"They seem focused on you more than the rest of us, Tsuzuku. They've tried
brute force, maybe now they are going for subtler methods. And it's not just
a scarf, it's something more." His brother scowled at it.

 "Well then, that's that." Tsuzuku ran his fingers over the yellow dragon
with a sad, resigned smile then began to fold it. "Do we get rid of it or
keep it?"

 "Keep it, I think, until we discover what it is and how they intended to use
it."

 "It will be safer with you then." Tsuzuku brought it to his face for one
last breath of that mouth watering scent, then offered it to his brother. "Do
you smell a perfume on it, Hajime?" He questioned softly.

 Hajime took the rectangle of fabric, brought it to his face. "Maybe.
Something floral. Why?"

 "Matsuri couldn't smell it at all. I find it almost intoxicating."

 Hajime looked to his brother, startled. "What do you smell, Tsuzuku-kun?"

 "Jasmine and the sea. It's very strong, at least to me. We should see if
Amaru or Owaru can detect it in the morning. A sex pheromone to trap a Dragon
with, perhaps?" He asked with a calculating smile.

 "Perhaps." Hajime nodded, running his thumbs over the soft fabric of the
folded scarf in his hands.

 "So, did your midnight skulking turn up anything worth while?" Tsuzuku
asked, changing the subject.

 "I think so. I'll need to go over the files again in the morning." He
yawned, the long day finally catching up with him.

 "Go to bed, Elder Brother. You are tired and I am all right. We can discuss
this more in the morning, it you'd like." Tsuzuku suggested diffidently.

 "I always value your insights, Tsuzuku-kun. You know that." Hajime smiled
fondly at his brother as he rose, reached out to give his shoulder a squeeze.

 "They have not been very helpful of late, I think." Tsuzuku shrugged back
with a small frown.

 "As valuable as my own. We will go over them together after Hurricane
Matsuri is finished with us, O.K.?"

 "Hai." Tsuzuku grinned at his brother's pet name for their Cousin in one of
her cleaning moods. "Good night, Hajime-kun."

 Hajime nodded at his brother as he yawned again on his way out. Tsuzuku
waited until Hajime had closed the door, then rose and put his pajama's back
on, turned off the light and settled back against his pillow with a sigh and
a frown. Now that he thought about it, that meeting couldn't have been mere
coincidence. He started to go over every nuance of his encounter with the
women he had met this afternoon, hunting for some tell-tale clue that might
betray them as Four Sister agents. He was still searching when he drifted
back to sleep.


 Hajime brought the scarf to his nose one last time, trying to get more of
the scent that Tsuzuku said was so obvious to him. Still he could detect
nothing more than a vague impression of flowers. What were their enemies up
to and how could they have found a scent that would effect Tsuzuku but not
him? What frightened him was the suspicion that somehow the International
Conglomerate known as The Four Sisters had managed to find Tsuzuku's 'right'
woman and had her under their control. If that had happened, he might loose
Tsuzuku to them forever. He put the scarf on his bedside table as he sat on
his bed, then stretched out with a weary sigh. He had just about decided to
surrender himself to The Four Sisters if they would give him the assurances
he would arrange to make sure his brothers where left alone.

 A memory of Grandfather on a fall afternoon came back to him. He had been
fifteen and had finally gotten up the courage to ask Grandfather if his
'problem' was related to the special powers that ran in the family.
Grandfather had laughed, ruffled his hair, told him he was growing up too
fast and then had turned serious.

 "It's just the way we are, Hajime. You won't find a release for that passion
until you meet the 'right' woman." Grandfather had stressed that word.

 "What do you mean by 'right', Grandfather?" He had asked, upset. That was
not the answer he had wanted.

 "Oh, you'll know it when it happens, Grandson. It will be a woman with some
trace of dragon blood in her veins and you'll be able to smell her unique
perfume. It will call to you. I found your Grandmother that way." He got a
far away look in his eyes. "Followed her scent right to her house."
Grandfather had blinked a few times, pulling himself back into the present.
"Don't worry and be patient. You'll find one." He had given Hajime a sly
wink. "There are not many of us in the world, but like calls to like." Then
he frowned. "Except in the case of your Aunt. I still don't know why she
married Toba, but she did and that's that."

