are unhappy with your decision,"

Mawatari told me.

"Are you unhappy when your lord is not under your

protection?" I asked lightly.

Mawatari nodded, understanding what I was telling him. I

was a well-loved lord, and my people would avenge me if he
or his master did something to me. I bowed to Okita and his
men, then to Aboshi before climbing into the traveling box.

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by Felicitas Ivey

Keno climbed in after me, making himself as small as possible
to give me more room.

We were lifted, and the carriers set off at a smooth but

quick pace. After a couple of minutes of silence, I smiled at
Keno. "You are now going to see how Aboshi spoils us. I don't
think of this as a pleasant way to travel."

Keno nodded, looking slightly sick from the swaying of the

box. He had traveled this way with me once before, but it had
been a more leisurely journey. "If I had known," he muttered.

I tried not to laugh when I saw the look on his face when I

told him, "We're traveling like this for at least a week."

[Back to Table of Contents]

Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

Chapter Four

Mason
So we all got to go through the fun-sparkly-bad special

effects tunnel again. It was just as nasty as before, and I
wanted to puke at the end of it. But we all made it this time,
and that was all that mattered. We'd had two weeks of
learning to shoot a bow, swing a sword, and learn a few basic
words in a couple of different languages, like Greek and
Mayan. I was hopeless in all of them beyond "hello,"
"goodbye," and "touch her and I'll kill you." The last one
amused the fuck out of McGann. And I was shit with the
sword. Wolf took to his like he was a natural. McGann was an
okay fighter, but I didn't know if she would be able to gut
someone who was after her. I knew I could. I had been barely
legal and an okay-looking kid when they convicted me, so I
had learned to fight back and had been left alone. Got the rep
as being a mean, crazy fucker, and that had kept me going
for the time I was in the joint. I still wasn't too handy with a
longbow or a sword, so I hoped I didn't have to use them,
even if I knew I could kill someone.

We were better armed and armored this time, with replicas

of broadswords, bows and high-tech "primitive" armor, lots of
supplies, and a couple of maps. We just had to figure out
where the hell we were.

Wolf was looking around and smiling. "This place reminds

me of home."

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by Felicitas Ivey

"Boston?" I asked, wondering if he had gone nuts. The

place was wide open, covered with grass. There were woods
and a couple of rolling hills in the distance, but nothing in the
way of people or buildings. The place smelled nice, no
pollution. This wasn't Boston. Not even the Arboretum looked
or smelled this good.

"Norway," Wolf said. "My grandmother lives in Oslo, but

we also spent summers in the country."

McGann smiled sadly, and I bet that she was thinking of

home, too, but not in a happy way. I had noticed that she
didn't mention family too much. Not that any of us did, but
sometimes, some of the TCs weren't that cut off from their
family. Not as close as Murphy was, but enough so that they
talked to them.

"Which way do you want to go?" Logan asked.
"North?" McGann suggested.
"Sounds good to me," I said. "But before we really go

anyplace, what's the plan? I don't want it to be like the last
time, when Murphy was the only one with the plan."

"It won't be like the last time," Wolf said roughly.
He was in charge of this mess. If he had any brains, which

I knew that he had, he'd listen to McGann. I'd just be keeping
an eye on Logan. Not that I didn't trust him; it was just that
he was barely two steps away from being a lab rat. He
needed someone to make sure he didn't get munched on by a
nasty.

"We're supposed to be someplace in the Mayan Empire,"

McGann said. "That's why Dr. Sawyer's here with us."

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by Felicitas Ivey

"And why do the Trustees think these people are going to

talk to us?" I asked. "Weren't they like cannibals or
something?"

"Mayans weren't cannibals," Logan said. "I think that

you're thinking of the Aztecs."

"Whatever," I told him, not really caring one way or

another. He made a face at that. "But it still comes back to
why these people would want to talk to us? Our track record
with this shit ain't too good."

"I don't think we're going to make the same mistakes we

did last time," Wolf said.

I noticed McGann was still looking good, so she might not

be have the trouble she'd had last time we came to the
Dreamlands. Something about being a 'path and being here
had messed her up. But it could also be that we were still
alone. Or it could also be that she wasn't trying to herd
fuckin' cats now, since Murphy and Anya, the ones who had
caused her the most trouble with Tamazusa, weren't here.

"I think the question should be why do a Central American

people have an afterlife, for lack of a better term, that
resembles this?" McGann asked. "That is, if I understand what
the Dreamlands are exactly."

"Mayans and Aztecs lived in the jungle. This isn't anything

like that," Logan said. "I doubt that this is a landscape they
would be familiar with."

"So that means we don't know where we are," Wolf said,

sounding really frustrated.

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I really couldn't add anything to that, and I managed not

to laugh my ass off at the fact that we were screwed again,
because we had no clue where we had been dropped, again!

* * * *

We headed off north. We hiked for a couple of hours

before we ran into people. We were on a leisurely stroll,
almost, with Wolf in front, McGann and Logan in the middle,
me as tail-end Charlie. We were found by about a dozen
really big guys, bearded and long-haired, wearing woolen
tunics and pants with boots. They smelled of beer and a
bunch of other things. They were downwind of us. I figured it
had been a couple of days since they'd had a shower. They all
stopped short when they saw us and stared at us for a couple
of minutes before someone shouted something out at us.
Wolf shouted back at them in what sounded like the same
language.

"What are they saying?" Logan asked.
"Fuck if I know," I said.
"They're speaking Norwegian, I think. Or one of the

Scandinavian languages," McGann said. "Other than that, I
don't know what's going on."

"They want to know who we are," Wolf told us. "And why

we are here."

"Shit, that would be a good idea, if I knew what the fuck

we were doing here," I said under my breath.

McGann shot me a dirty look for that one. Seriously, even

with the briefings and Mrs. Adams saying why we were here,
I still had no clue what was going on—and I had been paying

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by Felicitas Ivey

attention to the briefings. Making allies sounded like a bullshit
reason to me, given the fact that the Trustees were more
likely to screw anyone than ally with them. They were after
something, and I couldn't figure out what it was. This place
was backward, with no technology or anything that would
make an alliance with anyone worthwhile. I knew that from
the little discussion with Tamazusa. It had been in my report,
and I was certain it was in everyone else's.

So why were we here? And more importantly, how long

were we staying?

"You know why we're here," McGann said patiently,

sounding like my mother more than my boss.

Logan didn't say anything for a couple of minutes. "They're

Norse," he finally said. "Other than that, I don't know
anything, because Norse covered a lot of different cultures.
All I know is that I don't think this is where we're supposed to
be."

"Why don't that sound about right," I muttered. So they

aimed us at the Mayans, and we ended up... someplace else.
Why didn't that surprise me? Good thing Wolf spoke
Norwegian, or we'd have been screwed, and not in a good
way.

McGann shot me another annoyed look. I grinned at her.

"Have you ever known me to be polite?"

She shook her head and relaxed a bit. Logan continued to

split his attention between us and Wolf. Wolf was relaxed and
acting like meeting these guys was the best thing in the
universe for us. After a couple of minutes of talking to them,
he came back to us.

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by Felicitas Ivey

"These men are from the farm of Grima Njalsson," Wolf

said. "They would like us to go back and guest with them."

"Don't look at me," Logan said when we all looked at him,

expecting him to pull the answer out of his ass. "My expertise
is on the Mayans. Anything else was covered on long-ago
undergrad days."

"Shit, tell me that you were a good student," I practically

begged him. Fuck! We were stuck again someplace where we
had no fucking clue about what was going on. I was beginning
to hate that.

"Fair," he said. "I don't know anything more than the

basics. Most primitive societies think that guesting is a sacred
custom, and they don't attack or harm their guests. But for all
I know, these people are brigands or worse."

"I told them that we would be glad to go with them," Wolf

said. He hesitated for a second. "They were curious about
you, Mason, why you were so dark, were you sick. I just told
them that was the way your people looked."

He sounded embarrassed, but I wasn't too pissed. I didn't

think that a lot of Vikings saw too many African Americans,
and being curious about what I looked like was what had
happened at Tamazusa's place too.

"And?" I asked, knowing there was an "and" to this. He

had been talking with those people for too long for there to
not be more to the story.

"That you were my sworn men, you and Logan, and that

McGann was my wife."

I laughed, and McGann glared at me. "Congratulations, the

two of you. I'll buy you both a round when we get back."

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by Felicitas Ivey

"Mason," McGann hissed at me, trying not to check out the

Vikings' reaction. They might figure out it wasn't true, or they
just might think I'm a loon or that it was something I did
because I didn't look like one of them.

"Telling them you're married is the best thing," Logan said.

"If you were his sister or an unmarried woman, there might
be trouble."

"Yeah, when we run across Amazons, he gets to be the

little woman," I teased them. "Shit, this ain't Nippon. These
people seem to be less civilized than they were."

That wasn't too nice, but it was true. These people looked

really rough, something I had never seen when we were at
Tamazusa's place in what was called Nippon, which looked
like it should have been in a bad samurai movie. They had
been so civilized there it had made my head ache most of the
time. Granted, that's what saved Murphy and Anya the ice
bitch's ass when she had seriously pissed off that samurai
with something she'd said to Wolf in Russian and exactly what
Murphy had done after spending an afternoon with Tamazusa
that ended with her dumping his ass back into the room
under house arrest. But the politeness had been wearing on
my nerves. I never knew what I would do to set Tamazusa off
so she'd turn my insides into fuckin' Jell-O. Not that I'd
thought she would, since even the way I had acted was way
better than Murphy and Anya had. Shit, I had been treating
McGann the same way, so Tamazusa had probably figured out
I hadn't been dissing her.

"That is something that we can discuss later," McGann told

me.

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by Felicitas Ivey

"Nippon?" Logan asked.
I shrugged while Wolf looked... not pissed, but hurt. "I'll

tell you later," I promised. "Right now, let's go meet our new
best friends."

One of the big guys was looking at McGann funny. I was

ready to reach out and smack him, while Wolf looked uneasy.
"You're wearing men's clothing," he finally said. "That's
something of a taboo. I had forgotten about that."

"Too late to tell them that she's your younger brother?" I

asked. While she had long hair, she was kind of flat-chested
for a woman. Not like the skinny chicks in Nippon, but she
didn't have a lot of excess weight, really. I knew we couldn't
have pulled something like that with Anya. The bitch was all
woman and let everyone know it.

Fuck, it figured Wolf knew about this shit. The guy was

smarter and better educated than he let on. I was just glad
someone had a clue and hoped that between him and Logan,
we'd get out of this with our asses intact.

There was some back and forth about it, and Wolf was

looking more and more uncomfortable, until he barked
something out that sounded like he was telling them to fuck
off.

"He can divorce her for that," Logan sort of hissed at me

while watching the argument between Wolf and the others to
see if it was going to get nasty.

I shrugged. "Not like they're really married. Can it be like a

vow or something that she has to wear it? Hell, having her
run around in pants makes me feel a lot better."

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"There were rules," Wolf said when the argument was

over. "I don't really remember the sagas. So I don't know
how much trouble we're in. But I know that it can be bad that
she's dressed like that."

"We can always leave," I said. "Just hang around until we

have to go back or look for someone else. It don't matter to
me either way, 'cause I thought that this was a really stupid
plan."

* * * *

We ended up in a small settlement on the edge of the

ocean. There were a couple of fishing boats pulled up on the
rocky beach and a collection of houses built out of dirt and
grass. Pigs and goats were wandering around, and the place
looked like it belonged on one of those ads for adopting a kid
out of a Third World pest hole. Not that there weren't places
in Boston looked worse than this, but this place was poor, and
it showed.

"Did I mention that I missed Tamazusa's place?" I asked

the air. Wolf gave me a dirty look for that comment. Hell, the
Nips might have been assholes some of the time, but they
knew how to bathe, at least. I wasn't betting that there was
going to be a daily bath in my future, from the looks of this
place. Not that I was fanatic about stuff like that. It then
dawned on me that I was sort of insulting Wolf's ancestors.
"Shit, man, I liked the gardens and the cute chicks," I said.
"Not trying to diss your people or shit like that."

Wolf nodded and relaxed. I wasn't going to remind him

that I grew up in a west-bum-fuck area like this before I was

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by Felicitas Ivey

sent to prison. It wasn't quite as poor, but it was sure as shit
out in the back end of nowhere South Dakota.

I didn't like the fact that everyone and their uncle had

come out to stare at us. Mostly at me, it seemed, because
there was a lot of pointing in my direction and nudging going
on. Finally, a really big guy came hurrying over to us. "I'm
Grima Njalsson," he announced in halting English. "This is my
farm. Welcome."

"I'm Wolf Larsson and my wife Caitlynn. My men Logan

and Mason. We are travelers."

"And where did you travel from?" Njalsson asked while

walking us into one of the grass buildings. I wasn't surprised
to find that when I got in there, the inside was smoky and
dark.

"Far away," Wolf told him vaguely.
"And your boat?" Njalsson asked, like he was trying to be

polite and not fishing for information.

"We have no boat, because we were dropped off here by

other travelers," Wolf said.

It wasn't really a lie. Whatever hoodoo dropped us off here

was done by someone else. Njalsson looked like he bought
the story, though.

"I can give you guesting rights for six days," Njalsson said

almost reluctantly. I don't think it was because he didn't trust
us, but because we were "weird" to him, with McGann in
pants and me looking the way that I did. But he was going to
do his duty if it killed him. I almost felt sorry for the guy.

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by Felicitas Ivey

"We're grateful for your hospitality," Wolf told him. Hell, he

even managed to sound humble about it too. There was a
reason he was the boss of this op.

* * * *

Keno
It took close to nine days for us to get to the eastern shore

of Nippon. We had stayed at decent inns along the way,
traveling in comfort more than style, it seemed to me. I was
just glad I didn't get sick in the kaga, and I got used to the
sway of it after the first day. I was still happy to get out of it
at the end of the day. I even felt myself relax when Mawatari
didn't attempt anything with us. That could have been
because we had Seki and his squad with us. Or it could have
been that we were still in Tamazusa's territory. It didn't look
this big on the map. But I do admit that I was spoiled by
being able to travel in the shadows with Aboshi and not have
to deal with how long it took to get anywhere when there
weren't cars and superhighways. And then there was the fact
that in the real world, I would have made this trip in a couple
of hours on the bullet train. The only good part was that the
other traffic had to get off the road for us. I guessed we made
a pretty impressive sight, the samurai marching along and
Tamazusa and I being carried in the kaga.

We got to the end of the road that we were taking, ending

up on the eastern ocean side of Tamazusa's holdings. The
place was run by a daimyo named Takaneda Kosaburou, who
was one of the daimyo, the lower-ranked lords, who had
pledged his loyalty to Tamazusa. I met the man; he seemed

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by Felicitas Ivey

to be nice, but dull. He was overjoyed that we were going to
stay the night with him before boarding Iida's ship and sailing
to his kuni.

I knew which ship was Iida's when we got to the dock

midmorning. I was grateful for a late tide, because that had
allowed me to sleep in. What I didn't like was the look on
Seki's face, because he knew we were leaving him. I believed
the only thing that allowed him to let us go was the fact that
he knew I was with Tamazusa and that I was armed with a
couple of knives and my fan. I didn't know if I could actually
kill someone if she was attacked, but I knew I had the skills
to do so.

Seki knelt in the outer courtyard of the castle. "I wish you

a safe journey," he said. "I look forward to your return."

She bowed to him, and I followed suit. "You have done a

fine job of escorting me," she told him. "I will see you when I
return."

Mawatari looked disconcerted by all this ceremony. I

guessed Iida wasn't this formal. I didn't think he would get
very far with Tamazusa if he didn't learn to be. I wasn't being
prejudiced; it was something that he should learn to deal with
in working with any of the lords here. For example, I knew of
no one here but Tamazusa who would have accepted the fact
that Mason was a really casual guy who prided himself on
being casually rude.

We walked out of the castle walls and down to the dock,

our escort only a handful of Reavers and two squads of Iida's
samurai. Now that I was closer to them, they felt off to me.
But I put that down to the fact that I was really nervous that I

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by Felicitas Ivey

was the only protection that Tamazusa-sama had right now.
The procession reminded me of those drawings you see of the
nobles marching to Edo for their attendance duties. It seemed
we were the center of attention for most everyone in the
town.

Iida's ship was the biggest one at the docks, and I swore

that he must have had someone scrub the area in front of it
before we showed up, it looked so good. I wasn't too familiar
with boats, but this one looked impressive to me. I knew that
it was more of a yacht than a fighting ship, because it had
sails and no oarsmen. The sailors were all scampering around
to get things going smoothly. It was about thirty meters long
and ten meters wide. At the back end of the boat was some
sort of cabin, which looked like a Japanese castle scaled
down. The front of the boat was clear, with a stairway going
down into the hull of the boat. It was colorfully painted in
reds and oranges.

Iida hurried down the gangplank to meet us. I was

surprised to see he was wearing a colorful kimono and
hakama that reflected the colors of his ship. He seemed
genuinely pleased to see us. It was odd. But he might have
been shy like Dousetsu was and didn't deal well with crowds
of people he didn't know. And cherry blossom parties were
always crowded.

When he got to the dock, he bowed to Tamazusa. She

bowed back. "I am overjoyed to accept your kind invitation."

"I look forward to making your acquaintance better," he

told her smoothly.

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by Felicitas Ivey

They smiled at each other, and then he moved to escort

her onto his ship. I fell in behind them, feeling odd. I was
relieved he hadn't seemed to recognize me, but then, I didn't
think he was the type of man who would point at me and
shout, "I know you!"

But that would have been better than having him look

right though me.

* * * *

When the ship set sail, part of me wanted to beg

Tamazusa to get off this ship. I didn't know why I felt like
that. I felt that this was a big mistake, and I wanted to be
back at her shoen with Samojirou. I opened my mouth to tell
her this, and she just gazed at me.

"It will be fine," she murmured.
"Is everything all right?" Iida asked cheerily. It sounded

weird to me after all the staring and stalking he had done.

"Rikako just isn't a good sailor, I think," she said with a

smile. "I must confess that I don't think I've ever been in
something bigger than a pond boat in my life."

"You'll get your sea legs soon," Iida assured us. "I feel that

way on land sometimes."

"How interesting," Tamazusa said. I wondered if that was

the reason the man had been so hostile before. He seemed
almost like a different man now that he was on the water.

"Let me show you your quarters," he said. "Plenty of room

for all of you."

He didn't appear to be too upset that there were Reavers

with us. Iida seemed to be determined to be the polite,

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by Felicitas Ivey

cheery host for us. It was a big change from the man he had
been before, and I wondered what had happened. I glanced
over at Tamazusa; she didn't seem to be worried. I took a
deep breath, ignoring the pang of longing I suddenly felt for
Samojirou. That was probably the reason I was feeling so
weird. I missed him, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to
see him for a couple of more weeks. That was all that was
bothering me and making me jump at shadows.

* * * *

Tamazusa
We had been on Iida's ship for four days. It was very

comfortable, but not luxurious. There was something about
the ship that made me suspicious, for some reason. I thought
that suspicion might be contributing to the feeling of unease
Iida was causing within me. It wasn't something I could
actually name, which made me wonder if I was imagining it.
Iida was perfectly civil to me, perhaps overly so. There
seemed to be a faint mocking tone in his voice when he spoke
to me. And then there was the way he seemed to totally
ignore Keno, not in a polite "I don't see you" way, but more in
the manner that Keno was beneath his notice because "she"
was only a maid. That could be bad manners on his part or a
sign of something else. I was astonished that there seemed to
be no one but men as his servants. It was odd, but as Keno
had pointed out to me on the first day of our journey, the
man just might not know any better. I wondered how I was
going to bring up the point delicately. So far, I still was no

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by Felicitas Ivey

closer to finding out why Iida was interested in talking to me
than I had been the first day.

While I attempted to question his motives in wanting to

talk to me, the man parried all my questions with an ease I
could almost envy. He, in turn, tried to probe me about my
relationship with the Hakkenshi and Fuse. I mouthed empty
platitudes and artless gossip back at him. Neither of us, I was
confident to say, managed to get any information out of the
other. The only time I feared that my self-control slipped was
when Iida asked me about Samojirou and Sakura's
relationship.

"I can't believe that you let him have that tayuu in your

household," Iida announced.

We were at the front of the ship, sipping tea, when he said

that. I had served him, not a full tea ceremony because that
wasn't possible, but when I saw he knew nothing of what he
was doing, I took over deftly. I estimated I was only a shade
faster than Mawatari in doing so. Keno was not with me,
which I thought would be the only saving grace of this
conversation.

"I discovered Sakura," I told him calmly. "The child was

not in a good situation."

"Child?" Iida asked, sounding horrified and intrigued at

that same time. I hoped he wasn't one who had an unnatural
interest in children. If so, there was no way I could deal with
the man!

I laughed and shrugged. "Sakura is very young to me." I

sipped at my tea. "I can say that about many here. I have
been in the Dreamlands since the Sengoku Jidai."

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by Felicitas Ivey

"And has Samojirou-sama been here as long?"
I looked at him, wondering why he had asked that

question. Anyone could have told him of our relationship, of
the length of time we had been here. It was something one's
spies should find out before planning to approach anyone
here in the Dreamlands for any sort of relationship. I was
surprised he didn't know of it, and I didn't think he was
feigning ignorance for another reason. So what exactly did he
want from me?

"Actually, Samojirou-sama and I knew of each other in the

real world," I said lightly. "Certainly you have heard of the
curse that the Hakkenshi are under?"

"That is something that all know about here," Iida said, not

admitting whether or not he knew it. "It is just... I fear I am
too modern to understand such things."

I shrugged and smiled sweetly at him. "I believe you might

find us very old-fashioned at times, then. We are starting to
heal the breach after all the centuries. I fear, however, that is
more due to Fuse-hime and Samojirou-sama's long friendship
rather than to any skill on my part."

"There is a rumor that you have become close because of

an incident that happened last summer," Iida said.

I wondered how that bit of information had gotten to him

and hoped my shock that he knew about it didn't show on my
face. "I don't know to what you are referring," I said coolly.

"That the most formidable Yatsufusa-sama let his wife visit

you for several weeks," Iida said.

I suspected he knew more than he was telling me, but to

confront him about it would show that the incident was more

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by Felicitas Ivey

important than he believed. That Fuse stayed several weeks
with us was known, but that she had been kidnapped and
taken to the real world was not.

"That he did," I said, because it was the truth. "And he

eventually joined her. They are most gracious guests."

"And where did you discover Sakura?" Iida asked. "There

are rumors, but then, you know how people like to talk."

"Samojirou and I travel extensively, each in our own

manner," I said distantly. "I don't remember exactly where
Sakura was found, but as I said before, the child was in a
terrible situation. I just decided that he would be better off
with me. Sakura intrigued Samojirou, and so he made him his
companion."

"He does seem to be quite taken with Sakura," Iida said.
"He doesn't like letting him out of his sight," I said with a

cool smile. "And he is very fond of him."

"I noticed," Iida practically muttered.
I could tell that he didn't really approve of their

relationship. Was he one of these too-Western Japanese I
have heard of? I must confess, I also knew next nothing
about the man, since there had been very little information
for my spies to find. And I knew that was a bad thing. I
wasn't surprised to see Mawatari watching the two of us
closely. It didn't make me feel any better. Our talk turned to
other things, but I couldn't shake the feeling of unease that I
had somehow told these two too much information while I
had gotten none in return.

* * * *

Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

We were just sitting down to our evening meal the next

day, Keno attending me and a Reaver guarding my back,
when I felt something odd in the air. Iida was still the same
smiling host he had been, but now the sneer was openly on
his face.

"Tamazusa-sama," he said as he bowed, making my title

sound like a mockery.

"Iida-sama," I acknowledged coolly, refusing to rise to his

bait.

"I am almost regretting this," he said, still mocking me. "I

feel that I would have had a most interesting time with you."

Something twisted in the pit of my stomach. Not quite

fear, but I knew I didn't want to be under this man's power.
He would be cruel just because he could be, but I doubted
there would be any passion in it. He would pull the wings off
of butterflies just to destroy their beauty.

I felt more than saw Keno look up once he spoke, and the

Reaver shifted behind me.

"Iida-sama?"
"Still polite," he said snootily. "I heard that you weren't

that polite when you died."

"I was angry," I said though stiff lips. I wasn't surprised to

find out that Iida knew more than he had let on about me,
about how I had come to the Dreamlands. Keno moved
closer, ready to defend me. Something was wrong here, but I
didn't know what. I felt heavy for some reason. The ship
seemed to be running into rough seas; however, the air was
too still for a storm.

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by Felicitas Ivey

"I understand anger," Iida told me with a smile. "I'm going

to make you that angry again."

"What are you talking about?" Keno demanded.
"She—no, he speaks," Iida mocked. For one wild second I

thought that he knew who Keno was, but what he said next
put that fear to rest. "You were the perfect woman for me,
silent and meek."

"My lord," Mawatari chided.
"I know," he replied, without bothering to turn around.

"But let me enjoy this."

"Enjoy what?" I asked, beginning to feel the prickle of fear

on the back of my neck.

"The look on your face when I tell you that you are

trapped here," he said.

"Trapped?" I asked, offering him a smile. I then tried to

shift to the real world and found that I could not. "What?"

While Keno glanced at me, alarmed, Iida laughed. "I'd

stay, but as my faithful retainer just reminded me, there isn't
much time. The ship is going to break up soon. If that doesn't
kill you, well... there are my other faithful retainers."

With that, he and Mawatari shimmered out of existence

with a clap of thunder. I suddenly heard the rain pouring
outside the ship, I raced outside with Keno on my heels, and
we discovered that we were in the middle of a raging
typhoon. Keno looked at me in horror, grabbing me, and I
heard the ship breaking up, torn apart by the weather and
something else. My last thought before everything went black
was that I shouldn't have gotten him involved in this.

[Back to Table of Contents]

Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

Chapter Five

Mason
There was a bad storm the next night. I wasn't used to

them, really. Whenever there was a Nor'easter brewing, I was
usually safe in a nice, warm building, not stuck in the middle
of nowhere in a damn sod hut. Okay, a turf hut, according to
Logan, but I couldn't tell the difference, so I really didn't give
a flying fuck what I was in. It was warm, though, smoky from
the open fire, and just one room about eighty feet long and
roughly twenty feet wide, with some half walls for privacy. It
was better than being out in that mess, that was for fucking
sure.

I was keeping a close eye on McGann, even if the men

hadn't started giving her shit yet. Wolf's claim that they were
married made them hold off a bit, even if she was dressed
like a man. Hell, we were all dressed alike in black T-shirts
and cargo pants with steel-toed boots, so they might have
thought it was just our way. Wolf didn't treat McGann with
anything other than respect, even if they were sharing a bed.
Hell, I'd thought he'd been half in love with her for years, so
this might have been a dream come true for him. Anyway,
unlike me, he didn't have a reputation of thinking with his
dick, so that probably was why McGann wasn't freaking out
about the sleeping arrangements.

Most of the guys here were crazy, it seemed to me. They

drank hard and played harder, from what little I'd seen, and I
wondered what the fuck anyone was doing here in this crazy

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by Felicitas Ivey

world more than once. We had managed to land on the far
side of nowhere, in a place that seemed to be filled with
backwoods biker types. This might be worse than dealing with
the shit that went down at Tamazusa's place. Hell, I was even
thinking longingly of her hot tub. These people didn't seem to
have any sort of running water, and bathing was a challenge.
I didn't look forward to trying to clean up tomorrow. At least
it wasn't tropical. A bit cool more than anything, like early
spring in Boston.

But even I picked up on the fact that they were short of

women here, and McGann was a hottie. It didn't help that the
women here weren't that good-looking, being mostly big
women. Not fat, but muscular, and they didn't have the
advantages of hitting the salon or a spa to make them look
nice and pampered. The women here didn't stop working for a
minute, and McGann had been dragged into doing some of
their work, too, guest or not.

Wolf and McGann retired to their bunk the second night we

were here, and I hung around with the rest of the single men,
drinking and trying to get some info from them. The Vikings
all had a few words of English, and I was getting the
impression from them it was a trade language—barely—for
them. They dealt with the guys who were on the islands east
and north of them, and that was all. I liked these guys, for
the most part, but I also knew they weren't the allies the
Trustees were looking for. Finding those was going to be a
bitch if the whole place was like this.

Shit. I just wondered how we ended up here. Like, how did

the hoodoo send us places in the Dreamlands, considering we

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by Felicitas Ivey

ended up a couple hundred or so miles north of Nippon?. Did
the place move around, or was it something else? We weren't
in the same spot we used last time to make a gate, since that
was buried under a shit ton of cement and other things, so
did that matter? Why did I care? It wasn't like this was a bad
place. From what McGann had told me, we were about four
hundred miles or so north of Nippon. That mattered in a world
that had piss-poor roads and even worse ships. Then there
was the fact that we were supposed to be in Mayan territory.
I didn't remember where that was and frankly didn't care. I
had thought this was a stupid idea to begin with.

Logan was just watching all this, and I thought that guy

was a bit shell-shocked. Keeping his nose clean, though, even
if he was taking all sorts of mental notes about this place. The
guy was an egghead before he was a fighter, and I didn't
know if that was a good thing or not. I didn't have the heart
to tell him again that he wasn't going to be able to tell anyone
about this. Maybe the other eggheads, but not all of them
wanted to hear about stuff like this.

"There will be a lot of drift on the beach in the morning,"

Tholf said.

I shrugged. "Sounds like a bitch out there."
Egil laughed. "The serpent is out tonight."
The others looked uneasy after that, but they kept on

drinking. Egil was a mean motherfucker most of the time, but
also a poet, from what the others told me. He looked a little
off to me, but shit, that didn't mean anything here. Tholf was
just big and dumb. Hell, that was probably just an act, and I
wasn't going to fall for it.

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"I take it that's a bad thing?" I asked.
They all looked at me strange, and I shrugged. "Not

something that I know a lot about."

"The serpent is the Midgard Serpent, which circles the

world. That he's acting the way he is now shows there is
much magic in the air tonight," Tholf said.

"Is magic bad?" I asked. I was thinking of whether or not

Tamazusa's trick to getting into Boylston Street was magic. I
knew the Jell-O trick probably was. I really didn't think it was
a bad thing that she had done it to Heiseg, that bastard who
had raped Keno and opened the Gate to the Dreamlands that
had let the monsters—and maybe Tamazusa—into Boylston,
starting this whole fuckin' mess. I wondered briefly how Keno
was doing tonight and what Samojirou was doing with him.
Taking him out or having a quiet night at home? I knew Keno
was happier here; I just had to convince Wolf of that before it
ate him up.

"Depends on the magic," Egil told me, looking at me like I

was a really dumb fuck, from the sneer on his face. I was
pissed, but I was also under orders not to start trouble, and
that meant not trying to wipe that sneer off the man's face
the old-fashioned way. My luck, he'd beat the shit out of me
easily.

"There's a couple of different kinds of Norse magic," Logan

told me quietly. "And that's all I can really say. You want to
know about Mayan hieroglyphs and social organization, I'm
your man. Norse customs, that course was a long time ago.
Wolf's probably the expert here, not me."

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by Felicitas Ivey

"You know more than I do," I grunted, taking a swig of

beer. The stuff wasn't bad, closer to the designer brews than
the thin crap that was American beer. That was about all they
drank, too, nothing hard like vodka or whiskey. They just all
drank a lot of it. They should have been drunk off their asses
most of the time, but they seemed to have better tolerance
for the stuff than a Southie guy on St. Pattie's Day.

"The serpent is Loki's son, and he's a trickster like his

father," Egil continued. "I wonder what the storm will bring to
us."

I really didn't know what to say about that. I didn't know

what the fuck they were talking about. Logan looked like he
wanted to give me a lecture about who's who in Viking
mythology, not that I cared about it. I shook my head, and he
got the message, but that probably just delayed me getting
the lecture. We spent the rest of the night swilling beer and
listening to the storm and the guys' gossip. I just couldn't
shake the feeling that something really bad was happening
out there.

* * * *

The next morning, I went to help gather driftwood. I

noticed there was a shitload of it, and most of it seemed to be
some sort of finished wood. I figured I was looking at the
remains of a ship that had gotten wrecked in last night's
storm. It was wood, though, and that wasn't something that
was too plentiful here. I didn't want to know what they were
burning in some of the cooking fires, but it didn't smell like
wood.

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by Felicitas Ivey

100

Wolf was helping down at the other end of the beach, and

McGann was stuck inside with the women, learning to cook
over an open fire and other fun stuff like that. We spent the
morning hauling shit up to the longhouse. I was working on a
mess of sail and wood when Wolf came running down the
beach, frantic.

"Mas... Mas!" he shouted. "I need help!"
I dropped what I was working on and ran to meet him.

"What's wrong?"

"Follow me," he shouted. I did and was shocked at what he

had found.

Wolf had been working on another pile of wood when he

was surprised to find a couple of injured people in the
wreckage. He really hadn't expected them to be Keno and
Tamazusa.

They were cold and barely breathing, and Wolf had run to

get me for help. Logan came over and just took charge, not
that Wolf was being an idiot, but because this was something
Logan knew about. I thought he was happy to be useful.

"Hypothermia," Logan said. "The open water around here

is like ice. No injuries, surprising, considering the boat's in
pieces. We got to get them out of those clothes, into bed with
someone to warm them up. They're both lucky that they're
alive."

I grunted and lifted up Tamazusa, while Wolf picked up

Keno and ran to the longhouse. I was surprised by how small
Tamazusa seemed as I jogged after him. I figured she would
be pissed if she woke up naked with someone, and then she
would turn my insides into Jell-O. I wasn't going to let that

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101

happen to anyone. Besides, in my line of work, there were
worse ways to die than being killed by a hot chick.

* * * *

Tamazusa
I woke up naked and aching, in the arms of a man. Not

something I had ever wanted to do again. I stiffened and was
confused when a soft voice murmured assurances of safety to
me, while my back was stroked. I didn't recognize the voice,
even if I recognized the language. It was English, but with an
accent I didn't know. I lay still, plotting what I was going to
do and waiting for whatever outrage he was going to inflict
upon me. The place smelled of smoke, bad food, and too
many people. There were coarse blankets around me, heavy
and warm. Where had I ended up?

I was powerless, and as far as I knew, alone. I tensed up,

thinking of the half dozen Reaver guards I'd had with me,
along with Keno. They had not survived the storm, I knew
that. I wasn't sure Keno had.

My unwelcome companion murmured something soothing

again and patted my back, and I forced myself to relax. I
wanted to appear as harmless as possible until I knew what
had happened to Keno and where I was. Was I this man's
prisoner? A guest? The voice sounded familiar, but I wasn't
going to show him I was awake by opening my eyes to find
out who it was. I would pretend to be asleep and see what I
could gather for information.

"How is she?" another man asked.

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"Warm, finally," my bedmate replied. "She's been drifting

in and out of it."

"McGann says that she's dangerous," the other man

continued. "That she's a powerful Nipponese lord that you
met before, Mason."

"Kickass," Mason replied. "Tough as nails and has a bigger

set of balls than McGann, Logan. Be nice to her."

I shifted, shocked when I heard the name, and he winced,

then moved me again. "Ball buster, too, which she just
demonstrated by squishing mine. She's in charge of some
place in Nippon. Have McGann tell you about it."

"The other one's okay too," Logan said. "He's going to be

asleep for a while, though."

"Good," Mason said, "I was worried about Keno. He's a

good kid. Don't give him any shit."

I heard Logan move off, and Mason stroked my back,

gently telling me, "I know that you're awake."

I looked up at him, knowing that fooling him wasn't an

option. "And what are you going to do?" I hated the fact that
I sounded weak, almost frightened.

"Well, you're warmer now but still shivering a bit. All I was

planning to do was keep you warm. You're a sexy mama, but
I also know you can turn me into Jell-O. I remember that
trick you pulled with Heiseg. And thank you for doing that to
the fucker, for what he did to Keno."

I stared up at him, confused. Mason had been a buffoon

when he had stayed with me when the Trust had blundered
into the Dreamlands for the first time. From what I had been
told by Fuse, that was a mask for a man who cared deeply.

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He had been the one who had made sure that Fuse had not
suffered at the hands of her captors when the one called
Murphy had spirited her into the real world. I was just
surprised to see he was willing to do the same for me. Fuse
was still an innocent woman. I hadn't thought that of myself
since I was nine.

"Quickest way to get you warmed up was to pop you

naked into bed with someone. I didn't think that these folks
would like to see two women together, no matter how hot
that is, so McGann was out. I figured that you wouldn't mind
me too much, since Wolf grabbed Keno and you don't know
Logan."

"And it kept the rest of your party safe," I whispered.
Mason didn't say anything but shifted so that he could give

me something to drink. I grimaced at the taste of the water
but still drank it down eagerly. I rested against him, since the
cold still filled me. I was surprised that he continued to stroke
my back gently, petting me like he might a cat. Mason
seemed to be a very gentle man, for all that he had hunted
me and mine in the real world. Honest, too, now that I
remembered the conversations we had had when we met
before. He had acted a buffoon, but not foolish like the
others. He had been willing to admit to his prejudices and
worries. While he was not someone I could tolerate for long,
he was oddly comforting right now.

"Don't get too pissed if you wake up with something

poking at you," Mason said roughly after a couple of minutes.
"I know that you're not interested. Don't kill me because my
dick was too stupid to figure it out."

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I didn't say anything, trying not to be embarrassed for

some reason. I drifted off to sleep, plotting on what I needed
to do to get back to my estate. I wasn't going to tell him I
wasn't able to do anything to harm him. My powers were tied
to Nippon, to the land I had claimed and was lord over. Since
I was not there and had not left Nippon voluntarily, those
powers were cut off from me. I was also exhausted and
unable to keep my eyes open any longer.

* * * *

I woke up again, alone, but carefully tucked under the

blankets. Mason was dressed and sitting by the side of the
bed with a man with a very strange hairstyle, a mixture of
thin braids and shaved areas. Mason smiled at me when he
saw I was awake. I sat up carefully, feeling not exactly weak,
but odd, since I was cut off from my land.

"Tamazusa-sama, this is Logan Sawyer. Wolf and McGann

are still fussing over Keno. He's been awake on and off, but
he's gonna be okay."

Mason leaned over and handed me a rough clay mug with

water in it. I sipped at it appreciatively and tried to smile
winningly at them. Logan seemed to respond to it, but my
smile seemed to make Mason nervous.

"I was worried about him," I said.
"How's he doing?" Mason asked me. I knew he was asking

about Keno's life in general.

I looked at him, debating how to answer that. "He is fine,"

I said slowly. "Aboshi and my samurai adore him. If it wasn't
for his power, we wouldn't be here."

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"Was he with you?" Mason asked, his eyes shadowed. I

knew he was remembering the last time we had been
together. Aboshi had nearly killed him.

"He decided that it would be better if one of us stayed at

our estate," I explained. "He trusted Keno to guard me.
Which he did an excellent job of. I wouldn't be here if it were
not for him."

One of the Northern woman stomped up to us, eyeing me

as if I were last week's garbage. She smelt like a tavern
wench and was dressed in a dirty, coarse woolen dress. Her
greasy hair was braided back, and her face was smudged.
She had the gall to look down her nose at me, though, and I
was aware of the fact that I was barely dressed in an odd
cotton top. I wondered what had happened to my clothing. I
gathered my dignity around me, as tattered as it was, and
stared back at the woman calmly.

"So the skraeling woman is finally awake," she grunted. "I

am Helga."

The one called Logan winced and Mason frowned. Even if I

didn't know the word, I knew that it was an insult from the
tone of her voice.

"I wonder what happened to my clothing?" I asked, trying

to sound humble. I hated having to do that, but I was
stranded in this territory and almost powerless.

"Ruined," she sniffed. "Yours and the other skraeling's

were destroyed by the salt. It was soft and pretty, too." She
glared at me. "You know about cooking? Cleaning? Sewing?
Or are the two of you just Southern fluff?"

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"I am not familiar with the food of the Northerners," I told

her. Cook? Clean? Why did she expect me to know that? I
was the master of my own kuni. I did not do such menial
things!

"Fluff," the woman sighed, and she stomped off again.
"They gave Wolf grief because his wife couldn't do any of

that shit either," Mason told me quietly. "Thought that she
was the lowest thing on Earth because she wasn't barefoot
and cooking for her man."

"That isn't fair," Logan protested. "Icelandic women had

the most freedom of any women in Europe of the time.
However, in a preindustrial society, food preparation is labor
intensive and mostly something that the women are expected
to do. The men are expected to do the other chores that need
more muscle power."

"And how is Wolf?" I asked, ignoring Logan's protest and

explanation. He was a scholar, if he talked like that. So what
was he doing with these people? "I assume that McGann is his
'wife'? She was a most sensible woman. Much better than the
one who was chasing after him."

I knew that Wolf wasn't in actuality married to McGann.

That woman wasn't foolish enough to tie herself down.

"Good," Mason said. He looked at Logan and shook his

head. "I told the rest of the posse here that I was keeping an
eye out for you."

"I do not need your protection!" I snarled. I hadn't needed

a man's protection in centuries, not since before I had died.
That I needed it now was demeaning, and that it was this
man, slightly embarrassing and appalling.

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Mason tried to sound soothing. "Just so you won't be

forced to do something because someone was stupid. Chicks
are in short supply here."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Logan muttered. "Skraeling is

a word that's an insult."

"I know that," Mason growled. "So?"
"Skraeling," Logan started, looking embarrassed, "it means

wretch. In the sagas, some scholars think that the Norse
didn't even consider the skraelingjar to be human. They use
that word to describe the Native Americans."

"Well, they're kind of confused about me too," Mason said

with an odd look in his eyes. "They haven't gone as far as to
tell me to stay away from their women, but none of these
people seem to have seen someone who ain't lily white. They
all were really happy that I took you in, 'cause you'd keep me
occupied, in a manner of speaking. I'd be fucking pissed
about it, 'cept they ain't being assholes. They're just
backwoods bikers."

I thought about that. Wolf, McGann, and Logan were all

the same "type," for lack of a better word, light-skinned, pale
hair, and blue or green eyes, looking a lot like my involuntary
hosts. Mason's darker skin and eyes could be thought of as
exotic and attractive or as a sign that he wasn't human. It
seemed our hosts were provincial enough to think the latter. I
knew I was prejudiced against them, because many were tied
to their land and could barely journey a ri or two from their
homes. I had been able to move about freely because of
Aboshi's ability to travel the shadows. If he had been with me
during the meeting with Iida, I wouldn't be here.

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Unfortunately, I had become overconfident and was now
suffering for it. If it hadn't been for Keno, I would have
suffered the same fate as my faithful Reavers. I shivered at
the thought.

"I think that the women are much more of a threat to me

than the men," I said after a minute of silence.

"What about Keno?" Mason asked. "He's... well, your boy

toy...."

"I don't know if I should be amused or angered that you

think of Keno-chan in such a manner," I said quietly. "I
assure you he isn't my or anyone's 'toy'. What is wrong with
Keno-chan? You told me...." I tried to keep the fear out of my
voice, since I was suddenly terrified that something had
happened to him. That would drive Aboshi insane, I knew. My
companion was even more deeply in love with this Keno than
he had been with his ancestor in the real world.

"Tired," Mason assured me. "But what did you mean about

Keno's power?"

* * * *

Keno
I woke up nuzzling a chest and then realized it wasn't

Samojirou's. I panicked, wondering what was happening,
since the last thing I remembered was the storm. I tried to
figure out where I was, not wanting the man I was with to
know that I was awake yet. The man wasn't Asian, I could tell
from the hair that was tickling my nose, and he was in good
shape, from the muscles that I felt. We were tangled
together, naked, and I was warm for the first time in ages, it

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seemed, with heavy woolen blankets weighing me down. I
was exhausted and felt that I had been training in the hot sun
for hours.

I felt a hand gently stroking my hair, and I was suddenly

aware of how much I itched from the sea salt caked to my
skin. I wondered about the smell of the place I was in, smoky
and earthy, the same smells I was getting off of the man who
held me.

I looked up and was shocked to see Wolf was the one

holding me.

"Keno?" he whispered.
"Wolf." He looked tired. His hair was a bit longer, and it

looked and smelled like he hadn't had a shower in a while.
Not that he smelled bad, just not clean. "Where?"

"Hoppsfjord," Wolf said, "the farm of Grima Njalsson."
"The Northlands," I whispered, recognizing the name as

being a Norse one. "Who... where...."

"What happened?" Wolf asked softly when he realized I

had trouble asking him what I wanted to know.

"A storm," I said slowly, trying to gather my thoughts. I

was tired and confused, but I needed to know if Tamazusa or
anyone else had survived. "The ship fell apart. I don't know
how I got here. Who...?"

Wolf hesitated and then said, "Just Tamazusa."
"The Reavers," I murmured, upset that no one else had

seemed to survive. I was almost certain none of the sailors
had had any idea what was going on. "The storm made it too
windy for them to fly, and the rain soaked their wings. The
things in the water... when the ship broke apart, Tamazusa-

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sama and I couldn't do anything to help them. They knew it,
too. And those poor sailors...."

"Keno? What about him?" Wolf asked when I didn't

complete my thought.

It figured that Wolf didn't want to talk about Samojirou by

naming him. I was too tired to be angry. Wolf had been upset
about the choice I had made, choosing the Dreamlands over
him. "Samojirou-sama wasn't with us. I was supposed to
protect my lord. I walked into a trap with her."

"She still gave you to that man!" Wolf hissed. "You owe

her nothing. She isn't someone that you can trust."

Obviously, he was still upset about that. I wasn't going to

argue with him about it. I knew it was a waste of time. But I
was going to tell him how I felt, even if he didn't believe me.
"After what happened to me that night, I needed someone to
take care of me. Even if Heiseg hadn't raped me, I would
have needed someone to watch over me."

"That—"
"You can't tell me that it wasn't bad! You got me into that

mess, instead of shooting me like you should have! You made
me a prisoner."

"What happened?" Wolf asked.
I didn't want to lie to him, and frankly, I knew I couldn't

anger him by doing that. I needed allies to get Tamazusa
safely back to her kuni. I needed him and anyone else who
was here from the Trust, as hard as that was to admit. But
that didn't mean I was going to tell him everything about
what had happened. He just needed to know the basics, not
who was involved. It wasn't like he knew any of the players

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besides Tamazusa. "My lord was going to meet with another
lord, one in the South. We were traveling by ship, and he had
been interested in talking with her. He spent several days
doing so, almost courting her, even if she didn't seem
interested in him.

"On the fourth day, we were betrayed. It was during that

time that Ii... the other lord and his escort disappeared from
the ship, I realized it was a trap then. Tamazusa-sama tried
to gate out of there but couldn't. Something was blocking her.
The ship was destroyed around us. I don't know how we got
here."

"We found you washed up on the shore. The ship was in

pieces," Wolf whispered, sounding raw and needy.

I yawned and wanted to say something else, but I fell

asleep again instead.

* * * *

When I woke up again, I was alone in bed, but McGann

was sitting by it. I sat up carefully, and she handed me a mug
of water. I sipped at it and studied her. She was dressed in a
black T-shirt and cargo pants with her hair pulled back into a
tight braid. She looked younger, for some reason, and just
strange, because I was used to seeing her in suits. I couldn't
figure out what she was doing here. Wolf, I could see, and I
was betting there was a handful of Trouble Consultants here
with him. Wherever here was. Wolf had told me, but I still
didn't know where we were besides North.

"How are you feeling, Keno?" she asked me quietly. "Or

should I say Sakura?"

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"Sakura is Samojirou-sama's companion. She wouldn't be

here," I corrected. I just didn't want her to call me that. "I'm
tired."

"You've been asleep for a while," McGann said. "You've

slept though dinner. I can get you some, though. It's some
sort of mutton stew."

I tried not to choke at the thought of it. She frowned at me

and shook her head. "You have to eat something."

"I'm a vegetarian," I said. "And I'm not hungry." I wasn't.

I was more tired and thirsty than anything. I realized I was
wearing someone's T-shirt, probably Wolf's, from the smell of
it, but nothing else. "How is my lord?"

"I thought—" McGann started with a frown, before she

understood what I was asking her. "Oh, you mean Tamazusa.
She's fine. Mason—please don't get mad—Mason's sort of
taken her under his protection. The Norse here seem to be
very insular."

"Wolf?" I asked.
Norse meant we were in the Northern lands. I just had to

figure out where. Once I did that, I could try to get Tamazusa
home. I didn't know exactly why Iida betrayed us or who or
what he was allied with. Iida had to have allied himself with
someone or something powerful to block Tamazusa's ability to
create gates. Not that it would have gotten us back to her
kuni. She could only go to the real world. But once there, she
would have been able to get us back home.

I blinked back the tears when I thought of what Samojirou

must be going through. He would be devastated, thinking that

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we were dead. I tried not to focus on that, but on the danger
that was with me: McGann.

"I told him to take a walk," she said quietly. "I wanted to

talk to you alone."

"What do you want?"
It wasn't a good sign that she had sent Wolf away. I didn't

think she was going to do something bad to me, since this
was a semipublic place. However, Wolf was a nice guy, and if
she didn't want him around, it was because he wouldn't agree
to whatever she wanted to talk to me about, so that meant it
wasn't anything nice. There was all the damage I had done to
the servers before I escaped from the Trust again. I knew she
had to be angry with me for that.

"I don't expect you to agree to this, and in fact, I know

that I should be talking to Tamazusa, but you can tell me how
to approach her."

"I don't understand," I said.
McGann leaned over and felt my forehead. I noticed she

was also checking out who was nearby. While the place was
crowded, there weren't too many people near us. But she still
kept her voice low when she was talking to me. I guessed she
didn't trust anyone here. Why was I not surprised? "I feel that
this isn't a good place to be."

"You gated here," I replied in the same low tone.
"It's not like we can control it," she said.
"Why not?" I asked, trying not to sound sarcastic. I didn't

know much about creating gates, even though I was studying
some of the magical tomes in Tamazusa's library. Samojirou
hadn't found someone he trusted to teach me magic yet.

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Creating a Gate was blood magic and something Samojirou
didn't want me to do. Plus, I really didn't need to know how
to do something like that, with either Samojirou or Tamazusa
around to do it for me without someone having to die. But I
knew the theory well enough; you had to have a pretty good
idea of where you wanted to go or things got messy real fast
and the caster usually got lost. I wondered if that had been
the problem the first time they were here, why they hadn't
known where they were. Fairinox had had no idea how to
anchor a gate or direct it. That was probably why Heiseg had
gotten monsters when he had opened his; he had opened his
Gate into one of the areas of the Dreamlands where only
monsters lived, so that's why he had gotten those Hakarl that
had attacked and eaten almost everyone on Boylston Street.
Or he could have been insane and hateful enough to have
planned it that way on purpose. "Are your magicians so
incompetent that they can't control their own spells?"

"And what would you know about that?" she asked.
"I studied it," I said, knowing she wasn't going to believe

anything else.

"So you can open a gate?"
"I know the theory, but my lord doesn't want me to dabble

in blood magic," I said scathingly. "And I wouldn't even if she
hadn't told me not to."

McGann winced and pulled back. "I—"
"Don't act innocent," I said softly. "We both know what the

cost is to come here. Does Wolf?"

"I follow the orders of the Trustees, as does everyone else

with me," she said evasively. She wasn't looking at me,

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though; she was staring at the ground. She wasn't happy, but
she couldn't get away. I still couldn't feel sorry for her,
though. Back when I had been a prisoner of the Trust, she
could have told the Trouble Consultants not to bother me,
and she hadn't.

I noticed that she hadn't answered my question. "Like

Fairinox?" I asked sarcastically. "Collins's pet magician. The
man was unclean."

"And what happened to Collins?" McGann asked me,

looking up from the ground.

"He died," I told her shortly. "And are you asking me how

to throw yourself upon Tamazusa-sama's mercy?"

"Partly," she said. "I feel that we would be good allies."
"Here and now," I clarified. "But what about the future?

When you... we leave this delightful place, what then?"

"I don't understand," she said.
"Is this to be an alliance of convenience?" I asked. "Or

something more permanent? And since when do the Trustees
want allies? I thought we were the monsters."

"Things have changed," she said quietly. She didn't look

happy that I considered myself one of the monsters.

"Have they?" I asked her, deliberately cynical. "If you can

look me in the eyes and tell me that, I might believe you."

"I...." She shook her head. "You've changed. You seem

more confident now."

"I hope I have changed," I said. "It's been over a year."
She looked shocked. "Really? But.... Time really does pass

differently here."

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Wolf walked back then, holding a small bowl in his hands.

He looked at McGann with a small smile on his face. "I think
that Keno needs to have something to eat."

I shuddered at the thought of mutton, and McGann shook

her head. "Wolf. Keno informed me that he doesn't eat meat.
I don't think he'd be interested in the stew."

"This is gruel," Wolf said, frowning slightly. "I thought it

would be easier on his stomach."

"Thank you," I said with a smile. "Where exactly are we?"
"Hoppsfjord," Wolf told me.
"I think that it's on what might be the Faeroe Islands,"

McGann explained. Wolf acted embarrassed that he hadn't
explained that better. "I'm not really sure, but you're a long
way from Nippon."

"Hundreds of ri," I said softly, remembering the map of the

Dreamlands. I straightened up and looked at the two of them.
"And where is my lord?"

"She's with Mason," Wolf said. "He's taking good care of

her."

I threw the covers back and swung my feet over the edge

of the bed, ignoring how dizzy and tired I felt.

"Keno—" McGann started and then helped me up. Wolf

looked at the two of us like we were nuts. "He's not going to
rest or eat until he sees her," she explained.

Wolf handed McGann the bowl he was holding and scooped

me up.

"I can walk," I protested.

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"And Tamazusa's going to be furious that we let you," Wolf

said. "I don't want to make her upset. You've both had a bad
time of it. Let me do this."

I wondered why they were both worried about making

Tamazusa mad. I felt like an idiot being carried, but I was
exhausted. I wanted several days of rest and pampering by
Samojirou, but I didn't think that was going to happen
anytime soon. I had to get Tamazusa to safety, no matter
what it cost me.

While I was being carried to Tamazusa, I noticed the

people here. Mostly men, all were tall and light-haired. I felt
like I was seeing McGann's and Wolf's families. I didn't know
if that was a good thing. They were all staring at me, and I
heard more than a few comments being made in a language I
didn't understand. Wolf knew it, though. I could tell from the
way he tightened his grip on me once in a while. I didn't think
the comments were nice ones, judging from his reaction.

Wolf thankfully set me down when we got to Mason's

bunk. I didn't know the man who was with them, but I knew
he was from the Trust, not the Norse, by his hairstyle and
what he was wearing. Tamazusa was also dressed in
someone's T-shirt, but she looked all right other than that.

"I'm taking good care of your sister," Mason told me

before he gave me a hug.

"You better," I said quietly. I was surprised he had said

that, but it made sense. It would give me an excuse for me to
be worried about her, but it wouldn't let any one of these
barbarians know who she was exactly. I wondered who had

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thought of that ruse, because I knew it hadn't been Wolf.
"You really don't want to piss me off."

Mason laughed, "I know you kick ass." He looked around

casually, checking to see if there was anyone near us but our
party. There wasn't anyone within earshot. "Fuck, I would've
gone with married, but seeing that she was in bed with me,
that would open a whole new can of worms."

"Mason," I practically growled, amazed that he had been

the one to think of such a clever ruse.

"Shit, she's a nice lady," Mason said seriously. "And she's

got this trick with Jell-O that I really don't want her to show
me, so I'm treatin' her good. Fuck, it'll be like I'm doin' it with
McGann. So don't worry about her, no matter what it fuckin'
looks like."

"Keno, Mason has been most considerate of me,"

Tamazusa said in Japanese. "I simply have to accept his
attentions at this time."

"Tamazusa-sama?" I started.
Tamazusa shook her head slightly, and I didn't continue

my question. We were in enemy territory, and I didn't know if
Wolf and the rest of them were friend or foe. I hated thinking
that about Wolf, but it was true. I didn't trust him not to grab
me and take me back to the real world because he thought it
would be better for me. And then there was McGann's talk
about an alliance. With what had happened last time, did they
really think it would be a good idea? Did they think Tamazusa
and the others would forgive them for what they had done?
Or forget it? If they did, then they were insane.

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One of the Norsemen came over to see what was

happening. He was tall and graying; I'd have said he was in
his midfifties if I had seen him in the real world. He was
dressed in coarse woolen trousers and a rough linen shirt like
a peasant. I guessed we were in some sort of peasant village.
At least I hoped so, because this place was really poor if the
nobility dressed like that.

"You know these skraelingjar?" he barked, trying to take

control of the situation.

I saw Mason make a face at the word skraelingjar and

guessed it was some sort of insult.

"You should talk to my master about that," Mason said. I

was surprised he didn't sound angry; he wasn't too happy
when someone, usually Murphy, threw nasty names around.
And him using the word "master" just confused me. "It is his
business to tell you."

The guy glared at us and then looked at Wolf, who looked

at McGann quickly before telling the man, "Grima, we are
travelers. We have met these two before. Let us talk alone.
They are tired and still ill."

They moved off, and I wondered what was going on here.

Why was the Trust here? How was I going to get Tamazusa
home? How much could I trust Wolf or Mason?

"'Master'?" I asked Mason, wanting some answers
"Wolf told these guys that he was in charge and that he

was married to McGann." Mason grinned. "But I don't know
how good everyone's English is, so talking about it...."

"I understand," I told him.
Mason shrugged. "It ain't like I know shit anyways."

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"I'm Logan Sawyer," the other man said.
"Inuzaka Keno," I said with a bow. "And you've met my

sister, Tamazusa-sama."

It was true in a weird way, given our relationship. It wasn't

like what was between my brothers Shino and Sousuke and
Shino's wife Hamaji, but Tamazusa and I were close. What
wasn't being said was that he better respect the two of us,
but I thought he was getting a hint of that from the look in
my eyes. Most of Tamazusa's samurai thought of me as their
younger brother, but they also knew I was a warrior like they
were.

"And the ship?" I asked.
"Kindling," Logan said.
"A pity," I remarked with a shrug. I didn't want him to

know how badly that shook me. How had the two of us
survived? Why hadn't anyone else?

"Keno-chan, you are still ill from our experience,"

Tamazusa said in Japanese, looking annoyed.

"I needed—" I started in the same language. At least she

wasn't scolding me in a language the others understood. "I
am supposed to protect you. I promised Samojirou-sama that
I would."

"I have accepted Mason's protection for the moment," she

said. "He is a man of honor. It is not that you cannot protect
me. It would just be better that Mason appears to be my
protector."

I nodded and regretted doing that when the room shifted.

Logan caught me and sort of guided me to another bunk. "Sit.
And when's the last time you ate?"

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"I don't know," I said truthfully. "Wolf had a bowl of gruel

for me, but I insisted on seeing how my sister was doing."

"I'll get it," Logan said. He left, and I looked at Mason.
"New guy," he said shortly, knowing what I wanted from

him. "Lab rat."

I nodded and then, when the room spun around again,

decided that lying down was a good idea. Tamazusa slipped
from the bed and checked on me. I didn't know if I should be
surprised or shocked to see she was only wearing a T-shirt. I
had never seen her this undressed, and I thought that I
blushed.

"Our clothing's ruined," she said calmly. "And for now,

we're going to have to depend on these people, as well as
deal with the Northerners. That is why I agreed to Mason
being my protector."

I looked at her and knew how much she hated that. But

there was something wrong here. Why did we have to depend
on Wolf's protection? "Big Sister?"

Tamazusa smiled at me, proud that I hadn't called her "my

lord." "I fear I have fallen victim to part of Iida's plot. I
haven't left Nippon voluntarily."

My eyes widened, but other than that, I fought not to

react. I knew what she was hinting at. All of her power was
tied to the land, the kuni she had fought for and claimed. She
had been driven from her land; therefore, she could no longer
draw upon it for power. She was as powerless as if she had
been a mere mortal. Not helpless, I'd never think that of her.
Then it hit me: Samojirou would know this, too, and think we

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were dead—or worse. He'd know it and have to try and claim
Tamazusa's kuni before someone else did. If he wanted to.

"I understand," I whispered. I had to get back. I didn't

know what Samojirou might do if he thought I was no longer
with him.

[Back to Table of Contents]

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Chapter Six

Samojirou
I was restless, for some reason. The scroll of poetry I was

reading wasn't holding my attention. It wasn't like Keno
hadn't been gone from me before. There had been several
days in the beginning of our relationship that we had been
separated because Fuse had taken him away while Tamazusa
and I were dealing with Collins. Then there was the time he
spent with his family upon occasion, without me, even if it
wasn't often. So why was I so restless now?

I wandered out of my study and into the iris garden. For

some reason, all the Reavers seemed to be gathered in this
spot. I didn't know how many of them were on the estate;
they paid more attention to Tamazusa and Keno than to me.
Reavers and creatures like that were attracted to unusual
power. They had decided to form a guard for Tamazusa, but
very few Nipponese lords had allies such as they were. I had
seen other such arrangements in other lands, with other
intelligent beings of the Dreamlands, but they were rare.
While we oni and other beings like that lived here, it was the
Reavers and the Hakarl that were natives of this place. We
had simply moved in and claimed it as ours, it seemed, from
what little that I have discovered about the history of the
Dreamlands. Tamazusa hadn't been wrong when she'd said
that the Dreamlands just are.

A handful of the Reavers had gone with Tamazusa when

she had decided to negotiate with Iida. I wondered what kind

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of alliance the man wanted. There had been a rumor or two
that he was interested in taking a consort, which was why he
probably approached my lady. I believed he thought that
since I had Sakura to amuse me, Tamazusa would consent to
his proposition. That he was stupid enough to believe that she
would let a man run her life, much less her kuni, showed me
she would never ally with him. She had decided to talk with
him, because he was powerful enough that she'd didn't want
to unnecessarily insult him by ignoring his request. Besides,
Iida might be getting something out of this, just not my lady
or her lands. And she would get to plot and plan to her
heart's content.

Okita and I dealt with anything that needed to be done in

Tamazusa's absence. I even managed to sit justice in her
place, which seemed to startle many people. But I said
nothing on the matter, just glaring at the one fool who hinted
that I had deposed her. Fortunately, there had been enough
witnesses to her departure and journey to the coast that
many knew she was still living, in a manner of speaking. I
didn't need the rumors of her trip to spread throughout
Nippon, which would make most of our neighboring lords eye
the borders of the kuni and wonder if they needed to be
altered. I did, however, restrict my travels, sending regrets to
those who inquired that Sakura was ill. That sent even more
confusing and contradictory rumors around Nippon. It would
have been amusing if I weren't worried about Keno and
Tamazusa.

The Reavers abruptly all at once turned to the north, and I

shivered. Reavers were alike as beans in a pod, with their

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inky blank faces, but even this was too just eerie for me.
Suddenly they all launched into the sky as one, flying away,
their powerful wings taking them out of my sight in minutes. I
shuddered at the sight. I went to return to my study when my
knees buckled and I fell, vomiting. Something was wrong. I
thought of poison as I vomited up what I had eaten for
breakfast. I dismissed that thought, though, when I realized
how off things suddenly felt to me.

I was powerful enough to have claimed my own kuni. I had

just chosen not to, preferring to support Tamazusa instead. I
had no interest in wielding that kind of power. If I were
honest, I would say that something had happened when the
first Inuzaka Keno had banished me here, a change in me
that had caused me to lose all ambition for power. It was
difficult to admit, but I confess that after the first century or
so, I was relieved I didn't have the interest or the drive to
play the Game as Tamazusa and so many others did. I was
content with the scholarship that was my life here.

Keno coming back into my life was wonderful. We didn't

have the relationship I'd had with his ancestor. It was better,
I'm not ashamed to say. Keno was innocent in ways that his
ancestor had never been, having been consumed by the
vengeance his vow had forced upon him. Coaxing Keno into
trusting me had been a delightful experience for the two of
us. We were in love and able to spend our lives here as we
desired, something we had been denied before.

I saw Okita running toward me, and I wondered what was

wrong. The samurai had been checking on me daily,

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something I knew Keno had asked them to do. I was amused
that Keno thought I couldn't take care of myself.

I struggled to stand up, trying to ignore the fact that I was

shaking and weak. I got to my feet, and then it hit me: a
wave of power I had never felt before, making me feel
drained and energized at the same time. I staggered under its
impact, and Okita barely caught me. I was overwhelmed by
the power filling me.

Then I shook off his help and looked around me in horror.

I recognized what was happening, why I was feeling this way.
The power of Tamazusa's kuni had been unleashed. While I
was the most powerful oni here, that didn't mean that I would
be its lord. Everyone was feeling this, to some extent.

Okita stared at me, worried. I opened my mouth to

reassure him, and all that came out was a howl of pain and
loss. If Tamazusa had lost control of her kuni, that meant she
was dead. If she was dead, then Keno was also, since he
would have died protecting her. I howled again over the loss,
anger, and pain his death caused me. I was grateful when
Okita hit me on the back of the head with the hilt of his
katana. I didn't want to be awake anymore. I didn't want to
be aware of the fact that I had lost Keno again.

* * * *

Tamazusa
Mason was the one to give me something to wear, along

with the man named Logan. Between the two of them, I was
clothed. Not decently, though. I was dressed in something
called cargo pants and a T-shirt, both too big for me, altered

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for my wear in various ways. The only pieces of my clothing
to survive were my undergarments. Rinsed out, they were
clean, even if the silk had been ruined by the salt water and
smelled like smoke. I assumed I had only gotten them back
because they were too small for any of the women here.

Mason giving me clothing also showed the barbarians that

he was my "protector". I had to use McGann's spare pair of
boots, though, because these barbarians wouldn't even give
me a rough pair of sandals. I wondered what Keno was going
to do, since he was smaller than I.

"You're looking good," Mason told me with a grin.
"Please," I almost snarled at him.
I had gotten cleaned up a little and had managed to braid

my hair back. I'd had to borrow Logan's comb to do so, and it
had taken about an hour. I felt dirty, though, and longed for a
soak in my onsen. Washing up in a cold-water tub does not
get you either clean or relaxed. I knew I should be polite and
charming to the one who was my protector; however, I had a
feeling that such things would be wasted on Mason.

"Hell, it's still black," Mason told me with a grin, not put

out by my temper. I suddenly thought that if I had been
charming, that would have disturbed him more. "Not like we
stuck you in a Hello Kitty T-shirt or something."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said. I liked

the color black, and I had decided centuries ago that it would
be the only color I would be seen in, since I didn't have to
dress as a woman of the pleasure class anymore. However, it
seemed I was doomed to play that role again. Not that I
thought Mason would press his claim on me, since the man

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had a rough sort of honor. I didn't know about the one called
Logan, though.

"I think that she'd look good in—" Logan started, and then

he must have decided being here wasn't a good idea, because
he stopped speaking and quickly left the area.

Mason just shook his head. "Shit, he's worse than Wolf at

times."

Something in me eased when he said that. Logan would be

no threat to me. But Keno knew our predicament now. I was
proud of the control he had shown when I told him, but I also
knew he, too, feared for Aboshi's sanity. I thought I was
going to have to have someone watch him closely so that
Keno didn't try to swim back to Nippon. But I really couldn't
ask someone to do so without telling them the reason why,
which I would never do.

Helga stomped up to us again and glared at me. "You will

help."

I opened my mouth to protest and then saw that McGann

had also been "invited" to help this woman, since she was
following her. It would be a good time to get to know the
other woman and find out why these real world people were
here again. McGann looked almost as thrilled to be doing this
as I was. It wasn't like I didn't know what went on in my
kitchens, but I left those arrangements to Aboshi to deal with.
And I had never worked in one!

What we were to help with was plucking chickens for

dinner, a dirty and demeaning job. That didn't bother me too
much; it was the fact that we were supposed to wring their
necks before we cleaned them. I didn't have a problem with

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killing them; it's just that I had no idea how to do so. In my
entire existence, I had never had to do something like this.
But while I was simply was ignorant, McGann got almost
physically ill at the snap of the bird's neck that Helga
cheerfully slaughtered it in front of us. I saw the color drain
from McGann's face and hurried her out of the cooking area
before she disgraced herself. I got her outside and made her
sit down before she collapsed. She leaned against the side of
the hut, struggling not to vomit, her complexion a most
interesting shade of green.

"I don't suppose there's a reason for your reaction?" I

asked her after a few minutes.

She looked at me and swallowed heavily. "Chicken is

supposed to be wrapped in plastic and bought in the
supermarket. Not...."

"They're not going to understand that," I said, wondering

what a supermarket or plastic was. I'd have to ask Keno
about that later.

"She... I felt...." McGann stuttered to a stop before she

turned her chin and started retching. I held her head while
she did so, wondering exactly what her problem was. She was
reacting worse than Keno did about such things, and he never
touched flesh to eat.

Helga eventually came out to check on us, looking

annoyed that she had to. McGann was shaking and washed
out. I had managed to clean up the mess she had made by
kicking loose dirt over it. That had worked because she had
mostly bile in her stomach.

"You breeding?" Helga demanded.

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I swear that McGann stared at her in shock for a full

minute, before blushing bright red. Keno used to do that
when the samurai had embarrassed him somehow. It didn't
happen as often now as it had in the beginning.

"Your first?" Helga persisted.
I was surprised she didn't start examining McGann to

confirm her guess. I doubted that was the real reason for
McGann's squeamishness, but neither was the explanation
she had given me, that she was unused to seeing an animal
butchered. I wondered what her real reason was, and then I
decided I didn't care. I had to get back to my kuni and my
power. When I was safe, then I could worry about what the
Trust was doing here again.

"Your man's, right?" Helga continued. "Not the strange

looking one's?"

McGann looked at her as if she didn't understand what the

woman was asking her. I might have been right about that,
because Helga's English was rough and heavily accented. But
I also thought that accusing her of adultery was terribly rude.
Helga wasn't happy here, I guessed, and she was trying to do
something to get into Wolf's favor. Or was she trying to get
the two of us to fight, thinking we both wanted Mason? Or
that McGann would actually admit she had been untrue to
Wolf—not that they were really married. The ploy was crude,
and I almost laughed at Helga for attempting it.

"Do you think that she is a slut like you?" I drawled.

McGann stared at the two of us in shock as I continued. "And
what makes you think that Wolf would be interested in the
likes of you? Or that any one of them would be?"

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Helga stepped up to me, raising her hand. "Skraeling—"
I grabbed it, yanked her forward, and then twisted her arm

behind her back, turning her around neatly and easily. I was
powerless, but I wasn't a victim. I was weaker than I should
be, but Helga was also a lesser sort of spirit. If she had had
any power, she wouldn't be on a farm in the backwoods.

"Slaughter the chickens without us," I told her coolly. "We

will be overjoyed to clean them, after they're dead."

"Tamazusa," McGann started.
I shoved Helga away from me, and she glared at me. I

glared back, not worried about it. I've felt more threatened by
Hakarl, but she was someone to watch. Helga stomped off,
knowing I was willing to fight back and make her rethink her
campaign to snare Wolf. She was confused about why I had
allied myself with McGann instead of fighting her too. I wasn't
going to tell her that I would be the last woman Wolf would
have bed sport with, even if I were interested in the man.

"I don't know how to clean a chicken," McGann said after

an uneasy silence. She had no idea what was going on. I
almost decided to explain it to her and then decided not to. I
knew too well the fights women would have over a man. If
McGann were innocent of such things, I wasn't going to be
the one to enlighten her.

"She can show us, then, since I don't know either," I

snapped. "But I doubt that you'd been able to kill them."

McGann nodded and then looked around. We were alone,

and I could tell she wanted to talk to me. Wolf may have
been in charge, but McGann was the strategist of their group
and the one that I was going to have to deal with. I wanted

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that, too, since she was much more intelligent than he was
and not prejudiced by hatred, as he was. "I talked to Keno
earlier."

"And what did he say?" I asked.
"That I should talk to you," she replied with a cool smile,

attempting to get her control back. "Among other things, but
that was the only one that mattered."

"Really?" I asked, arching my left eyebrow. "And what is it

that you need to talk to me about?"

McGann got up, brushing off her knees and then the seat

of her pants "Let's take a walk."

I motioned for her to go and fell in beside her. We were

out of hearing range for most everyone here, and I didn't care
that Helga would be angry that she couldn't find us when she
wanted to. She was lording over us because she was the
lowest-ranked woman here. I didn't think she knew I had
figured that out. That was one of the earliest lessons I had
learned in my training and one I had never forgotten over the
centuries.

"The Trustees want an alliance," she said after a couple

minutes of silence, when we were far enough away to talk
without being interrupted.

"How interesting," I said with small smile. "Was Collins an

example of the Trustees' honor and intelligence?"

She winced. "Some of them," she admitted. "Then there

are others, so please don't think that they are all like that.
Wolf's grandfather is a Trustee and a man of honor."

"Why?" I asked flatly. I was in no mood to dance around

the question. McGann wasn't up to playing games. She was

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tired and strained, the chicken incident apparently only the
most recent in a long line of things draining her. I almost
pitied her. She'd looked like that when she was at my kuni, so
she might be one who the Dreamlands would never welcome.
Her people were idiots to keep sending her here. But I
supposed it could be that she was just physically exhausted
from all the work that she was doing. It wasn't that she
wasn't fit or healthy, but even I knew the work here was
boring and draining.

"Because they don't want to admit it, but we are losing the

war," McGann said quietly.

"Is there really a war?" I asked. "Or is it a game to them,

much like the one I play with the other lords? Or one that
your Trustees are the only ones fighting and the other side
seems to be as confused about their intentions as a fox is
about a fox hunt?"

"Heiseg," McGann said quietly, ignoring my comments. I

didn't mind. I wanted her to think about them. I entertained a
faint hope that I might be able to turn her from her masters.
"What about him?"

I shrugged. "He was amusing. Arrogant and idiotic, much

like Collins. I watched what he was doing to see how far he
would fall, since he knew very little about either magic or the
Dreamlands. I didn't think he would be so stupid as to open a
gate and summon Hakarl."

"Or rape anyone?" McGann asked coolly.
I turned to face her, since that accusation stung. "That

wasn't something he just thought up. Heiseg had planned
that for a long time. He had the arrogance to do what he did

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because no one told him that he had limits. If I had known
about Keno, I would have rescued him before it had gotten
that far. But I wasn't the one who imprisoned a boy for a
simple mistake, making him fear for his life."

McGann was silent. "Keno was good. Even now, he'd

probably give any other hacker a run for his money, not
having touched a computer for as long as he has. He did a lot
of damage when he ruined our servers. I think the Trustees
were angrier about that incident than with Collins's
kidnapping. But did you take Keno to save him or to use
him?"

"You expect me to say that I would have done so to save

him," I said. "To use him, of course. But I wouldn't have
abused and neglected him as much as you had, even if my
consort hadn't taken him under his protection."

"Abused?" McGann repeated.
"Frightened out of his wits most of the time," I said

scathingly, wondering how she could have been so ignorant of
or callous about someone under her protection. "Hungry and
always reminded that his simplest pleasure was at someone
else's whim. What else would you call abuse? I think that you
just didn't care enough to really hurt him."

"Or didn't think about him as much as I should have,"

McGann said, not denying my accusations. "But aside from
Keno and our treatment of him, do you have any issues with
dealing with the Trust?"

I hesitated for a second, thinking about my answer

carefully. "I have no issues with the group that is here, since
you all have been honorable with me in the past. Your

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Trustees are another matter. Collins was very informative
when we had our 'discussions' before he died."

McGann paled, but her voice was steady, "And what did

you find out?"

"I was always curious about why the real world was

suddenly interested in the Dreamlands," I said. "He simply
told me why. A most interesting reason, but I really doubt
that the Dreamlands are the threat the Trustees think they
are."

"The monsters—"
"Are vermin that manage to slip between the edges of our

worlds. You should treat them as such. Other than that, we
are no threat to you, no matter what your Trustees seem to
think. So why do they think that they want an alliance here?"

* * * *

Mason
I spent most of the day wandering around the island and

wondering what we were going to have to do to get out of
here. These people weren't the allies the Trustees were
looking for. I didn't know why they were even bothering. We
had been killing anything that came out of the Dreamlands for
decades, and now they wanted to stop? What had changed?
Did I really want to know?

When I got back to the hut, Tamazusa was outside trying

to scrub herself clean at what looked like a horse trough,
which was what passed as a bathtub here. She looked pissed,
which was an interesting look for her. I could have almost
liked it, if my insides were going to survive intact.

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"Things that bad?" I asked cautiously.
Her T-shirt was damp and sticking to her in a couple of

interesting places. I reminded my dick of what Heiseg had
looked like when we found him, and it behaved. She was
skinnier than I remembered, but her kimonos had been in
layers, from what I remember, which might have made her
look heavier. Or it might be something else, because she
wasn't acting like I remembered. There was something
vulnerable about her now.

"I loathe cooking," she said.
I noticed that her nails were all broken now and she had a

couple of nasty-looking bruises, as well as a few cuts on her
hands and arms. I was going to have to dress those for her so
they didn't get infected. We didn't need that crap on top of
everything else.

"That's why I eat out a lot," I said cheerfully. "Can't cook

worth shit. What did Helga the Horrible have you doin'?"

"Cleaning chickens. After that, it was scrubbing pots," she

said. "McGann and I got all the dirty work."

"'Cause you two are a pair of sexy mamas," I said with a

grin. She glared at me. "Seriously, you two are," I added.

"Does McGann know you think of her like this?" she asked.
"Probably," I said. Hell, McGann was a 'path, she got to

pick up a lot of stupid shit like that. "But it don't mean that I
don't think that the two of you aren't kickass. Or smart
enough to be in charge. I just like your packaging a lot more
than Wolf's."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Tamazusa said

with a shake of her head.

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"Speaking of talking, the two of us should go over some

ground rules," I said.

She frowned at me. "Ground rules?"
I tried not to get flustered. Hell, McGann probably would

be laughing her ass off if she could see me now, trying to be
polite and nice to a woman, because I wasn't polite to a lot of
people. But then, most of them weren't powerful oni, either.
"Like, I'm supposed to be your protector."

She froze. I tensed up and hoped she didn't turn my

insides into Jell-O. I could see she was beyond pissed now.
"Listen, I don't want you to have to do something stupid to
these people."

"I see," she said frigidly.
"Yeah, well, I don't think any of these people are the

sharpest pencil in the box."

She wrinkled her brow at that one, trying to figure out

what I was saying, I guessed, before asking, "You think of
them as people?"

"Just because they're dumbass enough to call you and me

nasty names, that doesn't mean that they're not people," I
said, trying not to sound too sarcastic.

"Mason, we're in the Dreamlands," she said, like I was

really stupid. I should have been pissed, but she wasn't being
a bitch about it like Anya the ice bitch would have been. She
was just trying to make me think or something like that. I
wasn't going to tell her it was a waste of time.

"Really?" I asked her sarcastically, watching the look of

frustration on her face as she wondered if I was as dumb as I
was acting. Shit, as dangerous as she was, she also was fun

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to tease. "Man, I thought this was a fun, fun time on spring
break in Florida."

"No one here," she said patiently, "is human, besides Keno

and your party."

"Shit, really?" I exclaimed. "Fuck, this isn't Florida, is it?

That means the salsa dancing and mojitos are out. You got
the wet T-shirt contest part down, at least."

"That means that most of those in your organization will

not think of anyone here as 'people'," she said slowly. I was
just glad she didn't ask me what a wet T-shirt contest was. I
hoped Keno or someone else didn't tell her.

"That's something that they're gonna have to work on," I

said, taking her seriously finally. "Shit."

I thought about that. While I wasn't educated, I knew

enough. I knew about all the shit that went down in our world
when someone thought someone else wasn't a person. And I
also knew how big a bastard most of the Trustees could be,
never mind the grunts. Fucked didn't even cover it. If this
alliance thing went through, we'd have to change our whole
way of thinking because of it. I wondered if most of the other
TCs could do that. I would bet they couldn't. While the Vikings
here were kind of dumb, our people—well, none of us really—
were thought to be too sane. Sane people didn't run around
killing monsters.

"You understand the issue?" she asked.
I shrugged. "Can't take care of that here," I said. My

willingness to not sweat the small stuff was the reason I was
never going to be more than a TC. "Plus, fuck, I trust those
fucking idiots about as far as can throw a Hakarl."

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"So you don't believe this talk of an alliance?" she asked,

tilting her head to the side a little. I wasn't surprised to see
that she probably agreed with my assessment of the
Trustees. But what did she want from me?

"Mrs. Adams said we're doing it. That's all I really have to

know," I said. "But shit, you also know they don't tell me shit,
either. McGann's the one to talk to about this."

"Still playing the buffoon?" Tamazusa practically purred.
"What you mean 'playing'?" I asked with a grin.
"Mason, let us be frank," she said. "You are not the fool

that you claim to be. While not a scholar, you are not
ignorant."

"Man, you need to talk to Murphy, then," slipped out

before I even thought about it. That Tamazusa and Murphy
hadn't parted on good terms didn't even cover the hard-on of
hate Murphy had for her. I didn't know if the man hadn't liked
her because she wasn't Irish or because of 'Nam or because
she wasn't someone who took his shit. Fuck, I didn't know
how she felt about him, but I knew she had been very willing
to kill him. "He thinks that I'm dumber than dirt."

"And how is he?" she asked. "Did he appreciate all that

you did for him?"

I shrugged. She knew what had happened even though

she hadn't been there. Murphy had been screaming at the top
of his lungs that I was a traitor because I'd traded that magic
man Fairinox for Murphy's release, when Tamazusa had
locked down Boylston Street while getting Fuse and Keno
back from us. Never mind I did it for him and his wife and
kids. "Traitor" was the nicest thing he'd been saying about

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me. She had heard most of it when I was bargaining for his
life with her. And you know what? I was stupid enough to do
it again if I had to.

"I also assume, from what I learned from Keno and Collins,

that his attitude was prevalent in your organization,"
Tamazusa continued without missing a beat. "So while
McGann talks of alliances and this Mrs. Adams attempts to
play the Game with me, I doubt that such a thing will
happen."

"Well, that's something that I'm really not gonna know

about," I said. "I've been stuck being a fucking rent-a-cop for
these people."

"And why do you think that happened?" she asked, looking

very interested all of a sudden.

I knew I was out of my league here, but really didn't care.

Shit, it wasn't like I had anything to hide here. "'Cause I
didn't think that all you people here were the bad guys."

"Fuse-hime was that charming?" she asked, trying not to

sound too catty.

"Actually, it was you and the boy toy," I told her, ignoring

her surprised look. "You all were nice to the lot of us, even
with the shit the ice bitch and Murphy were pulling. I know
that no one would have batted an eye if you killed us. But you
didn't and, shit...."

"Thank you, Mason," Tamazusa said quietly when I didn't

finish what I was saying, because I didn't know how. "And
what was it that you needed to talk to me about?"

"Um... shit, we're bunking together," I said in a rush. "Not

that I don't think that Keno can take care of you or anything,

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it's just that he's little, and I don't think that being your
'brother' can shield you."

"I see."
Shit, that wasn't helping me any. "And you know, not that

I'm hitting on you or anything, but I'm gonna have to show
them, too, that you're... mine. Not that I think you can't take
them or anything, just, you kill one of those idiots, and it's an
'us versus them' situation, and a lot of people would get hurt.
Most likely Keno."

She nodded slowly, her expression neutral. I knew she was

giving me enough rope to hang myself, but I blundered on.
"So, I'm going to be touching you a lot, just so they get the
message. Not that I think that any of these men want to do
something nasty to you. Drunk, one of them might be stupid
enough to be curious."

"But to them, I'm not thought of as a human being,

according to your scholar," Tamazusa protested. "So I doubt
that they would be interested in me that way."

"Trust me, a guy gets drunk enough, the stupidest things

sound like a good idea," I said. "Any of these guys make an
Irishman look like a teetotaler." They put it away like there
was no tomorrow in the evenings. Logan and I were given
shit because we didn't keep up with them. I liked my liver,
thank you very much, and didn't try to drink anyone under
the table.

"I think that you're just taking advantage of the situation,"

she said.

It took me a long moment to realize she was teasing me. I

grinned at her, relieved she wasn't pissed at me.

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"Damn straight, sister," I said. "Hard to find a hot mama

like yourself in my line of work. So I'll be strutting around
with you on my arm."

She looked down at what she was wearing. I wasn't

surprised to see it was covered in things I didn't want to think
about. I'd lend her another top and see what I could do about
getting stuff clean. She'd probably be one of the ones who got
stuck with that chore too.

"You and McGann make a plan," I suggested, trying to

cheer her up. "Getting you and Keno home sounds better
than sticking around here. These assholes are fucking nuts."

"I fear that there is something that might complicate

things," Tamazusa said softly. "Helga, and probably the rest
of the women, because that woman cannot keep her mouth
shut, seem to think that McGann is carrying Wolf's child."

I couldn't help it. I choked and then practically fell on the

ground laughing my ass off. It was too fucking funny. I'd ride
Wolf for months about it.

Tamazusa was just shaking her head at me. "Think," she

practically hissed.

"About what?" I asked. "And why do they think that

McGann's got a bun in the oven?"

Now that I was thinking about it, could these people get

pregnant? Did demons or oni or whatever they were have
kids? I hadn't seen any around, but that didn't mean it didn't
happen. But I was going to have to ask someone else,
because I was sure as hell not asking Tamazusa about the
demon birds and the bees. I was pushing it with her as it was.
I might have asked Keno about it, but then he might tell a

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little too much about his arrangement with Samojirou. Hell, I
really didn't care. It wasn't like I was worrying about that
right now, because I knew that Tamazusa and me weren't
going to get that friendly.

"She reacted most interestingly to a chicken being

slaughtered in front of her," Tamazusa said. "It seemed a
more acceptable explanation than whatever the truth is."

"What do you mean?" I asked, grinning like a loon. This

was going to be a great joke for a while. When we got back, I
was going to make sure all the TCs heard about Wolf being a
daddy. I just wasn't going tell them with who, though. I
wasn't going to give McGann that grief, because the TCs
didn't need to give her shit too. Plus, you never know with
chicks about the baby issue. For all I knew, she wanted one
and couldn't have one.

"While I doubt that McGann is very familiar with how food

gets to her table," Tamazusa said with a smile that told me
she knew there was something we weren't telling her, "there
is no doubt she knows that it once had life. Something upset
her, and not for the reason she told me."

I couldn't say anything. I knew that truth, and it was that

McGann was a 'path. She probably got a stray thought out of
Helga, and that was what made her lose her breakfast. I
didn't want to know what it had been if it had made McGann
puke. Tamazusa studied me, but she had to know I wasn't
going to tell her shit. "I don't expect you to tell me what's
going on. I just want to make sure that you are aware of the
issue."

"Shit, what does this have to do with me?" I asked.

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"Helga accused McGann of carrying your child, not Wolf's,"

Tamazusa said coolly. "Adultery isn't tolerated in this society."

"What a bitch," I snarled. "Shit, I thought that I could stop

worrying about that shit because the ice bitch wasn't here."

"She is trying to get into Wolf's bed," Tamazusa explained.

"He is a warrior and might be of high rank or at least
someone who would get her out of here. That might only
happen if McGann wasn't in the picture. But Helga is a fool,
because I know how Wolf looks at McGann. He wouldn't
believe any accusation or do anything against her. Helga is
going to stir up trouble. She may attempt to trick Logan in
some manner, so you should warn him about this. I'll get
Keno to keep an eye on the man also. If she gets desperate
or inventive, she might cry rape."

"And what would you do about her stirring up trouble?" I

asked.

"Get out of here as fast as possible," Tamazusa told me

bluntly. "A woman can cause more trouble than you could
believe. If you don't believe me, talk to Logan about such
things. Their sagas are full of tales of the trouble a vengeful
woman can cause. Aboshi spent some time translating them
once and amused me reading them during the rainy season."

"Not Logan's area of expertise," I said. "He's a Mayan

archeologist, not Viking. We were supposed to end up there,
wherever that is."

"Then what are you doing here?" she demanded. "This is

nowhere near where you want to be."

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"Fuck," I blustered. "I have no clue how the damn roller

coaster works. I get on and I get off. And I curse whoever
thought of the ride, because this ain't worth the price."

* * * *

Dinner was chicken and some sort of greens. Both Keno

and McGann didn't touch the chicken. Tamazusa sat next to
me and made sure I was served before her and my stein
didn't get empty of beer. Keno was sitting on the other side of
me, acting like he was her chaperone or something.

"Mason," Keno practically hissed at the beginning of the

meal.

I knew what he was telling me: treat her right or he was

going to kick my ass. And you know what? I thought that he
would be able to do it. I still remembered seeing the practice
fight he had the first morning we were at Tamazusa's estate.
The big guy hadn't let him win; Keno had kicked his ass fair
and square. And I knew he'd be willing to do the same thing
to me to protect Tamazusa. But no one else here would think
that he would or could, and there'd be trouble the first time
someone pulled shit on him or Tamazusa.

Tamazusa said something quietly to him in Nipponese, and

he calmed down. I was betting she pulled rank on him. Most
everyone else was watching either us or Wolf. I knew these
people were bored and isolated, but it didn't make me like
being the center of attention any better. I split my veggies
between Tamazusa and Keno. I'd have liked to give some to
McGann, but that would have started that Helga rumor mill
again, and I didn't want to deal with that. Keno gave his

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chicken to Tamazusa, and she shared it with me, giving me
the bigger portion and the better pieces, serving it elegantly
like we were dining at the Ritz. It was all nice and cozy, and
shit, it was beginning to feel like a weird date. Not that I
dated; I was a pay-as-you-go type of guy. It made things a
lot less complicated.

Things were going pretty good until it was time for bed.

Helga had spent most of the meal and the sitting around and
drinking afterward glaring daggers at McGann and Tamazusa.
Like as in "if looks could kill" glares. McGann ignored her.
Tamazusa, shit, she thought it was funny. She sneered down
her nose at Helga while treating me like I was the best date
she'd ever had. And you know, it was the best "date" I'd ever
had, if you wanted to call it one. Tamazusa was attentive and
flattering, flirty almost. I wondered briefly where she had
learned to act like that and then decided I didn't want to
know. I had a good guess and didn't like it, but now her
relationship with her boy toy made a lot more sense to me.

My stuff had been moved into the "married" section of the

hut, right next to where Wolf and McGann were. There
weren't too many of us there, about a handful, which made
Helga being alone odd. If they were that short of women, she
must have been a wicked bitch not to have a man of her own.
Or too picky for her own good, but I was going with her being
a bitch. Wolf and McGann settled into their little corner, and I
could tell that McGann was exhausted. A couple more days
like this and she'd just drop. We had to get out of here before
that happened.

"You mind sleeping on the inside?" I asked Tamazusa.

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She was looking... not nervous, but uneasy. Then I

realized how long it must have been since she had shared a
bed with anyone, not that there was really one here. The
setup was some sort of straw mattress supported by a
crudely made platform of rope pretending it was a box spring.
It wasn't doing a good job. I wanted to tell her to relax, that
it was going to be all right. But I didn't think she'd appreciate
it. Hell, I knew I wouldn't.

"Do you think—" she started with a snarl and then

stopped, visibly trying to calm down again. "Yes, the inside
would be most acceptable."

"Logan'll look after Keno," I told her.
"Why do you think that he needs that?" she snapped. "Or

that I would worry?"

"'Cause he's really like your kid brother or, shit, your

brother-in-law," I said. "You and the boy toy are family."

"I really don't understand why you keep referring to

Aboshi-sama as my 'toy'," Tamazusa said with a slight smile,
starting to calm down again. Shit, this was harder for her
than me, so Tamazusa giving me shit was something I could
live with. She wasn't showing me the Jell-O trick, so I was
happy. And you know, I was getting to like her. She seemed
a lot more fun when she wasn't on her estate being the bitch
queen.

"He's pretty, and you're the one running things," I said,

giving her something to focus on besides the fact we were
crawling into bed together.

"Was he pretty the last time you saw him?" she asked me,

stripping out of her pants and shirt. I was grateful she was

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wearing something that looked like a slip underneath. I had
forgotten that casual nudity was something that was okay
with her and her people, because they bathed together, even
if it wasn't coed. I slipped out of my shoes and shirt but kept
the pants on. It wasn't comfortable, but it was safer than
stripping down to my underwear.

I thought about that. The last time I saw Samojirou was

when he, Tamazusa, and Fuse's sons had invaded Boylston
Street from the Dreamlands to rescue Fuse and Keno. He'd
looked like something out of my worst nightmare, dead white
skin, claws, and a horn in the middle of his forehead. Not
pretty. That he'd been carrying a damn big sword and hacking
his way through all the eggheads hadn't helped either, he'd
been pissed that we—well, the Trust—had kidnapped Keno. I
was glad I hadn't been around when Samojirou had found out
that Keno had been tortured.

"Not really, not that it mattered to Keno," I said. "Shit,

they...."

"I understand," she said with sad smile. "Seeing them

together is wonderful. Aboshi must be frantic. He probably
thinks that we're dead."

"And why would he think that you're dead?" I asked.
I didn't get an answer, not that I expected one, because

she seemed to be asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. I
shrugged and crawled in beside her. Pretending to be asleep
would get her out of a lot more than avoiding my questions, if
I was going to be an asshole.

* * * *

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I woke up the next morning kind of curled around

Tamazusa like she was my teddy bear, and one part of me
was a bit more awake than the rest of me. I was really glad I
had decided to sleep in pants. I knew Tamazusa was awake
from the way she wasn't moving. Shit, she was barely
breathing, and I hoped she didn't think I was going to roll her
over and fuck her. One: it would be rape. Two: I really didn't
get into public sex. There wasn't even a curtain between us
and the rest of the place. Not that it mattered to these
people, because I was hearing more than one couple going at
it. Loudly too.

"I told you it was stupid," I said. "Sleepin' alone, it never

does this. Asshole."

She relaxed when I said that and turned around so she

was sort of facing me, but she had scooted away so we
weren't really touching. It was cozy still, and I wondered how
badly Samojirou was going to kick my ass for this, if Keno
didn't beat him to it.

"Are you implying that you don't find me attractive?" she

asked with a smile.