 Hajime gave a rueful smile. He should have known that Grandfather was right,
but after two years of waiting, he had to test it anyway. He had been
seventeen and taken Sutzuki, who had been madly in love with him for two
years, to a hotel. They had both been frustrated by her inability to bring
him to release and even though she insisted that he had been a wonderful and
gentle partner, he had felt like he had failed her. She had insisted they try
again a few weeks later, that the fault had been hers, not his as he kept
telling her, but had the same results. He had broken off their relationship
as gently as possible, knowing now that what his Grandfather had said was
true.

 He had learned to ignore that part of his essence, as he assumed Tsuzuku
had. His brother had never come to him as Owaru recently had, as upset and
frustrated as he himself had been at fifteen, demanding information. Owaru
had dealt with it better than he had expected, simply crossing his arms with
a big grin on his face and a sigh of relief. He had been afraid it was
something permanent and was determined to 'sniff' out a girl as soon as
possible.

 He'd have to tell Tsuzuku about what Grandfather had said about the Ryudo's
and women in the morning and where should he take that scarf to get it
examined? He was debating between a lab and a spiritualist when he finally
slid into sleep.

 The breeze blew into the Eldest Ryudo's window, swirled around the room,
pushed at one corner of the folded scarf, snuck under it, lifted it to unfurl
and carried it back out into the night. It twisted and spun, seeming to dance
with the wind then soared back into Tsuzuku's window. It headed for the
ceiling over his bed then spread and opened itself to it's full length and
width as it drifted slowly down.
 
 Tsuzuku was curled into a fetal position, his face a mask of horror as he
re-lived in his dream the manifestation of his dragon. He breathed fire and
power in fury at the buildings and puny creatures that had dared to hurt him
and threaten his brothers, intent on killing them all. He could hear Hajime
yelling at him, pleading with him. "Tsuzuku, stop! Isn't this enough? Aren't
you satisfied?"

 But he couldn't. He stretched up his neck, lifting his muzzle to the sky and
roared out his pain and fury. Gods, he hurt and his brain was on fire! And it
just fueled his anger and outrage more. Then he heard it. The Fire Dragon
cocked his head, a part of his mind telling him that this wasn't what
happened but willing to go anywhere to get away from the memory of the coming
power that his brother had thrown at him to get him to stop. A whisper that
called to the Dragon over and over. He rose to follow it then was falling
into the darkness.

 He panicked for a moment then relaxed as he realized that the whisper he had
heard was the rhythmic voice of the ocean. It was joined by the plaintive
call of seagulls, then the smell of jasmine and brine on the wind that cooled
the warmth of the sun on his skin, the awareness of firm sand against his
back. A soft, sweet voice was humming a soothing melody in time with the rush
of the waves and he could feel fingers running gently through his hair. He
sighed, contented, opened his eyes to look up. It wasn't Jasmine, as he had
expected, but an older woman with the same golden eyes, her long fair hair
blowing free around her body in the wind. He wondered maybe if it was her
mother as the lullaby seeped into his mind, soothing the Dragon into sleep.

**************


 Matsuri unlocked the double doors to the old Ryudo mansion with her key,
flung them opened and crowed "Good morning!" as she bounded in, full of
enthusiasm and good humor. She loved mornings like this, had been invigorated
by it on her bike ride over. She trotted up the stairs, flinging open Owaru's
door first.

 "Wake up, sleepy head!" Owaru groaned, pulled one of his pillows over his
head, threw the other at her. She giggled, shut the door and heard it hit the
other side with a soft 'thup'. She opened it again. "What a bear! Or should I
say Dragon?"

 "O.K. Matsuri. I'm up. Now go away." Owaru grumbled at her as he sat up in
his bed.

 Amaru passed her with a mumbled, "Good morning, Matsuri-chan." around a yawn
as he headed for the bathroom.

 She opened Hajime's next. "Hajime-kun! Time to be up!"

 Hajime opened one eye, glanced at the clock. 6:59 a.m. "I have another
minute still, Matsuri."

 "Fine. I'll go wake up Tsuzuku and be back to make sure you're up, though. I
brought some fresh squeezed orange juice I 'borrowed' from Father." She added
to give him some incentive.

 Hajime closed his eye, determined to make the most of his minute, then sat
up suddenly. The scarf was not on the table next to the clock where he had
left it last night. Where was it? He looked over the side of the bed,
thinking that maybe it had slid off onto the floor. He didn't see it anywhere
and felt a little flutter of panic. Tsuzuku! He surged out of the bed, ran
towards Tsuzuku's room, side-stepping around Owaru's groggy form heading for
the bathroom.