"I keep callin' you a sexy mama. What do you think?" I

asked back. "But I know you're really not interested, so this
isn't nice. Also, shit, not being rude or anything, but when's
the last time you slept with someone?"

"Do you really want to know that answer?" she asked

dryly, back in control, it seemed to me. But she had to be
very aware that to get away from me, she'd have to go over
me.

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"I can guess," I told her. "I don't really like the answer,

but I like that you're not giving me shit about this." I waved
down at the bulge in my pants.

"I understand your reasoning, even if I don't have to like

it," she said.

"Yeah, and I better get out of bed before Keno comes over

here and gets pissy about it," I said.

"You have such a hard life," Tamazusa teased.
I grinned at her and resisted giving her a kiss, since I liked

my insides the way they were. I got out of bed and dug
through my pack, handing her a clean shirt before I grabbed
one for myself. I slipped it on and then went to find Keno.

He was bunking near Logan, and I knew the other man

wanted to ask Keno exactly what was happening but was
showing some sense by not doing it in such a public area.
There might be hope for Logan yet. "Want to go for a walk?" I
asked Keno.

"It would be a good idea," he said carefully.
The rest of the Vikings ignored us, but Logan looked like

he wanted to join us. It wasn't like we had chores or anything
to do, unlike the women. We had to get out of Viking-land
fast, because I didn't think McGann was up to this. That
"woman's work was never done" saying didn't fucking cover
it. She and Tamazusa and the rest of them never stopped
moving. When we walked out of the hut, I wasn't surprised
that Logan tagged after me. The man wasn't stupid, and I
thought he had put enough of the story together, so I let him.

* * * *

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Keno
Dinner the night before had been difficult. I had been

shocked that Tamazusa had been acting like Mason was her
patron, serving him more elegantly than I could ever have
dreamed of. I wondered if Mason knew how honored he
should have been. I doubted that, though. Not that Mason
was dumb, it was just that he didn't understand things like
that. I was amazed that Tamazusa had been able to snub
Helga and the rest of them, as she was pretending to be
Mason's humble companion. Even if no else could see it, I saw
the scorn she had for the Norse women. She had shown them
how one was supposed to treat a patron. I was amazed and
humbled by the experience.

It was hard for me to be mad at Mason, even now. I

waited until we had gotten out of hearing range of everyone
but Logan to ask with tightly controlled anger in my voice,
"And how did you sleep last night?"

"She hogs the covers," Mason said. I glared at him. "She...

shit, what do you want me to say?"

That stopped me. I really didn't know what I wanted him

to say.

"I apologize," I said stiffly, trying to stop being angry. I

guessed it was more that we were trapped in this situation
that made me angry than the fact he was sleeping with my
lord.

"You're worried about her," Mason said. "Cuttin' you slack

because of that."

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I frowned, and he grinned at me again, determined not to

take this seriously. "Shit, she's a lady, and I ain't forgetting
that."

We were silent after that, but eventually came upon a

group of Norsemen looking at some of the debris from the
ship. I didn't care about that; it was Iida's ship, but
something caught my eye, and I got closer. I was surprised to
see a couple of the Norse examining a pair of swords: a
katana and a wakizashi. I knew neither man knew how to use
them, looking at how they were handling them. I also wanted
some sort of weapon to protect Tamazusa.

"Those are mine," I said politely, lying through my teeth.
One of them was named Egil, and he was crazy, from what

I could tell, and warped-looking too. The other man was really
big as opposed to just big and was called Tholf, a little more
even-tempered than the rest of them but still nasty when he
had a drink or two in him, as I had found out last night. Both
of them seemed to think I was a child, since I hadn't even
attempted to drink with them or join in any of their
"amusements." It didn't help that I was shorter than
everyone else here, the same height as Tamazusa.

Egil looked down at me and grinned. "I doubt it, boy."
"You wouldn't be able to do anything with them," Tholf

rumbled, laughing at me.

"Do you want to find out?" I asked quietly.
Egil looked at me and then held the katana above his

head, just out of my reach. I hate being short at times.

"Don't be an asshole," Mason told him. "Keno wouldn't lie

about shit."

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"And what do I care about what a pair of skraelingjar ask

for?" Egil sneered.

Mason's mouth tightened, and I thought he was going to

punch Egil for that.

"Mason-san, I can take care of myself," I stated.
Logan just was hanging back, but the other two were

watching him. I wondered if it was because they thought that
he was in charge, because he was white. I knew that sounded
stupid, but they were the ones calling me and Mason names.

I had talked to Logan a little last night. Not too much,

since I didn't know who would be listening. He'd asked
questions about my "sister" and me. I told him as little as
possible, because I didn't trust him. Really, I wasn't naive
enough to think he was a good guy because he was with Wolf
and Mason. I remembered how nasty some of the scientists
had been back in the real world. He seemed like a nice guy,
but I couldn't take that chance, not now.

"I take it that you're not going to give me back my

property?" I asked politely.

Both of them just laughed. It wasn't a nice laughter, and

so I didn't feel bad about what I was going to do. I kicked
Tholf behind his knee, hard, making him stumble to the
ground. That put us at the same level, almost. I struck Tholf
on the shoulder of the arm holding the wakizashi and then hit
him in that same wrist so that he dropped the weapon. I
caught the wakizashi as it fell and kicked him in the head
after that, wanting him to stay down for a while. I didn't care
about being nice about it.

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I whirled and blocked Egil's strike with the wakizashi,

dancing back after, feeling the shock of his blow up my arm. I
knew I wouldn't win in a contest of strength against anyone
here but Logan, maybe. Egil held the katana like it was one of
their two-handed swords, and I almost laughed at how
awkward it looked. But the man was trying to kill me, so it
really wasn't funny.

I did a leg sweep, trying to dislocate his kneecap. It almost

worked. He went down on one knee, a snarl on his face. He
thrust the katana forward, as if it had a sharpened tip. I
batted it aside, whirling again and kicking him on the side of
the head. It was showy, and if it had been someone who had
been better trained, I wouldn't have done something like that.
It stunned him, and he dropped the katana. I followed up that
kick with a couple of more, and soon he was unconscious on
the sand.

I scooped up the katana, sheathed it and then the

wakizashi, and thrust both of them between my belt and the
pants I was almost wearing. It looked ridiculous, but I didn't
care. The whole thing had taken about a minute. "Are there
any other objections?" I asked in a frigid tone.

"The swords are yours," Tholf rumbled, looking angry and

impressed at the same time. Either he was tougher than I
thought he was or I was weaker; I was betting on weaker.
There was something about being a spirit here that made
someone stronger. "Take them, skraeling."

"I thank you for seeing reason," I said softly before turning

and stalking down the beach, knowing that Mason and Logan
would follow me. I was shaking and didn't want them to see

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it. We got out of earshot of the others before Mason said
something.

"You're doin' good, kid," he told me proudly, tousling my

hair.

Logan was just frowning thoughtfully. "That might be—"
"Fuck 'em," Mason said. "Keno can kick ass. So what?'
"He just embarrassed two high-ranking Norsemen in front

of others. I think that it might cause trouble," Logan said.
"We should tell Wolf about this."

I sat down. "I don't think that I'm recovered as I should

be," I said faintly. "Can we just sit here for a while before
telling Wolf about this?"

He was talking to Njalsson about something, which was

why he wasn't with us. I was certain Mason and Logan were
scouting out the island for some reason. I sat down before I
collapsed, which would get me in all sorts of trouble with
everyone.

"I didn't think that Samojirou would give something like

that as a gift," Mason said after he sat down.

"And just what do you think that he'd give me?" I asked,

not wanting to tell him I had lied. I wasn't going to tell them I
had been disguised as Tamazusa's maid for this trip. That
really wasn't their business. Mason would tease me about it,
although I didn't mind being teased. I was looking forward to
Seki and the rest of his squad doing so when we were
returned home. I was very glad they hadn't been on the ship
with us, because I feared they would have drowned like those
poor sailors.

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But here and now was not the place or time for teasing me

like that.

"Hell, the way that you dressed, I don't know what, but

not swords," Mason said with a grin.

"Way he was dressed?" Logan asked curiously.
"His boyfriend got a kink about dressing him as a chick,"

Mason said. I wondered if I could just smack him. That was
no one's business but Samojirou's and mine. That it was a
good disguise for me for a number of reasons wasn't
something I was going to tell them.

Logan looked at me strangely for a second before saying

quietly, "Don't mention that to anyone here. Seriously, these
people have less tolerance for such things than the military
does."

Mason rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. "You still see

Fuse-hime?" he asked me after a quiet minute.

"I see all my family," I said.
"Family?" Logan asked.
"Long story," Mason said. "But tell her that I said 'hi' for

me next time that you see her."

"I will," I promised.
Logan looked to be thinking hard on something, but he

didn't ask any more questions. We sat there quietly until I
stopped shaking. Mason frowned at me. "You know that I'm
gonna have to tell Tamazusa about this too. You look like
crap. And I don't want her mad at me because you hid this
from her."

"I know," I said.

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I was tired, drained really, but I didn't know why. I should

have been recovered from almost drowning by now. I needed
to rest, which I knew wasn't going to happen. We had to get
back to Nippon, fast, and I was going to push that fact with
Wolf and the others. I didn't know what their mission was,
but I didn't care; mine was to get Tamazusa back to her kuni
as quickly as I could and get back to my lover before he did
something we would both regret.

[Back to Table of Contents]

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Chapter Seven

Samojirou
I woke up several times, but each time I was given some

sort of overly sweet tea to drink, and I drifted off into
unconsciousness again. I didn't care to be awake, which was
the main reason I let them drug me. When I woke up this
time, I heard the rustle of silk and a gentle hand on my
forehead.

"You seem to be better," a soft voice told me. It was Fuse.
I didn't know if I was better, but I knew she was here for a

reason. I tried to gather my wits about me, and all I could
think was that Keno was gone. I knew I should mourn
Tamazusa also, since we had been together for centuries.
While it was I who had caused her to be here in the
Dreamlands, she had forgiven me. I eventually forgave
myself when I saw how happy she was here with the power
she had wielded. But all that was echoing in my heart and my
head was that Keno was gone.

I slowly opened my eyes. Fuse was looking down at me

with a worried expression on her face. I noticed that Yukiko,
Keno's personal maid, was with her. She had dressed as
Sakura when Tamazusa and Keno had left, an excellent idea I
was surprised Keno had thought of. It was a move in the
Game I hadn't expected out of him. I thought Yukiko had
been amused that they had switched roles like that.

"Yukiko-san, could you get us something to eat?" Fuse

asked with a smile.

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She bowed and left the room, after looking at me with a

frown on her face. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and this was
about the only time I hadn't seen her with a smile on her
face. As a flower spirit, it was her nature to be cheerful all the
time.

"He's gone," I said numbly. My throat felt odd for some

reason, tight, and I was unable to swallow.

"Samojirou-sama... Aboshi, please," Fuse started, her eyes

bright with unshed tears as she handed me a cup of tea after
I sat up. "He wouldn't have wanted this."

"Does it matter?" I asked dully. I sipped at my tea, feeling

my throat ease. I sensed that there was something in it, but
it wasn't what they had been drugging me with before.

"There is trouble," she said softly. "I fear that treachery

was involved with what happened to Keno and your lady."

"He liked having a family again," I said, not really listening

to what she had to say. I was wondering where the nearest
katana was and who I could ask to be my second. I didn't
want to live having lost Keno again.

"Pay attention," Fuse chided gently. "This is important."
"It isn't," I told her.
"Don't be hasty," she said. "I don't think that things are as

bad—"

"Tamazusa no longer holds this kuni," I shouted. "She is

gone. Keno... Keno would protect her with his last breath."
My voice broke on the last word. I took a deep breath and
fought not to start howling my denial of what had happened
to the heavens for a second time.

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"That does not mean that either one of them are dead,"

Fuse snapped.

I stared at her dumbly. She looked tired and out of sorts,

and I wondered how long I had been unconscious.

"I am not a lord," she continued in a calmer tone of voice,

"but my husband is, and most of my sons are. I know of the
power, the bargains one has with the land, the kuni's power
and the responsibility it demands."

"He is gone," I snarled. "I should have—"
"Who was she meeting with?" Fuse asked, interrupting me.
I shrugged, since it didn't matter now, since the dead have

no secrets to keep. "Iida Hideaki of Tsushima. He was
interested in striking some sort of bargain with her."

Tsushima was a small island on the tip of Nippon, so far

south and west that it was almost not in Nippon, on the
borders of the southern barbarians known as the Egyptians. I
found it to be a cheerless place the one or two times I had
visited it. There wasn't much there, and I wondered how Iida
stood to spend any time there.

"The rumors are that he was looking for a consort," Fuse

said thoughtfully. "But I doubt that Tamazusa would have
bargained with him about that. Unless she managed to ally
with him or offer him support without her body being part of
the bargain. So they would have had very little to talk about."

"How do you know about that?" I asked, feeling a faint stir

of curiosity.

She smiled. "I have sons, and there are many who will talk

to them. And my sons talk to me. But I think there is a

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reason Iida approached her that was not in the rumors. I
think that is why what happened has happened."

"And Iida-sama had approached me," Inuyama Dousetsu

said from the doorway. "He was hoping that I would ally with
him, because of what had happened in the real world. I
declined, telling him I would deal with you in my own
manner."

I actually was glad to see him. He would be very happy to

be my second and take my head as I committed seppuku. I
had done him a grave injustice when he had been alive, and I
knew he would be happy to end my existence. I slowly
pushed myself up and off the bed to stand.

"Would you do me the honor of being my second?" I asked

Inuyama.

He looked startled for a second and then threw a frantic

glance at his mother, begging wordlessly for her to deal with
this. Inuyama was a serious man, called dour by many, but
he didn't know how to deal with me right now. I knew he
wasn't comfortable with my relationship with Keno and that
he didn't understand how I could love Keno so much.

"Aboshi!" Fuse exclaimed, clearly annoyed. It was odd that

she was calling me by my first name, especially with no
honorific attached, but I believed that she was out of patience
with me.

"I think that you might want to wait," Inuyama said after

Fuse glared at him.

"About Iida. Do you know why no one ever manages to

take that small island he has?" Inuyama asked.

"Because no one wants it," I told him snidely.

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"While it lacks the amenities you might want, it is a

strategic foothold that could lead to an invasion of Nippon,"
Inuyama explained patiently. I didn't like seeing the pity in
his face. "None of those foolish enough to think they could
take the island have ever done so. I think that it is because
its lord has made bargains not just with the land, but with the
sea."

I didn't care about what the man had done, except for the

fact that he had killed my lover and the woman I thought of
as a sister. "I will kill him," I growled, sounding more like an
animal than anything.

"You can't leave here," Fuse said. "The land is not calm.

You need to—"

"You think that I would hold this place?" I demanded.
"Samojirou-sama," Fuse started softly, trying to get me to

see reason. "I know that you wish to join my son in death. I
am just asking you to wait. I feel that he isn't gone.
Something happened out there, but we don't know what."

"I don't believe you."
"He'll join you if you kill yourself and he gets back here,"

Inuyama said roughly. "Do you want that? Keno... I don't
understand your relationship, how he is happy being your
lover. How he is different because of his time in the real word
and being reborn. But he will not live without you. Do you
want to be the cause of his death because you couldn't wait?
Do you love him so little?"

"He's gone," I repeated numbly.
"Wait," Inuyama said, echoing his mother. "Trust her."

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"Tamazusa would not yield her control of the land, no

matter who was threatened," I said flatly. "She is gone. Her
Reavers have left. Her ties to the land have been severed."

"That doesn't mean that she and Keno are dead," Fuse

repeated. "Think! Such things have happened before."

I looked at both of them with dull eyes. The silence

stretched out, and I finally noticed another one of Keno's
brothers, Inukai Genpachi, was here. He didn't hold a kuni,
and so I saw what Fuse's plan was: replace Tamazusa with
one of her sons if I refused to take the kuni. I didn't blame
her. Her family was a power in the North, and they wanted
someone they could trust at their backs.

"It has happened more than you think," Inukai said

quietly. "It is just that most think the holder is dead when
they lose power."

"They're both gone," I said.
"We'll dose you with that tea again, if you don't shut up,"

Inuyama threatened.

Fuse just looked at the three of us and shook her head.
"I think that it would be better if you left us, Mother,"

Inukai said.

"Please do," Inuyama added. "And neither one us, nor will

any of the other samurai here, act as his second at this time.
You need to rest."

She nodded after hesitating a second and left the room. I

just stood there. Inuyama and Inukai looked at each other,
and then Inukai said softly, "Why don't you sit down?"

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"I'll find a way," I stated, even as I sat down. It was just

easier to follow orders right now. Once they stopped worrying
about me, I'd find a way to kill myself.

"We will help you join Keno, if he is gone," Inukai

promised. "We are just counseling you to wait."

"How long?" I asked after a few heartbeats.
"About a week," Inuyama said. He knew I was asking how

long I had been unconscious, not how long before I could kill
myself. "Okita-san sent for Mother as soon as he could. She
cared for you, keeping you unconscious until you were able to
make some sort of sense. This is the first time you have done
more than scream."

I nodded. I didn't care. "But...."
"Mother came alone," Inukai said. "Then she sent for us."
"How many of you are here?"
"Just myself and Dousetsu," Inukai told me. "Our other

brothers are busy and will join us later."

"Why?" I asked.
"Think!" Inuyama snapped. "Neither one of us has claimed

a kuni. If needed, we can keep the people here protected by
claiming it. What Iida has done, however, has brought war
back to us."

"I don't believe you," I said dully.
"Do you think that any of us would not avenge the death

of our brother Keno?" Inukai asked me gravely. He sounded
very unlike the man he was, a man of the pleasure quarters.
"Shino and the others are gathering their forces to attack
Iida-sama. This will tear Nippon apart to avenge our brother,
and it will be as it was when we were alive.

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"And I don't doubt that Iida knew this. While it is not

widely known who Sakura actually is, there was what
happened in the spring, when Mother was being so friendly to
Tamazusa-sama. Iida-sama might have believed he had to
move soon if the rumors were true, that Tamazusa-sama was
willing to take one of us as a consort. If he wanted to ruin
Nippon, this was one way to do it. However, he might have
tipped his hand too soon, which will be the only thing that will
save Nippon."

"So all of you are going to be here?" I asked.
"This place isn't defendable," Inuyama told me. "We're

taking you to your capital."

"Keno was happy here."
"We know that," Inuyama grated. "And he is not coming

back here to bury you."

"He's gone."
Inukai didn't say anything else, and I knew Inuyama

wanted to shake me. I didn't believe them. Keno was gone,
and the land was looking for another lord. It could be one of
them or Iida, I didn't care. I just wanted to be with Keno
again.

"Iida's idiocy will weaken us, and so then others will want

to see how weak Nippon is," Inuyama said sharply. "The
Southerners for one."

"Or whatever Iida has allied himself with," Inukai added. "I

don't doubt that he has allies like Tamazusa-sama's Reavers."

"I've never seen them," I said. "The Reavers followed my

lady around like loyal dogs. Iida was usually alone."

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"If they can't breathe air, then you wouldn't see them. I

don't doubt that Iida has also made bargains with unclean
things," Inukai said. "There are rumors that his villages house
things that are evil, that his peasants have a habit of
disappearing. That certain nights of the year, maidens and
young boys are staked out on the beach, never to be seen
again."

"Keno," I whispered brokenly, remembering my first

glimpse of him, broken from the abuse he had been subjected
to.

I threw back my head and started screaming, not wanting

to think about him, about anything anymore. I barely felt the
blow Inuyama gave me, welcoming the darkness it brought.

* * * *

Keno
"Egil claims that you used witchcraft against him," Wolf

said.

It was just after dinner. Egil had spent most of it glaring at

me, while Tholf just looked thoughtful. I wore my swords still,
because I didn't want them to disappear. I didn't trust anyone
here. "He made a complaint to Njalsson about you. Since you
seem to be part of my group now, Njalsson talked to me
about it. The only thing that seems to be saving you from a
charge of witchcraft is that Tholf said you fought without
magic, just in a strange style. I tried to explain to him that is
your way of fighting, but I still think there will be trouble."

"I don't know what you are talking about," I lied. I wasn't

going to tell anyone here I had the ability to cast spells, that I

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just needed some training to do so. I wasn't in any hurry to
get it. I enjoyed exploring other things in my life—like
Samojirou—too much right now. "I don't know how to cast
spells. I also agree with Egil that blood magic is a bad thing."

Mason looked indecently relieved to hear that, while

McGann acted guilty. Wolf was clearly upset about the whole
thing. He hadn't been happy to hear I had beaten up two men
to get a pair of swords, whether I was going use them or not.
I knew he wanted to protect me still. But I didn't need it, and
I didn't know if that was making him more upset. I wanted
these people to know I wasn't someone who could be pushed
around. Mason shouldn't be the one protecting my lord. That
was my duty. It was annoying that these people looked at me
and saw a child and not a warrior.

"Is it my fault that these unwashed barbarians have no

training in unarmed fighting?" I demanded, getting angry. I
had simply been trying to arm myself to protect Tamazusa. It
wasn't like I could use any of their swords, because quite
frankly, I didn't have the strength to wield one, even if I knew
their style of fighting. "It wasn't sorcery that caused my
victory over Egil, simply that I train every morning with my
lord's samurai. Egil's a clumsy fool compared to Okita-san or
Seki-san. And they have no problem with me the rare times
that I am able to win a training bout with them or anyone
else."

"They're not going to like that," Logan said. "They're going

to think that you tricked him."

"And we should care why?" Mason asked, sounding bored

about the whole thing.

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Logan shook his head. "We're outnumbered."
"Fuck it. Let's take a boat and get the fuck out of Dodge,

then," Mason said. "Screw these crazies."

I didn't think anyone was more surprised than he was

when McGann and Tamazusa just looked at each other and
nodded. "That sounds like a delightful idea," Tamazusa almost
cooed.

"Wolf?" McGann asked. She put a lot into that word. Was it

a good idea? Was he willing to go along with this? Can we do
it?

"My grandmother is a university professor," Wolf said.

"She knew a professor in the history department who built
Viking knorr and other ships."

"And?" Mason asked.
"I spent a couple summers working with him. I can pilot

and crew a boat. You don't need a lot of people, but knowing
where to go might be a problem."

"Keno and I know the stars here," Tamazusa said. "We can

guide you to Nippon. The ocean is rough there, though, and
we'll need a sturdy ship to get through the barrier."

"Is that what happened to your ship?" Wolf demanded.
Tamazusa shifted and looked uneasy for a moment. "That

was something else. I underestimated the allies Iida-sama
had. The ship was destroyed in another manner. I doubt they
will be at the barrier when we return, since they've done their
duty. They should have returned to the Southern seas."

"We're stealing a ship, then," McGann announced after

thinking about it for a minute.

"But where will we be going after that?" Logan asked.

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"There are places we can go. Lands that are closer than

my own where we can ask for sanctuary," Tamazusa said.

Tamazusa wasn't lying to anyone here. It would be easier

to go down the eastern shore of Nippon, than the western
one. And while most of my family held the upper eastern part
of Nippon, they also held portions of the western side too.
They were all closer and easier to get to than Tamazusa's
kuni.

"Shino-sama would be the best person to go to," I said

after thinking about it. "If we miss him, then we can sail down
further to Yatsufusa-sama's kuni."

"He has a kuni?" Mason asked. Actually, he seemed to be

the only one who would be rude enough to say something like
that, but the others seemed shocked to hear it too.

"He holds the peninsula Awa is on, here in the

Dreamlands," Tamazusa said with a cool smile. "But I know
that there are rumors that Fuse-hime is the real power there,
since she has her husband wrapped around her littlest finger,
it seems."

"Most marriages seem like that," McGann said with a faint

smile.

I let out a breath I didn't even know I had been holding. I

knew some people might have an issue with Yatsufusa and
Fuse's relationship. In many places in the real world, it would
be considered unnatural, since he was a dog and she was
human. If it weren't for the magic involved, it would have
been. But Yatsufusa wasn't a dumb animal, no matter what
he looked like. I thought that there would be some issues
with him giving orders and writing out things, but after all

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their time here, I bet that something had been worked out to
cover this. Also, it wasn't like this place was normal, not with
tengu and oni living here. I just wondered why everyone was
willing to keep Logan in the dark about who and what
Yatsufusa was exactly, what a kuni was, or how important my
family was. I guessed they didn't trust him.

"Yeah, well, so long as your family isn't too pissed at us,"

Mason said, "we should be all right."

* * * *

Mason
While stealing a boat was a good idea, all the farm had

was fishing boats. They were smaller than shit, and I didn't
trust that they'd survive something like the storm that
washed Keno and Tamazusa up, never mind the barrier thing
they were talking about. We could take them someplace else,
but then we'd have to steal another ship, because I didn't
think we had enough money to buy one. Plus I felt guilty
about taking stuff from these people. They weren't exactly
dirt poor, but I knew that even a shitty boat was a big thing
for these people. I called this place a farm, but I didn't see
anything like fields and shit like that. Logan told me they
survived on sheep herding, fishing, and some gardening. That
made more sense, even if I wondered how the lot of them
hadn't died of malnutrition or something. It wasn't like we
were eating what was called a balanced diet here, and Keno
was even more screwed than we were, because he didn't eat
meat, which was a large portion of the meals here. Not that it

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was steak or something good, more like mutton and stringy
chickens.

After a day of hanging around and Keno getting dirty looks

from Egil, Tamazusa and I were turning in when I heard a cry
from outside. Someone was screaming "Ouous! Ouous!"—
whatever that meant. I found out soon enough when Wolf
came tearing back to us. He had been tucking McGann into
bed.

"It's a raid," he snapped, buckling on his armor and sword.
"We can take one of those ships," Tamazusa said

immediately.

Wolf looked at her, shocked. He was ready to go out and

defend these people. McGann popped out of nowhere with
their packs. "It's a good idea," she said.

"It'll be a rough ride," Wolf warned her.
"I know," she said. She was looking like shit, so getting

out for her was a good idea, before she was worked to death.
Helga had managed to give her and Tamazusa every shitty
job she could think of. I felt a little guilty about abandoning
these people, but shit, sometimes that was part of the job.

Logan looked at us. "But—"
"This is the best chance that we have to leave here,"

Tamazusa told him. "Their ships are probably on the beach,
lightly guarded. We just have to get to them and get them in
the water. Hopefully they don't chase after us, but instead
return to wherever they came from."

"Wolf's in charge," McGann said. "Armor up and get to the

beach." She handed Tamazusa one of the packs. "If you
could?"

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Tamazusa slung it on her back. "Keno can defend us until

the ship is ours."

"He's a kickass fighter," I protested. I barely knew which

end of a sword to hold. Logan was a bow guy, and I just knew
McGann wasn't going to be able to do shit to someone.
Tamazusa's trick with turning people's insides to Jell-O would
keep her safe, unless there was more than one of them. I
wasn't counting on that to keep us safe.

"Keno has trained with my samurai, but he has never gone

into battle," she said quietly. "He has not killed. And if Aboshi
and I have our way, he never will."

"You might not get that choice," I said roughly, fighting the

unexpected urge to give her a hug. "Tonight looks nasty."

I slipped into my own armor and wasn't surprised that

Tamazusa grabbed my pack too. I wasn't going to leave that
behind; it had all sorts of useful supplies in it besides
clothing. Logan unpacked his bow and strung it. It was a
fancy one with all sorts of pulleys. I'd seen him put an arrow
through a couple of two by fours when we'd had our fighting
practice. I could pull it but didn't have a chance of hitting
anything smaller than the broad side of a barn. I wasn't ever
going to be Robin Hood with that thing. Keno popped out of
wherever he had been, looking like he had been sick a couple
of times.

"There seems to be a couple of boatloads of raiders out

there," he said. "I think that I know why there aren't a lot of
woman here."

"We're talking one of the ships," Wolf said.

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Keno nodded, not arguing. He had wanted to get out of

here worse than we did, for some reason. "It's a mess out
there."

I didn't know what he meant until I stepped out of the hut.

There was a lot of screaming and a horde of really big guys in
armor. No one was wearing a horned helmet, and I felt
vaguely cheated. Wolf was smart and put the women in the
middle. He was in front, and I was tail-end Charlie, while
Keno and Logan were sort of guarding our sides. I was glad
no one was paying any attention to us. That was normal,
because in any type of fight, especially at night, you never
really knew what was going on. You concentrated on keeping
your ass safe and your team intact and killing the monster
you were after. It didn't leave you a lot of time to see the big
picture. Radios helped, but since there weren't any here, it
seemed like it was every man for himself.

There were a lot of people running about as they tried to

either get the hell out of there or fight those guys. But while
most of these guys were backwoods bikers, the newcomers
were a bunch of mean fuckers, really professional fighters.
People you really didn't want to piss off. They were killing
anyone who tried to fight back and dragging off the women. I
realized why Keno had been sick. McGann was looking like
she wanted to lose it, too, but Tamazusa acted like she was
out for a walk in the park. I admired the balls she had and
was glad she seemed to be looking after McGann. She knew
something was up with McGann, but she didn't know what.
With any luck, she'd never figure it out.

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We managed to get halfway to the beach before our luck

ran out. A couple of the raiders noticed our group and came
after us. It wouldn't have mattered except they went after
Logan. He managed to get a shot off at one of them, but the
other got past his guard. These fuckers were fast! The
surviving one grabbed McGann around her stomach, and she
crumbled. He'd just touched her, and she was out like a light.
He must have done something that overloaded her mojo.

"Hey!" I screamed.
That got Wolf's attention. didn't know if that was a good

thing, because he got a funny look on his face and charged
the asshole, shouting his head off. The bad guy looked at him
and sort of tossed McGann aside. Logan managed to catch
her, barely. He handed his bow to Keno and slung her over
his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

"She fainted," he said, sounding confused.
Meanwhile, Wolf was swinging wildly at the other guy. He

didn't seem to know what to do with a sword now, but he was
doing his best to kill the other guy. The guy he was attacking
was screaming his head off, something that sounded like
berserkergang. We were starting to attract attention, and we
had to get the fuck out of there. I was very aware of how
attractive Tamazusa, McGann, and even Keno were, because
this seemed to be a raid for women as much as other
valuables.

"Give her to me," I told Logan. "I can't do shit with a

sword. You're useful with that bow."

I sheathed my sword and took her from him. The other

guy's shouting had brought in reinforcements. Not that it

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mattered to him, Wolf got in a good hit and took the guy's
head off. He collapsed, his head flying off into the dark, and
Wolf snarled at the body. I was getting worried about trying
to get him back with us, when he went after the other guys.
Wolf was nuts, but if he wasn't going after one of us, I wasn't
too worried. He waded into the newcomers with a scream that
curled the hair on the back of my neck.

"We better get to the beach," Tamazusa said coolly.
"I'll watch out for him," Keno said quietly.
"He's berserk," I grunted, wondering how the hell that had

happened. Nice, polite Wolf was gone. I hoped that he
managed to get back. "You want to chance it?"

"I know that he isn't going to hurt me," Keno said calmly.

"You have to take care of my lord for now."

Tamazusa didn't say anything. She grabbed the packs

McGann had dropped and started off to the beach again. She
was smart enough to know Wolf might be after her next. I
plodded after her, wondering what the hell had happened.
Logan covered our asses until we got to the beach. It was
quieter down there, with just a handful of guys around. They
weren't paying too much attention to us because they had
something else to keep them occupied. It hadn't progressed
to rape, but it was getting close. I couldn't tell who they had;
I just saw blonde hair and a skirt. She was getting shoved
back and forth like she was a doll.

"We got to stop that," Logan hissed at me.
"How many can you get?" I asked him, neither agreeing

nor disagreeing. If it kept them out of our hair, I wasn't going
to do something like run in to rescue her. Yeah, I was a shit

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for thinking like that, but it wasn't the first gang rape I had
run across. I'd hate myself afterward, but I'd be around to do
so. In a firefight, it was take care of your team first and then
worry about the civilians. Right now, this raid wasn't too
different from a monster hunt for me. And that poor chick
was a civilian.

"Two or three," he said. "But they're going to be after us

as soon as I start shooting."

He was right about that, since there wasn't any place for

us to hide. Plus I had an unconscious woman, and I couldn't
fight worth a damn.

"I can take care of McGann," Tamazusa said, shifting her

from my shoulder. I realized then that she was stronger than
I was and was really glad she hadn't gotten pissed at me. "Go
rescue her."

She was looking a little off, and I wondered briefly if

something like that had happened to her. I realized why Keno
had looked like shit earlier. This was happening in other
places. "Get McGann out of here if this goes bad," I told her.
"I trust you."

Logan and I moved away from them, hoping the bad light

would hide the women for a little while. I knew that in minute
or so, those assholes would be paying more attention to us
than them. Logan took a stance and waited. I refrained from
asking him what the fuck he was waiting for and waited with
him. It took a couple of minutes, but then I realized. One of
the assholes threw down the girl and motioned for the others
to hold her down, since she still had a lot fight left in her. As
soon as she hit the ground, Logan shot that guy, right

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through the head, dropping him like a pro. He loaded and
shot again, hitting another guy and killing him before they
realized what had hit them. He got in his third shot as they
came charging up the beach, looking for blood. I noticed that
the girl managed to start crawling away before one of the
fuckers was on me.

He was good, and I spent most of the fight defending

against him and hoping someone would come and save my
ass. The fucker was toying with me, from the grin on his face.
I didn't know what happened to Logan or the girls, since my
entire world was trying to stop this asshole from killing me.
There was some screaming behind me, and I was never
gladder to see Wolf when he popped up behind this guy and
sliced off his head. I wasn't so happy to see that he still
looked a bit crazy. He looked at me like he was debating
whether or not he wanted to take my head when Keno caught
up with him.

"We need to get on a ship," he told Wolf in a calm voice,

like he was talking to him normally.

Wolf looked down, frowning at him. He snarled and swung

at something behind Keno, causing him to duck. Then another
one of the assholes was there, shouting for reinforcements,
and Wolf went after him.

"Pick one," I told Keno.
There were a couple of ships on the beach, and they

looked alike to me. They were long and thin, not at all like the
boats that were here. These were ships and looked as mean
as the fuckers that came here in them.

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"You can tell why they are the scourge of Europe," Logan

said.

I turned to look at him, and he continued the lecture like

we had all the time in the world. "The Irish monks had written
volumes about their raids in the monastery records. You'd
think that there wasn't anything left of Europe when the
Norse raiders were done. A shallow keeled boat that can go
almost anywhere with fast and ruthless men, and you have
stories that scare children into behaving for generations."

The fighting picked up after that. I heard Keno screaming,

"Left! Left!" and I hoped that meant the left ship, because
that was the one I aimed for. I saw Tamazusa helping a
groggy McGann into that one after throwing all our packs in.

"We have to get it into the water," she screamed.
I ducked the guy trying to kill me and ended up flat on my

ass, which did save mine. He went down with an arrow in his
head and a stupid look on his face. Someone yanked me up,
and I was surprised to see that it was Logan.

"Thanks," I grunted.
"No problem." He grinned at me. I was just glad he wasn't

freaking out during his first fight, but even I could figure out
he might have done this once or twice before. He aimed and
shot at a couple of more guys and then tossed his bow into
the ship. I winced, but he just shrugged. "Out of arrows."

He pulled his own sword out, and we started to try and

drive these fuckers back. It was working for a while, but I was
starting to get tired. I looked around for Keno and Wolf. It
figured that they were in the thick of the fighting, Keno

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protecting Wolf's back while he screamed and hacked at
people.

"Get him over here, kid!" I shouted.
Wolf was the main attraction for these people, and the

fighters all gathered around him. Logan and I started pushing
the boat into the water, hoping that Keno could get Wolf over
here. I was counting on McGann to snap him out of this, since
she was semiconscious now.

Everyone seemed to be paying attention to Wolf, so me

and Logan got the boat into the water, and I lost track of
what happened after that for a little while. I was surprised to
see Tholf fighting back to back with Wolf. Keno was over by
me, and that was when it happened.

One of the fuckers realized we were stealing their boat and

charged over to us. He shoved Keno aside, causing him to fall
in the water, which was about waist deep for him right then.
He went under with a splash. That distracted Logan, because
he automatically leaned over to help him up. When that
happened, the fucker took a shot at him and got past his
defenses easily. Logan ended up taking a shot to the thigh
that connected, hard, from the look on his face. I managed to
get to the guy who did it, and Keno caught Logan as he
collapsed. He hustled Logan over to the ship, and Tamazusa
leaned over and lifted him up like he was a kid.

"Wolf! Wolf!" I screamed. "We're leaving now!"
"Wolf!" McGann called out too.
That got his attention. He stabbed at his opponent and

then waded over to the ship, Tholf on his heels. The two of
them practically vaulted into the fucking thing, and I didn't

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have a chance to tell Tholf he wasn't wanted, even as I
started scrambling up into the ship.

* * * *

Tamazusa
Logan was badly injured. He was the only one of the group

who was a healer, from the way that Mason was swearing. I
only knew enough to know that the blow to his leg was a bad
one because of all the blood.

"The bastard hit an artery," Mason said, trying to stop the

bleeding by shoving his fingers in the wound.

"It doesn't hurt," Logan said, sounding confused. "I always

thought that it was supposed to hurt."

"You're in shock," Mason snapped.
"I'm dying," Logan informed him. "Unless there's a trauma

team and an emergency room hidden on this thing, I'm not
going to make it. Hell, I know that there isn't any way to give
me transfusions, and I've lost a lot of blood."

"Don't talk like that!" Mason snarled.
"Don't be an idiot, Mason," Logan retorted. "You aren't

going to be able to stop it. Your fingers are slowing it down,
but they aren't stopping it."

"Is there anyone that we should tell?" I asked him gently.
I was surprised that Logan laughed. Unfortunately it ended

in a coughing fit for the man. He gasped for breath for a few
moments before he said. "Wolf... he's a good man. Never
thought that I'd find one of those in the Trust."

"There are more of them there than you'd believe," Mason

said.

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Logan shook his head, not having the energy to argue.

Even in this light he looked pale and waxy, and I knew that
he was dying. McGann swallowed hard and moved away from
him. I didn't blame her, so I simply did what she should have
been doing. I held Logan's hand while he slipped away.

He smiled at me. "Mason said that you were a hardass."
"You were defending me and Keno," I said softly. "And

even a hardass can honor one who fought for them."

"Even if it was all a lie?" he asked.
"Did you try and kill any of us here?" I posed. Mason was

too shocked to question what he meant. "You fought with us,
and you were always a gentlemen to me. You will be honored
at the shrine in my shoen."

"My name is really John Cowan," he practically whispered.

I leaned closer to hear him better. "And I was sent to keep an
eye on Wolf."

"And why is that?" I asked, coaxing him to talk.
"Because of a number of reasons," he said.
"I talked extensively with Collins before he died," I said. "I

know of the nature of my enemy, even if Wolf does not. And
he will be protected, if not by myself, then others."

"Mason was right. You are tough," Logan said. I couldn't

think of him as that other name, even if it was his true one. I
would put both on his shrine.

"Watch your back," Logan said, "if you get back, Mason.

Because you aren't supposed to make it back."

"How interesting," I said. "And why not?"
Logan coughed. "I don't know. Shit, I wasn't supposed to

take you out, if that's what you're hinting at. Logan Sawyer

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was a cover for me, but the guy really exists. He's down in
Costa Rica right now and knows nothing about the Trust. We
just needed an expert who would check out if you looked him
up, and he was it, since no one sees him for months at a
time. We didn't end up in the right place on purpose. We were
never supposed to hit the Mayans. The plan was to aim for
someplace else."

"And where was that?" I asked. Mason looked to be in

shock about the betrayal, not thinking beyond that. It was up
to me to find out what this plot was.

"Egypt," Logan gasped, his voice growing even weaker.

"Never to the North. Too primitive."

"And the Egyptians are not?" I asked disdainfully.
"They were going to give us what the Trustees wanted,"

Logan said. "The Egyptians were going to help them invade
Nippon, split the place with them for a little while, and then
backstab them. Still want me at your shrine?"

"You have warned me of a great evil," I said. "With this

warning, my people can defend against this."

"There was another group that was going to be going after

us. I don't know if that group got off. They were going to
supply real weapons to the Egyptians, as well as supplies, and
help to get them organized. If that went through, then you're
in deep trouble."

"Was there an alliance with one called Iida?" I asked.
Logan shook his head, his breath coming in odd gasps. He

was done, or almost. I knew the signs, even if I hadn't seen
them in centuries. Mason kept his fingers tight in the wound,
even if he was swearing under his breath.

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"You could have told them before this," I said.
"He's fucking telling us now," Mason snarled. "And that

counts for something in my book. Shit, he could have...."

Mason couldn't finish that sentence, and I didn't blame

him. It was happening in front of him, and I knew none of us
here, except for Keno, were strangers to this type of event. It
was still difficult to accept.

I brushed the fingers of my other hand across Logan's

brow. "You will go straight to the Western Paradise because of
this confession," I murmured. "Amida Buddha will welcome
you."

"There's a group of the Trustees who want you," Logan

told me, sounding breathless. He was using up his strength to
give us this information. "They think that you're
compromised. But they also don't want to anger Wolf's
grandfather. He has a lot of pull and a lot of allies. But
Collins's group is out for your blood. And they are willing to
do anything to get it. Collins had a lot more friends than you
know of. Friends outside the Trust who are willing to pull in
favors from all over: the EU, our government, people who you
don't want to know about."

"What are you talking about?" Mason demanded. He was

angry and confused. I didn't blame him for that, since
betrayal was always painful, no matter how one learned about
it.

Logan gave one more gasp, and then his head rolled back.
"You can take you hands off of him now," I told Mason

gently.

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He just continued to stare at Logan until I started to pull a

spare piece of canvas over the body. I then carefully helped
Mason up and over to a bucket where he could wash his
hands.

"You weren't lying to him, were you?" Mason asked.
"I will burn incense for his spirit," I promised. "He has

redeemed himself from whatever plot the Trustees had him
involved in."

Wolf, thankfully, was taking care of sailing the ship, and

Keno was with him. I knew that Logan would be sent into the
sea as soon as possible, since there was no place to keep him
here. I glanced over at Keno and wasn't surprised to see he
was taking care of McGann, who also seemed to be in some
sort of shock.

"You don't seem too surprised," Mason muttered.
I shrugged. "I simply didn't believe Mrs. Adams's offer.

And no, it isn't nice to know that I was wrong. But Collins was
someone who one didn't want to make an enemy of. He also
was a wealth of information when Samojirou, Yatsufusa, and I
questioned him. He was most wroth that a dog was
interrogating him. It was almost amusing to see."

"What did he tell you?" I smiled and shook my head.

Mason looked angry for a minute and then realized this wasn't
the time to talk about such things. "Later," he told me in the
same quiet tone of voice, but I heard the fury in it. Even if he
had been expecting it, the information about Collins shook
him almost as much as Logan's death. "And I have no fucking
clue how I'm going to tell Wolf about this."

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"Then don't," I suggested. "Not now. Not when he can't do

anything with this information. And not when we seem to
have companions here that we cannot or should not trust.
You can talk with him about this when we get to land."

* * * *

Keno
Getting the ship sailing wasn't as difficult as I thought it

would be. Wolf and Tholf did something with the sails and the
rudder that got us out to sea. I hoped we just had to worry
about the other ship chasing us. Disabling it wasn't an option,
because those raiders would just take their anger out on the
people there if we did that, if we'd even had time to do so. I
just hoped that someone survived what had happened. I felt
guilty that we didn't stay and fight, but my first duty was to
get Tamazusa to safety. That meant I had to not help those
people, even if it felt wrong to me, no matter how rude they
had been to the two of us.

It was a long, narrow ship filled with hard wooden

benches. It didn't look anything like the ships of Nippon, even
our warships. It smelled badly, and I hoped we had supplies
of some sort aboard, water at least. There were oars, and I
wondered if we would have to row.

"Where are we off to?" Tholf shouted in English. He was by

what I thought was the steering thing, and I wondered why,
until I realized Wolf had his hands full trying to get the sail
up. As soon as we had gotten into deep water, Wolf had let
Tholf take charge. That surprised me, but I didn't think he
had a choice with a man down.

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I went over to Tholf and wasn't surprised to see that he

grinned down at me. The only thing allowing me to see was
that it was a clear night with a full moon. I knew that
Tamazusa and Samojirou had no trouble seeing at night, so
Tholf was probably the same way.

"Head to the barrier," I said. "We are going to Nippon."
He looked at me and then at McGann, who had wandered

over here too. I guessed that she didn't deal with blood too
well. And there must have been a lot of it from the way
Mason was swearing.

"We are?" he asked.
I bit back a snarl. He was annoying me, because he

wouldn't listen to me. But I could see his point. Wolf was the
one in charge, and he'd listen to his wife before one of the
strangers Wolf had picked up. But McGann was still looking
"off," and I didn't think she had recovered from whatever had
made her pass out earlier.

"You better sit down," I said. "You don't look very good."
"I'll be fine," she answered. She looked at Tholf. "We are

going to Nippon to return our friends to their family."

Tholf nodded. "The current will be easier to fight closer to

Iceland. Right now we'd have to row, and we don't have the
manpower to do that, even if you women rowed. Then we can
cut across the seas and hope that the serpent doesn't drown
us crossing the barrier. I've done it once, and that was
enough. We needed a shaman for that, though."

"We will worry about that later," McGann said. She

frowned. "I have to check something out."

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She went to the other end of the ship. I trailed after her,

wondering what she was doing. I was surprised when she
moved a couple of hide packs on deck and revealed Helga
crouching there. She swayed afterward and then sat down
hard. Helga sneered at her, not upset that she had been
found. I thought that she was the woman the raiders had
almost raped. It might have been smarter for her to run back
to the village, but considering what was happening there,
maybe it was smarter that she had hidden aboard the ship
when we were stealing it. I shivered, trying not to remember
my own rape. It wasn't working. I felt as raw as I had when it
had happened.

"Logan's gone," McGann said faintly.
I didn't know what she meant until I turned around and

saw Mason looking pissed and Tamazusa dragging a sheet of
something over Logan's face. The man had died. I just had to
figure out how McGann had known that when she was
standing over there and hadn't been looking at them.

"Help Wolf with the sails," McGann told me.
I nodded and went over to Wolf. I figured out what I

needed to do to help him. It was kind of awkward, but we
managed to get the sail up. And while we were working, Wolf
wanted to talk.

"I've never done something like that before," he said

quietly in Japanese. "I—"

"I haven't," I started. I swallowed hard, thinking of all the

men who had died. Men Wolf had killed in his rage while I
watched and didn't stop him. "For all the training that I've

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had... I never. Still haven't. So I don't think that I'm the
person to talk about this with."

"You know that?" he asked.
I smiled sickly at him. "You wouldn't let me. I was just

there really to make sure that you got back to the boat." Wolf
looked guilty and pleased at the same time. "You were mad,"
I said. "But you still knew who I was. That you didn't want to
hurt me."

"I was berserk," Wolf said. "If I hadn't done that, Logan

might still be alive. So...."

"That we didn't all get killed is amazing," I said. "McGann

and Tamazusa could be back there, being hurt. You and the
others could be dead. I could be dead or hurt again. That
didn't happen. You saved all of us. Logan would be the first
one to tell you that, I think. So don't hate yourself for what
happened."

"Fairinox wouldn't have been able to get to you if I had

done that before."

"He might have," I pointed out. "He wanted me a lot."
"That man had to save you," Wolf said. "And you left."
"I left because I love him," I told Wolf gently. "Because I

didn't want to leave him. That has nothing to do with my
feelings for you."

This wasn't the best time to bring it up, both of us covered

with blood and exhausted from battle. Wolf was the one who
had started with this sharing business, though.

"I didn't know," Wolf said guiltily. "I didn't even think

about it. I'm interested in women, so...."

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"You think that everyone is," I finished with a crooked

smile.

"He dresses you as one," Wolf practically snarled.
"And that is something that you can discuss with him," I

said. "There's a lot that you don't know. A lot that I don't
know, so you should talk to Samojirou-sama, politely, if you
have a problem with what we are doing."

Wolf nodded, and we stopped talking when Mason came

over.

"He's gone," Mason said.
"I know," Wolf said. "I—"
"He was bleeding out as soon as he hit the deck," Mason

told him bluntly. "He knew that he was a goner."

"What are we going to do with him?" I asked in a small

voice. I was Shinto, and that meant that dead bodies were
something to avoid. I knew I needed to purify myself after
this battle, but keeping a body around for any length of time
was both creepy and unsanitary.

"Wrap him up and bury him at sea," Wolf said. "I hate to

do it, but it isn't practical to keep him with us." Wolf hesitated
for a second. "I'll do it. Just give me a minute. We can have
some sort of ceremony beforehand and then give him to the
ocean."

* * * *

I woke up the next morning to McGann throwing up over

the side of the ship, Tamazusa rubbing her back, and Helga
making snide comments on the other side of her.

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"You'll be like that for a couple of weeks," Helga said. "I've

been told that after your first, it gets better."

"I'm just seasick, believe me," McGann said.
Helga laughed. Wolf wandered over to the three of them

when he was certain McGann was finished throwing up. He
had somehow gotten a fire going in the firepot and had made
tea, so he handed her a cup. Mason walked over with him and
glared at Helga.

"I didn't realize that you had trouble sailing," Wolf said

with an apologetic smile.

"She's breeding," Helga told him.
"Caitlynn?" Wolf asked, sounding very shocked and

confused. Embarrassed, too.

She smiled at him. "Wolf...."
Tamazusa turned and snarled at Mason. "You never told

him!"

Now Mason looked embarrassed. "It slipped my mind!

There wasn't really any place or time that I could tell him, all
right? Not where we were alone enough so that he wouldn't
freak out."

"I take it back," Tamazusa told Mason. "You are a fool."
"Tell me what?" Wolf asked the four of them, trying not to

glare.

"So it's not his, if you didn't want to tell him about it,"

Helga said gleefully.

"Tell me what?" Wolf repeated, sounding really stressed. I

didn't blame him, because losing Logan had been hard on
him. He really didn't need whatever trouble Helga was trying
to stir up right now.

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Mason kept his eyes on the deck, and McGann stared at

her tea as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.
Tamazusa rolled her eyes at the both of them and said,
"Helga is of the opinion that McGann is carrying your child."

Wolf looked stunned, like he'd been hit on the head one

too many times. McGann chose that time to start gagging on
the tea she had been sipping, and Tamazusa went back to
holding her hair out of the way for her and rubbing her back
when she hung her head over the side again, leaving Mason
to try and explain what was going on. Helga looked like she
wanted popcorn to eat, this was so entertaining for her.

"It was like the third or fourth day that we were there,"

Mason started, trying not to look embarrassed. "Tamazusa
and McGann had to clean chickens or something."

"We had to kill them," McGann said, sounding utterly

revolted, even if she hadn't finished throwing up.

"I don't understand," Wolf said.
"Apparently being pregnant is the only acceptable reason

for a woman to get sick," Tamazusa said scathingly, glaring at
Helga. "When Helga discovered that McGann was ill, she
jumped to the conclusion that she was pregnant. And then
she accused her of adultery. With Mason. But then, neither
one of us actually told her that McGann was pregnant, she
just drew her own conclusions."

"Mason?" Wolf repeated. He was obviously still stunned by

the whole McGann pregnant thing.

Mason sort of looked exhausted by the whole mess.

"Tamazusa had given me the heads-up on it, including being
nice enough to explain that Helga was being a bigger bitch

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than Anya ever was. Damn, I'd never really thought of
McGann like that, and you know it. She's got a huge set of
brass ones, and I ain't talking about her tits."

"I think that I'm flattered," McGann told him dryly, sipping

the tea again. She just used it to rinse out her mouth,
though, because after spitting it over the side, she cradled
the cup in her hand.

"Ain't like I've ever been shy about my opinion of either

you or Tamazusa. You're both sexy and tough enough to play
with the big boys," Mason said shamelessly.

"Pregnant?" Wolf repeated.
"I assure you that if I am, I slept through the fun part,"

McGann said with a smile. It looked a little strained to me. "I
just reacted badly to the thought of killing chickens."

Tamazusa had this funny smile on her face when she said

that, like she knew there was something McGann wasn't
saying. But it wasn't like there wasn't a lot we weren't hiding
from them, either.

Helga looked confused by McGann's statement. I got up

and went over to join them, hoping that would shift the
conversation to something else.

"You get enough sleep, kid?" Mason asked.
"I guess so," I said. "Are we being followed or something?

Is there anything that I can do to help?"

"Watch the fire," Wolf said. "This really takes care of itself

most of the time. Tholf's agreed to help navigate."

"Can you trust him?" Tamazusa asked.
Wolf looked annoyed by that question, and I realized that

he didn't trust her. She knew it, too, from the way she was

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looking at him. I vowed to stay very close to her, so that Wolf
wouldn't be tempted to do something stupid. Not that he
would, but if he thought that getting rid of her would make it
easier for me to leave here, he might do something. But he'd
hate himself if he did it, so I wasn't going let him even be
tempted like that.

"I could say the same thing about you, considering what

happened the last time that we met," Wolf retorted.

Tamazusa smiled. "It could be said that neither party was

at our best last time. However, did any of you really think
that such an insult would go unavenged? And as much as you
hate to admit it, my interference saved Keno's life." She
paused for a second. "Both times."

I shivered as I remembered the first time that I saw her. I

had been so hurt, physically and mentally. She had saved my
life, or at least let me become the man I was supposed to be.
Don't laugh. Even when I was out with Samojirou dressed in
Sakura's finest, I felt more like a man than I had felt in the
hands of the Trust. I supposed I would have probably killed
myself by now if she hadn't rescued me.

Tamazusa saw me and frowned. "I didn't mean for you to

remember those times," she said in Japanese. "I apologize for
my thoughtlessness."

I shook my head. "I was just thinking that if I had stayed

there, I might have been dead by now. I think that I would
have managed to kill myself."

She frowned deeper. "And Keno-chan, that would have

been a greater tragedy than you could imagine." She walked
over to me and gave me a hug, which felt odd for a second

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before I relaxed and melted into her embrace. "Your first
battle. I am so sorry that I am the cause of it because of my
foolishness."

"I didn't do more than just make sure that no one got to

Wolf," I said. "I didn't... I don't think that I killed anyone. I
wasn't trying to, but I didn't want to. Which is stupid because
they were hurting all those people and trying to kill me."

"And I am a terrible person to be glad of that," she said

softly. "While you are a fighter and brave, you shouldn't be a
warrior. I hoped that you would be like the samurai who held
the old ideals but never had to go into battle."

"I don't think that's going to happen," I said, too aware of

the fact that Wolf knew Japanese. "You are going to have to
fight for your kuni."

"I know that," she said, stroking my hair. "But please don't

be insulted if you are not part of my Hatamoto."

I wasn't too surprised to hear that from her. She had

people who had centuries of fighting experience, like Okita-
san and Kazuya-san. She didn't need me in her army. "You
will be leaving me behind, someplace safe," I realized. "I have
no problem with that, so long as I get to see Samojirou-sama
before you leave."

She laughed, even though it sounded strained. I figured

she expected me to argue with her. I couldn't, because I
knew I would just be a distraction to them and someone to be
protected. But I still wanted to be with them.

* * * *

Tamazusa

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We traveled for several days with Wolf expertly captaining

the ship we had stolen. Mason and Keno helped him, but they
didn't have the skills needed. From the first, Tholf had been
helpful to us. Too helpful, but I thought that it was because
we had gotten him off of that farm more than anything more
sinister. Helga wasn't so cooperative, and it took a couple of
"talks" with her before she realized we... I wasn't going to
tolerate her being difficult.

We managed to make it to the edge of Iceland without

encountering another ship. I didn't know if it was because
there was no one else out here or that we were being avoided
because others thought we were pirates. I was just glad there
was enough water for us to drink, thanks to several gentle
rainstorms we had sailed through. There had also been
enough to clean us up a bit, so I didn't feel quite as
disgusting as I could have without a bath for several days.

It would then be a straight sail down to the barrier

between the lands. Hopefully we would be able to pass
through it. I was certain Keno was the only reason we had
made it through before. Then I would have to sail to Nippon
and throw myself upon the mercy of Inusuka Shino. He was
the Hakkenshi whose kuni was the closest to both the ocean
and the upper part of Nippon.

"You doin' all right?" Mason asked.
I nodded. McGann was still slightly seasick and terribly

embarrassed about it. I felt fine, much to her annoyance. And
Helga still was acting like a bitch in heat around Wolf, even
going as far as hinting to the man that she would be

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overjoyed to bear his child. I thought Wolf was still bedding
down next to McGann for his own protection now, not hers.

"I just hate that it's taking so long," I said quietly.

"Aboshi...."

"What's wrong?" Mason asked roughly. "You and Keno

aren't saying shit, but there's something that you're hiding
from us."

"Nothing that matters," I dismissed.
"You mentioned that he'd think that you're dead," Mason

said. "How would he know that? It ain't like you're phoning in
to check with him or something. So why would he think that
you're dead?"

"I do not want to talk about it," I told him coolly.
"If it's something that's gonna bite us on the ass, we have

to know about it," Mason argued.

I shook my head, changing the subject. "We are going to

have to appeal to Keno's family when we arrive for help. They
are closer to us than Aboshi is. And on the correct side of
Nippon."

That is, if he were still at our estate or someplace on my

kuni. If he hadn't done something foolish, thinking that we
were dead. If that were the case, Keno would join his lover as
soon as he could. That was something I expected. Not that I
accepted, since that would be too much of a waste to me. I
didn't want to lose either of them, never mind both of them
because I had been foolish, overestimated my charms, and
underestimated Iida's intelligence.

"I hope that they still ain't pissed at us," Mason said

seriously.

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I laughed. "The only one who you will have to worry about

is Yatsufusa. I think that he isn't too upset with you. You
were a noble knight and protected his wife."

"But there's something going on besides that," Mason

repeated, not distracted by my comments.

I looked up at him. Helga was too interested in what we

were talking about, so I wasn't going to tell him anything
right now. I didn't need that woman knowing my business!

Mason saw where I was looking and nodded. "I get it. I

don't want to give the bitch any more ammunition, either. But
you're eventually going to have to tell me, or us, what has
you and Keno so nervous. And it ain't just because were on
this fun Love Boat cruise."

"I do wish that I did understand some of your references,"

I said wryly, changing the topic of conversation. "I did have
to ask McGann what a wet T-shirt contest was."

Mason got this strange look on his face. "Shit!" he cursed.
I laughed. "I'm not angry. She was amused, as I was,

about the comment. And she did defend you by pointing out
that she didn't think you could be polite to someone for too
long without hurting yourself. She also told me that you
would have made the same comment if you had seen her that
day too."

Mason relaxed at my comment. "Still willing to take you

salsa dancing and drink mojitos if you want to."

"I'll think about that," I promised him gravely. I would

have to ask McGann what they were first.

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He laughed and slipped an arm around me for a hug. "I

don't think that you still need to do that." I pointed out,
wondering why I was letting him.

"Yes, I do," he said seriously. "If I don't, I'm worried that

Helga the Horrible is going to make a move on me. I think
that she finally realizes that Wolf isn't willing to play with her.
So I'm doing this because I want your protection. I see that
she ain't givin' you too much shit."

I laughed at that, even though something felt off. I was,

for some reason, slightly upset that Mason wasn't serious.

* * * *

Mason
I wasn't much help sailing the ship. I didn't think that I

would be, but I hate to say I was happy Tholf was there. I
guessed he wasn't as dumb as I thought he was. He had
gotten out of a dead-end place, and in his mind this was a
step up from herding goats or whatever it was that he had
done there.

"So you have allies in Nippon?" Tholf practically bellowed

at me when I brought him something to eat. The man even
loved the MREs we'd originally had for supplies and were now
eating since we were away from the village. I sure as hell
wasn't touching the food here. I liked my stomach where it
was.

"Talk to the boss about that," I said.
"McGann?" He grinned at me.
I wasn't buying the act, though. He wasn't as dumb and

happy as he wanted us to believe that he was. I just didn't

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know why he was putting on the act. Did he think he could
hook up with us because Logan was gone? Shit, I was going
to have to see if Tamazusa could find someplace for him with
her posse. If he went with us, his ass would be toast the
moment we got back to the real world. I wouldn't even wish
that on Helga. Tamazusa would take care of him. There must
be some place on that spread for him. Shit, I bet she even
knew she'd have to take Helga back with her too, as annoying
as that woman was.

"Last time that I checked, Wolf was the man in charge," I

corrected.

"He seeks her counsel," Tholf pointed out. "And he seems

to know the boy very well also, for all that he doesn't care for
his sister."

"We've known the kid for a while," I said. "And his sister

isn't bad once you get to know her."

He laughed at that. "You seem to know her very well."
"Don't fucking talk trash about her," I growled. If he

started that shit around Keno, he'd kill the both of us. I
wasn't going to tell him who Tamazusa really was, because I
didn't know what he might do. I wasn't going to give that
secret away yet.

"She is a formidable woman," Tholf complimented, looking

at me as if he knew why I was acting this way and thought it
was funny as all hell. "Fearless, since she is willing to deal
with Helga."

"Keeps her occupied," I muttered.
Not that there was a hell of a lot to do on the ship that

didn't center on keeping the damn thing going. I was fucking

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thankful it hadn't done more than sprinkle the days we had
been sailing. If a storm blew up, even if it wasn't as nasty as
the one that drove Keno and Tamazusa onto that island, we
were toast. I knew that there weren't enough of us to make
sure we could ride out the storm on this thing. I was really
appreciating airplanes right now and wishing my ass was on
one.

"We're close to the barrier," Tholf said, getting serious.

"She's going to have to tell us how we're going through it."

"How can you tell?" I asked, feeling like a dumb fuck.
"The water is getting lighter," he explained, and he

managed not to sound like I was a dumbass for not knowing
this. Tholf understood that I knew two things about boats:
jack and shit. "Around the barriers it does that. The sea is
rough, because it keeps hitting something that shouldn't be
there. It isn't even like this when the serpent is stirring," he
continued. "There's a shimmer to the air where the barrier is.
Sometimes the air is colder or warmer than it should be,
depending on what's on the other side of the barrier. You
need a powerful shaman to cross it. I don't see that you have
one."

"And if we don't have a shaman? What then?"
"Then you need to bargain with a merchant for space on

his ship." Tholf frowned. "You would not like the price that
they would want." He was silent for a moment before adding
almost delicately. "And I think that you know what it would
be. I'd ask Tamazusa what she is plotting."

"How do you know that she's plotting anything?" I asked,

not liking what he was hinting at. And shit, I knew it was true

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too. But even if we couldn't get through the barrier, I
wouldn't ask someone to do that to cover my ass.

He grunted and adjusted the tiller. "I should say that she

is a woman and they do nothing but plot, but that is not the
truth." He stared at her for a minute. Tamazusa turned
around and looked at the two of us, almost sensing that we
were talking about her. I grinned and waved at her. Tholf
continued to study her, a thoughtful look on his face. "She,
out of all of you, is a leader," he pronounced. "Odin would be
proud of her."

I had no clue what he was talking about. I thought that it

showed on my face, because he roared with laughter. "You
really don't know about One-Eye? She would be a match for
him."

"Don't know shit," I told him truthfully. "Learning wasn't

something that I did a lot of."

With that I wandered off to talk to Tamazusa, because I

really did want to know what she was plotting. I managed to
sort of corner her alone, or at least away from everyone else
in the ship. Keno was being useful and running interference
with Helga. I could tell that he liked being able to give
Tamazusa a break from having to ride herd on her.

"Tholf wants to know what you have planned," I told her

bluntly.

She looked at me with a cool smile, "I knew the man

wasn't as stupid as he pretended to be. Sort of like another
man of my acquaintance."

"It happens," I admitted. "You got a shaman up your

sleeve to get us back to your place?'

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"You know what I do and do not have," she said bitterly.
It frosted her cookies that she had to depend on us. And

you know what, I didn't fucking blame her for hating that. But
there was also a hint in what she said, something she
expected me to get. I stared at her for a long minute before I
blurted out, "Keno!"

She nodded. "He doesn't know that he has done this

before. And I don't know how to tell him."

I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that Keno was the

person who saved their asses. Don't get me wrong, I know
that the kid can fight and had a set of balls—really big ones—
underneath the girly dress-up he had been doing. But I just
couldn't see him doing something like magic. Shit, how did it
really work? Could he make it work again?

"Clicking his heels together three times sounds really

stupid, but, shit, it might work," I said. "He's got the Judy
Garland drag queen act down perfect."

"I really do wish that I did understand more of what you

are telling me," Tamazusa told me crossly.

I laughed. "Sorry, honey, it's too hard to explain. Shit, ask

McGann about it. She knows all sorts of cool stuff like this.
But fuck, Keno wants to go home. I think that's all he needs
with this kind of hoodoo."

"Hoodoo?" she asked. "I think that I've heard you use this

word before, but I don't know what it means."

"Magic," I told her shortly. "We tend to use a lot of

different terms for it. Hoodoo's either casual stuff or
something really nasty. What Collins and Fairinox were doing
was nasty, so it was hoodoo. Same with the spell that gets us

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here." Something tickled at the back of my mind when I said
that, but I ignored it. I'd try and think about it when I got
some time. "Magic, shit, it's like what fairies do. Spell casting,
which is also magic, is something where a human needs to
say shit or do shit to make it work. I know that there is a lot
more to it than that, but, fuck, that's what I know. I've
always said that I ain't the brightest bulb in the pencil box."

"It is too confusing to even try and coax the truth out of

that tangled mess," she said. "But I think that I know how to
approach the issue now."

"Glad to be of use," I said, even though I had no clue what

I had just told her. "Does the kid know that he can do
something like that?"

She smiled at me. "Keno is aware that I took him under

my protection because I sensed that he had some sort of
power."

"Really?" I asked her sarcastically. "Not because he was a

present for the boy toy?"

She flushed but then smiled. It was wistful somehow, and

it made me sad for some reason. "I see the two of them
together, and I think that it's wonderful."

"Well, I sort of figured that Keno had it for him bad when

he hugged Samojirou horns, claws, and whatever," I agreed.
"So I really don't think that this barrier shit is going to keep
them apart."

She nodded. "Excuse me, then. We are close to it."
I could tell now, since Tholf had told me what to look for.

The sea was rough, and I guessed that McGann was going to
be hanging her head over the side soon. There was a faint

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shimmer about a half mile off, if I was guessing the distance
right. My stomach twisted, and I wondered how we were
supposed to get through that.

[Back to Table of Contents]

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Chapter Eight

Keno
We were tired and dirty by the end of the journey.

Tamazusa had decided to sail right up to Shino's castle, which
was part of the capital for his territory and right on the ocean.
It helped that his territory was next to Sousuke's and they
shared their power equally. Between the two of them, they
controlled an area that was huge, almost twice as big as
Tamazusa's and a lot more populated. There were a lot of
castle towns scattered around their territory, while
Tamazusa's had one or two of them, because she preferred a
leisurely rural life to the busyness of a city. It also helped that
she had resources they didn't. I didn't know exactly how she
made her money or whatever you want to call it, but I knew
she and Samojirou were rich.

We sailed into the town's harbor to get to Shino's castle. It

was going to be annoying, trying to pass through all their
defenses, knowing there were archers on the wall who were
watching our every move as we disembarked off the
longboat.

"Who goes there?" one of the guards called out.
Tamazusa and I looked at each other. I didn't want anyone

to know she was with us. "Tell Inusuka-sama that one of his
brothers is here to see him," I called back.

The man disappeared off the wall almost immediately,

even though he had no reason to believe that claim. I also

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noticed that the tenshu was closed up, as if they expected an
army to march up at any moment.

"It looks like you're not welcomed here," Helga said

nastily, even if she didn't understand Japanese.

"Can you trust this lord?" McGann asked, looking tired and

put out. I figured she wanted to be clean more than anything
and was willing to risk the wrath of my family to do it.

"He is my brother," I said. "I trust him. If I didn't, then we

wouldn't be here."

"Those mean fuckers weren't too happy to see us last

time," Mason said. He was about to say something else when
the castle gate was raised. A dozen samurai spilled out of the
gate and surrounded us.

"You will come with us," one of them said. He was big, and

I knew that he was a good fighter, but I couldn't remember
his name. We had met the last time I was here, and he did
seem to recognize me, even if I was dressed in modern
clothing. And I was pretty sure he knew who Tamazusa was.

The rest of the party tensed up, but I wasn't worried. I

didn't think there was any danger here, but I knew something
strange was going on. Everyone in the castle was too tense,
more so than if Tamazusa and I had simply gone missing.
Something else had happened, probably to do with whatever
Iida's plot had been.

"Big sister?" I asked Tamazusa respectfully, wanting to

know what she thought of this.

She shrugged but didn't look too worried. I strode forward,

trying not to show how uneasy I was, because this could be a
trap. We were all inside the walls when the gate came

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crashing down. I'm not ashamed to admit that I jumped a
mile when I heard that. But before anyone could say
anything, a woman came running toward us.

"Keno!" she screamed and practically threw herself in my

arms, hugging me and crying. It was Inusuka Hamaji, Shino's
wife. My arms automatically went around her. She held me
close for a minute before drawing back to look at me. "You
look terrible," she exclaimed unthinkingly. "That clothing is
awful on you. And you smell! What happened to you?"

I laughed, because Hamaji was infamous in the family for

her tactlessness. She didn't give me a chance to answer her,
though. She turned and snapped at her master-at-arms. I
remembered his name: Farusawa. "Send birds to my
husband. Tell him that the blossoms have returned to
Nippon."

"What has happened?" Tamazusa demanded.
Hamaji looked at her and the rest of us. "That news can

wait until you have bathed and rested."

"Samojirou-sama?" I asked, trying to keep the quiver out

of my voice.

She hugged me again. "Mother has had such a time with

him! Even Father's trying to be nice to him. He... he was very
upset about what happened, but Dousetsu managed to keep
him from doing something stupid."

"How?" Tamazusa asked in an overly calm tone.
Hamaji looked to be at a loss. Even she wasn't brave

enough to give Tamazusa a hug like she was family. "He's
spent most of the time drugged, because he thinks that
you're both dead. He's throwing himself into battle, because

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no one's agreed to be his second. Unfortunately, your kuni is
in chaos, between the monsters and Iida-sama's invasion. I
don't have all the details. My karo can tell you more, after
you've bathed and eaten."

I sagged in shock and then looked at Hamaji. "Get me a

fast horse."

"You can't," she told me, even as I wrenched myself out of

her arms. I needed to leave here now! "It's complicated.
But—"

"Nippon is at war, since it is spreading, since the lords of

Nippon are taking advantage of the chaos," Tamazusa said
flatly. "Because I was a fool and underestimated Iida."

"What the fuck's going on?" Mason asked, because we

were all talking in Japanese.

"Tell them, Wolf," Tamazusa said coolly. "I know that you

speak the language. I've known for a while."

Wolf looked startled, flushing under the looks that

Tamazusa and Hamaji gave him, like he had been caught
stealing sweets. "Nippon's at war," he said in English so the
others could understand what was going on. "Who's Iida?"

"A southern Nipponese lord," Tamazusa said in English. "It

was his ship that Keno and I had been on when it was driven
into the Northlands. A good move on his part. No one would
suspect we were there, if we survived, since his land is off the
southern tip of Nippon."

"He almost fuckin' kills you, and you're admiring him?"

Mason burst out.

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"Aside from the grief that he is causing Aboshi, I can

admire Iida's skill in the Game. I was overconfident, and I....
many other people are suffering for it," Tamazusa said sadly.

"And is 'Aboshi' your husband?" Helga asked her.
It wasn't a nice question, not the way she asked it. She

had seen that Tamazusa was still being nice to Mason. Or
maybe that Mason was being nice to her, looking after her
and teasing her. I couldn't believe she was still trying to stir
up trouble, seeing that she was in a foreign country, didn't
know the language, and had no friends here. But then, Helga
wasn't too intelligent, from what I had seen on the ship. Even
Hamaji stared at her in amazement for her rudeness.

Tamazusa looked down her nose at Helga. "He is my karo,

and my consort. Also Keno's lover."

Helga gaped at her while Tholf grimaced at the news. He

knew what that word meant, and he wasn't too happy about
finding out that I was gay.

"And what are these two doing with you?" Hamaji asked us

in Japanese. "That woman... I wouldn't trust her."

I shook my head. "After we were driven into the

Northlands by a storm and maybe other things, we met the
others on a small farm on someplace called the Faroe Islands.
Helga and Tholf are from the Northern Lands, while Wolf,
Mason, and McGann are from the real world. They... I knew
them before I came here."

Hamaji nodded, signaling to her samurai and the maids. "A

bath and then food. We can discuss things then." She
hesitated for a second. "Do you want to include the
outsiders?"

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"They are my allies at this time," Tamazusa said. "It would

be rude not to."

Hamaji blushed, looking very young and innocent. She

didn't play the Game, instead still acting like the carefree girl.
I thought that was how she played her part in the Game most
of the time. "Including the Northerners?"

Tamazusa laughed. "Unfortunately so. Though I doubt that

they would add anything to the conversation."

Hamaji nodded. A group of her samurai escorted us to the

samurais' baths, while she took Tamazusa, McGann, and
Helga to ladies' baths, her maids trailing behind her.

* * * *

Tamazusa
Inusuka Hamaji escorted my party to the baths. I must

admit that I was willing to wait for information, if I could have
a hot bath. I felt filthy, and I knew that I could take any bad
news when I was clean and rested. McGann, since she had
bathed this way before, needed no instructions. Helga,
however, proved to be difficult. She was upset that we
expected her to be clean, like a civilized person, and that we
were going to take her clothing away from her. It was torn,
and she had been sweating heavily in it, since it was wool,
and it was summer in Nippon. It stunk and had been dirty
before she had ended up with us.

"This is disgusting!" Helga snarled, looking at the kimono

she was supposed to wear. Given her size, it was one worn by
a man, but attractive nonetheless. I didn't see what issue she
had with it, other than it was something she wasn't familiar

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with and thought she could bully me about. It hadn't worked
in the past, and I didn't know why she thought that it would
work now.

"To be clean?" I asked dryly. "I know that hot water and

cleanliness are a foreign concept to you, but do try to be open
to new experiences."

McGann was wise and stayed out of our way. She even

managed to draw Hamaji away from us. I was grateful that
my hostess wouldn't get caught in a fight between us, if it
turned physical again.

"I won't wear the clothing of the skraelingjar," she snarled.
"Then you will be naked," I said coldly. "You will clean up

and be civil to our hostess, if I have to beat manners into
you."

"You couldn't!" Helga snapped, stepping closer and trying

to intimidate me, since she was far taller than I was.

It didn't work. I grabbed her arm, pulled her forward so

she was off balance, twisted her arm, driving her to her
knees, and then pulled her arm up behind her so she would
stay there. You would think the woman would have learned
not to do this after the first time I had done this to her. "You
will be clean and civil. Keno's family is not to be insulted."

"You and they are just skraelingjar," Helga screeched. "You

told us that he was your brother! You lied!"

I twisted her arm tighter. "I don't like that word," I said

calmly. "So you will stop referring to me or anyone else here
as that. And Keno is like a brother to me. You will find out
that Keno has a very large and formidable family, besides

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myself. It would be wise of you to keep a civil tongue in your
head."

Helga sneered at me, and I debated whether or not I

should break her arm. I really wasn't in the mood to deal with
her foolishness. Fortunately, Helga realized that she was
about to push me too far. I thought that it had just dawned
on her how alone and without allies she was. Tholf had been
amused more than anything when he saw how I had dealt
with her, so he would be of no help to her.

"She really is rude." Hamaji told McGann, apparently in all

innocence, but loud enough for us to hear. "Was she like that
for your entire journey?"

"Unfortunately, Helga seems to have fewer manners than

Mason," McGann told her with a laugh. "And I never thought
that I'd say that about anyone."

Helga flushed but said nothing. I debated shoving her into

one of the garden ponds, because I really didn't want to deal
with the temper tantrum of a weak spirit when I had so much
else to deal with.

"I will bathe," Helga told me haughtily, and I let go of her

arm. She eventually moved over to the side of the tub to
scrub herself clean, glaring at the onsen as if it had insulted
her. I joined her, cleaning up while I listened to the other two
chatter.

"Mother said Mason was very nice to her in the real world,"

Hamaji said. "She thinks very highly of him."

McGann flushed. "I'm sorry about that. I never knew that

was the plan."

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"Father was the one who was in terrible temper about the

whole thing, along with everyone else," Hamaji continued,
accepting McGann's apology with a gentle smile. "He was so
angry that you stole Mother, even if Samojirou was humbled
because of it."

"Including your husband?" McGann asked.
Hamaji nodded. "Shino was very upset, too, along with

Sousuke. And they weren't happy about finding out that Keno
was Samojirou's consort. They had met the two of them....
Well, they didn't recognize Keno for who he is, and that
troubled them when they found out who Sakura really was.
And it is better that you call him Sakura, not Keno."

"I'm afraid I don't remember either one of them," McGann

said apologetically. "I know that I've met them, though."

"They mentioned you," Hamaji told her cheerfully. "They

thought that you kept your wits about you in the situation you
were in."

"Other than that, I doubt that they had anything flattering

to say," McGann said softly. "I do thank you for your kindness
and information."

Hamaji smiled and said nothing. Helga just stared at the

two of them. "How do you know these people? Her man said
that they were travelers, but Egil thought that they were
strange."

"They're 'strange' as you say," I said, finally willing to tell

her the truth. "Because they are human. Unlike us, they still
live."

Helga was stepping into the hot water of the onsen, and

she just froze when I told her that. "You lie!"

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"I assure you that they are not spirits of any kind, but are

from the real world," I said. "A very dull and hostile place."

McGann flushed. I knew she was remembering our earlier

conversation about Keno. "I'm still 'alive', if that is the correct
term to use," McGann said, "as are Mason and Wolf. I didn't
realize that it made such a difference, Tamazusa-sama."

"And she isn't foolish enough to be married to Wolf," I said

scathingly. "The only thing that I like about the modern world
is the independence of the women there."

"Being married probably would ruin our business

relationship, since he does work for me," McGann said with a
smile.

"Sama?" Helga asked. She wasn't too stupid, just a

troublemaker, which could be worse than stupidity, in my
opinion. At least it might distract her from Wolf. What was it
about the man that attracted troublemaking women?

"Lord," I explained. "As in 'ruler'. I hold... held a kuni in

Nippon."

"'Held'," Helga repeated with glee.
"I will hold it again," I said. I would. I just hoped the cost

wouldn't be too high. It would be, if Aboshi came to any sort
of harm because of my foolishness.

"And I assure you that Wolf being nice to you doesn't

mean that he's interested in you in any manner. It's just that
he was raised to be polite to women," McGann said flatly.
"He's still civil to his ex, and that was a really messy break-
up, so just listen to me and stay away from Wolf."

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"You want him but can't have him," Helga spat at her,

clearly not understanding anything she was telling her. "So
you don't want anyone else to have him."

"She wants her best fighter to not be distracted by a bitch

in heat," I snarled.

"Like you distract the skraeling Mason?" Helga demanded.
I backhanded her, much to everyone's surprise. I didn't

know why I did it; I hadn't been interested in a man in
centuries. They were only pieces to be moved about in the
Game, which was why I had been willing to meet with Iida.
So why was I upset about what this creature thought about
my relationship with Mason?

* * * *

Keno
Farusawa was tall and skinny, too bony to be considered

handsome, but there was something about the man that drew
your eye. His attitude toward me was a mixture of respect
and wariness, for some reason unknown to me. He was civil
to Wolf and Mason, which was all that mattered. Tholf looked
confused about what to do, but he willingly followed our
instructions.

We cleaned up and settled in for a soak. I was almost

quivering with impatience to see what was happening, but I
knew hurrying Hamaji wasn't going to happen. She wouldn't
tell me what crisis we were facing until I was clean and
rested. She took her duties as my brother Shino's lady very
seriously.

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"You Southerners are decadent," Tholf rumbled as he

settled into the tub. "I could get to like this."

"Nice as the place that you had up north was," Mason said,

climbing in next to him. "I missed this."

"Your woman taking care of you would make this better,"

Tholf said.

"Tamazusa's a nice lady," Mason answered. "And she ain't

mine. She just needed me then, 'cause you guys can be
assholes about shit. Like calling her a skraeling." He didn't
mention that we had also been called that several times. He
was trying to be tactful. I just thought that it was amazing.

"Tamazusa-sama is a formidable lord," Farusawa said.

"She's no one's woman. Her karo's been devastated by her
disappearance. Fuse-hime has had her hands full with him."

I must have made some sort of noise, because Farusawa

looked at me guiltily. "Samojirou-sama is fine, as far as I
know. Sakura-dono had been sick for awhile before this, but
she seems to be taking care of him also."

Wolf and Mason just looked at each other, and I glared at

them to keep quiet. My family knew about my disguise as
Sakura, but almost no one else did. It wasn't something I
wanted spread about, either.

"Fuse-hime will kick his ass into shape," Mason said.

"She's one tough lady."

I made a move to get out of the tub, not willing to wait

anymore for information. Hamaji would just have to get me a
horse, and I'd join him. Tamazusa was safe here. Mason
would take care of her, as well as Hamaji and her samurai.

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And she'd understand, too, even if I were neglecting my duty
to her. I couldn't wait any longer.

"Keno, shit, you can't go fucking running around like a

nut," Mason objected, like he was reading my mind. I was
surprised to see Farusawa almost winced when he saw Mason
scolding me. What did he think I was going to do to him?

"I was not thinking of that," I said sharply. "I simply want

to rejoin my lover, so he doesn't think that I'm dead and do
something foolish." I didn't care that I was probably giving
Farusawa a big clue that I was Sakura. It wasn't like he
wasn't going to eventually figure it out.

"Foolish?" Wolf asked.
"Seppuku," I said shortly. "I know that he doesn't want to

lose me again. He'd follow me to the hells if he had to."

"Who is Hamaji?" Wolf asked me as a distraction. He didn't

like hearing that, hearing that Aboshi loved me enough to
follow me into death. I really wasn't comfortable with it
either, but I wasn't going to tell him that!

"My older brother Shino's wife," I said. "They were married

in the real world. Their romance is the stuff of legends. She
also could be the twin of Dousetsu's half-sister."

"Which one of those mean fuckers was Shino?" Mason

asked.

"I wish that you wouldn't refer to my brothers as 'mean

fuckers'," I said mildly. I couldn't be angry though. He wasn't
insulting them, because he did admire them in his own way.
Farusawa was openly gawking at us. I guessed he wasn't
used to someone with as little manners as Mason. Or did he
expect me to do something odd to teach him a lesson?

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Anyone who knew Mason knew it would be a waste of time. I
decided that he liked being rude and playing the fool because
it would make people think he was really that stupid.

"Dousetsu was the one who helped me," Wolf said quietly.
"The one with no sense of humor," Mason said, nodding,

apparently remembering him after thinking for a second.
"Fuck, Keno! I know that you have it bad for Samojirou, but
running around the countryside isn't a good idea. We had a
lot of shit to go through getting here. How far away is he?
And can you ride a horse?"

"Not very well," I said stiffly, angry that he was being so

logical.

"Then see what kind of plan we can come up with so you

can join him without getting yourself killed," Mason insisted.
"Shit, at least you're both here, unlike last time. That was a
bitch of a time for us."

I climbed out of the onsen and started to get dressed. The

maids had left kimono for all of us. I was impressed that they
had found something to fit Tholf, but then, my brother
Konbungo was almost as big as he was.

"I'm not moving," Tholf said. "My bones ache."
"I don't care if you come or not," I said rudely. "My lord

included you as a courtesy."

"You let a woman rule you?" Tholf asked, not insulted by

my insult.

"I don't know what problem you have with that," Mason

said. "McGann's a good boss too. Shit, it ain't an issue most
of the time what your boss's plumbing is, so long as they got

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the stones to make the hard decisions. Both McGann and
Tamazusa have 'em."

"Your wife—"
"Caitlynn and I aren't married," Wolf said quietly. "It was a

deception so that no one would bother her."

Tholf grinned. "She's a woman I could pay court to, unlike

Helga. Since she's free, I might."

Wolf glared at him for that comment, and I guessed that

he liked McGann a lot and not just as his boss. That made the
way he had acted around her make a lot of sense to me. I
just wondered if she liked him the same way.

"What's her story?" Mason asked, trying to distract Wolf.

He had seen that look too. I knew that he'd tell Tholf
sometime later that married or not, Wolf still considered her
off limits for him. "You guys were short women, and she's got
no man. It's not like she's that bad looking."

"She's got thief's eyes," Tholf said. "An evil woman, a

troublemaker. She was lucky that Grima took her in. If not,
she would be sent to see the gods."

"I will watch the Northerner," Farusawa said.
I guessed he thought that I was in charge here, probably

because I was Shino's brother. That wasn't too well known,
either, but for different reasons. Probably the original Inuzaka
Keno was a crazy fighter, someone that you didn't want to
anger, which was why Farusawa was acting like I should take
Mason's head or something because of the way that he was
acting. I knew that was the custom of their time. But
Samojirou didn't want me dealing with that reputation, which
was why I was called Sakura. And to be honest, I didn't want

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to deal with it either. I was a fighter, but not a killer like my
ancestor had been. I realized that when I was on the beach
and couldn't kill any of those raiders, even knowing what they
would do to Tamazusa and me. I couldn't, as stupid as it
sounded. Thank the kami that Wolf had been there.

Wolf and Mason started to get dressed, realizing I wasn't

going to wait around for information. I was aware that a
couple of other samurai here had wandered into the
bathhouse. Farusawa wasn't going to be alone with Tholf,
even though I knew he could beat Tholf in a fight. I had
managed to do that, and I knew I wasn't a strong fighter.

There was a maid waiting outside for us, and she silently

guided us to the main hall. There was a tension in the air that
told me there was something going on here. I wondered how
bad the fighting was. Hamaji, Tamazusa, and McGann were
waiting for us. I wasn't surprised that Helga was missing,
since she had been hostile to both Tamazusa and McGann, so
I doubted she would be included in any planning sessions we
had. I wasn't surprised to see food and tea waiting for us.
Wolf and Mason sat down, while I remained on my feet,
unable to relax at all. I started pacing back and forth, needing
to do something now that I was in Nippon, even though I was
exhausted.

"I want a fast horse and supplies," I announced to Hamaji

after a minute.

She and Tamazusa exchanged smiles. "I told you he would

say that," Tamazusa said. "Aboshi isn't the only besotted fool
that I have to deal with."

"My lord," I objected, "I fail—"

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"She sent word to Aboshi and your brothers that you and I

are safe," she said gently. "It is faster, but more nerve-
racking to have him come to us. I fear that you must wait."

"He is in your kuni," Hamaji said. "Most of the fighting is

either happening there or spilling into one of the neighboring
kuni. The chaos is spreading, however, and soon all of Nippon
will be involved. There are monsters throughout the lands and
rumors that the Southerners are poised to invade."

"The Southerners?" McGann asked.
"Egyptians," Tamazusa clarified. "Their boats only look

fragile. They are able to cross the barrier easily, with luck and
skill, because they have strong magics. But the issue had
been in the past that they couldn't land on Nippon and keep a
foothold so that they can invade. We watch them too closely
for that, knowing that they lust for our lands, for the
greenness that they don't have. That was why they were
interested in whatever lies your Trustees may tell them."

"Their weapons are a bit cruder than ours, since their

ironwork is almost as crude as the Northerners," I added.

"There are very few things that match the strength and the

grace of a katana," Wolf said.

"Sit down, Keno," Hamaji counseled. "You have to wait. I

know that it's hard."

I looked at her. There was a shine to her eyes that hinted

that she was going to cry. I didn't want her to cry, so I sat
down. I hoped Samojirou at least had the good sense to bring
Shino with him.

* * * *

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Samojirou
Inuyama watched me as I ate. There was always one of

them with me now, no matter what. They were frightened, if I
could use that word, that I would suicide. I knew it wasn't
because they cared for me; they just didn't want their brother
Keno hurt. I'd say that Fuse was the exception to this, but
she had been escorted back to Awa as soon as the fighting
broke out. A war camp was no place for her, even if it seemed
that most of the rest of her family were here. Aside from
Inuyama Dousetsu, his brothers Inusuka Shino, Inukawa
Sousuke, and Inukai Genpachi were also watching me.

"I said that I wouldn't do anything foolish," I told him in an

irritated tone.

"Like attacking a kasha by yourself?" Inuyama asked in

almost the same voice. "That wasn't foolish, was it?"

A kasha was the size of two horses side by side, with

poisonous tentacles. It was a mindless beast, usually
controlled by its hunger or in rare cases, a sorcerer. It was
rarely seen, but with the chaos growing in Tamazusa's kuni
and the surrounding lands, such creatures were becoming all
too common. Most of the peasants had fled, and I foresaw a
poor harvest and starvation, no matter who won this war.
Iida's armies had gathered on the shoreline of the kuni, held
back by Okita at the Saigawa River. The opportunists had also
come out in force; smaller daimyo who hoped to win their
own lands or lords who wanted a richer kuni had started to
attack. The fighting hadn't been that involved yet, since most
of our troubles had come from the monsters. I knew that
soon, Nippon would be plunged into a war that would have

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the other lands attacking us, taking advantage of our
weakness.

"I was not injured," I said. It had been a near thing,

because I had thrown myself into the fight recklessly. I had
gone ahead of my guard, and I had thought that Okita would
burst with anger when he saw what I was doing. That he
managed to keep the scavengers—munashi—that surrounded
it off of me was more good fortune than I had deserved.

"That is because the gods look out for fools," Inukai

snapped as he walked into the tent.

"I am not a fool," I told him tiredly. I yawned and looked

down at the bowl of rice in my hands. "You...."

"I promised Mother that I would look out for you,"

Inuyama said. "I know that you gave me your word, but it
would be better for you if you sleep. You don't unless we drug
you."

That was true, and I really couldn't be angry with them.

My anguish about Keno had settled into a mind-numbing
ache. That didn't mean I couldn't function; the Hakkenshi
were here to make sure I was taken care of as much as they
were here to make sure I didn't kill myself.

I carefully put my bowl down and went over to the futon in

the corner of the tent. I closed my eyes and just floated
away, too broken to really fight what was happening here.
They'd wake me for a battle or to feed me. That's all my life
was now: sleeping, eating, and fighting. There was a thick
wall of ice between me and the rest of the universe. That was
something I needed so I wouldn't feel the loss of Keno, which
echoed in my brain at the oddest moments. That was why I

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had attacked the kasha. I had heard the tiny whisper of "he's
gone" in the back of my head, and suddenly, attacking that
creature without waiting for help seemed the most logical
thing in the worlds to do. They told me afterward that it had
been practically shredded by the amount of damage I had
done to it. I didn't remember a moment of that battle.

"We're going to have a hard time waking him," I heard

Inukai say before everything just stopped.

* * * *

I was awakened by Inusuka shaking me roughly. I blinked,

wondering why he looked so happy. During the week that
Tamazusa's kuni fell into chaos, Inusuka had become more
and more intense, blocking out anyone but his brother
Inukawa. Inukawa had become almost as grim as Inuyama,
so I didn't know why Inusuka needed him, but they had
grown up together. They had a very close bond. If I'd had the
energy, I might have cared about it.

"There has been a bird from Hamaji," Inusuka said.
"Yes?" I was still befuddled by whatever was in my system.

I saw the others were here with him, and all of them looked
relieved. Even Yatsufusa looked happy, even if I didn't know
when he had arrived.

"My wife sent word that the blossoms have returned to

Nippon," Inusuka told me.

"It's almost the harvest," I said dumbly. "There are no

blossoms."

They all looked at each other when I said that. Inukai

frowned. "I think that we gave him too much this time."

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"There was enough in there to bring down three men. Of

course we gave him too much. He's been needing more and
more lately," Inuyama muttered. "But—"

"Enough," snarled Inukawa. "He's in no condition for any

type of word games. Samojirou, it seems that your lady and
our brother have returned to Nippon."

I looked at them, the words finally making sense to me.

Keno was better known as Sakura, rather than by his real
name. It kept him safe from those who would use him and
those who would try to make their name and reputation by
challenging Inuzaka Keno. And my lady's name's kanji meant
jeweled bush. Since anyone could shoot down a messenger
bird or intercept it for its message, Hamaji's cryptic message
made sense now.

"I have to..." I said, trying to get up, but my limbs

wouldn't work.

"You can barely move," Inukai said patiently. "You have to

wait."

"I will not!" I snarled.
"You will," Inuyama said, projecting calm. "You cannot

walk the shadows with what is in your system. Wait. Sleep
some more, and then you will see your lover."

"I can't," I said even as I yawned. What had they been

giving me? What had they given me this time? I could barely
function, which had to have been what they wanted. I
struggled to move, frustrated when Inukai stopped me by just
pressing his hand against my chest.

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"You walk now, and you'd be lost in the shadows, and then

where would my brother be?" he asked softly. "You are his
world. Wait so he does not lose it a second time."

With that I fell back to sleep.

* * * *

I woke up naturally several hours later, wondering why I

felt so good. It took me a minute to remember the
conversation I'd had last with the Hakkenshi. It still felt unreal
to me. I sat up, noticing that it was Inukai who was my
watcher now.

"I—"
"It wasn't a dream," he assured me with a grin. "You can

go back to scandalizing Sousuke and Shinbee with our
brother."

I laughed at that, even if it sounded strained. "You?"
"Seeing our brother happy, even if it is with you, makes

me happy. He was such a bastard before. He's a good man
now. It's good to see that one of us can be like that."

"An innocent," I said, trying not to be upset by Inukai's

statement. But I understood his bitterness toward me. If it
weren't for what I had done to Jin-yo, he and his brothers
wouldn't be here. Would they have been happier if they had
lived normal lives?

"And we will keep him that way," Inukai promised.
"I feel fine," I stated.
"Eat first," Inukai urged.
I grimaced, remembering my last meal. How long had I

been unconscious? He laughed. "You're going to be too busy

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to eat when you get to Shino's castle. Now is the time to eat."
I got up, feeling stiff and sore. I looked at him. "About a day
or so," he said. "Inuyama wanted to make sure that you
weren't going to give us any trouble. You need a bath too."