 Matsuri looked at him startled as he came charging up to pause by her in the
door frame. Tsuzuku was sitting on his bed, holding the scarf in front of him
and staring at it in confusion.

 "Hajime, didn't you take this with you last night?" He asked his brother
with a little quaver of alarm in his voice.

 Owaru and Amaru came and jostled with each other, trying to see what was
going on around Matsuri and Hajime's bodies.

 "Tsuzuku, get away from it. Now." Hajime commanded.

 "What's going on?" Amaru demanded from behind him, wiggled his way between
his eldest brother's hip and the door frame into Tsuzuku's room.

 Tsuzuku let it go, slid off the bed and backed away, toward them. "How did
it get back in here?" He asked.

 "I don't know." Hajime almost growled and advanced cautiously toward the
bed. He had just paused at the side, was studying it with narrowed eyes when
he saw it start to glow. It lifted on a gust of breeze and headed for
Tsuzuku. He grabbed the end as Tsuzuku stepped back involuntarily, bumping
into Owaru. The free end fluttered just short of touching his face.

 "What the hell?" Owaru muttered.

 "Tsuzuku, get out of the room! Matsuri, go with him and close the door."

 Owaru grabbed Tsuzuku's shoulders and spun him around into the hall. The
breeze pulled at the scarf gently in Hajime's hand, making it seem to reach
for Tsuzuku's retreating figure but nothing more. It settled to the ground,
limp after Matsuri shut the door.

 "What the hell are you?" He muttered at it. He had expected some violent
resistance, especially with the power that had been radiating off of it, not
this gentle surrender. It confused him.

 "I think it's got a crush on Tsuzuku-kun." Amaru piped up with a grin as he
came close, put his hands on his hips and studied the fabric dragon.

 "Don't touch it, Amaru!" Hajime warned, not sure if he should let it go.

 "O.K." Amaru nodded back, wide-eyed. "It sure is pretty, though. Is it
dangerous?"

 "I don't know. Go and close the window then get me one of those zip-lock
bags from the kitchen, would you?"

 "Hai!" Amaru answered as he went to close the window.

 Hajime waited until he had gone through the door and shut it behind him
before he let go of his end of the scarf. It settled to the floor, nothing
more than a piece of fabric again. He picked it up and folded it quickly.
Amaru came back in, handed Hajime the bag.

 "Tsuzuku's really upset. His hands where shaking while he was making the
coffee." Amaru told him in concern as he watched his brother carefully slide
the rectangle of the scarf into the bag and begin to zip it.

 "It's O.K., Amaru. We were just startled, that's all." He reassured his
youngest brother, stopped closing the bag, pulled it back open. "Amaru, can
you smell anything on this scarf?" Hajime asked, holding the bag down to his
brother's level.

 Amaru took a few deep breaths, frowned with concentration. "Just barely.
Some kind of flower?"

 Hajime nodded. "Yes. Thanks. Let's go down and see if Owaru has any better
luck."

 Owaru was sitting at the kitchen table, his chin in his hand watching
Tsuzuku with a worried expression. His brother was leaning against the wall
by the coffee maker, his back to him just staring at the slow flow of water
running from the basket into the pot. Matsuri quietly bustled about making
breakfast, knowing that the boy's would fill her in as soon as they figured
out what was happening. Hajime and Amaru came in together. Matsuri noticed
Tsuzuku stiffen slightly.

 "Owaru, do you smell anything coming off this scarf?" Hajime asked, offering
the bag to his third brother.

 Owaru looked at his brother with a questioning expression. Hajime nodded to
the bag. Owaru shrugged, stuck his face in the opening, took a deep breath,
making the sides of the bag suck in a little.

 He looked up with a "Nope."

 "Nothing at all?" Hajime asked.

 Owaru repeated his sniff. "Nope. Nothing." He handed it back to Hajime with
a shrug.

 "I can smell it clearly, all the way over here and over the coffee." Tsuzuku
said softly, his back still towards them.

 Hajime zipped up the bag as he walked to a cupboard, opened it and pulled
another bag out of it and zipped the first one into the second one.

 "Is that better, Tsuzuku-kun?" He asked.

 "Somebody want to tell me what's going on?" Owaru asked crossly as Tsuzuku
nodded at Hajime.