I nodded, not looking forward to it. There wasn't a decent

place to bathe here.

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Chapter Nine

Samojirou
I got to Inusuka's castle in the evening, arriving in the

shadows of one of the smaller gardens there. I brought
Inusuka with me. I was surprised to see that he looked
uncomfortable after we appeared.

"My brother does that with you?" he asked, swallowing

hard. "He is braver than I thought."

"Keno was a creature of the shadows," I said softly, "due

to his vow. I fear that he is too comfortable with them still,
since this manner of travel has never bothered him."

Inusuka looked at me and nodded. I knew that we would

not speak of it again.

I followed him as he went into the lord's room, looking for

his wife. We found Hamaji with Tamazusa and Keno in her
garden, talking idly. I stopped at the edge of it, just needing
to look at Keno and Tamazusa before I got closer. It didn't
seem real to me, even if my lord was not in her customary
black and Keno looked pale and somehow thinner. Both of
them looked fragile to me, and I hated that. Inusuka strode
forward. Keno looked up when he heard him, and then his
eyes met mine. We just stared at each other, lost in the joy
of seeing each other.

I didn't know who made the first move, but the three of us

ended up in an embrace. I knew I should have been more
formal with Tamazusa, but I needed to touch her, to know
that she was actually there, as much as I needed to do the

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same with Keno. His head was buried against my chest, and
he had both arms around me tight. I had Tamazusa in a
partial embrace while hugging Keno tight to me.

"My lord," I whispered.
"I fear that—" she started.
"I wasn't," I said. "I never even thought that something

like this would happen."

I was surprised that she was accepting of my embrace. "I

will let you deal with Keno, before we discuss more grave
matters," she said. "He... I would not have survived without
him."

She stepped back from me with a smile and actually

laughed as I swung Keno up into my arms. I needed more
than a simple hug from him now. I needed to reassure myself
that he was really here.

"Left and three doors down," he murmured before he

started kissing me. I wasn't the only one who needed to be
intimate.

I managed to get to his room without disgracing myself. I

wasn't surprised that as soon as I set him down, he was
taking my clothing off. "I want you," he said hurriedly.
"Now... please...."

He didn't need to beg. I wanted him as much, too much.

There wasn't going to be any kissing or preparation, beyond
what he needed to take me easily. "Keno," I moaned.

"I have oil," he said, blushing furiously. "And I... I knew

that you were coming, so...."

That was all I needed to hear. I lifted him into my arms

again, worried that he was so light, but unable to care about

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it. My fingers explored his hidden opening. He was oiled. I
stretched him hastily, not wanting him to be in any pain. He
moaned as I scissored my fingers in him, kissing me
breathlessly. "Aboshi...."

I didn't let him say any more. I lifted him higher and

impaled him on my staff. Thankfully, he understood what I
was doing and wrapped his legs around my waist. I supported
him as he rode me, kissing me fiercely. I almost came from
that alone. I wasn't surprised that Keno came after only a
couple of strokes. His joy triggered my own, and I emptied
myself into him.

He lifted his head up, looking dazed. "Aboshi."
Not Samojirou. I didn't know if he was too satiated to be

formal with me, or that he was finally willing to call me by my
first name. "More," I said roughly.

He blinked, not knowing what I meant. He understood

when I carried him over to the futon on the floor and laid him
down, not slipping out of him the entire time. I started kissing
him again, thrusting into him, not wanting this to end. I was
rough with him, pinning his hands down and just taking him.

But Keno didn't fight me. He arched up into my thrusts,

moaning with me, bowing off the floor, needing and wanting
this as much as I did. As he wrapped his body around mine,
we moved together as one, consumed with the need to
pleasure one another. He took his joy again with a breathy
sound, and I found mine a few thrusts later.

Keno sobbed once and hid his head in my shoulder. "I was

so frightened that you—you would do something and that I'd
never see you again!"

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"I was cold," I murmured. "The whole world was ice when

I was aware of it. None of your brothers would help me join
you until they were certain that there was no hope. I... I must
confess that I didn't think that there was."

"The Northerners are barbaric," he said. "I feared that I

would not be able to protect Tamazusa-sama." He was silent
for a moment. "It was hard to accept Wolf's help."

I kissed him, and somehow we managed to switch

positions to settle Keno on top of me. He flexed his body,
grimacing for a moment before he leaned over and started to
kiss me again, riding me in slow, languid movements.

"It's too much," I protested, even as my body responded

to him.

This time it was slow and gentle, with a warmth that was

priceless to me. I didn't know how long we had been moving
together; he turned into the only thing I was aware of. When
Keno gave a small cry of completion, slumping over on me,
totally exhausted, I thrust deeply one more time, finding my
own ecstasy, as intense as the first two times had been, even
if we were both worn out.

I twitched the cover over us, not wanting to move or

caring about cleaning up or even checking on Tamazusa.
Keno murmured something and nuzzled my chest. We were
both asleep in minutes.

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Chapter Ten

Mason
I wandered over to where Tamazusa's room was. I noticed

that she had gotten a room near Keno and Samojirou, which
seemed to be in a nicer wing than where we were. I was glad,
because I knew that even without her kuni, she was still
someone who counted. But I was also of the opinion that
Shino was hiding us, just so we didn't get sucked into this
shitstorm. While Hamaji was being nice and friendly, it
seemed like the rest of them didn't know what to do with us.
I didn't blame them for that, unexpected relatives stopping in
from way out of town in the middle of a war was something of
a bitch to deal with. They were uncomfortable with the fact
that it seemed their family had turned a bit odd. They were all
shocked, except for Yatsufusa and Fuse, that me and Wolf
weren't Japanese, or at least Asian, since we were supposed
to be avatars of Japanese heroes. But that also meant no one
could guess who we were, either.

Tamazusa was out sitting in the garden, watching the bees

flit around. It was after supper, so I was surprised that she
wasn't sitting with the rest of them and making plans. There
seemed to be a lot more involved in this war than I thought.
But I guessed that getting stuff from point A to point B wasn't
as easy here as it was back home. For one thing, we really
didn't have to worry about something eating the supplies
before we got them. They were worrying about that here,
because of some of the monsters that were running around. I

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knocked on the gate to the garden before I went in and
asked, "You got a minute?"

"I am free to talk," she agreed.
"So how's it really going? How deep's the shit that we're

in?"

She grimaced when I said that, and I knew I had put my

foot in it. "As well as can be expected," she said slowly, guilt
haunting her eyes. "From the messages that have been
received, the chaos has spread from the Kanto plain toward
the Capital and Nara. If the fighting spreads there, then the
Capitol will burn again. That hasn't happened here, just in the
real world during the Onin War.

"I don't doubt that some of the Southern lords have

weakened their forces so that they might expand their
holdings onto Honshu, which is what will leave them
vulnerable to the Egyptians and the Trust. Soon others will be
taking advantage of this disorder to take what they can from
Nippon.

"I don't doubt that Iida and his unnatural allies are doing

all that they can to help them. Iida seems to be trying to
capture my kuni even if his allies are of the sea; I have no
idea why he is doing that. I thought that he would be trying
to capture territory on either Kyushu or Shikoku."

"And for those that don't have a map of Nippon

memorized, what does that mean?" I asked, trying not to
sound sarcastic. I'd probably be doing the same shit to her if
we were in Boston, acting like everyone knew the local
landmarks. Not like that was hard there, most of the time
you're giving directions to people by churches and Dunkies.

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She shook her head and started to point at plants in the

garden. "Think of the far right iris as this castle. For about
five shaku to the left and down from there, the fighting has
broken out—"

I interrupted her. "I'm American. What the fuck is a

shaku?"

She laughed, thinking for a second. "It's about foot or so.

Does that help?'

"Thanks," I said. "I have a hard time with that metric shit

too."

She smiled at me and continued her explanation. "At the

end of that, the last iris can be considered Kyoto, in a
diagonal from where this castle stands. Between them,
roughly is Edo. That is most of the middle of Nippon. The
north is cut off, which isn't an issue, but the chaos is
spreading upward from the south, which is bad. The section
of purple iris closest to us can be the island of Shikoku, while
the white iris just beyond them can be Kyushuu. Both islands
are held by a number of strong lords, but I don't doubt that
some of their retainers wished to become daimyo and
rebelled against them or took their forces to Honshu to see
what they could gain there."

"Where's Iida's place in all this?" I asked.
"On the edge of the garden," she explained. "See the last

iris to the left? That is roughly where Tsushima is located,
since the kuni is a small island off the coast of Kyushuu. I was
surprised that he didn't plan his attack on one of the southern
islands and not Northern Honshu and my kuni."

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I looked at her "map" and bit my lip, trying to think. Aside

from the fact that it was on the ass end of nowhere, I didn't
think that there was too much wrong with it. But being in the
middle of nothing was a big thing in a Nippon that didn't have
trains or even decent roads. "Which iris is your place?" I
asked.

She waved toward the top and left of the garden. "That

group of irises there," she said. "My kuni is large and well
placed. I swear that it's a joke of the kami that I am
surrounded by the Hakkenshi."

"I think that he went after your place because you pissed

him off," I mumbled.

She frowned. "You may have a point. I wasn't as receptive

to his advances as he thought that I should be."

"Still ain't a reason to pull the shit that he did," I muttered.

"Asshole should have figured out that 'no' means 'no' a long
time ago."

"I fear that I discovered that Iida had an issue with that

word a little late," she admitted ruefully.

"Can I ask you something?" I changed the topic of

conversation. I didn't think that the man went too far with
either of them, but I also didn't think she wanted to talk
about it. "Another pain in the ass thing."

"And what might that be, Mason-san?" she asked me with

a smile. Somehow, I realized she didn't think I was being a
pain in the ass. I liked that.

"I'm too old to move in with mom and dad." I'd found out

at the end of the mess last time that I was like Keno, an
avatar, one of Yatsufusa and Fuse's sons' spirit reborn

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generations later. In my case, it was Inumura Daikaku. "And I
think that I'd drive my avatar nuts, even if he's a nice guy.
Shit, probably because he's a nice guy. And I really don't
want to stay here either."

"And that means?" Tamazusa asked with a faint smile.
"Can I move in with you?" I asked. "Shit, you can find

something for me to do around the place. I ain't proud. I
work for my keep."

"I really don't have a place for you to move into," she

pointed out.

"I don't think that you're gonna sit around and not kick

some ass so that you get it back. I'm willing to help you do it
too," I said. "So what do you think? Got place for a guy like
me in your posse?"

* * * *

Tamazusa
That Mason was asking me for a home was astonishing to

me. I was silent for a moment before asking, "And what do
McGann and Wolf think about this?"

"I haven't run it by them," he admitted. "I know that I

might be blowing smoke up your skirts with this, but shit, I
think that we aren't going back, 'cause it should have
happened by now. And I don't know if I want to go back."

"And why is that?"
"I don't trust them not to fuck me over again," Mason said

bluntly. "I know that you're up to your ass in alligators right
now, so this is just one more thing that's being dumped on
you. I'm sorry about that."

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"If I had thought that you were going to be trouble, I

wouldn't have talked to you," I said gently. "I am very willing
to continue with being your patron."

"That was just to save me from that bitch Helga," Mason

muttered. "Not giving me a place to live. But shit, it's that I
trust you more than anyone else here."

"I thank you for that," I said formally. "And I will be willing

to have McGann and Wolf as part of my household also."

"I'll tell them. I don't know about Wolf wanting to move in

with the folks, but it seems that Dousetsu isn't a lord for
some reason." That had come out last time as well: Wolf was
also an avatar of one of the brothers. "So that means that
there's no place for them to move into. And Wolf's going to be
hooking up with McGann real soon now, or he's dumber than
I thought, 'cause he's had the hots for her for a long time."

"Inukai-sama and Inuyama-sama have chosen not to hold

the reins of power. I feel that Inukai-sama is much like
yourself, one who is not interested in the responsibility of
leadership. But Inuyama-sama is a bit more responsible, just
not one who is interested in ruling a kuni." I laughed for a
moment, thinking about how all this began. "I fear that Fuse-
hime has gotten her wish. I seem to be in an alliance with
one of her sons."

"I don't get it," Mason said, sounding totally lost.
He thought that I wouldn't say yes. He actually probably

hadn't thought beyond asking me for a place. "Iida-sama's
interest in me seems to have started when the rumors went
around that Fuse-hime was trying to arrange an alliance with
me through one of her unmarried sons. It was done to explain

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how friendly we seemed after centuries of frigid politeness. It
was an excuse so that her family could spend more time with
Keno without letting outsiders guess who he really is."

"You people are weird," Mason remarked, shaking his

head. "You okay?" he asked, frowning faintly at me for some
reason

"Why wouldn't I be?" I smiled, serene and in control. On

the outside at least.

"'Cause the shitstorm that's happening out there, you

think that it's your fault," he said bluntly.

"It is."
He shook head. "This Iida guy would have managed to

grab someone for this, and Nippon would still be fucked. Shit,
from what Logan told us, the Trustees had planned this
double cross with us from the beginning. I just want to see
the look on that fucker Iida's face when he realizes that he's
going to get screwed by the Trustees, just like the rest of us."

"But I would have my kuni," I said. "Keno... Keno would be

safe. I don't want him in a war."

"Why?" Mason asked. He was naturally curious and a bit

confused about why Samojirou and I felt the need to shelter
Keno so much.

"I met his ancestor."
"Most of these guys are mean fuckers," Mason said.

"Anyone here, really. So what makes Keno so different?"

"The Sengoku Jidai was a time of a betrayal." I spoke as if

I was telling a tale of someone else, the soothing tones of a
storyteller, calm and disinterested. Mason wouldn't
understand that era; no one born in the modern world really

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could, for all they claimed that they did. It had been decades
of civil war in Japan, even if the emperor hadn't been involved
in the fighting. It had been a fight to see who would control
him.

"The land was soaked with blood as all tried to rule it.

Brother betrayed brother, the capitol was in shambles, and
one could rise from a lowly samurai to a lord by the strength
of your arm. Satomi did so."

"Who's that?" Mason asked.
"The Hakkenshi's grandfather." I paused for second, trying

to keep the hate that I felt for the man out of my voice. It
wasn't that he had killed me, though betraying his word to
me had much to do with it. It was that he had executed me
as common criminal and hadn't allowed me the dignity of
committing suicide, and the fact that I had truly been
innocent of Aboshi's plot to murder Jin-yo. My guilt in it was
that I had taken advantage of the fact that I had a patron
who had been willing to keep me for my mind and not my
body. So I hadn't informed anyone of the crime. It wasn't like
it was an isolated happening. Nippon was drenched in blood
from such things. "Fuse-hime's father, the man that broke his
word to Yatsufusa-sama and myself. He had been a minor
lord that rose to rule Awa. I think that it's a prefecture of
Tokyo now. It was a powerful kuni then. It is part of the kuni
that Yatsufusa holds now. He gained more power when his
grandsons allied with him."

"Fuse-hime told me a bit about that," Mason said. "That

she had been dead by the time that her kids were born."

"Magic is a wonderful thing," I said with a strained smile.

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"You know that you can tell me to stay the fuck out of your

business too," Mason said unexpectedly. "But I notice that
Satomi ain't here and you are. So that just shows what a shit
the man was."

"He was thought to be a good lord," I told him stiffly.
"Even with the shit that he pulled?" Mason asked, sounding

outraged. "Assholes. And speaking of that, what's the deal
with Keno? How come his family seems to be getting upset
when we call him by his name and not Sakura?"

"Because it is not well-known that Inuzaka Keno has been

found by his family. He had been missing in the Dreamlands
for centuries. While you think that we call him Sakura
because it amuses us, it really is to protect him. I do not want
him to become the killer that his ancestor was."

"Most everyone here's swung a sword and shit like that,"

Mason said. "Your people were all fighters in a time that
meant hacking the crap out of the other guy with a sword."

"Only you have such a technique," I teased, trying to

lighten his mood.

Mason laughed. "Wolf wasn't much better when he was

goin' nuts." He sobered, though. "And you haven't answered
the question."

"Hamaji has a lovely strolling garden," I said abruptly.

"Let's explore it."

Mason looked at me strangely but must have realized that

I didn't want to be overheard. He followed me out to the
garden I had mentioned, before repeating his question. "Why
are you worried about people finding out about Keno?"

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I hesitated for a moment, studying the landscape, the

gardenias and the hydrangeas that were blooming. "The first
Inuzaka Keno vowed when he was a child, around six or
seven, to avenge his father's death. When he was seventeen,
he fulfilled that vow."

"Seventeen?" Mason repeated with a stunned look on his

face. "How?"

"He slaughtered the entire Makuwari clan in a single night.

They had gathered to celebrate in their main stronghold.
Inuzaka turned it into a slaughterhouse."

"Why?" Mason asked, looking confused. "What had they

done to him?"

"Makuwari Dai, the leader of that clan, was the one who

slaughtered most of Inuzaka's family. He was raised in hiding
after that, in disguise really, which was the only reason that
he survived, from what I pieced together."

"So he kills everyone, and then what?" Mason asked.
"Inuzaka discovered that he was one of the Hakkenshi," I

answered. "And his grandfather took advantage of the
training he had undertaken for his vow and used him as his
own personal assassin."

"Keno was a ninja?" Mason asked.
"In a manner of speaking," I said, drifting up the path.
Mason followed me, curious. "Ninja" was a term mostly

used in the West in modern times. What Keno had become for
his grandfather was an assassin who, by the end of the
fighting, was nothing more than a doll for the man, after he
had banished Aboshi.

"So what was bad about that?" Mason asked.

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"Satomi rose to power on the backs of others," I said

scathingly. "Inuzaka killed and killed for the man in the
shadows for years before the war ended. He was broken by
that time."

"How did the war end?" Mason asked, suddenly suspicious.

"What is so great about all these guys that they're here? That
you're here?"

"Japan didn't really know peace until the Tokugawa ruled,

which was roughly a hundred years after the deaths of the
Hakkenshi, after they had achieved some sort of peace,
keeping the Kanto area of Japan under their control," I
explained, wondering how much I could really tell him.

"Whatever," Mason dismissed, not caring about the history

lesson. "What I give a shit about in this is Keno."

"Aboshi-sama and myself want to protect Keno from those

who would try to make their reputation by fighting and killing
him for being Inuzaka Keno. He would have to face challenges
or worse for his entire life here. He might turn into the bitter
man that he had been because of that, if it didn't kill him."

"You're not going to get Wolf to believe this," Mason said

seriously. He stared into the pond we stopped by. "He's
gonna think that's a reason to take Keno back with us."

"Keno will not go," I stated firmly. "And Wolf has to believe

that or what friendship they have will be ruined."

"I'll talk to him," Mason promised. "Are you doin' all right?"
"I am fine," I repeated, lying through my teeth again.
"And I'll believe that eventually," he said. "Shit, if you

need someone to talk to, grab me. I may not know shit about
what's going on, but I can be someone to talk to."

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"I know that," I murmured. "But I have a question for you,

even if you don't want to give me an answer. When were you
supposed to return to the real world?"

Mason looked at me in shock before he started back to the

castle at a run. I followed at a more leisurely pace. He finally
knew there was something wrong. Not that Logan hadn't told
him that before, but in his heart, I knew he hadn't wanted to
believe it was happening to him. He was going to have to
believe it now.

* * * *

Mason
I was kind of confused about what Tamazusa was telling

me. I knew all the players, mostly, but trying to wrap my
head around the thought of Keno being a ninja killing
machine was kind of hard. I couldn't picture it. I had a hard
time thinking of him as an adult, never mind someone who
was a cold-blooded killer. That Samojirou had fallen in love
with someone like that showed me that the man was either
bugfuck insane or someone who tried to save kittens from
being drowned. Or both. I was going with both.

But what was bothering me was the last thing Tamazusa

had mentioned: when we were supposed to get back to the
Trustees. Tell the truth, I hadn't really been paying attention
to the time. But thinking about it and counting the days on
my fingers and toes—don't fucking laugh—I figured out that
we had been there eighteen days. I was stunned, but that
might be why Wolf was looking so pissed. Things weren't
working like they told him that they were supposed to. Big

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surprise there. So I'm racing back to figure out what the fuck
up was and who do I run into but Samojirou. My luck was
sucking at the moment.

"I want to thank you for caring for my lord and my

consort," Samojirou said formally.

I looked at him and thought about what Tamazusa and I

had been talking about. "Um... she did all the work. And Keno
can take care of himself, but you knew that."

"He can now," Samojirou said, polite but with this look in

his eye.

He was pissed about something. Crap, he probably thought

I had taken advantage of Tamazusa in the Northlands. Shit, I
wasn't that stupid on my worst day

"And where is he?" I asked, trying to distract him. I knew

that he'd kill me and not give it a second thought. Keno was
the only thing that stopped him from doing that. And I was
going have to thank him for that real soon.

"Sleeping," Samojirou said. "I have a matter to discuss

with my lord, and I was informed that she was with you."

I got uncomfortable when I realized Keno was probably

passed out after being nailed to the floor a couple of times. I
had been told how the two of them had been looking at each
other, and I didn't know what had stopped them from
jumping each other right then and there when Samojirou had
shown up. I was surprised Samojirou had been able to tear
himself away from Keno long enough to check on Tamazusa.
"She's in the strolling garden. She wanted to talk to me out
there."

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"That's interesting," Samojirou said, looking like he had

just swallowed something bitter.

He was really pissed, and I didn't think Keno would be able

to save my ass unless I explained shit to him. I shrugged,
trying to act casual, hoping my explanation didn't piss him off
more. "I was offering her someone to either bitch at or cry
on."

"So you seek to be her counselor?" Samojirou asked, not

sounding very happy.

I shook my head. "Shit no. But you and Keno are off with

each other, and I noticed that she doesn't seem to have too
many friends here." I waited a second before adding, "And
she was nice enough to explain things to me. What a shit that
Satomi asshole was."

"You are talking about Keno's grandfather," Samojirou

cautioned with a smile. I guessed he realized I wasn't after
his job. Shit, I wasn't going to tell him that if I was working
for Tamazusa, I'd be her court jester or something like that,
'cause he'd find it too fucking funny. Tamazusa liked me, but
she also knew I was the worst person to give her any sort of
advice.

"And you know what? He's still an asshole. Fuck, Yatsufusa

didn't deserve that shit from him, either, about Fuse-hime," I
said.

"You are not disgusted with their relationship?" Samojirou

asked slyly.

"I don't want to know about you and Keno, not because of

who you are, but because he's always gonna be fifteen to me,
so I can ignore what those two are doing in their spare time

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too," I told him. I actually hadn't really thought about it. And
I wasn't going to start to, either. Some shit I wasn't meant to
know about, and that was one of them. "But I need to talk to
Wolf about something, so I got to run."

Samojirou practically hissed. "Wolf...."
"I'll keep him off your ass," I promised.
"I don't know if I should be overjoyed or frightened at that

statement," Samojirou muttered. I laughed. I knew we
wouldn't be drinking buddies, but he was good for Keno, so I
wouldn't give him too much shit.

* * * *

When I got back to the rooms Hamaji had given us, I

wasn't surprised to see Wolf and McGann having tea together
in the living room. Me, Wolf, and Tholf had one room, Helga
and McGann were sharing another, and we had a third room
as some sort of living room.

I stopped at the edge of the porch and was proud that I

remembered to take my shoes off before I walked in on them.
"So when were you going to tell me?" I asked, not bothering
to beat around the bush. I didn't know where either Tholf or
Helga was and didn't care. This was something we couldn't
really hide from them.

Both of them looked at me, but at least neither one of

them did the "Tell you what?" routine. And they both looked a
little guilty, so I was okay with that. They weren't being
assholes about it; it was just like with McGann and the
pregnancy thing, there really hadn't been a time or place to
tell me about this, just like the fact I still hadn't told Wolf

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about Logan's confession. I guessed this was the time that I
had to do it, even if I really didn't want to tell him. Logan had
been right: Wolf was a good man. Good men don't expect to
be backstabbed by their boss, even in our line of business.
And there was the small fact that if those assholes were
willing to do this to us, I didn't think that they'd hesitate
throwing an old man like Wolf's grandfather under a bus or
something, either, to make sure he didn't ask questions, even
if he was a Trustee. He probably was going apeshit wondering
what the other Trustees were pulling with his grandson. I
wondered for a second if Mrs. Adams was in on this or if they
had gotten rid of her too.

"I think that I was willing to let you figure it out on your

own," McGann admitted calmly. "There was a lot that was
going on, and it could have been a simple miscalculation."

"After a while, getting back wasn't something I was going

to worry about," Wolf said. "I was worried about it happening
on the ship. But once we got to land... then I realized it
wasn't working for some reason. By then, there really wasn't
anyplace I felt comfortable telling you what had happened."

"Tamazusa was the one that had to point it out to me," I

said, just realizing that we could have screwed the others
badly by disappearing in the middle of the ocean. That was
the only saving grace in this entire mess. Seven people hadn't
been really enough to sail that ship, four would have been a
disaster. And I didn't trust Helga not to try something stupid
to either Keno or Tamazusa, like push them out of the boat.
"I'm such a dumb fuck that I didn't notice that the hoodoo
wasn't working like it should."

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"Mason, you aren't dumb," Wolf told me, trying not to

sound too pissed, since he hated when I talked like that about
myself. "You don't always think, but you aren't stupid. You
had your hands full playing mother hen to Tamazusa-sama
and Keno."

"So when was the recall supposed to happen?" I asked.
"About twelve days ago," Wolf said. "I gave it a couple of

more days, just in case something happened to the time
when we crossed the barrier between territories. When the
recall didn't happen, I talked to Caitlynn about it."

"So your pillow talk wasn't just sweet nothings," I said

sarcastically. Well, mine hadn't been, either, since I stuck
close to Tamazusa to protect myself from Helga.

Wolf practically blushed like a schoolgirl when I said that.

McGann gave me a look that promised me we were going to
have a very long talk about that comment. I bet she was also
going to give me shit about how I'd been acting with
Tamazusa too. She could if she wanted to, because she really
wasn't my boss anymore. As weird as it sounded, I was
thinking about Tamazusa like that now. Wasn't that a weird
and scary thought.

"And what did the two of you figure out?" I asked, trying

not to sound too pissed off. I didn't care that I wasn't in on
the decision-making process, I just was pissed that they
hadn't told me what the decision was yet. But I couldn't throw
stones, since I was hiding information from them too. "Aside
from the fact that we're up shit creek without a boat, never
mind a paddle."

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"I think that would be true if we had stayed in the

Northern territories," McGann said, smiling slightly at my
language. "However, here in Nippon, both you and Wolf have
allies. I don't doubt that you will be protected by Fuse-hime
since you seem to be avatars of her sons. Why you're both in
the Dreamlands is something I'm going to leave to wiser
heads to figure out."

"I don't think you're going to be left out in the cold," I

said. "You didn't do anything to piss them off. That was
Murphy and the motherfuckin' Trustees."

Not to mention Wolf would do anything he could to protect

her. And I wouldn't be too far behind him. McGann needed
protecting, even as strong as she was, because working for
the Trust hadn't burned all the niceness out of her, even with
the shit that had gone down with Keno.

"I wasn't innocent in that, no matter what you want to

think," McGann said, like she was reading my mind. Oh, wait,
she could. "And then there was my treatment of Keno. I
should have done more to protect him, and I didn't, as
Tamazusa-sama pointed out to me."

"We're as guilty as you are," Wolf told her quietly. "I

should have done something more for him. I should have
gotten my grandfather involved. He shouldn't have had to live
like he did. We all should be held accountable for what has
happened to him."

We were all silent for a couple of minutes. I didn't miss the

fact that Wolf had gotten closer to McGann, close enough to
touch her almost. He'd protect her.

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So the next thing we had to worry about was what to do

since we were stuck here. "Well, what's the game plan?" I
finally asked. "Fuck, there must be one, because you guys are
good at shit like that."

Wolf looked at McGann and then me. "I don't know.

Honestly, I had hoped that things would be different here."

"We are stuck in a friggin' war zone, but it's still better

than what we would be going back to," I said roughly,
although I already thought we weren't going back. I didn't
think that going back was worth killing someone. And while
Tamazusa had been able to walk into our place any damn
time that she wanted, she had lost that trick with her kuni.
Even when she got her place back, even if she kept that trick,
I didn't know if I wanted to go back. Maybe I'd get bored here
in a year or two, but unlike Wolf and McGann, there was no
one for me to go home to in the real world.

"What are you talking about?" Wolf demanded, sounding

pissed off and worried at the same time.

"Those assholes were willing to send McGann on this trip,

ignoring the fact that I told them how nasty it could get for
her," I said. He nodded, looking relieved that I hadn't been
more blunt about what I thought was nasty. "And I think a
couple of them were giving her shit about not saving
Fairinox's or Collins's asses. Plus, they were going to make
her life miserable for a couple of other reasons, right?"

McGann nodded, not willing to say anything. I wasn't

surprised to see Wolf reach out and pat her hand after that,
since she looked like she wanted to cry.

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"And Wolf, you were stuck at the nuthouse, dealing with

people you worked with at one time," I told him. "I don't
think that you were liking it there. I don't think that the
shrink there was doing shit for you, either. And I was doing
desk duty at Fall River, which was a bitch of a commute. Plus,
I know Murphy was going to try and nail my ass, and not in a
good way. So while this place ain't where we're supposed to
be, it doesn't suck."

We were all silent for a couple of minutes. "And there's a

couple of things I have to tell you about," I said at last,
hoping that the last shit had sunk in on them. "The first one is
that Tamazusa is willing to have us stay at her place, when
she gets it back. If you don't want to do that, I bet that any
of the rest of them would be willing to have you. That's the
good news."

"And the bad news?" McGann asked.
"It's one of those types of things that I should have told

you earlier about," I said.

Wolf shook his head, and I swear that McGann rolled her

eyes. "You have to stop doing that," Wolf said.

"Where's Helga the Horrible and Tholf?" I asked instead of

giving them an answer. Yeah, keeping shit like this from my
team leader was stupid, but letting outsiders know your own
people were screwing you was bad too.

McGann gave me a look that told me she knew why I was

keeping secrets, before saying slowly, "Tholf is with a squad
of Tamazusa-sama's men, Seki-san's squad. Helga is with
Fuse-hime."

"Fuse-hime's gonna keep her in line," I said.

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I meant it, too. Helga had realized she didn't have any

allies here or anyone who would put up with her shit.
Tamazusa probably was willing to kick her ass into line, but
she had her hands full right now. Hamaji was just too nice,
and of all the other women I saw wandering about this place,
no one seemed to be interested in dealing with Helga, besides
the fact they mostly seemed to be maids and people like that.
Fuse had taken her on, and Helga had been too stupid to
realize she was going to lose to the woman even before she
started anything. I wondered if Helga even knew who Fuse
was, besides the woman who was going to make her life
miserable until she got her shit together. Fuck, I was going to
call Fuse "Mom" a couple of times just to make Helga's brain
melt.

"The reason that I didn't tell you this earlier is because I

didn't want those two to find out about it," I said. "Shit, you
know that I don't keep secrets or play games for shits and
giggles. And while you don't want to hear it, which was
probably the reason that Tamazusa didn't tell us what trouble
she was in."

"Keno should have," Wolf said.
"Keno didn't want to tell us, because he couldn't trust us,"

I said evenly. "He was trapped in what he thought was enemy
territory, with someone he thinks of as family, and he didn't
know if you were going to hoodoo him back to a place he
hates once you knew Tamazusa wasn't going to be able to
steal him back. Taking his ass home isn't something that's
ever going to happen. The kid not only burned his bridges
with that little stunt he pulled with the computers, he blew

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them up and pissed on the ashes. Taking him back, if we
even ever get back, would be a stupider idea than kidnapping
him the first place."

Wolf had a thoughtful look on his face. Maybe he'd just

realized what a stupid shit move taking Keno back with us
would be, besides the fact that Tamazusa would just pop up
and take him back again without breaking a sweat and maybe
kill anyone who got in her way, when she got her kuni thingie
back. The man wasn't dumb. Wolf just thought that getting
Keno out of here was the best thing for him. Maybe now he'd
realize it wasn't. Hell, getting us out of here wasn't a good
thing either.

"What did you want to tell us?" McGann asked patiently.

She knew this shit, but didn't think she knew Wolf had to hear
it a couple of times before he would believe it.

"That we were getting screwed by the Trustees and we

didn't even know it," I said.

Wolf got this stubborn look on his face, while McGann

looked sick, but interested. I wondered what they had been
threatening her with. And shit, maybe the pregnancy thing
was something she had to worry about. While I didn't know
how the birds and the bees worked with demons, I had
figured out how it worked with psychics. You needed at least
one of them as the parent, with either the other parent
having a strong latent talent, or even better, both parents
being psychics. I wondered if that was what the Trustees had
been telling McGann: that they had decided it was time she
started knitting baby booties for them. Fuck!

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"We weren't supposed to get back," I said. "Not from what

Logan told us."

"Us?" Wolf asked.
"Me and Tamazusa," I explained. "And before you get

pissed. There wasn't a place that I could tell either one of you
this. That boat had shit for privacy, and this wasn't something
that I wanted Helga or Tholf to know about."

"I understand that," Wolf said. "But why wait until now to

tell us?"

"'Cause this shit didn't seem true until the hoodoo stopped

working," I said. "And this shit still doesn't seem real to me,
either."

"What is it?" McGann asked.
"Logan wasn't Logan's real name," I blurted out. "He

wasn't an expert on Mayan anything. That whoever was
casting that shitty spell aimed it in the wrong direction on
purpose."

"Why?" Wolf demanded.
"Because we all pissed off the Powers that Be," I said

harshly. "Fuck, it wasn't like he really had a chance to tell us
a lot."

"Why do you believe him?" McGann continued.
"Because the guy was dying," I said. "And I don't think

that anyone would lie though their teeth to the guy who was
trying to save his ass, even if I couldn't do shit. Fuck, he
knew that there wasn't a chance. The bastard had opened up
his leg, and even sticking my fucking hand in the wound
didn't stop the bleeding."

"But why tell you at all?" Wolf asked.

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"Because of you," I said bluntly. "He thought that you were

a good man. Fuck, he was right, even if we do shitty things in
our line of work. But there's another faction of Trustees that
want to turn this place into their own little fiefdom. I believe
him, after some of the fucking stories I heard about a couple
of Global International Ops."

"My grandfather..." Wolf started, apparently ignoring the

last part, even as McGann nodded her head in agreement
with me. She had probably heard the same rumors I had.

"Is probably in the dark, like we were," I told him. "I think

that Mrs. Adams don't know shit, either, as much as I hate to
say it. If she did, I'm pissed that I fell for the nice little old
lady act."

"So the Southerners that the others mention?" Wolf said.
"The Egyptians," I answered. "That was what Logan said

they were. And some of our Trustees are using them to take
over Nippon. Iida wasn't part of that mess. He's just adding
to the shitstorm on his own. But the Trust, or part of it, is
bankrolling the Egyptians so that they can get a summer
place on Mt. Fuji or whatever those fuckers are after. And we
both know that after that happens, the Egyptians are going to
be screwed by the Trustees. Collins had a lot of friends,
according to Logan."

"What was his real name?" McGann asked. "Did he manage

to tell you?"

"I forget," I said sheepishly. "Tamazusa would know. She

fucking promised him that she'd pray for him or something
like that."

"And why should we believe her?" Wolf demanded.

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"Since she bothered to save Keno," McGann said tiredly. "I

know that you don't like the woman, but she isn't the
monster that you want her to be."

"She's not a woman," Wolf snarled.
"She is," I insisted. Shit, from what she told me, she could

have been an asshole for the rest of her life or whatever it
was she had here. "And she could have killed us all that first
night that we were at her place. She didn't. And you know
what? You don't have to like the lady, but you should respect
her."

"She get to you, Mason?" Wolf demanded.
"This place got to me," I said, raising my voice. "Shit, most

of the people that we know here are mean fuckers. But you
know what? None of these people would stab us in the back. I
can't say the same about the assholes that are running my
life. Fuck, anything here would be better than dealing with
the shit that they handed out to us. They didn't just split us
up; they told me that we could never see each other again.
Did they pull that same shit on you, or did you think that I
was just being an asshole?"

McGann frowned. "Why?"
"Shit, I don't know," I muttered. "I had thought that was

something that Murphy was pulling, but I didn't think so after
a week or two. And we all know our reports were scrubbed so
that those fuckers didn't know anything about us being
avatars or whatever me and Wolf are supposed to be. I made
sure the tapes in the infirmary got 'ruined' too."

"You're the one that did that!" McGann exclaimed. "I

thought that it was Keno when I went to do that."

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I grinned at her. I hadn't thought she'd had it in her, but I

would have bet she had done it more to cover Wolf's ass than
mine.

"I wondered why no one called us on that," Wolf muttered.

"Or why I wasn't asked about that in my sessions."

McGann frowned. "Did you have counseling, Mason?" she

asked.

I shrugged. "I skipped out on my sessions. I think that was

the reason they gave when they pulled me from the field
rotation. I think that they were full of shit."

"I know that," she murmured, looking scared and pissed at

the same time. "I should have thought that would happen."

"That what would happen?" I asked.
"Mason...." She stopped, looking guilty and frustrated.
I nodded, suddenly getting the picture. We really couldn't

have hidden that information. Not with the company having
telepaths in its ranks. They didn't have a lot of them, but you
didn't need a lot. You just needed them to be good. So even if
we didn't tell them about the fact that we're avatars, they'd
find out anyways. While 'paths weren't supposed to rummage
around people's heads without permission, if they were
ordered to, they would. And since we had managed to piss off
a bunch of Trustees, one of them would have ordered a 'path
to poke around in our heads. The best time for that was in a
shrink session, when we were supposed to be spilling our guts
to these people anyways. After ordering a full out war, a little
violation of our privacy was nothing to those fuckers. We just
had to figure out who they were. And from the look in Wolf's

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eyes, I hoped like fucking hell that one of them wasn't his
grandfather. That would kill him.

* * * *

Samojirou
Running into Mason wasn't something I'd wanted. I had to

admit I was a little upset that he seemed so... friendly wasn't
the correct word to use, but informal might have done better
as a description. At least he was properly wary around me.
After a short conversation, we went our separate ways.

I found Tamazusa at the edge of Hamaji's strolling garden,

staring at the bell flowers and the plantation lilies that
clustered around the edges of the walkway. To most people,
it would appear that she was admiring the blooms. I knew she
was doing that as well as plotting her next move in the Game.
While she had suffered a shocking setback, I knew she wasn't
finished playing.

"I just had a most interesting conversation with Mason-

san," she said absentmindedly.

"I have also talked to the man," I told her. "He—"
"Mason Kairns is a decent man, for all that he would deny

it," she said.

I frowned, wondering where that had come from. She

laughed lightly when she saw the look on my face. "Aboshi,
the man was kind enough to be my protector, mainly because
he thought that he needed to be when Keno-chan and I had
washed ashore and were forced to take shelter. I assure you
that the Northern barbarians are worse than we ever
imagined." She shuddered. "The smell was dreadful, there

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was no tea, and a hot bath was something they had never
heard of. It was disgusting. They are almost dirtier than Eta."

"So Keno-chan has told me," I said.
She nodded and started walking farther into the garden. I

followed her, curious about what she wanted to tell me. We
had gone almost to the center when she spoke. "Mason-san
knows the truth of what kind of man Keno-chan's ancestor
was."

"Was it safe to tell him such things?" I asked.
"Safer than to tell Wolf-san," she assured me. "Mason-san

knows the legend of the Hakkenshi now."

"So he has told me, in his own unique way," I said with a

smile. "And I do apologize for neglecting you."

"You haven't," she assured me briskly. "Mason-san just

has gotten into the habit of looking after me."

"Keno-chan mentioned that you had to sleep with him," I

said delicately. I didn't think the man had taken advantage of
her, since he would have been dead then, by either her hand
or Keno's.

"He was even a gentleman," she said softly with a strange

look in her eyes. "He made something that could have been
very awkward less annoying."

"You are fond of him," I said after a moment of thinking

about what she had and hadn't said.

She looked up at me in surprise. "I think that I am." She

smiled sadly. "But I doubt that I would ever be as fond of
anyone as you are of your blossom."

"A pet, then?" I asked.

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She shook her head. "A friend, as odd as that seems. But

for all his lack of manners, he does have an odd charm. He is
willing to understand, which is a lot more than many others
would try to do."

"He does seem to be the most open-minded of the

outsiders," I agreed.

She smiled at me. "And now I must beg your pardon for

what you went through when you thought that Keno-chan
and I were dead."

"I grieved for both of you," I told her softly. "My rage and

my grief were for both of you."

"I know," she said softly, reaching out to brush my cheek.

"And we both grieved for the pain that we knew that you
were going through."

"I don't remember much of it," I told her truthfully. I

didn't. There was nothing besides anger and the hurt.

"And I am so glad that no one here has bothered with an 'I

told you so'," she said.

"There is no reason to do so," I said. "While I also didn't

trust Iida or his offer, it was for very selfish reasons. I simply
thought that the man wasn't good enough for you."

She looked at me and laughed. It wasn't the practiced trill

she had used for centuries to show that she was amused; this
was something honest, something very human. I liked it.

"You do sound like my older brother more than my

councilor," she said, smiling broadly. "Mawatari-san was right
about that. And I'm so happy, and so sad that he wasn't right
about anything else. You could have claimed my kuni, and all
this could have been avoided."

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"I doubt that," I said slowly, thinking about it. "A kuni is

the reflection of one who it is joined with. My land would have
been a terrible and empty place because neither you or Keno-
chan would have been there with me. And that might have
been worse than what is happening now."

"Nippon is embroiled in chaos, posed both on the brink of a

civil war and an invasion from the Southerners," she said
passionately. "And I don't doubt that there will be others who
come to see what they can pick from the ruins."

We both looked up when one of Inusuka's pages came

running toward us. His eyes were wild, and we could tell he
had heard something that had caused him a great shock. He
stopped in front of us, panting slightly, his eyes wide and
panicky. "Kyushu has fallen to the Southerners."

[Back to Table of Contents]

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Chapter Eleven

Keno
We all gathered in Shino's war room. I didn't know what

else to call it. There was a table that looked like it was set up
for some sort of wargaming, and we sat in the other half of
the room. "We" was all my brothers, whom Samojirou had
shadow walked so that they could be here, Tamazusa,
Samojirou, Wolf, Mason, and McGann, along with my father
Yatsufusa. The scary thing was that he didn't really look like a
dog anymore. You could tell that he was one, but he looked
more like the Wolfman than his usual self. He was dressed in
a dark brown kimono and hakama, sitting comfortably with
the rest of us. Everyone looked a little stunned by his change,
and I didn't think my brothers knew Yatsufusa could do
something like this.

"Kyushu has fallen," Shino announced. We all knew it. It

was just that most of my brothers looked a little stunned at
the news still. "And that means that Tamazusa-sama must
regain control of her kuni as soon as possible and drive Iida
from it!" He took a deep breath. "And that also means that I
wish to send Hamaji and Mother to Edo for their own safety."

"I will go with them," Genpachi said. He shrugged. "I'm not

a lord. And I want to see what the rumors are in Yoshiwara
and the rest of Edo."

"I wager you do," Shinbee sniggered. I wasn't surprised

that Konbungo hit him on the back of his head for saying
that.

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"Will it be acceptable to send Wolf and his companions to

Edo with them as part of their protection?" Tamazusa asked.
"They are competent fighters, but not familiar with our ways.
As well as Tholf and Helga for the same reason, besides the
fact that Helga seems to be a protege of Fuse-hime at the
moment."

Wolf looked a little confused. "We have betrayed you in the

past," he protested. "Why are we here? Why are you willing
to trust us now?"

Shino glanced around the room before replying. "My

brother has always spoken highly of you, that you all had
treated him honorably during his captivity. Our mother has
said the same thing of her time in the real world with you. It
is obvious to us that you have been betrayed by your own
people. Tamazusa-sama has taken you into her household,
and she is no fool. We all feel that you will add to our
councils, which is why you are here."

"I do not know if I can accept that trust," Wolf said. "These

people, they may use my own family against me. I do not
know if I can honor your trust if that happens."

Shino nodded. "We understand that."
Mason shifted, looking a little restless, even though the

entire conversation had been in English for his benefit. "Let's
get it straight," he said. "Wolf's the competent fighter. I
barely know much beyond 'pointy end at enemy'. I'll take
care of your Hamaji-sama and Fuse-hime, but I ain't no
legendary hero or some sh—something like that."

"Your honestly is refreshing," Sousuke said with a smile.

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"And I assure you that I am no fierce fighter either,"

Daikaku said with a smile.

Mason looked confused for a moment before he must have

remembered that Daikaku was his avatar. He grinned. "I hate
to tell you this, but I'm better with a knife than a sword. But I
mean it, I'll look after them."

Shinbee opened his mouth to say something and then

closed it. "Smart move, kid," Mason said. "Mouthing off ain't
always a good thing, trust me."

"I also think sending Keno with them would be a good

idea," Samojirou said.

I was a little stunned. We really hadn't talked about it. We

hadn't talked about much at all when we were alone. I knew
there was no place for me in Tamazusa's Hatamoto or anyone
else's.

While a Hatamoto was a household organization, that was

only in peacetime. During the time of war, the Hatamoto were
the men you needed to organize your troops, your supplies,
and your support staff. Tamazusa's samurai had all worked
with her for centuries, so I wasn't going to replace any of
them. In fact, I was kind of surprised that none of her
samurai had decided they wanted to go independent when
she lost her power. I had a sneaking suspicion that Okita and
a handful of others were powerful enough to rule their own
kuni. Not as strong as Tamazusa, but powerful enough. Plus,
she'd not lost any of the daimyo who owed her fealty, either.
I didn't know if she had been lucky or if she was that good a
lord.

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"Keno?" Shino asked, correctly interpreting my confused

look.

Both Sousuke and Shinbee glared at Samojirou. He stared

back at them coolly. He had made his decision, and they
would accept it. I just had to accept that decision also. And
my question to myself was: did I want to? I had never argued
with him about his decisions before, but it sort of bothered
me that he had made this one without asking me about it,
even though it was the right one and we both knew it. I didn't
think I could go into battle with them, and I knew they knew
that also. My one battle on that beach showed me that I
wasn't a warrior. I couldn't kill someone. I was too scared
that I'd start and never stop. Plus Tamazusa and I had talked
about it after that fight on the beach. I wasn't going to battle
with her, so why should Aboshi's announcement surprise me?

The silence was uncomfortable as everyone waited for my

answer.

"I think that it would be logical if Sakura were to be sent to

Edo with the rest of the noncombatants," I said slowly,
knowing I had to say something.

Samojirou silently let out the breath he had been holding.

He had to realize by my silence that he had stepped over the
line. We would talk about that later. But I had a sneaking
suspicion Hamaji didn't know she was being sent away.
Mother probably told Father that Hamaji was going, and that
was it. But it was a smart decision. Iida had some connection
with the sea, and Awa was a peninsula. Edo would be much
more secure for us than Shino's castle, and from what I had
learned in the Dreamlands, Edo was considered neutral

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territory, where one could send their women and children in
times of trouble, as rare as that was. While it was not the
power it had been under Tokugawa or later as the new
capital, there was lively trade with the Northerners and some
of the countries to our east. Daikaku's wife was already there.

Tamazusa nodded. "I hadn't thought of that, Keno-chan. A

wise move to make. I don't think it would be a good idea for
Inuzaka Keno to be anywhere near the fighting. Too many
people would be distracted."

"That would be true," Dousetsu added thoughtfully when

Sousuke opened his mouth to argue with Tamazusa. A look
from Shino silenced him, and I wondered again what they
were hiding from me. But then, they might not know what
Samojirou was hiding from me either. "There is much that the
lords of Honshu and Shikoku have to worry about without
that."

With that line, I guessed that Dousetsu knew my

ancestor's secret, even if the others didn't. And it sounded
like it was something nasty to make the daimyo react that
badly to my name.

"Then we are agreed?" Tamazusa asked rhetorically. "I will

go back to my kuni to reclaim it. After that, we will bring the
fight to the Southerners and drive them from our land."

"Sazuki-sama and his retainers are dead," Shino said. "As

well as any of the other daimyo who were on Kyushu and
most of their families. Their troops are scattered, but some of
them, as well as the fisher folk, managed to get to Honshu or
Shikoku."

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I bowed my head, remembering Sazuki from the beginning

of the cherry blossom festivals. I hoped that his wife and his
companion were safe at least.

"And half of those that lived in Kyushu are reported to be

dead also," Yatsufusa added. I wasn't surprised to hear that
his actual voice was a deep growl. "There are rumors that
there was something in the wind that killed them."

Wolf frowned. "That could be anything," he said slowly, but

it looked to me that he was trying not to get angry. That
someone had used chemical warfare here made him scarily
angry, because he was so controlled about it. And chemical
warfare would be about the only thing that would cause that
much damage. "There are a number of toxins that have been
used in the past to do such things, but I don't know what they
could be."

"You know that those fuckers don't believe in the Geneva

Convention," Mason said, abandoning any attempt to watch
his language. "It could have been fucking anything."

"Not something that would stay around," McGann said with

a thoughtful look on her face. She was used to how he talked.
I just had the stray thought that Mason had been trying to
behave in front of Tamazusa-sama. That felt odd to me, and I
made a mental note to talk about it later with him. "And how
could it be introduced into the environment? Most of those
toxins were delivered through some sort of artillery shell,
something that doesn't really work here."

"Trebuchet or some sort of siege engine," Wolf said. "All

you need is a package that would shatter upon impact and a
good wind in the right direction."

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"And a crew that had shit for brains to deal with that crap,"

Mason added sarcastically. "Fuck, if they're going this route,
then we're screwed, because these fuckers are insane. How
many people did they kill?"

"Probably hundreds, if not more," Shino said quietly.
"I think that they might have done so to get rid of the

monsters that were there more so than the population,"
McGann said. "But it isn't a good sign. These people have
shown that they are more ruthless than I want to even think
about."

"These fuckers want slaves as well as real estate," Mason

said. "Why do this shit?"

"The Egyptians and others want growing room," Wolf said,

his fists clenched at his sides. He looked like he wanted to
punch out a wall but was too polite to do it. "Plus, doing
something like this will clear out your foothold real fast. They
need a base of operations quickly, so I think that they're
willing to clean it out fast and dirty. I don't think they'll do
something like this with the rest of Nippon. That is going to
be mostly combat, unless they think of Okinawa."

I was glad Wolf wasn't mentioning the Allies dropping

nuclear bombs on my homeland to get them to stop fighting,
because Okinawa showed them that we were never going to
surrender to them unless they did that. I didn't know if he
was being polite or just remembering that the Allies had
bombed his country too.

"They're fucking pulling a Congo here," Mason snarled,

ignoring what Wolf was trying to imply. Or it might have been
that he didn't get the references. Mason would be the first to

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admit that he didn't know much history, but I would have
thought that he would know those references, as opposed to
the Battle of Nagashino or Kawanakajima. I had no idea what
he was referring to with that comment about the Congo. "You
know that and I know that. And soon they're gonna dump a
shitload of their mercs here to finish the job, because
remember what's the other company that these assholes
have access to. You willing to deal with them?"

"I assure you that we are not innocent babes in the

woods," Daikaku said. "We are the Hakkenshi, the beasts
that—"

"—I cursed you to be," Tamazusa whispered, blinking her

eyes rapidly. "You are the result of the hate that your
grandfather caused me to feel. You are innocents in this."

"Does that mean that I get to call you grandmother?"

Genpachi asked her seriously, after a long moment, breaking
the tension in the room. I just knew that Shinbee had wanted
to say something nasty to Tamazusa, but one glare from
Konbungo stopped that, along with a preemptive strike on the
back of his head.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you," Mason muttered,

before adding in a louder voice. "But shit, these fuckers will
be pulling shit that was invented after you guys were around.
And what about your troops? Does this shit affect them? If
those fuckers slaughter your armies, how the fuck do you
people get replacements?"

"For now, we can all absorb the ronin who have survived,"

Shino said.

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He wasn't going to answer Mason, and I didn't want him

to. I knew that when you died here in the Dreamlands, it was
permanent. That was one of the reasons Nippon had been at
peace for so long. The other was that anyone who wanted to
work out their aggressions could do so by hunting the
monsters that roamed the lands. But I was curious about how
one became a citizen of the Dreamlands. Helga wasn't
someone who was noble, and Tholf was a man who seemed
to want nothing more than a good fight.

"We need to move out in the morning," Shino said.

"Sousuke and I can escort you to the edge of your kuni,
Tamazusa-sama, but you know that you must go on alone
from there."

"At least with only myself and a guard of her samurai,"

Samojirou said smoothly. "She will not be unescorted during
this. While I trust my lord and her strength, I do not trust
Iida."

"Do you think that Aboshi would let me go alone?"

Tamazusa asked with a smile. "And he was with me the first
time that I claimed my kuni. He is as much a part of it as I
am."

Shino nodded, accepting her decision. I realized that I

would have very little time with my lover, and we were going
to be wasting part of that with an argument.

* * * *

Mason
The meeting broke up soon after Samojirou decided to

accompany Tamazusa to her kuni. I felt better knowing that

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he was going with her, but Wolf still was looking like he
wanted to rip someone a new one. He was muttering to
himself in German, one word over and over again,
"Lebensraum."

"Wolf, this isn't your fault," McGann finally told him.
"They are using gas attacks on innocent people," Wolf

practically snarled at her. "It could be anything!"

"It could be," she said softly.
"You want to know what my grandmother teaches?" Wolf

demanded.

"What?" I asked him when McGann didn't open her mouth.

She probably knew, but she wanted me to be the straight
man for this.

"History," he said. "Germany during the thirties and

forties, to be exact. Not too popular a topic when she started
her career, which was shortly after the war was over."

"Fuck," was the only thing that came to mind. "But, shit,

ain't she Norwegian or Swedish?"

"Norwegian," Wolf said. "And my grandfather's German."
I knew that. And I knew that his grandparents raised him

after his father had killed himself and Wolf's mother in a
drunk-driving accident. The only thing that had saved him
was that he had been with his grandparents for the summer.

"I don't get it," I told him. I really didn't. I knew I should

have, that I was missing what was pissing him off about this,
aside from the fact that he was a nice guy and didn't
understand people who killed a shitload of people for kicks
over some stupid land. And I hoped he never did. "Tell me."

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"My grandfather was in the army when he was younger,

but then, everyone was at that time."

It clicked then that he was telling me that his grandfather

had been a Nazi. That surprised me for some reason. And you
know what the surprise was to me? It was that his
grandparents were so old. I did some quick math and realized
that his grandfather was in his eighties, at the least.

"So he had to work for that asshole. I don't blame him for

that," I said.

"My grandfather believed in the cause," Wolf said.
"Trust me," I told him with a chuckle, "kids are stupid at

that age."

"It isn't funny!" Wolf barked. "He saw what happened

then. My grandmother was very unpopular because of what
she did, but it taught me that you can't forget what happened
even if no one wanted you to remember it. My grandfather
always admitted what he had been, even if it wasn't the
wisest thing to do. So how can the Trustees do something like
this? How can they kill people with poisons that make most of
our world cringe in horror to hear about them?"

"Because the fuckers don't give a fuck," I said. "Shit, how

many people do you think they killed to get their fucking
army here?"

"What do you mean?" Wolf asked.
That scared me. He sounded too calm. McGann's eyes

widened, and she looked at him in shock. "You didn't know,"
she whispered. "I thought that...."

"Know what?" Wolf asked.

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I just tried to figure out what it was he wouldn't know, and

after a couple of frantic seconds of thinking—or actually just
listening to my brain gibber—I realized the only thing she
could be referring to was the hoodoo that got us here.

"You really didn't believe me when I said that someone got

carved up for us to get here?" I asked after my own stunned
silence.

"I don't understand," Wolf said.
McGann frowned and looked at me. "I think that—"
"Shit!" I knew what she was hinting at. She thought

someone had tweaked his brain a bit. I hadn't known you
could do that to someone. But thinking back, that might have
been why Wolf looked like shit when I saw him in Mrs.
Adams's office. That asshole over at Waltham must have been
doing a number on him in more ways than one.

"What's wrong with you two?" Wolf asked us.
"I'll tell him," McGann said.
I shook my head, "I'll do it. Good thing that I skipped out

on those stupid shrink sessions."

"Tell me what?" Wolf demanded.
"What do you remember about our first time here?" I

asked him.

"We were captured by Tamazusa," Wolf said slowly. "But...

but why don't I remember that clearly?"

"Because someone has been examining your memories,"

McGann said gently. "And I don't think that they were either
doing a good job or were too careful about what they were
doing when they were doing it."

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"That's impossible!" Wolf exclaimed. "I'd remember

something like that!"

"What do you remember about your sessions with the

psychiatrist in Waltham?" she asked calmly.

Wolf frowned, thinking hard from the expression on his

face. "I don't like him."

"And why is that?" she asked, almost coaxing the

information out.

"I don't feel any better, and I always have a headache

after I see him, even if I can't remember what we talked
about. I always felt like it was my fault that Keno was gone.
That I didn't know that he had a crush on me. Things like
that."

McGann frowned. "I don't know what they were doing to

you exactly, but I think that they intensified some of the
issues that you were having."

"How could they do that?" Wolf asked. "Without me

knowing what they were doing? Wouldn't I remember if they
were doing something like that to me?"

"Telepathy," I said. "Hoodoo, but not really."
"That isn't a good explanation," McGann objected, trying

not to frown.

"Shit, that's the best that you're going to get from me," I

told her.

"I don't believe you," Wolf said. "Why would someone do

something like that to me?"

"Because Mason didn't cooperate with them, and I have

defenses against that kind of meddling. Being a psychic isn't

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as easy as they make it look in the comics and in bad sci fi
movies. I know that from experience."

"I can believe Mason not cooperating with anyone, but I

don't believe that there is any such thing as psychic powers,"
Wolf said firmly.

McGann bit her lip when he said that. I was just glad he

stopped looking like he was going to punch out the next
person who said hello to him. But I was going to bust his
bubble about the psychic stuff, because McGann didn't look
like she was going to. I just hoped she didn't bite though her
lip or something stupid like that, because it looked like she
was that upset about his tone of voice. Or maybe she was
worried about what he would think about her once he knew
what she was. Or what she had probably done.

"Psychic powers ain't bullshit," I said. "Just like hoodoo

ain't. You believe in hoodoo. That's the shit that got us here."

"I do," Wolf said cautiously.
"So that psychic shit is real too. They just don't run around

in silly robes or get to move shit about with a wave of their
hand. They also can't tell you 'these aren't the droids that
you're looking for' and have you just waved though like it was
nothing. The psis actually have normal dull and stupid jobs
like the rest of us," I said before I dropped the bomb on him.
"I know this shit, because I know that McGann is psychic."

"Why didn't I know that you'd use Star Wars references to

try and explain things," McGann said with a tired smile. Wolf
just stared at her. I didn't blame him; it was a bit of a shock
when you found this shit out. I had found it by accident, and
it hadn't been pretty.

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"Why else do you think that nice of a lady would work for

such a shitty organization as the Trust?" I asked. "She did
because they had something on her. That thing was that she
was psychic."

"You make it sound like they forced me to do so," McGann

said. But I noticed she wasn't laughing.

"More like the fucking Mafia," I said. "They made you an

offer you couldn't refuse."

"Nothing that drastic," she told me, getting the movie

reference, since it was a classic. "But it was made quite clear
by the one who recruited me that it was in my best interests
to say yes. No matter what was required of me."

"So if they're willing to do something that shitty to her and

willing to carve someone into fucking chitlins to open a gate
here, a little wholesale slaughter ain't going to fucking keep
them up at night," I summarized.

"Chitlins?" Wolf repeated, trying to figure out the

reference.

"Every time someone opens a gate from our world to

here," McGann said, "They kill someone for that power.
Tamazusa is the only person I know who doesn't have to kill
to do that." She was silent for a moment, calculating
something in her head, her lips moving soundlessly as she
figured out the math. She looked white as a sheet when she
was done, and her knees just buckled. Wolf managed to catch
her before I did, and that calmed the two of them down.

"Five hundred people," she told him softly, before she

buried her head in his shoulder and started to cry helplessly.

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Wolf started stroking her hair and crooning in her ear. I

didn't stick around to see what happened next, even if there
was no "next" right now. I made my way out into the night to
see if there was space someplace else for me tonight. To tell
you the truth, as jaded as I was, knowing that the Trustees
were fuckers who would rob the gold out of their mother's'
teeth, it still chilled me to the bone to know how many people
they had killed to get an army here, as well as the thousands
they had killed when they had arrived here.

* * * *

Keno
Samojirou and I walked back to our room in silence. I

waited until the maid slid the door shut and walked away
before I said anything.

"I wish that you had discussed that with me," I told him

softly. "Not that we really gave each other much time to
discuss any plans."

"Keno," Samojirou started.
I went over and hugged him. "I'm angry that you made

the decision and didn't tell me that you had done so before
you announced it. I'm not angry that you made it."

Maybe I was too submissive for my own good. Or it could

be that I would never shake off the Trust's conditioning that
arguing with someone or giving them my opinion would result
in me getting hurt or killed. But I was also too scared that I
would start doing something weird if I went with Aboshi to
that battlefield. That I'd pick up a sword and never put it
down again, either because I couldn't—due to the constant

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challenges based on who I had been—or I wouldn't because I
liked killing so much that I turned into a mad dog.

"Keno," Samojirou said softly, "I am sorry."
"I accept that," I said, even if I didn't think the apology

was because he overstepped his bounds with me. "Be careful.
I wish...."

"You wish what?" he asked, kissing my hair.
"I wish that I could go with you," I admitted. "But I know

that I shouldn't. Was I so different before?"

He hesitated before answering, picking his words carefully

before telling me quietly. "I think that you wouldn't
understand your ancestor."

"Could I be him?"
"Keno-chan?" Samojirou asked, sounding a little panicky.
"I... I know that you love me," I said. "I know that you

love him still, also. Sometimes, because of what happened, I
wonder if I'm him. That's why you never found him here. Not
because he wasn't allowed into the Dreamlands, but because
he never left the real world. And I'm him because he kept
getting reborn into my family."

"Keno—"
"It doesn't mean you love me any less or more than him.

But sometimes I just think that I'm not really me because I
am him."

Samojirou tilted my head back, looking deeply into my

eyes. "I don't think that you are your ancestor Inuzaka Keno.
He...."

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"No one wants to talk about him, not even you, Samojirou-

sama," I pointed out. "What did he do that was so bad that
no one wants to tell me?"

"He took a vow," Samojirou said softly, his eyes dark,

seeing something that I all of a sudden didn't want to know
about. "I met him when he was young, younger than you are
but considered to be a man." He laughed suddenly. It was
bitter and sad at the same time, and I hated that I was doing
this to him. "He had just fulfilled that vow. We had known
each other for a short while. I was an oni, and he was one of
the Hakkenshi. He didn't know that, but I did." He took a
deep breath. "And I took advantage of that knowledge."

"Did you hurt him?" I asked, searching his face for...

something. All I saw was sadness. It was softened with the
slight smile, so he had to be remembering something good,
too.

"I like to think that I was the only person in his life who

didn't hurt him," Samojirou said.

"Aboshi, if that is true, then what happened between you

was not an evil thing," I whispered. "Even if your motives
were not pure."

"He was," Samojirou murmured, something in his voice

sounding like grief. "Not in body. He had used that to get
what he needed to succeed with his vow, and there had been
many who enjoyed that trade. But his spirit was pure. I had
hoped to corrupt him. He ended up saving me."

I kissed him. There wasn't anything else I could do but

that. He didn't need to tell me anything else. Our kiss
deepened, becoming desperate.

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I didn't know who started tearing off the other's clothing

first, but I realized mine ended up shredded swiftly.
Samojirou seemed to be growling as he sucked and nipped at
my throat. All I could do was moan his name helplessly. I
fumbled with his obi and kimono, and soon he was as naked
as I was. I didn't know what was happening. In all honesty,
while there had been a lot of touching in our relationship,
there hadn't been this passion. I thought that was a result of
almost losing each other.

I raked my nails across his back, hearing him groan, even

if the nails were short and blunt. He arched away from them
and into me, clutching at my butt, pulling me closer. I knew
there would be bruises and worse soon and didn't care. I
pulled out of our kiss, growling, "Fuck me. Hard. Fast.
Whatever. I want to feel it!"

Samojirou looked at me in shock, since I had never said

anything like that before. He did treat me like a delicate
flower most of the time. I didn't want that now. I didn't know
when or if I was going to see him again. I wanted something I
would feel after he was gone.

He flipped me on my left side, pushing my right leg up, so

that it was at an odd angle. I groped for the oil and managed
to get it open and give it to him, and he started to prepare
me, fast and rough. I was still a little sore from our earlier
marathon lovemaking, and I winced when he touched me.
Thankfully, he either didn't notice or didn't care. There was a
wild look on his face, and that look made me so hard I
wanted to burst.

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I gasped when he pushed into me, slick and hard, not

waiting for me to adjust before he did what I asked of him.
Samojirou was brutal. His hips snapped into me furiously. He
leaned forward, his hair falling around us, and was growling, I
swear, as he proceeded to take me. It was wicked and
ferocious, almost animalistic.

I lunged for his throat, sucking at it furiously, not caring

that he was going to be covered in my marks. I was going to
be covered in bruises. He pounded into me, and somehow I
managed to get my leg around him as I shredded his back
during my orgasm, bucking with him, both of us lost in our
joy.

He rolled me over and continued to ride me, unable to

stop, it seemed. I didn't care; I was lost in my own lust. I
knew that he touched me, played with my nipples, and
palmed my cock as I explored him, mindlessly touching until
we both came again, violent and hard, something I couldn't
even imagine before tonight. There was screaming, lots of it,
and I expected someone to burst in on us to see if we were
killing each other.

"I can't," Samojirou groaned when he got his breath back.
I panted, trying to get air into my lungs, unable to say

anything. I knew he was telling me he couldn't let me come
with them. "I know," I wheezed. "Just... just... I just got you
back again! It's not fair!"

Samojirou didn't say anything. He didn't have to. We spent

the rest of the night trying to merge with each other. It
wasn't as violent as it had been earlier, but by morning, we
were both covered in the results of our passion.

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* * * *

The next morning, Fuse and Helga came to our room.

Samojirou and I had bathed, but dressed was another matter,
and I was also sitting a little gingerly at times. Samojirou
looked a little guilty when I winced, but proud too. I had my
own happy moments when he winced because of the
scratches I had left on his back.

"Good morning!" Fuse trilled.
Helga looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here.

While Fuse was wearing a beautiful peach kimono, Helga
looked like she had slept in hers, since it was wrinkled as well
as being a terrible color of green. It was not flattering to her
at all, and I wondered where she had gotten it. I knew that
Fuse wouldn't have her wearing something that dreadful on
purpose. But I doubted they had a lot here that Helga would
fit in. Clothing Tholf was almost as bad, but there were
enough tall samurai around that he could manage to find
something to wear.

Helga must have been a bit upset that we were only

wearing fundoshi. The saving grace was that she wasn't
ogling Samojirou. If she had been, then I would have had to
hurt her. Fuse didn't seem to care, but I really didn't want my
mother to see me after a night of intense sex. To put it
bluntly, both of us looked like we had spent the week in a
Yoshiwara pleasure house, even if we had bathed.

"Keno-chan, I thought that Helga might learn something in

seeing your transformation into Sakura-dono," Fuse
announced.

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I thought it might be better if she met Sakura after I was

dressed in my female persona, and hopefully Helga would be
like a lot of the people around here and think that we were
different people. But she might give the disguise away out of
spite if she didn't know from the beginning. Or it might be
that Fuse wanted her to know how to put on makeup.

Helga was staring at Samojirou and me as if we were the

lowest things in the world. I remembered too late that the
Northerners seemed to have some sort of stupid prejudice
against homosexuality. She was going to have to learn to get
over it, if she stayed here, though I was quite willing to ship
her back to that farm after Tamazusa regained her kuni.

"You wear women's clothing!" Helga exclaimed, horrified.

"That is unnatural! No wonder you were able to beat Egil in a
fight, you did use witchcraft. You are a shaman!"

"Cultural prejudice," I told Samojirou before he did

anything to her because she was insulting the two of us, even
if she didn't know it. "And I was lucky that the Northmen
were lazy in their training methods."

"That they are idiots is known to me," Samojirou said with

a smile. "That you had been in a fight was not. I am glad that
you were victorious." He turned to Fuse. "Do you think that
Helga would learn something useful here this morning, like
manners?" he asked. "Or are you hoping that the rumors
would name her as your husband's oiran and that Sakura-
chan is training her?"

"Samojirou-sama, you are a very bad man to even think

such a thing!" Fuse exclaimed. But she was laughing too.

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Helga didn't get the joke, because she was looking back and
forth at the two of them in confusion.

"Or do you just need a decent maid?" I asked cattily,

falling into the women's dialect easily. "From what I've seen,
she'll need a lot of training to be even adequate for that. And
I doubt that she would even be able to walk the streets of
Yoshiwara, never mind work there as an oiran."

"For shame, Sakura-chan," Fuse scolded me. "A proper

person doesn't say such things." She paused. "Nor should you
speak a language that a person doesn't understand in front of
them."

"I am sorry, Mother," I told her in English, bowing to her.

It had been petty, but there was something about Helga that
made me want to act like I was ten and be a brat around her.

"She is your mother?" Helga asked. To her credit, she tried

to sound polite about it.

"In a manner of speaking," I told her. "Fuse-hime is a very

great lady, and her husband Yatsufusa-sama is a great lord."

"That is the name of her dog," Helga stated, her tone

indicating she thought I was a fool for calling a dog a lord.

"He is her husband," Samojirou said coolly. "And it will be

well-advised to keep a civil tongue in your head if you don't
want to lose it. Your head, not your tongue."

She looked at him, horrified before she turned to stare at

Fuse. "That is—"

"This is the Dreamlands," Fuse told her flatly, not letting

her finish what she wanted to say. "You know that one's
appearance here is just an illusion."

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"While this is not Valhalla or Asgard, I don't think that such

a thing is possible," Helga protested. "What you talk of seems
more to be in the realm of the Trickster than anything good."

"It is part of a curse," Samojirou said simply, apparently

knowing whom she was talking about. "One that I... I was the
one that was the cause of it. It is because of my actions that
such a thing came about."

"You act as if my father has nothing to do with it," Fuse

said tartly.

Helga looked uneasy, because they were speaking of

things she would never understand. There was a knock on the
door, and then it slid open. Tamazusa walked in with a couple
of the maids carrying clothing and a make-up box trailing
behind her.

"I know that you are an excellent maid," Tamazusa teased,

her eyes widening a little at the bruises on my neck and
chest. She knew love bites when she saw them, even if she
wasn't going to be rude enough to comment on them. It
helped that Samojirou's chest had them too. "But I think that
you are going to need help dressing this morning, Sakura-
chan. I fear that you must go back to acting the part of a
proper young lady again."

I nodded, feeling odd that Yukiko wasn't there to dress

me. "I know that, Tamazusa-sama," I said with a laugh. "It
could be worse. You might need me as your maid."

"She chose to stay behind," Samojirou said softly,

apparently sensing what I was feeling. "She cannot wander
far from her garden in any case."

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"She's stuck there?" I asked, trying not to sound too

upset. What if something happened to the shoen?

"A kashin has a difficult time leaving her flower,"

Tamazusa said. "It is their nature."

"If something happens to your shoen and its gardens, then

they will all die?" I asked her softly, not wanting to know that
answer but having to ask the question.

A lot of the maids were flower spirits, along with all of the

gardeners. The cooks and other servants were different
spirits, either kodama, tree spirits, or some other type of
shape-shifter. I had worried about them, but now I realized
they were in a lot more danger than I had assumed.
Tamazusa just nodded, and thankfully Samojirou changed the
topic of conversation.

"I don't think Sakura-chan would mind if I stayed here,"

Samojirou shared with a sly smile. "I usually see the process
from the other end, when I am undressing him."

The maids all giggled while I blushed, and Tamazusa just

shook her head with a smile. Everyone had figured out by
now that he and I were involved. "I knew that you'd say
that."

"I don't think that this is going to be as complicated as it

usually is either," Fuse commented. "We aren't going to
kabuki or an ikebana exhibit."

"Flower arranging," I told Helga before she could ask.
"Tholf was right. You Southerners are decadent," Helga

muttered. She clearly wasn't comfortable with the concept of
cross-dressing. I wondered if that was part of the reason she
had given Tamazusa and McGann such a difficult time, since

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they had been wearing what could be considered men's
clothing. Or it could be that she was just a bitch. I was
leaning toward the bitch theory myself.

"I think that it was the constant hot water that he

enjoyed," I told her. I wasn't surprised that she was upset
about being here. While she hadn't been an important person
back on Njalsson's farm, it had been a place she was familiar
with. I thought she even missed the backbreaking labor a
little. She had wandered around like a lost soul, I had been
told, until Fuse took her under her protection. I had been too
busy trying not to go insane waiting for Samojirou to show up
to pay attention to what Helga had been doing.

"Is it that you think that Hamaji and I aren't good enough

daughters for you, Mother?" I teased Fuse in Japanese. "Or is
it that you wish to foist Konbungo off on this poor girl? Have
you developed a taste for matchmaking? Are you going to
marry off Genpachi next?"

Samojirou and Tamazusa laughed, while the maids giggled

and shook their heads, adding comments under their breath,
mainly about this finally being a woman big enough for my
brother. Helga could tell they were saying something about
her but didn't know what. She looked like she was going to
try and make them tell her what they had said, but then she
remembered where she was. I thought Fuse was starting to
have a good influence on her. Or it could have been that she
realized the odds were against her if she attacked the maids.

Fuse frowned at me, trying to be stern, but involuntarily

smiling at my comments. "You need to explain our merriment
to the poor child."

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"Helga-chan," I started, causing a new wave of giggling

among the maids, "I simply was trying to cheer my mother
up. I'm afraid that it was at your expense. I apologize for
that."

"What does 'chan' mean?" Helga demanded, ignoring my

apology. "I only hear it after your name. You're a man who
can't decide what he is. I know that I am all woman, so don't
call me 'chan'!"

"It is a term of endearment," Tamazusa explained. "I

doubt that anyone would use such a thing with you."

"And you want Mason to use such a thing with you!" Helga

snapped back.

I saw Tamazusa's fingers twitch, but that was about it.

Glances darted between Fuse and Samojirou, and I wondered
if I was going to have to break up something between Helga
and my lord. Tamazusa's method of dealing with Helga
usually involved some sort of violence. But she seemed to be
calming down, and I wondered how much of that violence had
been because of the position we had been in.

Then I thought for a second. Mason seemed to like

Tamazusa, even if it wasn't in a romantic way. He had been a
friend to her, as odd as that sounded. And I thought she was
lonely, a bit, even if she wouldn't admit it. Mason probably
had been the only one in centuries to not treat her as "Lord
Tamazusa."

"He probably would," I said, pausing before I added.

"Along with adding that honorific to Wolf, McGann, and any of
my brothers' names also."

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He might not call Dousetsu or any of the others that, but

with Wolf and McGann he would. I didn't know what was
going on, but Helga wasn't going to ruin it for Tamazusa,
even if it was something as harmless as some inappropriate
teasing from Mason. I could tell Samojirou was thinking the
same thing, and I knew that as soon as Tamazusa recovered
her kuni, he was going to have a big-brother-type talk with
her about her feelings for Mason.

"I think that you can also teach Helga Japanese, since your

English is much more fluent than mine," Fuse told me.
"McGann-san and Mason-chan would also benefit from
lessons, but I think that Wolf-chan will be giving them their
lessons."

Both Helga and I looked at her in horror. Helga was a

troublemaker, and I didn't want to deal with that either. "I
want Wolf to teach me!" Helga demanded.

"I don't think that Wolf-san has anything to teach you,"

Samojirou drawled. "Nor does he want to."

"At least he knows what a real woman is for!" Helga

snapped, getting the dig that he was making.

Samojirou looked at her and then me. I shook my head. I

didn't want any trouble. Fuse just looked embarrassed. I
could have told her that it wasn't her fault. I knew Helga
would say the most insulting thing at the worst time. It
seemed the woman had a talent for it.

"A woman," he told Helga coldly, "is to be respected for

her intelligence and her wit. A real woman is one who is
secure in her power, no matter how little or how much she
has. A real woman accepts that there are men who have no

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interest in her, whether because they are not interested in
women or just not interested in her. From what I've seen and
heard, I doubt that you are a real woman."

Fuse nodded and then turned to Samojirou and Tamazusa,

bowing low. "I do apologize for this unpleasant incident. I had
hoped that Helga would learn something from Sakura-chan's
grace and charm. I was mistaken."

"It is that you are such a gracious lady that you expect all

to be one," Tamazusa demurred courteously. "I fear that this
one will never learn the lessons that you want to teach her."
She paused. "And it seems that she has not learned the ones
that I did endeavor to teach her. The fault is also mine."

"I know that you have a kind and loving heart," Samojirou

told Fuse. "This woman seems to have neither. The fault is
not yours for what the kami never gave her."

Thankfully, this was all in English, so that Helga

understood what was being said. She understood it so well
that she launched herself at Tamazusa. She was surprised
when I intercepted her, using her momentum against her so
that I could throw her in the different direction and away from
anyone here. Too bad that move broke the door to the garden
and Helga landed in a mess of broken bamboo and paper
windows that used to be a sliding door. She went down in a
heap on the porch, stunned that I had thrown her.

"I am sorry for the mess I made, Tamazusa-sama," I said

as I bowed humbly.

The maids looked shocked and Fuse disappointed. I

thought that she was upset that Helga had behaved so badly.
She rose to her feet slowly and bowed to Tamazusa and

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Samojirou. "I fear that I must tell my daughter by marriage
of the mess that has been made in her home."

Helga stood up slowly. "You fight well," she said, sounding

surprised.

"I train every morning with my lord's samurai," I stated. I

didn't do it here, because I didn't want to deal with Shino's
samurai, because the fewer people who knew Inuzaka Keno
was here, the better. I actually was looking forward to being
Sakura again, since I had missed being her in the Northlands.
"I know that you are not happy here," I said. She looked
angry but nodded her head slowly. "When this is all taken
care of, we can send you back there if you want."

"You will?" she asked, trying not to sound suspicious of the

offer.

"Edo is actually a port, and we do trade with your people,"

Tamazusa said. "We can send you home when this is all
over."

"I'm sorry that you are not happy here," Fuse said with

regret. "But I also think that you should try harder to be so."

"You bathe constantly, the food is strange, and I miss my

own clothing," Helga said in a rush. "I don't know what my
place is here!"

"Ah," Fuse murmured and nodded her head. "That is hard

to know, wherever you are," she acknowledged. "You must
make your own place."

"There is nothing for me to do," Helga said, her eyes bright

with tears. I felt sorry for her, because I just realized she
must have been acting the way she was because she felt so
miserable. That didn't make me like her any better. She

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reminded me of Anya too much to like her. "I try to find
things to do, but no one talks to me in a tongue that I
understand. They all shoo me away, like I was a goat that
was going to get into the wash!"

I couldn't help it. I snickered when I heard her say that.

Fuse shook her head and started to leave. Helga scrambled to
her feet and followed her out.

Tamazusa and Samojirou watched the maids help me

dress and do my makeup. I sensed there was something that
Tamazusa wanted to tell me, but I couldn't guess what. I
didn't think she was upset about Samojirou's decision to send
me to Edo. In fact, I thought he had probably talked it over
with her. I couldn't be angry about that, though. They talked
about a lot of things like that.

After I was dressed, Tamazusa dismissed the maids with a

smile. I had my hair pulled back in a simple bun and I wore a
light yellow kimono with a pale orange under-kimono, with
very little makeup. I was sad to realize I felt more
comfortable dressed up as Sakura than I had wearing the
kimono and hakama of a man.

"You look delightful," Tamazusa told me when they were

done. She had gone back to wearing a simple black kimono,
looking elegant and composed as always.

Samojirou said nothing, but the look in his eyes was

enough for me. He preferred to see me dressed like this, so I
wouldn't be in danger. That was something I was going to
have to talk to him about.

"There is another reason I want to send you to Edo," she

shared quietly. "While I may not have control of my kuni,

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there are a number of places that I have gold and other
resources stored. I want you to access them. When I am in
control again, I'm going to need that money to pay for the
cost of the war that we are now in."

"Will they release it to me? How am I going to get it to

you?" I asked her.

"There are a number of scrolls hidden in your baggage that

can be used to access the funds. They are letters of
introduction to those who you need to contact," she said
briskly. "And you can make arrangements when Aboshi
contacts you."

"As my lord wishes," I told her formally. I hesitated for a

second, "I'm not angry, honestly. Samojirou-sama and I
discussed the matter last night."

"I saw that," she said dryly. "In fact, your discussion

seems to have been very intense."

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to hide my blush. Samojirou

looked slightly abashed by her comment, but smug also. I
tried not to roll my eyes. I was proud that she trusted me to
do this for her. It made me feel like I was contributing
something to her cause.

"I will take my leave of the two of you right now,"

Tamazusa said. She smiled slightly. "I do fear that all the
maids' work will be wasted as soon as I go."

She was right.

* * * *

I wasn't surprised when Mason showed up at the room

Samojirou and I were staying in. I thought he was bored and

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at loose ends. I didn't mind the company, though. There was
no way I was going to be part of planning the war we seemed
to be in the middle of. For one thing, everyone else had
centuries of experience with this stuff. And I didn't think I
could do something like that. It wasn't that I thought I was
stupid or anything like that. I just knew it wasn't something I
could do or that Samojirou or Tamazusa wanted me to do.

"You not planning the war?" he asked.
"No," I told him shortly.
"I think that the two of them are tickled fucking pink if you

stayed out of this mess," Mason said. "Hell, I bet that
Samojirou slapped that white face on you so fast your head
spun."

"That isn't funny, Mason," I said sharply.
"It wasn't supposed to be," he growled at me. "But fuck,

Tamazusa's been talking to me about shit, mainly so that I
won't stick my foot in it any more than I usually do."

"And?"
"She explained to me why your boyfriend has the tranny

kink with you," Mason said. "And shit, don't tell him that I
said this, but I think that it's a good idea."

"I'm so glad that you approve of it," I said sarcastically,

"Did you ever think that I just might like dressing up like
that?"

"You like it?" Mason asked me, looking very surprised.

"Even the pimp shoes?"

I frowned at him, trying to figure out what he was talking

about. "You mean the formal geta that I sometimes wear?"

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"Them tall sandals that I don't know how you don't break

your neck walking in things, yeah," Mason said.

"Real tayuu wear taller sandals when they make their

procession in the pleasure quarters," I explained. "I saw it
once. It was impressive."

"What the fuck were you doing there?" Mason demanded,

acting like I was a child or something. "Shit. I don't want to
know. And I ain't ratting you out to Fuse-hime about it."

"Mother has seven other sons. I think that she's figured

out that we've all visited the pleasure quarters at least once. I
think that Genpachi lives in them, practically, even the one in
Nara."

"Which one is he?" Mason asked.
"The one who reminds me of you a lot," I told him with a

grin. "We all laugh about the fact that you aren't his avatar."

"Wolf's got one that has no sense of humor," Mason

grumbled. "They're kinda alike."

"Dousetsu's just shy," I said, feeling that I needed to

defend the man. "He's been very nice to me."

"Mother?" Mason asked me, getting back to something that

I had said earlier.

"Fuse-hime asked me to call her Mother," I shared. "I

know that it sounds and looks odd, but she feels like my
mother. Not that I'm forgetting about my biological family, it's
just that I've been cut off from them for so long that it feels
good to have one again."

"I still can't see Samojirou taking you to a whorehouse,"

Mason said skeptically, getting back to the start of our
conversation, even if he did look really guilty. When the Trust

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originally captured me, Wolf hadn't been on that assignment
alone, trying to find out who had broken into the company's
servers. Mason had been driving the car.

"Samojirou-sama took me there to see her," I said.
"To..." Mason started.
"Not for that," I said, trying not to sound angry at him. I

wasn't really. He was at least trying to understand. I didn't
think that Wolf ever would. "But to see her procession.
Tomiko is one of the highest ranking tayuu in Yoshiwara, the
pleasure quarters for Edo. She's someone who is just amazing
to watch. I learned a lot about being a tayuu from just
watching her. I think that if she could have, Yoshinoko would
have taken me there when she was training me."

"Who?" Mason asked.
"Yoshinoko was my teacher for being a tayuu, a girl, really,

for Samojirou-sama," I said. "I liked it. I actually think that I
like being Sakura more than I like being me."

Mason looked a little disturbed, but there was something in

his eyes that told me that he understood. I had been the
Trust's prisoner for four years, most of that time frightened
and abused. Not always physically. Most of the time I had
been everyone's favorite target to yell at because something
had gone wrong. Who wouldn't want to be someone else after
that?

"What's a 'tayoo'?" Mason asked, mispronouncing the word

badly.

"A tayuu is a woman who is a courtesan," I explained.

"There are several ranks of them in the pleasure quarters.
Tayuu is the highest rank. A house can only have one of

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them. The next lowest rank is oiran. Below that are the
women who are just prostitutes. All of these women belong
only in the pleasure quarters. They only get to leave there if a
lord or a rich merchant buys out their contract to live with
them. Or if they get too old for the customers. Then they
either run their own house or become a procurer in the
countryside. Tayuu and even some oiran are able to retire
without having to do that if they are lucky and very careful
with their money."

"He's dressing you up as a hooker?" Mason blurted out in

horror. "The ice bitch wasn't pulling our leg with that one? I
thought that she was full of shit on that one."

"You sound like Shinbee or Sousuke," I snapped.

"Samojirou-sama respects me. This is something that amuses
both of us. And it does keep me safe. Though after this, I
think that Mother is going to have to spread the rumor that
Inuzaka Keno has retired from the world, just so that I won't
be constantly challenged. Even if they don't know where I
am, there will always be the fools who would spread lies and
force me to challenge them."

"So you figured it out," Mason said. "And I don't think that

the other two think that you have."

I shrugged. "I know that both Tamazusa-sama and

Samojirou-sama don't want to worry me. I don't know
everything about who I was, but they'll tell me eventually."

Mason nodded, and I knew Tamazusa had told him. I

opened my mouth to ask him what my ancestor—what I had
been like, actually—and then shut it again. I didn't want to
know yet. And I saw the relief in Mason's eyes that I wasn't

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asking. "I don't think that you should tell Wolf, either," I said
carefully. "Because I don't think that he'd understand. I don't
understand a lot of what happened, and I grew up with
legends like this, such as the Tales of the Heike and the Forty
Seven Ronin."

Mason shifted and looked uncomfortable for a second.

"Fuck, I know that we hadn't really had time to talk about
shit. And I know that the other two are busy too. But I want
to be the one that tells you this. We're moving in with
Tamazusa when this is all over."

"What about you going back to the real world?" I blurted

out.

"Trust fucked us over like they did you, kid," Mason said

tiredly. "Right now, I don't know if there is a way back for us.
We've been here a long time."

"You have," I said, now that I thought about it. Before I

had been worried about getting Tamazusa back to Nippon.
Not to mention I had been exhausted for most of the time
Mason, Wolf, and McGann had been here. Then I had been
glad to see them and just didn't want them to go back.

"We were screwed from the start," Mason told me. "Hell,

Wolf's worried about his grandfather, which might be the only
reason he would be goin' back. Stayin' here ain't bad."

"There's a war going on," I warned.
"But we know who our enemies are, here," Mason said.

"And shit, would you believe that the fuckers from the Trust
are among them? So it's like they brought the war to us."

Only Mason would sound happy about something like that.

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Chapter Twelve

Mason
Faster than I thought it could happen, the bunch of them

had a plan, got organized, and then were off to war. And shit,
that was a scary thing. I thought what probably helped was
that there was nothing like a standing army here. Everything
was organized around the lord who was your boss. Keno's
family had samurai and other people who owed them soldiers
and supplies, stuff like that, but nothing like having a platoon
or two of guys sitting around, waiting to jump into the next
shitstorm because they were told to since you pay them a ton
of money to do so. There was some sort of organization they
tried to explain to me, and all I did was nod my head a lot
and try not to look too confused. It didn't fool them. But they
also seemed to have a hard time understanding that the Trust
had a ton of mean fuckers whose only job was to go out and
kill things.

Because of whatever shit they had going and a few other

things, it was decided that me, Wolf, McGann, Tholf, and
Helga were going to go to Edo with Hamaji, Fuse, and Keno.
It was sort of like packing off the noncombatants to
someplace really safe. Well, Wolf and Tholf could fight, as well
as Keno, but I was useless here. It was a good fucking thing
that a couple squads of samurai were going with us, because
if we ran into anything really tough, our asses were toast. I
would be the first to admit that. I figured that if I kept saying
that, none of these people would think that challenging me to

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single combat was a good idea. I just had to get the "don't
piss off the guys with swords" manners down, and I'd be all
set.

Genpachi was the guy in charge of our group, mainly

because he didn't have any place that he could raise an army
from, because he didn't have a kuni like everyone else around
here. They wanted someone from the family in charge of our
group, because most of us weren't people the authorities or
the other lords were going to listen to. I'd thought that Keno
would be pissed that he couldn't go with the others, but he
wasn't. Smart kid really, because a battlefield was no place
for him. Our group was going to take the main road to Edo
while Tamazusa and the others were going to quietly march
into her kuni, claim it, and then start kicking ass. Okay, the
plan was a little more complicated than that, but as I said, I
didn't understand it. Something about she had to join with
the kuni again and take control of it. Once that happened, the
monsters would calm down and she'd push that asshole Iida's
army off her land. Then all we had to worry about was those
fucking Trust guys and the Egyptians. I still had to make up
my mind on which were the bigger assholes. It was a tough
choice, considering what was going on.

Keno and Samojirou were off saying their goodbyes, which

in my mind meant the kid was getting nailed to the floor
again, but then, I had a dirty mind. Hamaji and Shino were
off someplace, too, along with everyone else, so it was just
Tamazusa, half a dozen samurai, and me in one of courtyards
in this place.

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I was glad to see that Seki was one of the samurai who

would be with her. What was weird was that she was in some
kind of armor, and that drove it home to me that she was
going to war. She may not fight, but she was going to be on
the battlefield, in the thick of the fighting, and she needed the
protection that armor was going to give her. It was heavy-
looking, made of some sort of metal and fancy work, and I
hated seeing her in it.

"You take care of yourself," I said. "Shit, I wish that...."
"I need to take back my land," she reminded me.
"I know that, but... well, thanks for sending the kid with

me to watch my ass," I said. I wasn't sure that I was
supposed to call Keno by his real name or by Sakura in front
of these people. "You just watch yours."

I figured Seki had a small fit listening to me say that.

Tamazusa just shook her head, knowing I wasn't going to act
any better. If I had, that would have scared the shit out of
her. "I will hold you to the promise that you made me," she
said.

"Salsa dancing and mojitos when you get done," I

promised.

I was glad I didn't say something stupid, like "Do you

really need to do this?", because I knew she needed to. It
wasn't an ego thing for her; she really needed to care for her
land. She liked the power, I knew that, but she also liked the
responsibility. Hell, for all I knew, she actually liked those
damned Reavers.

"You need any of us, you know that we'll come running," I

said.

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"Even Wolf?" she asked with a wry smile.
"He's a damn Boy Scout," I said. "He thinks that he owes

you big now because you're trusting him, so he'll show up,
even if you ain't his favorite person."

I stepped over to her and gave her a hug, ignoring the

horror of all her samurai. Hugging wasn't something that
happened to cast-iron bitches here. Or people wearing armor,
because it was damn uncomfortable to hug her since the
fucking stuff was made out of metal and ornate as all hell.
Seki had his sword half drawn before he realized I wasn't
attacking her. He was confused about what was going on, but
I wasn't hurting her.

"You need one of these," I said quietly. "No matter what

happens, this shit ain't your fault. Assholes would have done
this anyway."

She leaned into my hug after a shocked second. I guessed

she wasn't used to this shit, even if I had been acting like this
around her for a couple of weeks. Or maybe she thought that
I had some sort of sense and knew better than to do this. She
didn't know me very well, then, did she?

"But I would be in a much better position to deal with it,"

she said quietly, talking to my chest. "I had forgotten how
much of a hurry the real world is in. I thought that they would
take years or decades with their plans, not the scant weeks
that they did."

"Fuckers probably had had some sort of stupid plan like

this on the books since the beginning, which was a long
fucking time ago for us," I said. "You—"

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"Underestimated my enemies," she said ruefully. "That is

why I am here in this position."

"And you're going to get to be king of the board again

soon," I told her. "I'd say queen, but I think that's
Samojirou."

She shook her head, and I could almost feel her grin. "You

are terrible man, Mason Kairns. I fear for Edo more than I do
for Iida now, knowing that you and Inukai-sama will be
there."

"I promise that I'll leave the kid home when we go on a

bar crawl," I said. "But I'll take Wolf. That should be good for
a few laughs."

She laughed at that, like I wanted her to, and then

stepped back out of my hug, cool and in control again. I felt a
pang, missing the Tamazusa I'd had fun with on the ship. She
was gone, and I doubted I was going to get her back. But I
couldn't resist one last teasing remark. "Hey, Seki, you take
care of my hot mama! Man don't get to date someone like her
in my line of work."

Seki looked confused more than horrified, so I knew he

hadn't understood anything I had just said. If he had, I might
have been dead right now. I could tell from the shake of her
head that Tamazusa had understood what I was trying to say,
and that was all that mattered to me. I bowed clumsily,
knowing I was doing it all wrong but also knowing she
deserved this sign of respect from me. "Tamazusa-sama, I
know that you're going to kick Iida's ass."

Tamazusa bowed back, all formal and serious. "I will see

you again, Kairns-san."

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As I turned and walked away, I had almost convinced

myself that the sting in my eyes was because of dust and not
something else.

* * * *

Keno
I wasn't surprised that I was being sent off to Edo. If there

was going to be a full-scale invasion, then that was the safest
place. Edo was set up as a military town and had plenty of
defenses, unlike the old capitals of Nara or Kyoto. Kyoto had
been burned to the ground too many times in the real world
for it to be considered safe. Besides, my family and
Tamazusa's power is in the Kanto area.

"I will miss you," Samojirou murmured.
"Aboshi... please be safe," I begged him.
I knew he didn't want me with him for selfish reasons. He

didn't want me to kill anyone. I didn't want that, too, but for
different reasons. I was afraid that once I started, I'd never
be able to stop. Stupid, right? But I still didn't know what my
ancestor had been like, except people thought he was an
insane killer. It was getting to be a very awkward topic, one
everyone was aware of but no one wanted to talk about,
including me. I might consider breaking down and asking
Genpachi if we stayed in Edo too long.

I had helped Samojirou dress in his armor, putting it on in

the manner that had become traditional ages ago. When he
was finally dressed, he looked so different from the elegant
courier who was Tamazusa-sama's karo. His armor was bright
blue and silver, very unlike the somber colors he usually

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wore. I was surprised to see that the mask for his armor was
a reflection of what he looked like as an oni in the real world.
Had he known that was what he would look like? Or was it
something he'd had created after he rescued me?

"You are the one who will be with that insane woman," he

said, trying to comfort me. I just couldn't stop staring at him.
I had just realized he was going off to fight and I might not
see him again. "I'm more worried about you."

I couldn't help it. I laughed. I thought that he wanted me

to. I was hoping Fuse would be able to keep Helga in line.
Yesterday morning had taught her that it was going to be a
more difficult job than she realized.

"We are going to the center of Tamazusa's power," he

said. "As soon as she reclaims her kuni and the land is
quieted, I will come to you in Edo. I know that I cannot be
gone for long, but I will tell you when we are successful."

He had said when, not if, so that I wouldn't worry about

him. Nothing about how nasty it was going to be to get there,
fighting monsters and probably ambushes from other lords. I
had looked on the map in Shino's war room. It was a long
journey. There were all sorts of rules, too, that needed to be
followed. It seemed that claiming a kuni was as ritualized as a
lot of other things around here were. I gave into the impulse I
had and pulled Samojirou's head down for one more kiss. I
didn't understand how he managed to break it off and walk
away from me, but he did after an endless time. It was all I
could do not to start crying before he walked out that door.

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Chapter Thirteen

Keno
My party started out for Edo the next morning. The

journey was going to take several days, even at the punishing
speeds we were forcing upon the kaga bearers. I knew we
were probably not the only ones traveling this way. War had
come to Nippon, and everyone was fleeing to Edo. I just
hoped the journey wasn't going to be as bad as I
remembered. I was wrong.

I was slightly nauseous the entire time due to the rocking

of the kaga, and McGann wasn't much better. Hamaji and
Fuse shared the other kaga. The only good thing about that
was we could pass the time with McGann's language lessons.
Helga, the bitch, either rode or walked because the kaga
bearers refused to carry her. I didn't know if that made me
angry or amused. It depended on how sick I was feeling at
the moment. But tayuu and ladies weren't supposed the walk
to their destinations. We were supposed to be carried, like the
delicate flowers that we were.

This delicate flower was carrying a katana and a wakizashi

with him in case we were attacked. McGann's eyes had
widened when she had seen me put them in the kaga. I didn't
know why, since she had seen me use them before. Or was it
that she expected me not to use them because I was wearing
a different type of kimono?

I knew Helga was going to be trouble on the road. She

didn't understand that we would have to wash up at every

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place that we stayed or why the people that she thought of as
skraelingjar were looking down their noses at her. It was
because she was an odd-looking barbarian. Not odd-smelling
at least, her change in diet took care of that.

Tholf was a lot more easygoing about the situation he

found himself in. I thought he would be upset about not being
in battle or the fact that I was now dressed as a woman. I
had expected him to be as upset as Helga had been, but he
only grinned and shook his head when he saw me the first
time. His time with the few of Tamazusa's samurai who were
here had impressed upon him that I was a good fighter, no
matter how I was dressed. And there was the fact that I had
managed to disarm him and Egil in that fight on the beach.

"Sakura-san," he greeted me as I joined him in the inn's

garden. We had stopped for the first night in a small inn, and
luckily we were the only people there. That didn't mean we
didn't have to worry about spies or what the people here
would say about us after we were gone. The party was
memorable for the number of gaijin we had.

"Tholf-san, it is good to see you," I said formally. "I thank

you for accompanying us."

"I don't understand enough Japanese to be of any use on

the battlefield, even if any of those lords would have me," he
said bluntly. He leaned down, lowering his voice and almost
whispering in my ear. "And the warriors here make me look
like a stripling lad on his first raid."

"Did you do that often?" I asked him, easily stepping to

the side, knowing that it was a rude question, but one I was
curious about. Now that I had a chance to think about it, he

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hadn't seemed to fit in on Njalsson's farm. Unlike the rest of
them, he didn't seem to be a farmer. Neither had Egil, but I
also thought that man shouldn't be trusted. I wouldn't have
wanted him as my companion for any length of time.

"Not here," he said, grinning at my move as he

straightened up. "In the living world, I raided a time or two.
Mostly I traded. I got to see The City one time."

"The city?" I asked, wondering what he was talking about.

There were many cities in the real world, but even I heard the
capital letters when he was referring to that city.

"Constantinople," he said reverently. "It was beautiful. The

buildings were made of stone, and the place had wide,
cobbled streets. It doesn't sound like the city called Edo.
Inukai was telling me about the pleasure quarters there when
we were traveling."

I bit back a groan. I really didn't need to worry about the

three of them going on a pub crawl. I knew Mason would be
going with them, too, when Genpachi went out drinking, so
the experience at whatever house they visited would be
memorable. I knew he wouldn't take them when he went out
on any serious business, for they would also attract a lot of
attention when they went out. I thought I might see if I could
send Wolf out with them just so someone sane was with
them.

"The pleasure quarters are very interesting to visit," I said

neutrally.

I thought about explaining the rules of Yoshiwara to him

and then decided it was something Genpachi could tell him.
But I also didn't expect Genpachi would be patronizing the

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more expensive women there. I didn't think he was interested
in that kind of relationship. The higher-class courtesans in the
quarters usually played all sorts of social games with anyone
interested in them before there was even a hint of any sort of
sexual relationship. A patron, if he was accepted by a
courtesan, had a number of visits with the woman, talking
about small things and paying outrageous prices for the
snacks and tea supplied, as well as her time and the time of
all her attendants. That could run into a lot of money quickly.
Genpachi probably stuck to the women who weren't of a high-
enough rank to play those games. If he didn't, I doubt he was
going to introduce either Tholf or Mason to them. For all I
knew, Genpachi kept a woman in every city he visited.

"You should see the procession of a house's tayuu," I

continued. "It is quite entertaining."

"And how would you know about that?" he asked,

sounding scandalized.

I flushed. Why did everyone think I was too young to know

about sex? Or had they thought that Samojirou-sama kept
me in a closet? I was an adult, damn it!

"I have seen several of them," I told him stiffly.
Tholf shook his head, knowing he had angered me, but not

too upset about it. "You... she isn't really your sister, is she?"

"She is my lord," I said. I wasn't going to explain

Tamazusa and Aboshi's relationship to him.

"The others, how do you know them?" Tholf asked. He

wasn't being nosy; he just was puzzled, wondering how
Tamazusa and I had gone from being refugees, in his eyes, to
very important people. Nippon confused him, with our

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customs and climate that were so different from the small,
cold farm he had been living on.

"That is something that I do not feel comfortable

discussing here," I said. "While we are not exactly being
subtle about where we are going, I do not feel that it is wise
to discuss the matter here."

Tholf nodded. "The ladies...."
"That is also something that shouldn't be discussed," I

said. Actually, it was none of his business who they were. If
none of the samurai had bothered to tell him that, then they
probably thought he didn't need to know.

"I understand that you do not want to talk about them,"

Tholf said. "But Helga grumbled that the dark-haired one was
unnatural, like Loki. That her husband is a beast. I told her
that she was being stupid again, but she insisted that I talk to
you about this matter."

"The lady's husband is a beast," I confirmed. I wanted to

strangle Helga. Why couldn't she just keep her mouth shut?
Why did Fuse insist that the woman travel with us? "They
were married because her father made a promise to him in
jest. Yatsufusa-sama did what was asked of him, which was a
feat of great bravery, and demanded his reward, which was
her hand in marriage, as what had been promised to him. He
was refused, although he was treated very well. He just didn't
get his heart's desire as his reward. Fuse-hime learned of her
father's promise and honored it. It was a marriage of the
spirit rather than a physical one. They were both killed a year
after that. It is a story that is famous throughout Nippon and
known in the real world."

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"I thought that Helga was just trying to stir up trouble

again," Tholf told me seriously. "I will treat Fuse-hime as the
matron that she is, even if she looks too young to be one.
Also the one that is with her, even if she seems flighty."

"She just seems that way," I said. "And if I've beaten you,

her husband is even a greater fighter than I am. She does
have six brothers by marriage who will also defend her honor.
And Fuse-hime is her mother by marriage. Genpachi is one of
her sons."

"McGann?" Tholf asked hopefully, with a grin.
I didn't think he was serious about his interest in her. Wolf

had checked on her hourly today, to make sure she was
comfortable and didn't need anything. I figured it stunned
him a little also to see me dressed as I was. He was going to
have to get used to that, and he was going to have to start
calling me Sakura instead of Keno. Mason was trying, I was
happy to say. He was usually calling me kid, though.

"That is something you will have to discuss with the lady,"

I said.

Tholf nodded. Then Genpachi came out to check on the

two of us, probably worrying that Tholf might be giving me
trouble about the way I was dressed. He was also frowning
slightly.

"The inn should be full," Genpachi said. "There's not even

merchants here. I can see the casual travelers stopping—this
is no time to be running around Nippon for pleasure—but I
think that there should be one or two small merchants here,
either trying to get to the capital or trying to get north.

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Usually foreigners, sometimes, but there's no one here. And
the maids say that it's been quiet for most of the week."

"There might be something blocking them from either

getting out of the city or down this road," Tholf said
thoughtfully. "You might want to check on your neighbors to
the north, if you can send word back to that place to do so. If
they had any sense, the merchants knew what was in the
wind and stayed put."

Genpachi and I both winced. Tholf didn't know what had

happened on Kyushu, but it was still ill-omened to say that.
He saw our reaction and frowned. "What did I say amiss?"

"We lost one of the islands to an ill wind," I told Tholf

softly. "The enemy used something very bad to cause that
wind." Tholf still looked confused, but I wasn't going to be the
one that tried to explain mustard gas or sarin to the man.
"Don't mention it to Wolf, please. He knows, but it is
something that is painful to him."

Tholf nodded. "Rotten magic isn't something to be talked

about," he rumbled. "Nor should I mention how pretty you
are, Blossom."

I wasn't surprised that he knew that nickname for me

since he had spent a lot of time with Seki and his squad.
Genpachi laughed at that. "Too bad, Tholf, that all the pretty
ones are taken. You're stuck with the woman from your
homeland."

I smiled at that. "You never know. Mother might want to

marry her off to Konbungo. She is tall enough for him."

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"She would be a handful to deal with," Genpachi said

thoughtfully, "but the poor man has to deal with Shinbee also.
Do you want him to have no peace at all?"

Tholf looked at both of us. While we might joke about it, I

knew that it wouldn't happen. She wasn't Nipponese, and
while that might have made us sound prejudiced, that was
simply the truth. That she was a raging bitch at times didn't
make her any more appealing, either.

"I'll tell you that letting that one into your family wouldn't

be good," Tholf said.

Genpachi nodded after thinking about it for another

second. "It wouldn't be good. She... there is something about
her that I don't like. I know that my brother wouldn't see it,
since he is a good man."

Wolf joined us. "And how much longer are we going to be

on the road?" he asked Genpachi.

"About a week," he answered. "We can't push the bearers

any faster than that."

Wolf frowned, and he opened his mouth to say something

when I spoke over him in the soft tones of a Japanese
woman. I did it just to annoy him. "Highborn women don't
ride; they travel in a kaga. If we ride, we'll stand out. Right
now, we are just one of the many groups of noble women
who are being sent to Edo for their safety. If we stand out
more than that, it might bring us to the attention of the
wrong people. We are already going to be noticed because we
have gaijin with us. We have you dressed so that you don't
stand out too much, but your coloring might give any of you
away, but I don't think that anyone could truly guess who you

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are. I don't doubt that there are spies along this road, making
note of who is here and trying to figure out what clan they
belong to. That is why we are traveling without any sign of
who Mother and Hamaji really are."

"And are you considering yourself a noble lady?" Wolf

asked me in English. He was clearly tired and upset, and the
way I had spoken to him didn't help. He had winced when he
realized I was using the woman's dialect.

Tholf took one look at my face and mumbled something;

not wanting to deal with whatever argument was going to
happen, he quickly went back into the inn. Genpachi looked
angry, but he was going to let me defend myself.

"I would like to point out that there is no place for me in

my lord's Hatamoto," I said quietly. "And while it would be
acceptable to go onto the field as a page for my lord or
Samojirou-sama, they do not want me to. Samojirou-sama
made their wishes on that matter very clear in that meeting."

"You're sleeping with the man," Wolf said softly, almost

coldly. "You can at least call him by his first name."

"What I do or do not do is none of your business," I said,

matching his tone of voice. "I know their reasons. And I agree
with them."

"You do know," Genpachi said, looking worried and

relieved at the same time.

"Not everything," I said slowly, not wanting to talk about

this in front of Wolf. "But enough. And I don't think that I
want to know everything, do I?"

Genpachi looked at me, his eyes sad. "'We didn't know'

isn't a good explanation," he said quietly. "He was always a

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tight-mouthed bastard. I'm surprised Dousetsu knew as much
as he did."

I shrugged. "It doesn't matter now. And I won't put you in

the awkward position of asking you the truth. I'm going to
retire." I started to walk out of the garden and stopped at the
edge, turning to face them again. "Wolf, I know that you
didn't think that I made the right decision, but seeing what
has happened, I know that I did. If I had stayed with you, I'd
be dead by now."

With that I walked back to the room I was sharing with the

women.

* * * *

Mason
We got into Edo about noon on the sixth day on the road.

We had to wait in line to get in, because there was some sort
of screening process going on. It was hot, and I didn't envy
the samurai in their full armor. I was hot, tired, and wanting
off this damn horse. Wolf looked tired, too, and I wondered
how hot it was in those traveling boxes the chicks were in. It
was a good thing we were dressing in kimono and some sort
of weird coat over our armor, or I figured we'd never get
through this checkpoint.

"So how long does this take?" I asked the guy next to me,

Tadanori.

Tadanori was one of Tamazusa's samurai. I had gotten to

know the guys over the last week or so. I was surprised that
they didn't seem to be too peeved that they weren't either
defending Tamazusa's ass on her run or out defending her

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borders somehow. But they told me that it was also an honor
to guard Fuse, especially after the shit we pulled last time we
were here. I was still confused about the time change
between the Dreamlands and back home. The Trust's first
"visit" to the Dreamlands had been a year ago for them, while
it had only been a couple of weeks for us. It made my head
hurt just to think about it. But it did explain how I thought
Keno had grown an inch or so in height and built up some
muscles. Changes that wouldn't happen in a few weeks.

Tadanori shrugged. "It usually isn't this crowded. But then,

Nippon hasn't been at war before."

I shook my head, feeling guilty because I hadn't seen the

Trustees pulling this shit. But then, fuck, I really didn't think
they would try it. Seriously, I spent a lot of time on the road
thinking about it while I was getting reacquainted with how to
ride a horse. Not that I had spent a lot of time on one as a
kid, but I had done some riding. Wolf, the bastard that he
was, seemed to be as good at riding a horse as he was at
everything else. Tholf and Helga ended up walking half of the
time, because these horses seemed to be a bit smaller than
the ones I grew up with, so they were a little big for the
horses.

We slowly moved forward until we were at the front of the

line. Genpachi was handling all the paperwork and anything
else we needed to get into the city. I wasn't surprised that
the guards seemed to know him. I had a feeling that he was
familiar with the men who patrolled Edo as well as every dive
and bar in the city. With luck, he'd show me some of them.

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Wolf moved back to me, listening to what was going on.

"They seem to be a bit upset that he's got a bunch of
Northerners with him. And they think that you're a Northerner
too."

I shook my head but was glad the guards didn't have a

clue about who we were. If they did, Fuse's protection or not,
they would have strung us up.

"Genpachi is saying that he's bringing his mother and his

sister by marriage to stay with his other sister by marriage."
Wolf listened for a second. "I didn't know that Inumura was
married."

"Daikaku? Wow. But think about it, these guys don't seem

to be the marrying type."

Wolf thought about it for a second. "That is strange.

But...."

"Shit, I ain't saying that they don't like women, but they

don't seem to be the type to settle down."

"I don't know, but these people seem to be very impressed

that Fuse-hime is here," Wolf said, and then he grinned.
"They're now making mother-in-law jokes."

I grunted. "Some things seem to be universal."
I guessed that was the end of it, because they started

waving us forward. We rode through crowded streets that
twisted more than Boston's. I got lost after a couple of
minutes and hoped I wouldn't have to get out of here in a
hurry. Soon we were going into what even I figured out was
the really high-class section of the town. I wasn't too shocked
when we stopped in front of a place that covered a city block

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or two and had a really high wall and a dozen guards in front
of it.

Genpachi called out something to the guys there, and they

opened the gates for us. While not as heavily fortified as
Tamazusa's place out in the middle of nowhere, it still was
impressive. For people who had been at peace for centuries,
they really seemed to believe in being very well-defended. We
ended up in a courtyard that I knew was surrounded by a
bunch of snipers who were willing to take us out if we turned
out to be the bad guys.

For the next couple of minutes, things were a bit

confusing. We got off our horses, and people came to take
them away. All the samurai seemed to disappear, which
would have gotten me nervous but I figured they were being
taken to their barracks or something. The ladies weren't
getting out of their boxes, which confused me until another
lady showed up, trailed by a couple of maids. I guessed this
was Daikaku's wife. She was pretty and tall, and she dressed
kind of plainly. Fuse and Hamaji got out of their box, looking
like they just got into it, rested and unwrinkled. Keno
emerged gracefully from the other one, while Wolf insisted on
helping McGann out.

"Mother!" the newcomer cried out, bowing to her. "It is so

good to see you!"

"I hope that you don't mind our visit, Hinaginu-chan," Fuse

told her, bowing back.

Hamaji hugged her, ignoring the bowing shit, since the

woman seemed to be a hugger. While Hamaji was bouncy and
cute, this woman seemed a lot more serious, like her

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husband. I wondered if they had met at the local library or
something like that.

"And I would like to introduce you to Sakura-dono,

Samojirou-sama's consort," Fuse said. "As well as Dieter
Wolf, McGann Caitlynn, and Kairns Mason, as well as
Grimasson Tholf and Liefsdaughter Helga."

"I'm pleased to meet you," the woman chimed, bowing

deeply at each of us. "I am Inumura Daikaku's wife Inumura
Hinaginu."

"I am honored to meet you," Wolf told her in Japanese,

returning her bow.

"Please accept the hospitality of my husband," she told us

and clapped her hands. At that signal a bunch of people
started herding us indoors.

* * * *

Keno
We were escorted inside, assigned rooms, and then taken

to the baths. I was assigned a room next to Mason and Wolf,
with McGann in the room beyond theirs. Tholf ended up with
Genpachi, and I didn't know what happened to Helga, nor did
I care. I knew Fuse and Hamaji were put in a set of rooms
near Hinaginu.

After we washed up and changed, we all ended up getting

served a late lunch/early supper. All I knew was that I was
hungry, and food was welcome no matter what time of the
day it was. As soon as the food was served, the maids
disappeared so that we could talk in privacy.

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"Mother, how is my husband?" Hinaginu asked in an even

tone. I would have thought that she didn't care, but there
was a shine to her eyes I didn't think was the candlelight.

"As far as I know, he was going to see what he could on

the southern borders of Tamazusa's kuni," Fuse shared.

"What is the word about Kyushu?" Genpachi asked. "We've

been on the road and have heard nothing. The inns and the
merchants knew nothing. And there weren't too many
merchants, either. I don't know if they are staying in Edo, too
scared to move, or thinking or leaving Nippon altogether."

Hinaginu frowned. "I haven't heard anything, but my

contacts are more worried about Nara and Kyoto. They are
afraid that they will be burnt in the fighting. They have
started to move the scrolls and hide the treasures."

"That would be a terrible tragedy," Fuse said.
"I don't think that these fuckers are going to be too

worried about keeping your historical stuff safe, so that's a
smart move," Mason said. "But aren't they probably going to
go for that other island before hitting here?"

"Shikoku. They should," Wolf said. He shook his head. "I'm

surprised that you know that place."

"Hey! Tamazusa was nice enough to explain that shit to

me back at Shino's place," Mason protested.

"While the Emperor isn't there," I said, "Kyoto falling would

be a terrible tragedy." I frowned, wondering how I was going
to tell Hinaginu to expect Samojirou. I mentally counted the
days. If I had my math right, Tamazusa would be at her
shoen right now. I just didn't know how long it would take her

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to do whatever she had to do or if Aboshi would even be in
any shape to visit me.

"Samojirou-sama might check on Sakura-dono to see if we

arrived safely," Fuse said, saving me the trouble. "You know
of his talent of walking the shadows."

Hinaginu nodded. "Should I also prepare a room for

Tamazusa-sama?"

"I think that won't be needed," Fuse said. "She will be

joining the Hakkenshi to defend Nippon. Samojirou-sama will
be used for carrying messages between us." She smiled. "I
think that he can be persuaded to have your husband
accompany him if you wish."

Hinaginu blushed, but said nothing.
McGann was frowning, thinking about something. "Would

Samojirou-sama be able to go to Kyushu?" she asked. "I
don't think that it would be dangerous to him." She was silent
for a moment, gauging our reaction. She was confused that
we didn't seem to be giving her one. "While what was used to
poison the island was deadly, I am pretty certain that the
effects will not linger."

"Can you be sure of that?" I demanded. "Do you know

what they used? Or are you guessing about that? I know that
there's a big difference between mustard gas and sarin."

"That is something that can be discussed later," Fuse said.

"But both Aboshi-sama and myself have been to Kyushu
several times." She paused, biting her lip, before continuing
softly. "That was where I met you, Sakura-chan."

"The castle was lovely," I said, remembering the event. It

was my second public outing as Sakura, and we had gone to

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see an ikebana exhibit that was in Nakatsu. I wondered if the
building was still standing and if the flowers were still
blooming. "I hope that I can see it again. But you can't walk
the shadows."

She smiled at me. "You know that Yatsufusa and I do

manage to travel almost as extensively as Samojirou-sama.
We could be used as scouts in Kyushu also."

"Are you fucking high?" Mason snarled. We were all slightly

shocked at his reaction. "Shit, those fuckers know what you
look like! Also, they'll grab your old man, and it won't be
pretty what they'll do to him. Fuck, you all better stay as far
away as you can from those assholes, even Samojirou."

"I assure you that Yatsufusa can protect me," Fuse

protested.

"I think that you better listen to him, Mother," Hinaginu

said after giving Mason a thoughtful look. "He knows our
enemy. And while his analysis of the situation is crude, you
know what they did to you before. If they managed to
capture Father, they will use their science to examine him.
And they will kill him before they learn anything."

"Why?" I asked.
Hinaginu shrugged. "Our enemy will use their science to

try and understand magic. Do you think that they will
succeed? Or worse, they will hand our parents over to the
Egyptians or whoever joins them in this matter, to tell them
how the magic works. If they even believe in such a thing."

"Magic got their asses here," Mason told her. "You'd think

that those fuckers would believe in it after that."

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"I have learned that people have a hard time believing in

some things," Hinaginu said. "Or believe too easily." She
sighed and shook her head. "But I fear that the fight ahead of
us is worse than all the battles that have happened in the
past. These people seem to be clever enough to thwart the
limitations the Dreamlands place upon us. I fear that what
they do, even when we manage to drive them from our lands,
will alter Nippon forever."

"Hinaginu," Hamaji said, "we will adapt. You know that we

will. Remember Edo?"

Both women shuddered at the same time. "Are you saying

that this new enemy is less fearsome than the noble ladies we
had to deal with?" Hinaginu asked her.

"Probably," Hamaji said, wrinkling her nose. "I hated

having to be in Edo. And Shino never understood why."

"I don't understand?" McGann asked, curious and slightly

confused.

"I fear that both my daughters by marriage were ill-

equipped to deal with Edo's society in the real world," Fuse
said. "But they are the only daughters who have joined their
husbands in the Dreamlands."

Genpachi shrugged. "If my wife is here, then she is wise in

being as far away from me as possible. Let me just say she
wasn't happy with a former ronin as her husband." He
laughed bitterly. "But at least I didn't get stuck with the
raging bitch that you did, Keno. My wife was just a bitch."

"I was married?" I practically squeaked.
Mason laughed until tears ran down his face, while McGann

and Wolf looked as shocked as I felt. Married? I knew I

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shouldn't have been surprised, because Satomi probably used
all of us to cement political alliances. And no one had known
about my relationship with Samojirou. But it still was a shock
to hear that my ancestor had been married.

[Back to Table of Contents]

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Chapter Fourteen

Tamazusa
The journey to my kuni was difficult. I was saved part of

the trouble by traveling through Inusuka and then Inukawa's
kuni. While still not safe, the monsters hesitated in attacking
such a large band of men. I wasn't surprised to see that
Aboshi was at my side constantly, unwilling, I thought, to
believe that I was safe. We parted company with the
Hakkenshi who accompanied us on the journey. They went to
the north while my people boarded a small river craft to go
west. It was not to say that the journey was easier this way,
but it was faster.

The sailors pretended not to notice that I was a woman. It

was easy because I was armored as my samurai were. I was
also kept out of sight as much as they could manage. Those
who caught a glimpse of me probably thought I was a pretty
page Aboshi had brought along for his amusement.

"Okita-san has retreated to the town of Nagahama,"

Aboshi told me as we sailed down river. "He has left Takehito-
san charge of the defense against Iida."

I saw the ravages the monsters had caused. I shuddered.

There would be famine in the land; I had waited too long to
reclaim it. I had reserves to cover the expense of buying food
for my people that remained, but I also knew there would be
hunger and refugees, those fleeing the Southerners.

"Fuse-hime wisely transferred all that mattered from the

shoen to there," he continued.

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"All that could leave, have?" I asked him, trying to sound

calm. There were too many who were tied to the land there,
the kashin and kodama that served me there.

"They withdrew to their essence," Aboshi assured me.

"Unless someone there decides to burn the place to ashes,
most of them will be safe." He was quiet for a moment. "The
road between the town and the shoen is thick with monsters.
It will not be easy to deal with them, even after you are
done."

"If the kuni will have me back," I whispered. "I have acted

foolishly."

"You... why did you accept Iida's offer?" Aboshi asked

softly.

"I was curious," I said. I had had a lot of time to think

about this and curse myself for my weakness. "And it was
flattering. I thought that I was the one who was in control,
while all the time he was laughing at me." I was silent. "I
should have known... there was something off in his manner,
but I thought that it was from the fact that he was not of our
time. Not that he was planning to betray me in the manner
that he did."

"You claim that you weren't lonely," Aboshi said. "But...

Mason?"

His tone of voice was a combination of mild outrage,

amazement, and curiosity. I laughed, since he had sounded
more upset just now than when I had agreed to accompany
Mawatari and started this disastrous adventure.

"He is amusing," I said, knowing what he was asking. Was

I interested in Mason as a consort? While I called Aboshi that,

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he was more a councilor, my karo more than my lover. I
doubted that I wanted Mason as a lover, either, but he could
be a friend. And I knew I had few enough of those. "And while
you might not believe it, he was respectful toward me on our
journey. He could have taken advantage of my situation,
since he did claim to be my protector." I waited a beat before
adding, "And we did share a bed."

That last bit of information stunned Aboshi into silence.

"He did what?" he finally managed to choke out.

"The Northerners thought that it was better if the two

skraelingjar kept each other occupied," I said lightly, before
getting serious. "Keno-chan had managed to keep us alive. I
don't know how, but I know he is the only reason we
survived. When we were found on that island, we were both
cold, almost frozen from the waters there. Mason kept me
alive by sharing his body's warmth with me. He... let me just
tell you that he was very kind to me in a time that I needed
kindness."

"Keno?" Aboshi asked quietly.
"Wolf took care of him," I said. I sighed. "The man is

impossible at times, but loyal."

"Which is why you accepted him as part of your household,

as well as Mason."

"Mason is just impossible," I told him with a slight smile.

"A man who I can trust, though. Also one who has no
manners or sense at times," I added wryly.

"But a man who seems to like you," Aboshi acknowledged.

"I think that he will be good for you." He paused. "We had
talked briefly at Inusuka's holding. He seems to think that

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you need someone to talk to who isn't overawed by the fact
that you are a lord of Nippon. Someone who you could
confide in who wasn't one of your retainers or myself. I think
that he phrased it as 'someone to bitch at', whatever that
means."

I think that was the closest he was going to get to saying

he approved of my relationship with Mason, no matter what
form it took. "He treats me with the same respect that he
does McGann," I said. "And I know he respects her
intelligence as well as mine. I just feel he is the avatar for the
wrong Hakkenshi."

Aboshi shook his head at my comment. "I think that poor

Inumura is still in shock at that one."

I laughed. "And what do you think his wife is going to think

when they meet in Edo?"

Aboshi joined me in my laughter.

* * * *

A day or so later, we weren't laughing. We had come

ashore and started our overland journey, stopping about a ri
or so from my shoen. It looked deserted and neglected, the
buildings projecting an empty aura. The journey had been
hard; we had been attacked by numerous small monsters
that were more annoying than dangerous, but there had been
so many of them. Several of my samurai were slightly
injured. We were all tired and dirty, and seeing the state of
my shoen made me want to weep.

"My lord," Aboshi addressed me formally. "Is it time?"

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"It is," I replied softly, knowing what he was asking. Was I

ready to claim my kuni again? I was.

"We wish you the blessings of the kami, Tamazusa-sama,"

Seki intoned, bowing deeply. "You are a good lord to us."

I was moved by what he had told me. I decided that

before now, I had taken for granted their loyalty to me. If
they stood by me during this, I felt that I could do anything. I
knelt on the ground before them, humbling myself. "I am
touched by your faith in me and your support of me, even if I
have shown that I was not a wise lord for you."

Seki bent over and helped me up, his squad watching us

respectfully. "You were trying to gain an ally—or at least not
an enemy—in that man. His treachery toward you and Nippon
is not your responsibility. I hope that I may be able to help
him atone for his disloyalty to his kuni and to Nippon."

We all bowed to each other, and I strode forward, Aboshi

at my back, protecting me. He would always do so. His
loyalty... his love for me... was priceless. As I moved toward
my shoen, I felt something change. There was a feeling of
electricity to the land and in the air, even though it was hot
and still, muggy as if a typhoon were going to hit. I felt as if
my skin was being bitten by ants, the closer I got to my goal.
I didn't remember this from before. Could it be that I was
doomed to fail because I had betrayed my kuni's trust? That I
had lost it foolishly, trusting a man, something I had never
done in my life aside from Aboshi?

I felt like I was moving through water, it was so hard to

walk. I struggled to the gate of the shoen and pushed it open
with all my strength. I had no idea where Aboshi was, nor did

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I care. This was something that I had to do. After a long time
of just pushing at that gate, I managed to get it open. I was
exhausted, but also pleased. If my cause were truly hopeless,
I would never have been able to open that gate. I walked to
the center of the courtyard, seeing it overgrown with weeds,
the plaster faded and cracked on the buildings and the walls.

I threw back my head and shouted, "I claim this kuni, this

land, as mine! Mine to rule! Mine to protect! I claim to be its
lord. I accept the responsibility and the power. I have the
power to protect all that are here!"

Suddenly lightning shot through my body. I wanted to

scream, but instead bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. This
hurt so much, but it was a pleasure too. I fell to my knees,
struggling to breathe as I absorbed the power the land was
giving me. Mine was a strong kuni. I was surprised no one
had tried to claim it before me. Or if they had, they had most
likely failed.

My brain was on fire, struggling to absorb everything I had

to. I labored not to vomit, my stomach rebelling from the
pain.

Time stopped. I thought that I stopped existing too.
There was one last wave of pain, and I felt as if my entire

body had exploded and then reassembled itself. I screamed
at last, but it was one of relief. My kuni had accepted me
again.

Aboshi helped me up, looking pale and shaken. "I

thought—" he started hoarsely. "I thought that I had lost you
again, my lord."

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I was aware of others around us, the kashin and kodama

who inhabited this place. They all gathered around us and
then as one, knelt.

"We welcome you back, Tamazusa-sama," Yukiko said

formally.

"Sleep again," I instructed, "For while I have my kuni now,

Nippon is at war."

They looked shocked, and there were soft murmurs of

astonishment from all of them at the news.

"We will do as you order," Yukiko said. She hesitated for a

moment, before asking shyly, "Sakura? He is well?"

"We sent him to Edo," Aboshi told her.
She nodded her head, pleased with the decision. "He is a

blossom that is also not meant for war."

Yukiko turned to her fellow spirits, calling out. "It is time to

sleep still!" I felt her joy, though, and watched as they all
faded. Yukiko bowed to us again. "We all look forward to your
return, Tamazusa-sama. We will wait until that time."

She faded at that. I turned and walked out my gate,

feeling stronger at every step, drawing strength from my
land. I felt almost drunk with the return of my power. But I
also felt the land quieting, the small monsters scattering and
becoming docile. There would still be trouble with the more
dangerous ones, but I would deal with them when I had to. I
regretted that I could not manage to send them to my
enemies in Kyushu, just to hope that they turned on Iida's
army.

"To Okita-san?" Aboshi asked.

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It would be a long walk, but one that I needed. Nagahama

was a few ri away from my shoen, an easy ride in an ox cart.
It would be a hot march in armor. And there might be those
monsters foolish enough to attack us. I was still in danger
until I reached my castle town. I smiled up at him, feeling like
I could run the entire way and not tire or overheat. "To Okita-
san," I agreed. "But I think that he knows I was successful in
reclaiming the kuni."

Aboshi shrugged. He knew that the man was loyal to me...

to us. Else he would not be standing here. Okita had chosen
to help him rather than wrestle my kuni under his own
control. "All will know soon."

"And tomorrow we march north to drive Iida into the sea,"

I said. "Then we must move south to defend Honshu."

"The lords are being rallied, even as we speak," Aboshi

said. "But I fear that this will be a long and bloody battle to
drive the invaders from Kyushu. Iida's control over his allies
will make it a difficult task, if we do not defeat him."

I shuddered, remembering the things in the water, how

they had almost eaten Keno and me, the choked-off screams
of the sailors as they had been eaten by those things. The
silence of the Reavers as I felt them disappearing from my
awareness, one by one. We had to cross the sea to get to
Kyushu, and we needed Iida defeated before that happened.

Aboshi touched my hand, his eyes dark and worried. "We

will beat him," he promised.

I nodded, feeling comforted. I actually had won a victory

over the man already. I had control of my kuni again,
something I had discovered that he thought was unnatural.

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Iida was a man who thought women were meant to be
powerless.

"I think that a visit to Edo is in your future," I predicted.

Once we got to Okita, Aboshi could go to Edo and tell Keno of
our success.

He smiled at me, and I felt at peace.

* * * *

Samojirou
Before I left, I made sure Tamazusa was settled in her

castle, with Okita to guard her. I felt slightly guilty that I was
leaving her to go to Keno. She had scolded me, though.

"I also need you to go to our allies and tell them of my

success. A regular messenger would take too long," she
instructed. "And Keno needs to see you." She was quiet for a
moment. "He has been very good about not asking about
certain things."

"He is curious," I said softly.
"And I should say that is a good thing," she told me. "He

was very brave in his first battle."

"He told me of it," I said. "Including the part that he wasn't

able to kill anyone."

She nodded, a thoughtful look on her face. "I don't think

that we have to worry that he is the Inuzaka Keno of old."

"I think that he is the man he might have been if he had

not taken that vow," I shared.

Her face lit up when I said that. "I am so happy about

that!" She grew serious again. "And I will make sure that he

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doesn't have to worry about that, either. I will make sure that
he is not involved in any of the fighting."

* * * *

I walked into the shadows of Inumura's Edo castle as

easily as I would have walked into my own rooms. In a way I
was, since I was only here for Keno. I wasn't surprised that
as soon as I walked out of the shadows and into his room, he
had flown into my arms. I was glad that I had bathed and
changed for him.

"Tamazusa holds her kuni again," I announced.
That was all that I managed to get out before he pulled me

down for a kiss. "I was so worried!" he said.

That was all that I was able to say for a while. I didn't miss

that he was dressed only in a kimono, and it was barely
belted.

"I was waiting for you," he whispered. "I knew that you

would be coming tonight."

Keno was plastered against me, warm and willing and all

so needy. I had a flashback to his ancestor telling me the
same thing. I involuntarily shuddered.

"Samojirou-sama?" Keno asked, a concerned look in his

eyes. "You are all right?"

I bent down to kiss him again, not wanting to think about

anything for a while.

He laughed, though, and drew back from me. "I'm feeling

very subservient right now," he teased.

I didn't know what to say to that. His stare challenged me

as he gracefully sunk to his knees. He managed to untie my

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obi with his teeth, and I wondered why he had learned that
trick. He nuzzled and nipped at the flesh he uncovered and
licked my staff lovingly while I tried to figure out why he was
doing this. Soon, however, I was so inflamed with passion
that I didn't care.

I lifted him to his feet to kiss him again, caressing his

smooth skin. My thumbs found his nipples, and I stroked
them to hardness before bending over to worry them with my
teeth. I feared that I was rough with my blossom, but it
seemed to inflame his passion, too, as his hands twisted in
my hair. I wanted to celebrate that Tamazusa had recovered
her kuni. Keno seemed very willing to indulge in any passion I
chose tonight.

"I fear, blossom, that you are not going to be sitting very

comfortably tomorrow," I told him thickly.

He laughed, wanton and challenging, touching me all over,

lifting my head up so that he could attack my nipples in turn.
He was gentler, but he also left his marks on me. I groaned,
wondering if I was pushing him too fast even as I led him
over to the futon and pushed him down onto his hands and
knees. He turned and looked at me with a smile, bending his
arms so that his bottom was raised high.

I knelt down beside him and bit his left buttock, leaving an

impression of my teeth there. I hadn't broken the skin, but I
knew that it was going to bruise delightfully. I fumbled about
and found the oil. I poured it down his cleft, stroking the skin
there gently. He moaned and wiggled when I did this. His
moan turned into a groan when I slipped a finger inside,
stretching him gently, playing with him. I took care not to

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touch that special spot inside of him as I loosened him for
both our pleasure. I soon had two fingers in him, and he was
begging for more.

His pleas were delightful, and I slowly withdrew my

fingers, touching his spot as I pulled out, just to hear him
scream. I oiled my staff and positioned myself behind him,
before slowly sinking into his body. I balanced myself by
grasping his hips, delicately as if they were petals on a real
flower. When I was fully sheathed in his body, he whimpered
softly, turning his chin to look at me, submissive and
demanding at the same time. I smiled at him, tracing his
spine with my tongue until it reached his neck. He sighed and
shivered at my gentleness.

It was then that I drew back and thrust back into his body

hard, almost brutally. He half-screamed when I did so again,
but it was not in pain or fear, rather in ecstasy. He
unconsciously arched up to meet my third stroke, and I
proceeded to brutally use him. Not that he minded; he was
begging for more. "Please... harder... so good, please...
please... please!"

On his final please, he screamed and bucked underneath

me, pouring his seed onto the futon as I drove myself into
him harder and faster, almost angrily, until I had my own
climax.

We collapsed together, a tangled heap of arms and legs. I

wasn't surprised that he curled up on me, boneless and sated.
"You didn't hurt me," he whispered.

"I fear...."

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He looked up and placed a finger on my lips. "You needed

that. It... I don't want it as a steady diet, but you needed to
celebrate that we won something. So what if you rode me
hard, as Mason would say. I wanted it." Keno blushed. "I was
kind of curious, really."

I licked his finger and settled back with his head on my

chest. "I can only stay until dawn, my blossom."

He kissed my chest, and I hated the sorrow that I heard in

his voice. "I know."

[Back to Table of Contents]

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Chapter Fifteen

Mason
Keno and I were wandering around Edo with one of

Inumura's samurai, called Noma, as a guide. He looked about
sixteen, maybe. I almost asked him if his mama let him stay
out late, before remembering that he could kick my ass and
was probably centuries old. He was small and wore a really
odd kimono from what I could tell.

I wasn't surprised to see Keno dressed as a woman, with

his whiteface on as well as some sort of hat with a veil that
covered most of his face, with his hair tied back in a simple
ponytail. I was surprised by how long his hair was. His black
outer kimono was unfastened and hung loosely around him,
showing off a colorful blue and green, tighter kimono
underneath, with a small belt thing tying it closed. I didn't
know why he was dressed like that, but from walking around
Edo, there seemed to a variety of different styles of kimono
and how you wore them for men and women.

I was dressed in a dark kimono and loose pants, which

they told me were called hakama. I didn't care what they
were called; they made me feel like I wasn't going to flash
anyone, and so I was happy to wear them. I wasn't wearing a
sword, because I knew I couldn't use the thing and even I
knew that carrying one around would make people think I
could. It felt strange not to be wearing my usual clothing, but
that would have made me stick out even more. I was getting

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some strange looks as it was, but I knew these people hadn't
seen an African American before.

"And why are we wandering around, Keno?" I asked.
"Because we can," he told me. I heard the grin in his

voice, but that damn veil blocked me from seeing his face. It
was weird, and I wondered why the hell he was dressed like
that. "And Mason-san, just remember that I'm a shy and
delicate flower."

I got the hint that I was supposed to call him Sakura. I

shouldn't forget that, seeing that he was dressed like this, but
it was hard. I was getting old. "And shit, just call me Mason."

"I wish to explore Edo," Keno said. "I just... I just need to

see how it's changed. I know that this isn't close to the Tokyo
I grew up in, but I can almost see it sometimes."

I believed that, because I doubted the kid had been

allowed to wander around like this. I knew Samojirou had
stopped by last night, from the sounds I'd heard coming from
Keno's room. I was just glad Keno knew that his lover and
Tamazusa were all right. I'd felt a twinge when I'd heard that
she had gotten her kuni back. I had promised her salsa
dancing. I didn't think that was going to happen now, and for
some reason, that upset me.

"You got any money, Sakura?" I asked.
"I do," he said, sounding puzzled at my request. "Why?"
"'Cause I think that your sister deserves a nice present for

getting her job back," I said.

He laughed. "I think that she would be proud of you right

now. You managed not to mention anything important in
public. You are learning to be discreet."

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I laughed, too, even though it sounded off to me. Keno

picked up on it, though. I was glad that Noma was wandering
slightly ahead of us, not really paying attention to what we
were talking about, just keeping an eye on us. "I think that I
like your sister the way that she was in the Northlands more
than who she is now."

Keno was silent for a moment. "She...."
"Isn't the same person," I finished for him. "Shit, that

sounds stupid. But she was my hot mama for a while."

"You didn't call her that to her face?" Keno asked,

sounding like he was going to have a heart attack. "Mason...."

"She ain't that anymore," I said with a shrug. "She's like

my boss now. You don't have that much fun with the boss.
McGann, she don't feel like she's that to me now. And shit,
you know that she isn't that to Wolf right now, or he wouldn't
be actin' like he is. Man's trying to date her or something.
Good thing, too, because she's a nice lady, and she needs a
nice man, which he is. She told him that she was...."

I stopped, wondering why I was willing to let that secret

out of the bag after keeping it for so long. Keno didn't seem
to notice the slip or he was willing to ignore it.

"I think that Wolf would be good for her," Keno said.
I was glad he sounded so calm about it, considering he'd

had a crush on Wolf forever. I figured finding your True Love
or soul mate or whatever the fuck Samojirou was to him got
him over Wolf. "Shit, Sakura."

"You remembered," Keno murmured sarcastically.
"Don't be a smartass," I told him. I wondered how much

English Noma knew, because I was pretty sure you weren't

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supposed to talk to whatever Keno was like this. If he
understood what I was saying, I thought he'd have to kick my
ass. "She told him something important that weirds a lot of
people out. He didn't freak. End of story. But your sister,
man, she's gonna go back to being a cast-iron bitch."

"Mason!" Keno snapped, horrified. He should have been

used to this from me by now.

"It's a good look for her," I continued, ignoring the small

conniption fit he was trying not to have. "Not blaming her for
it, 'cause she isn't a bad lady that way. I just don't think that
she's going to like me teasing her again. Or that we can act
like we did on the boat."

Keno stopped and looked at me. I was kind of glad that I

couldn't see his face, because actually hearing what I had
said made me feel like an idiot. Shit, I hadn't sounded this
bad when I was a teenager and started dating. Let me tell
you, I did some really stupid shit then, but this took the
fucking cake. I sounded really pathetic.

"Tease her," he said simply. "While she isn't who you want

her to be anymore, I think that she likes you."

"I figured that one out," I grumbled. "She didn't Jell-O

me."

I had figured out that she couldn't do it anymore when she

lost her kuni, but the lady could have done something like
that, if I had pissed her off, just with a knife. And now, I
really don't think that she would. I could be wrong, but I
doubted it. And I wasn't thinking with my dick, either. I didn't
know why I liked the woman, but I did. Could have been that
she was smart, kept her cool in a crisis, made the hardass

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decisions that she needed to, and was willing to get her hands
dirty, literally and figuratively. McGann was the same way,
but she was more like my kid sister or something. Tamazusa
wasn't. I didn't know what she was, but I knew I wasn't going
to think of her as a sister.

"You both suck at relationships," Keno said bluntly, like he

was an expert. "Why don't we just deal with this later."

"Good for me, because I feel like an ass now telling you all

this crap," I said. This was about all the sharing I was willing
to do right now.

* * * *

We ended up at a restaurant that was pretty nice, eating

in a private room with a really cute waitress. The food was
good, and the sake flowed freely, even though I noticed Keno
stuck to tea. We made an odd party, I thought, but Keno
gradually drew Noma out, making him comfortable with us,
asking him questions about Edo and translating the things we
said to each other. Noma didn't know English, and it turned
out his Spanish was worse than mine, but that was the only
other language he knew. I was getting the vibe that he was
oddly flattered by Keno's attention. He disappeared for what I
guessed was a trip to the bathroom, and Keno turned to talk
to me, shaking his head slightly at something Noma said on
his way out the door. Thankfully Keno had taken off that
stupid hat for the meal.

"What's wrong?" Keno asked.

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"Noma. He isn't getting the wrong impression, is he?" I

asked, hating that question, but only hearing half the
conversation was a little confusing for me.

"And what impression would that be?" he asked, a little

pissed, but curious too. Because unlike Wolf, I hadn't given
him shit about what he was doing. I just didn't know the rules
of the Game that he and everyone else here was playing. He
was cutting me some slack because of that.

"That he really, really likes you," I didn't know why I was

being so coy about it. But I didn't feel comfortable coming out
and saying that Noma might want to fuck him.

"Being seen with a tayuu raises his standing with the men

who see him," Keno said. "A samurai of his stature rarely gets
to deal with one, even if he is only escorting me around town.
He's flattered by my attention, and he's flirted a little, but we
both know that it's not going to go beyond that."

"And what the fuck am I?" I asked.
"Unarmed and with a shaven head?" he asked with a grin.

"A priest maybe. Or just a stranger that Noma may be
introducing to me. Or I may be introducing him to you."

We heard a bang outside the room. Keno looked up in

alarm, and I was halfway to the door when it was kicked in.
Overkill on their part, because it was just made out of paper
and bamboo. A half dozen really big guys muscled their way
in. I got in a couple of punches, but there was too many of
them, and the room was too small for me to do any real
damage. A couple of them wrestled me to the floor and Keno
down beside me, his outfit all torn up from fighting them,
with a knife at this throat. I was going to ask what the fuck

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was going on, when another guy strode in, stepping over the
wreckage of the door easily and acting like he owned the
place.

"Sakura-chan," the guy practically purred at him, sounding

like a villain from a bad B movie. "So nice to meet you here."

I was hoping Noma would manage to either rescue us or

get help. It was kind of worrisome that he hadn't gotten back
from his bathroom run yet. Then I realized that the man was
speaking English, and his accent wasn't too bad.

"Iida-san," Keno said coolly, like this was some formal

meeting.

I looked at the guy again, wondering what the fuck was

going on. The last thing anyone knew, this Iida was trying to
take over Tamazusa's kuni, with her guys holding his army on
the beach like it was fuckin' D-Day. Inuta and that little shit
Inue were protecting their borders, with occasional raids, and
Tamazusa's other neighbors were doing the same thing, so
what was he doing here?

The sad part was that I would have passed the man on the

street without a second glance. He was dressed like everyone
else here, in a kimono and hakama. The colors were brighter,
reds and oranges, when most of the men seemed to wear
blue, brown, or black. He had a pair of swords stuck in his
belt, but he didn't look that dangerous. I believed that until I
looked into his eyes. The man was made out of hate and
something evil, as strange as that sounded.

"You seem surprised to see me," Iida said. "My attack is

only a feint. It did, however, manage to distract the

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Hakkenshi. They didn't see what my other allies were doing
until too late."

"You lost," I blurted out. "She's got her place back."
Iida shrugged. "I can kill the bitch later."
The knife at Keno's throat was the only thing that stopped

him from trying to kick the man's ass then and there. I
unconsciously lunged forward, though, which caused Iida to
laugh.

"You're fond of her?" he asked me, tilting his head to one

side and studying me. "You fuck her?"

"None of your goddamned business," I snarled at him.
He laughed again and stepped closer to Keno. "Such a

pretty flower," he said, stroking the side of his face lightly.
Keno cringed and tried to get away from the touch, like it hurt
him or something. "Talented, too, it seems. I almost didn't
notice you when you played her maid, so mousey and meek.
Not looking like the whore that you are now."

I struggled to get loose and kick his ass for that one. I had

been pissed about what he said about Tamazusa, but him
insulting Keno was too much. He laughed, and one of his
goons hit me on the back of the head. It was like getting hit
with baseball bat. I saw stars for a second and was hoping
like hell Noma was getting some help, because I didn't think
he could take these guys on his own.

"I only need one of you as a hostage," Iida said coolly,

glancing between the two of us. I felt like he was going to ask
me about my teeth or something, the way he was sizing me
up. "And right now, Samojirou's little blossom is the more
valuable one. I don't doubt that the Trust would be interested

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in you also, but I think that I only need one of you to get
Dieter."

"Wolf?" Keno almost gasped.
I was confused and slightly annoyed, but I didn't think that

this guy would fall for the "I don't know nobody called Wolf"
routine. What use was he to them? Shit, his grandfather was
a Trustee, but there was like a dozen of the fucking things.
Aside from Mrs. Adams and him, the rest of them were
probably shits. Was this some sort of corporate takeover?
Would Wolf be used to make sure that his grandfather didn't
have a shitfit and do something about whoever had taken
over Kyushu and stop them? Or rat them out to whatever
government actually gave a shit about what we were doing?

"Using you would make sure that both that Samojirou and

Dieter don't spoil my plans," he continued with an evil smile.

I was kind of hoping he'd do the classic villain thing and

explain what was going on to us, because he was acting like a
slimy villain in every other way, but he just shut up after that
and stared at us, debating what to do next. I kept my mouth
shut for once. Iida smiled, and my blood ran cold, but I was
relieved when the next words out of his mouth were, "Take
them both."

What sucked was that one of his assholes hit me on the

back of the head to knock me out. I just knew that I was
going to have a killer headache when I woke up again.

* * * *

Keno

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I woke up in a small room with Mason. We had both been

tossed on the floor and stripped down to our underwear. I
shuddered at the thought of Iida undressing me. I knew that
he had done that just because he could, so that he could
touch all the bruises I had from making love with Samojirou.
But mostly because he knew it would upset me. I sat up
slowly, aware of the fact that my head felt like it was going to
roll off my shoulders and that my mouth was dry and nasty-
tasting. After a few minutes, Mason groaned and sat up,
looking a little gray. I noticed there was a really nasty lump
on the back of his head,

"Fucking asshole," Mason groaned. I didn't know if he

meant the man that hit him or Iida. Knowing him, probably
both of them. "Hopefully Noma managed to get help."

"I don't know," I said. Iida had only had me knocked out

after he had told me what had happened to Noma. "Iida told
me that he might survive his injuries, if someone got him help
quickly enough."

"Shit, I hope so," Mason said, standing up slowly. "He's a

nice kid."

"He left a note on Noma," I continued, also standing up,

glad the room wasn't swimming around me. "It instructed
Wolf as to where he could find us."

"And he's stupid enough to fall for something like that,"

Mason groaned. "With any luck, McGann will manage to talk
some sense into the man."

"And he brings someone with him," I added. Genpachi or

another of my brothers, I hoped. I just wondered how he
would be able to get in touch with them. I wondered how long

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we had been unconscious, too, because for all I knew, Wolf
was a prisoner here too.

"What the fuck is he doing?" Mason asked. I took me a

second to realize that he was talking about Iida.

"I don't know," I said. "I had thought that he wasn't

working with the Trust, but now I'm not too sure."

"He could be trading favors with them," Mason said,

looking thoughtful. "My question is who in the Trust is he
dealing with?"

"Who knows?" I answered. "I really didn't pay attention to

that stuff. I don't even know their names or anything like
that. The only one that I knew was Collins. And I wasn't
around when Tamazusa-sama questioned him."

Mason winced when I said that. I knew why, too. He knew

that Tamazusa hadn't sat down and had tea with the man to
get the information she wanted. I knew she had his skull
someplace in her bedroom. I didn't know what happened to
the rest of the body.

"I wonder where the fuck we are, 'cause I think that the

man would have trouble getting us out of Edo. It was a bitch
to get in."

"That still leaves a lot of territory for people to search," I

pointed out.

"I know," he grumbled. "I feel like a fucking idiot."
"You feel stupid?" I posed. "Samojirou-sama sent me to

Edo to keep me out of trouble and safe."

And even if I didn't like it, I didn't blame Mason for

laughing.

* * * *

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I didn't know how long we were held in that room. Mason

seemed kind of uncomfortable that we were both only in our
underwear. I was surprised. I also thought the issue might be
that we were being held prisoner and there wasn't a way out.
We both had examined the room, looking to escape. It was
empty, the walls and floor made of some sort of pale wood,
without any windows, and had a heavy teak door. I didn't
even know if we were still in Edo. That worried me. He could
have taken us anywhere. And using us as bait to get Wolf
wasn't a good idea either. I didn't think he'd go berserk or
anything, but he'd be angry. And even I knew that an angry
Wolf wasn't a good thing.

Iida showed up after a while. He swept into the room,

followed by a couple of his retainers. I wasn't surprised to see
that Mawatari wasn't among them. I would have bet he was
the man who was leading the attack on Tamazusa's forces.
But there was something odd about the men who were with
Iida, like the ones on the boat. I couldn't place it, but even for
the Dreamlands, there was something off about these men.

"I expected to see Wolf by now." Iida smirked at me. I

shrugged. He frowned. "I'm surprised that you didn't know
how he felt about you."

"How he felt about me?" I echoed, thinking that I must

have looked as stupid as I felt. The man had told me he was
never going to feel like that about me. So why was Iida
hinting that Wolf had been lying to me?

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Mason looked interested in that for a second before he hid

it. Unfortunately, Iida saw it also. "So that quack was right!"
he exclaimed.

"Quack?" I asked. What did a duck have to do with this?
"Wolf likes the kid," Mason said slowly, almost reluctantly.

"It was killing him that he stayed here, but you knew that."

Iida smiled. "My informants in your organization

mentioned that either one of you would be good bait for him.
You've worked with him for years, and he considers you a
good friend, one of the few that he has. The boy... well, he
seemed to be in love with him."

"Wolf?" I almost gasped, wondering what was going on.
"He was very attentive to you on the journey here," Iida

told me. "Did you not think that odd?"

I thankfully didn't blurt out that he had been checking on

McGann all those times. I didn't want her to be involved in
this mess.

"And since Samojirou seems to be fond of you also," Iida

continued. "I can use you to get to him. Killing him would
weaken that bitch's hold on her kuni. The fool didn't bother to
claim it when he thought that you both were dead, even
though he has the strength to do so. Neither did any of the
other idiots who follow her. I'd have thought that one of them
was intelligent enough to make a grab for power once she
was gone. Instead, they let a woman rule them!"

Neither one of us knew what to say, because Mason was

silent too. I was seething with rage. I hated being used, and I
was annoyed that Iida seemed to have gotten the wrong
information about Wolf and me. Who had been his source?

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Iida stepped closer to me, openly ogling me. "I can see the

attraction that both of them have for you," he said. "You're
almost as pretty as that bitch is."

He reached out a hand to touch me, and I involuntarily

stepped back from him. I didn't want him to touch me, even
more than I had ever wanted to avoid Fairinox for the same
reason. Both men were unclean, but in different ways. I'd had
a hard time not screaming when he'd touched me back at the
inn.

"You know, don't you?" he asked.
"Know what?" I asked. I knew something was wrong with

the man. That was all. And it wasn't something I had ever
sensed before, even with all the people I had met with
Samojirou. How had he managed to hide that from me all the
times we had met before?

"Don't play dumb," he said gaily. That was scarier than if

he had snarled it.

"I really don't know what you're talking about," I told him

truthfully.

"Kid don't have a reason to lie to you," Mason said.
Iida looked over at Mason, a slight smile on his face. "You

know he is the reason that they survived the ocean. Even
those winged beasts couldn't save her."

Mason shrugged. "Not knowing the payload of the fucking

things, I couldn't tell you shit about that."

"So how did you survive the storm?" Iida asked me,

ignoring Mason's answer.

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I shook my head. "I don't know. The ship started to break

up, and the next thing I remember is that I woke up on some
farm."

"In the Northlands?" Iida asked.
I nodded, not seeing any reason to lie.
"Interesting. I thought that you would be driven west, not

north. I wonder why you went in that direction?"

"I don't know," I repeated. I didn't, but I bet that it had

something to do with Mason and Wolf being there. I still
couldn't figure out how we had gotten through the barrier,
but I had wanted to go home so badly I was glad that it
happened. Tamazusa had also, I had seen that in her eyes.
She probably had been the one to push us through. "What
does it matter?"

"It matters," Iida told me with a grin. "It matters whether

or not I keep you or turn you over to those idiots at the Trust.
Fools think that they will be able to live here. They don't know
what they have gotten into. That is the most amusing part of
all this."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Mason asked.
Iida laughed. "Another fool. Why are you here? Why did

Samojirou-sama trust you with his precious Sakura-chan? Or
should I say 'Inuzaka Keno'."

Mason shrugged, playing the part of the fool he was called

perfectly, it seemed to me. "Sakura or Keno, the kid's a
friend, and I offered to look after him. If his boyfriend has
some sort of flower fixation, shit, ain't no harm in giving him
a nickname. Don't know why everyone gets excited at the
name Keno."

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Iida frowned, thinking about his answer. "There is

something here that my allies haven't bothered to tell me."

"You seem to be as thrilled with the fuckers as I am,"

Mason observed.

"But that still doesn't make me want to trust you." Iida

grinned evilly. "So tell me why, do you know why you are
with Inumura's wife?"

Mason kept silent. I guessed he was trying to think up a

good lie. I decided that telling Iida the truth would be better,
just not all of it. "Fuse-hime has decided to stay with her
daughter by marriage," I said. "And Samojirou-sama begged
a favor of the lady to take me with her. And since Wolf and
Mason would be useless to either Samojirou-sama or
Tamazusa-sama in their Hatamoto, they decided to send
them with me."

If Iida didn't know or care about McGann, I wasn't going to

tell him about her. Thankfully, Mason kept his mouth shut.
Why wouldn't he? It was the truth. Sort of. Leaving out the
facts that both he and Wolf were avatars of my brothers and
that I wasn't too sure who I was supposed to be anymore.

"An interesting answer, and one that shows your

ignorance," Iida said. "And it's well-known that the princess
Fuse and Samojirou are close. I was surprised that she was
willing to ally with him, though. But that might have to do
with you, Sakura-chan."

"The alliance would be with Tamazusa-sama," I blurted

out. "Not Samojirou-sama. But I think that the two of them
played that Game to see what happened and to amuse
themselves."

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"They would," Iida snarled. "Women think that they have

the power and the skill to play the Game. Their posturing
sickens me."

I stared at the man, wondering what had happened to him

that he seemed to hate women so much. But from what I was
feeling, he seemed to be made of hate. I wonder if Samojirou
and Tamazusa had been like this in the beginning of their
time in the Dreamlands. If he survived, would Iida's hate be
tempered as theirs had been? Was this why he was in the
Dreamlands—he had managed to hate so thoroughly that he
had turned himself into an oni? Or was the evil I felt in him
because he had given himself to dark and dangerous things,
beings that even tengu were reluctant to deal with? Hate and
evil... had I been like this once?

"Tamazusa's a cast-iron bitch," Mason started.
Iida seized upon that statement. I didn't know if Mason

had said that just to get some sort of information from the
man or not. "You understand what I am talking about!
Women," he said, glaring at me, "and those who ape them,
were meant to serve, not rule. I'll make the bitch howl when I
see her again!"

"You say bitch like it's a bad thing," Mason snarled at Iida,

getting closer to him. "Fuck, I'm gettin' her the T-shirt that
says that. You so much of a girlie-boy that you can't stand a
woman who has a bigger set of balls than you do? She may
be a bitch, but she's my bitch, so shut the fuck up!"

Iida snarled and punched him. I wasn't surprised that

Mason was knocked back five feet to land against the wall and
then sort of slide down it, stunned. He shook his head and

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spit out a mouthful of bloody saliva. I was surprised there
weren't teeth in it too. Mason just grinned at him. "A little too
close to the truth, asshole?"

Iida snarled and stomped out of the room. I went over and

helped Mason up. "I don't think that was a good idea," I said.

"It was so fuckin' worth it to see him lose it." Mason

grinned but quickly sobered up. "Plus, shit, he don't like
chicks. And I don't mean in the way that you and Samojirou
don't seem to like them. Man has one hard-on of hate in
him."

"He's evil," I blurted out. Mason looked at me like I was

insane. "Can't you feel it?"

"Man's an asshole, and that's all I feel," Mason said. "Don't

mean that I think that you're full of shit about that. Just
means that I don't know what the fuck you're talking about."
He was silent for a moment. "I know that he's creeping you
the fuck out."

"It's more than that," I said. I had my own moment of

silence, thinking about what I had just guessed. "What do you
know about why Tamazusa-sama is here?"

Mason looked at me, and I could see him thinking. I let

him, not really wanting to talk about this, but not being able
to explain it any other way. After a short while he shrugged.
"I think that she mentioned some shit about a dude named
Satomi. She told me a little."

I nodded. "I think that Iida might be an oni."
Mason frowned and felt his jaw gingerly. "That would

explain why the fucker has a punch like a damned mule." He
looked at me, and I realized there were a lot of things he

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wasn't telling me. I wasn't mad that he was keeping secrets
from me. Those things happened sometimes. But now wasn't
the time to demand the truth from him. "We just got to figure
out who he's dealing with. Fuck, I hate all this crap. I ain't
one for figuring out this shit. Just point me where you want
me to go, and I'll take care of those fucking monsters for you.
Planning and plotting, shit, that's what Trustees do, and I'm
sure as fuck not one of them!"

[Back to Table of Contents]

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Chapter Sixteen

Samojirou
I arrived in Keno's room slightly before dusk. I was hoping

to see my lover. Who I found was Wolf and Inukai Genpachi.
Wolf looked frantic. Inukai looked... neutral was the only word
that I could think of.

"I told you he'd be here," Inukai told Wolf calmly.
Wolf glared at him. He wasn't used to Inukai's annoying

habit of knowing far too much about things that he shouldn't.

"Read this," Wolf practically snarled, thrusting a piece of

parchment in my hand.

"Their calligraphy is terrible," I snapped, giving it a quick

glance. "Where is my consort?"

"Read it," Inukai ordered after Wolf winced at the word

"consort."

I did. The ink was cheap and ran in the oddest places. The

kanji looked like it had been written by a child or one that
wasn't fluent in written Japanese, and there were spots of
blood on it. I frowned, trying to piece together whatever it
was trying to say. When I did, I snarled, a sound that would
rival Yatsufusa at his finest. It was a message from Iida, who
claimed to have Keno and Mason prisoner.

"He dares!"
"He's an idiot," Inukai agreed with me, "but one who has

no real knowledge of the prizes he has. And an idiot who is
willing to tell us where to find him."

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"It does say nothing about Wolf being alone," I said, trying

to calm down. I wanted to kill Iida for what he had done.

Inukai grinned at me. "So you will join us?"
"You even have to ask that question?" I snarled. "While I

don't think he can take care of this himself, it would be rude
not to take the man up on his kind invitation."

Wolf looked at the two of us as if we were insane. I could

have been. I had just gotten Keno back, only to have him
snatched away again! I was glad I was still in my armor; I
had been too eager to see him to bother taking it off.

"I know the place that he has taken them," Inukai said. "It

has a bad reputation."

"It's a trap," Wolf said.
I rolled my eyes, wondering how intelligent he was.
"Of course it's a trap!" Inukai said. "But we just have to

figure out what the real trap was, where he is now, and if he
has done something to the prisoners."

"Where did you find this?" I asked.
"On the samurai who was escorting them around town,"

Wolf said. "From what he has told us, he was attacked in the
bathroom by something that wasn't human. Then Mason and
Keno were kidnapped. But why?"

"I will not tell you why Sakura-chan is a valuable hostage,"

Inukai told him patiently. "Mason-san, that is the puzzle. I
think that it has something to do with you rather than who he
is."

Wolf looked confused. "But Keno—"
"Is not known by that name," I said. "Or he should not be.

It would be very bad for him if others knew who he was."

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"He will not believe you," Inukai said.
"He doesn't have to believe me," I retorted. "Just so that

he understands that if he keeps calling Keno by his true
name, tragedy will follow. I was always aware of who he was,
which is why I insisted on the masquerade that I did."

* * * *

Mason
I wasn't surprised that two of Iida's big fuckers dragged

me out of our cell after backhanding Keno across the room.
That was the only thing that stopped him from going after
these guys.

"I think that you're going to be good bait," Iida said as he

had me hauled up on some sort of post.

"Fuck off," I growled.
He laughed, which pissed me off. "I don't think that you'll

be so defiant in a few hours."

"Pissed that Wolf ain't following your game plan?" I asked.

"My heart fuckin' bleeds for you."

Iida shook his head and just left me. Which didn't sound

bad until I realized that after a couple of minutes, my arms
were numb from being twisted above my head and my
shoulders were killing me. And I'd had too much time to think
about what was being done to Keno and if Wolf was going to
be stupid enough to fall for this. I knew he would, because he
thought that he owed me or something. Shit, Logan had been
right. Wolf was a good man. And he'd walk into this fuckin'
trap because of that.

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I had my eyes closed and was trying to shift into a more

comfortable position, which I swear I had been doing for
fuckin' hours, when I heard Samojirou hiss, "Don't touch
him."

I opened my eyes. Wolf, Samojirou, and Inukai were

standing in front of me, dressed in dull, black armor. Wolf
looked really good in that Japanese stuff. "Shit," was the only
thing that I could say. Came out more as a croak really.

"Sakura-dono?" Inukai asked.
Wolf gave me some water, and I drank it down before

saying, "That bastard knows. Fuck if I know how, but shit, he
knows. Fucker's double crossing the fucking Trustees too."

Samojirou looked beyond pissed at that little tidbit. "Where

is he?"

"I think that he's over in the main building over there," I

said, pointing with my chin.

"This is going to hurt," Inukai told me. I didn't know what

the fuck he was talking about until he untied my arms and
moved them. I screamed like a motherfucker then. Wolf
stuffed a shirt over my mouth to muffle it, but I didn't think it
really worked.

"You do know that we were trying to be discreet here?"

Samojirou asked acidly.

"He knows that we're here," Inukai snapped. "Why else

would be leave Mason out like this? We just have to go after
your blossom now."

"Asshole's eyeing him funny," I said when I could catch my

breath. My arms felt like they were on fire with the pins and
needles. Wolf was rubbing them to get some sort of feeling

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into them. He stopped for a second when I spoke, and I could
almost feel how pissed he was. "And he's freaking out about
something with the guy. I don't know what's bugging him, but
it's something bad."

"The man is evil," Inukai said.
"I don't think that he's a man," I said. "That's what was

freaking the kid the fuck out."

No one said anything else after that. Wolf draped one of

my arms over his shoulder. "We have to find Keno and get
out of here," he said.

Inukai frowned. "And where would he be that would anger

you the most?"

Samojirou looked at him, beyond pissed, it seemed to me.

It looked like he wanted to lose it right then and there. "That
thing's rooms," he snarled.

"And where are those?" I asked.
"Up," Wolf said quietly.
"How the fuck do you know that?" I asked.
"He's been watching you the entire time," Inukai told me.
"Motherfucker," I snarled weakly.
It fucking figured that he'd have done something like that.

But I felt a lot better. I looked up, and I swear that asshole
Iida waved at me, wiggling his fingers as he hung over the
rail of a balcony a couple of stories up. I was proud of the fact
that I managed to get one of my arms up high enough so that
he saw me giving him the finger.

Samojirou didn't say anything. He marched into the

building, walking a little too fast. I heard the clash of steel as
soon as he got into the doorway.

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"Watch after him," Inukai told Wolf, following Samojirou

inside.

I straightened up. "Let's get Keno's ass out of here."

* * * *

Keno
I'd been hit so hard, I had passed out after Mason was

taken out of our cell. When I woke up, I was in someone's
room with an aching head, but I was indecently relieved that
I still had my fundoshi on. I heard a pained scream from
outside that made me roll off what I had been lying on and
stumble to my feet. It had sounded like Mason. I was a little
dizzy, but I could fight if I had to. I just had to figure out
where I was. The room was in Western style with a four-
poster bed, which was what I had been on. The room didn't
have much else in it besides that. There was a door and a
balcony door, but nothing more.

"They've come," Iida called out from the balcony.
I glanced around the room, looking for some sort of

weapon, which I didn't find. What I noticed instead was one
of Iida's big guys in the room with me, approaching me with
his hands out. He just grinned at me and lunged, like he was
trying to catch a chicken. I dodged out of his way, knowing
that once he got his hands on me, I'd be in deep trouble. He
stumbled, and I darted around him and then pushed from
behind so he was further off balance. It worked and he fell
flat on his face.

"Stop fooling around," Iida ordered.

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I ran to the door, yanking it open because it was a hinged

Western-style type and ended up running right into another of
Iida's henchmen. I tried to dart around him, but the guy filled
up the entire door. He grabbed me by my arm, spun me
around, and then twisted my arm behind me.

"Don't bruise Samojirou-sama's blossom too badly," Iida

told him.

The man grunted and frogmarched me out to the balcony,

while the man I had pushed was up on his feet and glaring at
me when I went past him.

Iida pushed my hair out of my face, making me shudder.

"So pretty," he cooed. "Would he like you if you weren't as
pretty?"

A knife magically appeared in his hand, and he stroked it

gently down my face, the point tracing some sort of pattern
over my cheek but not breaking the skin.

"What's your connection with the Trustees?" I whispered,

trying not to sound as scared as I felt.

He leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Wouldn't you

like to know?"

His breath smelled and felt foul. He licked my ear, causing

me to involuntarily exclaim in disgust and jerk my head away
from him. He slapped me with his empty hand for that. I
shook my head to clear it. I felt like I wanted to pass out
again, he had hit me so hard.

"You're going to have to stop being so delicate," he said

smugly. "I know that they'll give you to me. You're not one of
their favorite people right now." He clicked his tongue a
couple of times. "You were a very bad boy."

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"It was worth it," I said. I knew what he was talking about.

The Trustees must have been really angry with me. I guessed
I'd done a lot more damage than I'd thought when I'd
destroyed the servers. Enough so that they'd hurt me more
than Murphy had.

"Mmm. Will you think so after I punish you for it?" he

asked.

He went back to stroking my face with a finger, causing

me to squish into the chest of the man holding me. Even so, I
couldn't avoid his touch. My stomach churned, and I reacted
instinctively. I pulled back my leg, and then I kicked him in
the thigh more than where I had been aiming: his groin. Iida
stumbled back, dropping the knife, and I tried to twist out of
the grip of the man behind me. I thought that I had surprised
him, because I was able to slip out of his grasp, my arms
aching a bit from the way he had been holding me. I ran
forward, more intent on trying to escape Iida than doing
anything else. I wasn't proud. I knew when I was outclassed
as a fighter, and I didn't want Iida to touch me again.

It almost worked, except that I stumbled over the edge of

a rug, and Iida was able to grab me by my hair, pulling me
back against him, holding me with his arm across my throat.

"I think that we're going to wait for those who showed up

for you," he called out gleefully.

I struggled, but he cut off my breath, making me feel like I

was going to pass out from the lack of air. "I'm surprised that
the great Inuzaka Keno tried to escape rather than kill me,"
he said.

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"I'm thinking of changing my mind," I gasped. I really

hadn't. I was concentrating on breathing.

He nuzzled the side of my face with his cheek, loosening

his chokehold a little. His free hand lightly traced down my
chest and stomach, lightly scratching me, before it snaked
underneath my fundoshi, touching me where I really didn't
want to be touched, his fingernails prickling me like claws. I
let out a half-choked scream and stamped on one of his feet,
which he ignored. All I did was hurt my bare foot on his heavy
sandals. The two goons were grinning like idiots, and I
vaguely heard the sounds of fighting in the hallway, even with
the thick walls and heavy door.

"Such a delicate blossom," Iida taunted me.
"You...." I gasped, feeling stupid and helpless because I

couldn't do anything to stop him from doing this to me. I
thought about kicking him again when he tightened his grip
on my privates.

He laughed, licking the side of my face, making me jerk as

far away as I could, ignoring the pain in my groin. "Keep still
or you will regret it," he threatened.

I felt the slow trickle of blood down my right leg after that

and stood as still as possible. I had gotten the message: he'd
really hurt me if he wanted to, and I was cowardly enough to
want to avoid it, since I wanted to try to escape again. I knew
I couldn't do that if he truly injured me. He'd just scratched
my thigh or something this time.

The door burst open, and I wanted to sink through the

floor in embarrassment. Samojirou was there in armor with
his katana drawn and covered with blood. One of the goons

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lunged at him, and he easily beheaded him, making it look
almost like an afterthought.

He took one look at what was happening and growled, "Let

him go!"

"I want to see how far Inuzaka is willing to go to make

that happen," Iida laughed.

When Iida said that, I could see the rage and the sorrow in

Samojirou's eyes. I knew what he was afraid of. I was afraid
of the same thing.

Genpachi burst through the door behind him, his katana

equally covered with blood, and took care of the other goon.
A second behind him was Wolf, with his broadsword drawn,
also blood spattered.

"This is amusing," Iida said, ignoring the fact that his

goons had just been killed. "I seem to have the upper hand
here. I suggest that you put your weapons down."

Samojirou took a step forward, his eyes wild, not bothering

to lower his sword. Genpachi flicked the blood off his katana
and sheathed it, circling to the right a bit. His eyes were
watchful, and I knew that what he had done really wouldn't
keep him from killing Iida if he wanted to. Wolf stepped into
the room cautiously, and then he stopped, stunned by what
he was seeing. "Keno," he said quietly.

"I'm fine," I managed to get out before Iida tightened his

grip on me, choking off my breath again.

"Now that we have all the players here, I wonder how this

part of the Game is going to end," Iida laughed.

"You won't live through this," Samojirou vowed, his rage

turning his voice ice cold.

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"Neither will he if you play this wrong," Iida said. He

laughed again, and I wondered how sane the man was. This
was something that sane people didn't do, baiting three men
who were very willing to kill him. "Blossoms are very fragile."

"What do you want?" Wolf asked. I didn't like the fear in

his eyes. But I was glad too. He wasn't berserk. I didn't think
I could have handled that.

"I don't think you can give me what I want," Iida said with

a high-pitched laugh. "What my master wants."

"What are you talking about?" Samojirou demanded.
"What do you think will happen when the Dreamlands goes

to war? When those here destroy themselves with their
fighting? While the Dreamlands just are, what do you think
they are?"

"What master do you serve?" Genpachi demanded.
Iida laughed. "My master is called many things, some of

which you might know. But all I will tell you is that he will
revel in the Dreamlands' destruction and rebirth."

"Rebirth?" Samojirou asked.
"Your peace is what keeps the Dreamlands stable. That is

why there are nothing more than skirmishes, for all that the
Southern nations call out for war. War has come, and it will
destroy you all!" Iida laughed and scratched me again with
his nails.

Wolf went still, his nostrils flaring. I heard a growl deep in

his throat, I swear. I guessed that he'd just caught of whiff of
my blood. I tried to swallow, my mouth suddenly dry. Wolf
just screamed and threw himself at Iida. From the look on
everyone's face, they hadn't expected he would do that.

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Iida stood his ground, using me as a shield, which was

stupid, because the man was a head taller than I was. Mason
limped into the room, clutching a katana he had gotten from
somewhere. "For fuck's sake, not again!" he exclaimed.

I threw myself forward, trying to make myself a smaller

target, struggling to get out of Iida's hold, not caring what got
broken in doing so. I felt his nails shift and dig into my left
thigh. With my right foot, even though I was horribly off
balance, I tried to kick him in the groin again. This time it
worked, because his grip loosened, and I was able to get
away. Wolf got one wild swing in as I hit the floor and rolled
away from the two of them. I managed to get to my feet
away from the fighting and head toward Mason. He handed
me his katana without a word.

Genpachi went into the corridor to take care of the second

wave of fighters that had just arrived, seeing that Wolf was
taking care of this problem.

"Are you hurt?" Samojirou asked.
"Just scratched up," I said as I winced, feeling the damage

done to my thigh. "You go help Genpachi."

"And you?" he asked.
I looked at the fighting in front of me. Wolf was still

swinging wildly, trying to get to Iida, who was dodging him
with ease, letting him chase him around the room. He was
blocking some of the blows with his knife, matching Wolf's
wild strength easily.

"I'm going to stay here, just in case he needs help," I told

Samojirou softly. "When he's done with Iida."

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Our eyes met, and I lunged forward to kiss him. It was

passionate and all too brief.

Iida saw what we were doing and laughed wildly. "Will you

still want your blossom when he's drenched in blood?"

Samojirou whirled and went out into the corridor to help

Genpachi. If he didn't, I thought that he'd have attacked Iida.
But he knew that Wolf might think that it was a good idea to
attack him too if he did that.

Wolf ignored what we were doing, and I could almost

admire his single-mindedness. Iida scooped up a katana,
dropped his knife, and fell into a defensive position. Wolf
circled around him, breathing heavily before moving in for the
kill. He had calmed down a little, but I still didn't think he was
going to be acting logically soon.

"I didn't think that Wolf was so fond of you," Iida said with

a smirk. "He is truly in love with you."

"You're full of shit," Mason scoffed. "No offense, kid, but I

don't think that he likes you that way."

"I know," I said, trying not to feel miserable about it. If he

had.... But I had Samojirou now, and that was better than
anything I could have had with Wolf. But there was still a part
of me that was attached to my first love.

Wolf growled and swung wildly at him, wide swings that

Iida parried easily. But he wasn't able to go on the offense,
and Wolf was driving him toward the balcony. I didn't know if
that was a good thing or not. I wasn't surprised that Wolf
wasn't saying anything, because he was too focused on trying
to kill Iida. If this were a battle, this would have gotten Wolf
killed.

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"I regret that I'm not going to see the end," Iida said,

sounding breathless and tired. He almost sounded sad too.
"This Game is a glorious one." He laughed. "Our wild one here
is not going to like one of the players."

I had a feeling the man wasn't talking about what most of

the nobles here called the Game. It was like they were
playing Go, and he had set them up to play chess or even
poker, and they didn't know that. "What are you talking
about?" I demanded.

"A smart blossom," Iida said, backing away from Wolf. Part

of me wanted Wolf to kill him and another part of me wanted
to know what Iida was talking about. "You see more than the
others."

"We should try and stop Wolf, but I don't think that the

fucker's worth it," Mason said behind me. "He's a bigger
asshole than the Trustees are."

"From the mouth of babes," Iida called out.
That was the last thing he said. Wolf lunged forward and

took the man's head, because Iida at last was unable to block
one of those wild, powerful swings. Iida's body fell one way
and his head went sailing out the balcony door. Iida's torso
sprayed blood all over Wolf, and that seemed to snap him out
of whatever trance he had been in.

He looked down at himself in horror, before he looked over

at us. "What happened?"

"You went bugfuck again," Mason told him bluntly. "Killed

that fucker Iida."

The sounds of fighting had died down out in the corridor.

"It's clear," Genpachi called out.

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Samojirou came back in the room, his sword sheathed,

even though he was covered with blood and other detritus.
He opened his mouth to say something when the building
started to shake, as if there was an earthquake.

"Time to leave," Genpachi announced, as if this was a

party.

"The Dreamlands do not have quakes," Samojirou said.

"This is some sort of evil spell."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Mason said. We all

moved out into the corridor and picked our way around the
bodies there. Some of them looked human. Others were more
deformed than a tengu. The smell was terrible, and I felt the
building disintegrating around us. We managed to get out just
as the walls started to fall. If we had been on a floor higher
than the third, we wouldn't have been able to make it out of
there. Samojirou picked me up and carried me out. I buried
my head into his neck and shook, because everything that
had just happened was catching up with me.

We stood in the empty lot next to where Iida had been

keeping us, that building reduced to rubble. Samojirou kissed
me, murmuring in my ear until I stopped shaking. After a
minute, I heard Mason say, "Get a room."

Genpachi started laughing, and soon we all joined him,

relieved that we had gotten through this, at least.

* * * *

Samojirou

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I returned to Inumura's stronghold in Edo with the others.

I didn't want to leave Keno just yet. I had almost lost him
again.

"I think that Kyushu's going to be more difficult to deal

with than you thought," Keno told me quietly.

He'd had his wounds tended to. They were not serious, but

had been messy, since Iida had almost unmanned him with
his nails. If he had been a little more to the right, he would
have. Wolf had killed the honorless bastard too quickly and
easily. He should heal without a scar, though. We were lying
quietly in Keno's room now, wrapped around each other,
needing to know we were safe.

"Why?' I asked.
"Something that Iida said," he said thoughtfully. "About

Wolf not liking some of the players in the Game."

"The man was mad."
"I don't think that he was a man at all," Keno said. "He

was something evil, worse than the monsters that live here."

"Like myself?" I asked lightly.
"You and Tamazusa-sama aren't evil," Keno asserted. "If

you were, you would have told me about my ancestor."

Before I could say anything, he leaned up and kissed me. I

wasn't surprised when it became more involved, because I
believed he was using his body to tell me something that he
couldn't. He rolled me over on my back and started kissing
his way down my neck, making the most amazing sounds as
he did. He licked my chest, worshiping it almost, making
small nips occasionally, causing me to writhe and gasp in
pleasure. When he got to my staff, he licked it, twirling his

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tongue around it, and then licked and sucked on my sac. He
eased me for a time, and then I lifted him up for a kiss. I
tasted my sweat and seed on him, and it was more
intoxicating than the headiest sake. "I want you," I groaned.

"Take me," he whispered, rolling gracefully onto his back

and spreading his legs.

I studied him, hating the traces of Iida's scratches on his

legs, but there was also an innocent wantonness about him.
His staff was erect and curling toward his stomach, his sac
was hard. I leaned over to taste him, smelling of his desire
and herbs. He smiled at me and poured some oil on his
fingers. I watched, enthralled, as he prepared himself for me,
because I was afraid I would hurt him. He was moaning and
whimpering as he worked three fingers into his opening
slowly. His eyes were half-open, and all I could see was love
in them. "I can't," he husked out.

"Prepare me," I said.
He dreamily withdrew his fingers and poured more oil on

them, then caressed my shaft, oiling it thoroughly. I loomed
above him and guided his left leg onto my shoulder,
marveling at how flexible he was even as I pushed into him. I
was in no hurry to end this, so I made sure that my pace was
fast enough for him to enjoy, but not to bring him to climax. I
held his wrists down by his sides so he couldn't touch himself
and proceeded to kiss him breathless as I rocked in and out
of him.

"Please," he begged, sounding needy and shameless. I

marveled at the changes a year had wrought in him. I knew

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that he wouldn't have been this way in the beginning, even
after we had become intimate.

"Please what?" I asked lazily.
"Please... I'm close," he whined, begging delightfully.
"So am I," I told him, getting a bit breathless myself. "And

I will not be hurried."

He whimpered deliciously until he came, a soft moan deep

in his throat as he spilled. I relaxed then, coming with him,
delighting in the fact that we had come together.

I collapsed gently upon him, eventually shifting so that he

was curled in my arms.

"You don't have to go," he murmured.
I thought about that. I didn't have to now, but I would

soon. The Hakkenshi were gathering forces across Nippon to
drive the invaders out. I just hoped it would be enough to
save it from what I had learned from Iida.

I did something so cowardly I should have been ashamed

of myself. I kept silent and didn't remind my lover that while I
might not be leaving now, I would leave him eventually.

[Back to Table of Contents]

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375

Chapter Seventeen

Tamazusa
I was surprised to see Mason return with Aboshi from

Inumura's castle.

"Just wanted to make sure that you're all right," he said,

trying to sit down gracefully in a kimono. All he managed to
do was not expose himself to me. I've seen drunken
merchants who were more graceful. But he was trying, and
that was what was important.

"And why wouldn't I be?" I asked. "Iida's forces have

melted away, like the snow in spring."

They had. His troops had fled in the night, returning to the

sea, it seemed to me. Mawatari had committed seppuku.
Okita had found his body in their camp. It looked like the man
had not had a second and had died in agony after he opened
his stomach.

Now the Hakkenshi and I had to rally the other lords of

Nippon to chase the Trust and the Southerners out of Kyushu.

"It was you who seems to have been in trouble," I teased.
"Fuck, that was embarrassing," he said. "Just don't give

the kid shit about it. He kicked ass."

"So I have been told," I said, stepping closer to him,

smiling coyly at him. "And you have nothing to be ashamed
about either."

Mason grinned. "I knew there was a reason that I liked

you." He sobered. "Iida was bugfuck insane. And shit, I think
that there's something nasty hidden on Kyushu."

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"We will deal with that when we have to," I said. Then I

sighed. "And now I have to convince the other lords that
unifying under one banner is the only way we can save
ourselves."

"Hinaginu-san tried to explain that crap to me," Mason

said. "I still don't understand shit about it. But are you going
to be the big boss?"

I laughed and shook my head. "I will leave that honor to

Inusuka Shino. The Hakkenshi are clever strategists and are
thought of as honorable men. I have a reputation for being
none of those things. I will support whatever they decide."

Mason nodded. "While I want Wolf to watch your ass, he

lost it again, and that ain't good." He hesitated for a second.
"Shit, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I think that Wolf
would if he knew how. I think that the Trust shrink at
Waltham really fucked him up. Stupid shit too. Something
about Keno and bein' in love with him. I know that he don't
swing that way, but he lost it when McGann got hurt and then
when Keno got hurt. Before that? Fuck, he was like the
iceman in a fight. So I don't know what to think. I know that
he wouldn't want to tell you this, 'cause you still ain't his
favorite person. But he's smart enough to know that you're
able to take care of McGann. So, while he would be willing to
protect you, I think that it's better that he stay with McGann
and get his head on straight. I'm willing to cover you, but I
know that everyone else here can kick my ass, including
Sakura, probably with his makeup brush too."

"I will think about what you have told me," I promised

gravely. "And I am honored by your offer of protection." He

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looked so serious I couldn't help adding, "Because I know that
all you want to watch is my ass."

He gaped at me, shocked that I had used such language, I

thought. He started laughing after a moment, amused by
something else besides what I had said.

* * * *

Mason
I didn't know whether I should be shocked or relieved that

Tamazusa had used the word "ass" with me. Seriously, that
coming out of her mouth made my day.

I knew that we were in deep shit. I wasn't that stupid. The

Trust held part of Nippon with the help of the Egyptians, and
there were rumors that a couple more nations would be
joining the party. From what that fucker Iida had said, that
was something that was going to screw over all of the
Dreamlands and not just Nippon.

But there were good things too. Wolf and McGann seemed

to have hooked up, even if he hadn't taken the big step of
moving in with her at Inumura's place. I liked that, they were
both nice kids, and I thought that she could help him with his
little going-bug-fuck-in-a-fight issue, along with whatever
other damage that asshole had done to him. That also got
Helga off his ass, because the bitch seemed absolutely
terrified of him now. Tholf wasn't quite treating him like he
was dynamite, but it was damned close. In their culture,
being a berserker was a big thing. Me, I was waiting for the
day he moved out of my room and into McGann's.

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Keno and Samojirou seemed to be doing all right. I didn't

know how either of them were going to handle the issue with
the Trust fucking up Wolf and making him think that he was
playing for their team now, at least in regards with Keno.
Shit, Keno and Samojirou were so in love, they were having a
hard time keeping their hands off each other. They'd figure
out something to do. They both were smart guys.

And I liked it here. Granted, the beer was crap, and there

were no sports teams, but the sake and having a family again
made up for it. I think that Fuse got a kick out of me calling
her "Mom." I wasn't so ballsy that I called Yatsufusa "Dad,"
but I was working up to it.

I really didn't want to go back to working for the Trust,

and not because the assholes tried to kill me. People here
were good people and not the monsters I had been told they
were. They thought the Hakarl were vermin to be taken care
of, just like I did. I wanted to help them, as odd as that
sounded, help them in this war and with those fucking
monsters. What the Trustees were trying to do needed to be
stopped. Because the organization that had been created to
fight monsters had turned into a monster itself. And fuck, that
was what I did, what I was supposed to do: fight monsters.
So I was going to fight them in any way that I could.

* * * *

Keno
Mason, McGann, Wolf, and I stayed at Inumura's castle in

Edo. Tamazusa didn't want us to move back to her kuni until
the war was over. She wants us—me—to be safe in Edo.

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379

I didn't know what I was going to do with the information

that Wolf might like me more than he realized. As in "thinks
that I'm an adult and wants to have sex with me" like. Now
that it could happen, I wasn't interested anymore. Wolf would
always be my first love, as one sided as it had been, and the
man I had hoped I would share my first kiss with, my first
time with, instead of Heiseg raping me. But I realized that
while I loved Wolf, and still did in a way, it was a child's love
or a dream. What I had with Samojirou was real. It was the
love between two men. And I was the man that I was today
because of Samojirou.

I thought Mason was supposed to babysit me, but I

seemed to be taking care of him. I was starting to teach him
how to fight with a bokken. That kept me busy and amused
the samurai who are assigned here. I guessed that was
because when I wasn't on the field with them during morning
practice, I was in Sakura's female persona. I was doing that
so that everyone in Nippon would forget Inuzaka Keno had
ever existed. I knew that was a cowardly thing to do, but I
didn't want to be him ever again. My ancestor and I had
caused me more trouble and pain than I ever wanted to think
about. I just wanted to be Samojirou's Sakura. Samojirou
claimed that he understood the way I felt, but I knew he
didn't.

Nippon was gathering their forces together, going to

Kyushu to drive the Trust and the Southerners out. The
fighting was going to be horrific, and I knew Samojirou would
be in the middle of it. That filled me with fear, and I hated
that I could not... would not join him on the battlefield. As

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much as I wanted to, I knew that should never happen. I
knew I would never put down a katana again, were I to pick
one up to fight. And it would not be because of my ancestor's
reputation, but because I would not want to stop, because I
would become a mad dog that needed to be put down. And it
would break Samojirou's heart, something that I would never
do again.

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381

Don't Miss the Beginning

DREAMLANDS

By Felicitas Ivey

* * * *

...a fantastic read, sure to thrill readers of the genre.
—Literary Nymphs
This debut novel from a new author is a stunning piece of

work. Intricately plotted with fascinating world building and
creative characters, this story captures interest immediately
and carries it through to the end.

—Rainbow Reviews

[Back to Table of Contents]

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382

Felicitas Ivey is the pen name of a very frazzled helpdesk

drone at a Boston-area university. She's an eternal student
even with a BA in anthropology and history, since free classes
are part of the benefits. She's taken courses on gothic
architecture, premodern Japanese literature, and witchcraft,
just because they sounded like fun. She has traveled to Japan
and Europe and hopes to return to both in the future.

She knits and cross-stitches avidly, much to the disgust of

her cat, Smaugu, who wants her undivided attention. He's
also peeved that she spends so much time writing instead of
petting him. She writes urban fantasy and horror of a
Lovecraftian nature, monsters beyond space and time that
think that humans are the tastiest things in the multiverse.

Felicitas lives in Boston with her beloved husband, known

to all as The Husband, and the aforementioned cat, whom the
husband swears is a demon, even though it's his fault that
they have the cat. The husband also is worried about
Felicitas's anime habit, her love for J-Pop music, and her
extensive collection of yaoi manga and Gundam Wing
doujinshi, which has turned her library into a Very Scary Place
for him.

Visit her blogs at IveysTales.livejournal.com and felicitas

ivey.dreamwidth.org, and her web site at felicitasivey.com.
You can e-mail her at Felicitas.Ivey@gmail.com.

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383

Published by

Dreamspinner Press
4760 Preston Road
Suite 244-149
Frisco, TX 75034
www.dreamspinnerpress.com/
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and

incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or
are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is
entirely coincidental.

reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system without
the written permission of the Publisher, except where
permitted by law. To request permission and all other
inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 4760 Preston Road,
Suite 244-149, Frisco, TX 75034

www.dreamspinnerpress.com/
ISBN: 978-1-61581-620-0
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition

Back to the Dream

by Felicitas Ivey

384

October, 2010
eBook edition available
eBook ISBN: 978-1-61581-621-7

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