 "Is that the scarf that girl gave you yesterday? Amaru, would you pour the
juice and Owaru set the table, please?" Matsuri asked as she decided to make
scrambled eggs instead of fried and started cracking shells against the bowl.
It was going to be one of 'those' days in the Ryudo household and she didn't
want to have too much of her concentration on her cooking.

 Hajime sat in his chair at the head of the table and turned the bag
entrapped scarf around in a circle on the tabletop with one forefinger, lost
in thought for a moment.

 "Yes." Tsuzuku gave her a little smile as he brought the coffee pot to the
table, poured a cup for Hajime and himself.

 "So, a woman gave Tsuzuku a scarf. What's the big deal?" Owaru grumped as he
set out the plates.

 "It's affecting Tsuzuku strangely." Hajime answered.

 "How?" Owaru frowned at Tsuzuku, couldn't see anything different about him.

 Tsuzuku shrugged, looking unconcerned, answered with his normal gentle
self-assured smile.  "Just a few strange dreams and it seems to have a
perfume on it that only I can smell and an ability to move by itself."

 He didn't fool Matsuri. She could tell that he was very upset as she
finished up the breakfast, began putting the platters on the table.

 "I think it has a crush on Tsuzuku. I'll bet he's the only person in the
world to get a piece of fabric to fall in love with him." Amaru teased as he
very carefully walked across the floor to set the tray with the glasses full
of juice on the table.

 "I think that might be an accurate description, Amaru-kun." Tsuzuku nodded
as he watched the scarf spin slowly under Hajime's finger.

 "A girl gave you a scarf with a scent on it that only you can smell?" Owaru
frowned as it clicked. "Aw, that's not fair!" He grouched as he reached for a
piece of toast.

 "What's not fair?" Tsuzuku asked in surprise, his hand and coffee cup
pausing in mid-air.

 "You know!" Owaru grinned and winked.

 "No, I don't." He said firmly, put the cup down and looked at Hajime,
waiting for clarification.

 Hajime sighed, rubbed at his forehead. This wasn't how he'd wanted to tell
his brother and not with Amaru and Matsuri at the table. "Later." He said
with a hard look at Owaru, tucked the bagged scarf under the rim of his
plate.

 Owaru blinked, looked toward Amaru and Matsuri and blushed.

 "Hajime?" Tsuzuku questioned.

 "Later, Tsuzuku-kun." He answered with a soft plea in his eyes.

 "Hai, Elder Brother." Tsuzuku gave a little half bow.

 Amaru looked at his brothers, trying to figure out what was going on. He
hated it when they did this, decided that he was too young for some piece of
information.

 Matsuri wondered if they wouldn't talk about it because of her presence or
Amaru's, or maybe both? She'd have to figure out a way to eavesdrop when
Hajime and Tsuzuku went into the den later.

 The breakfast continued in a strained silence, Matsuri snatching the platter
of eggs away from Owaru as he tried to take a third helping, put some more
onto Tsuzuku's plate. "You haven't been eating enough lately, Tsuzuku-kun.
I'm going to have to take all of your pants in soon." She tried teasing him,
hoping to break the mood. "And you know what a bad seamstress I am."

 "Heaven's forbid! I'll eat! I'll eat!" He responded in mock horror.

 That set all of them smiling and had the effect she wanted as a normal
morning conversation started back up.

 She did notice that after a few bites, Tsuzuku just pushed the food around
on his plate then leaned back and sipped at his coffee. She sighed, wishing
her beautiful cousin would eat more. She was starting to get concerned for
him. None of the boy's had ever been sick, but Tsuzuku had not been eating
well this past month and it was starting to show on his frame.

 She understood why. This constant hounding, first by Kamadura no Gozen and
now by The Four Sisters was wearing at all of them. She was worried that if
Tsuzuku didn't start taking better care of himself his special gifts might
weaken and put him and all of her cousins in more danger. She decided she'd
make him something special for dinner.

 Amaru helped her clear the table as the rest of his brother's went to wash
up and change. She left the dishes soaking as she looked through the pantry
and refrigerator and made out a shopping list. Owaru wandered in first.

 "Here." She handed him the list.

 "How come I always get stuck doing the shopping?" He let out a very put upon
sigh. 

 "Because your always the first one down." She scowled playfully back. They
both knew it was an act. Owaru always managed to be the first one down to see
if she had any errands that needed to be run, taking advantage of the chance
to be out and about without Amaru in tow.

 "I'll go now, I guess and get it over with." He winked at her.

 "Only one game at the arcade, Owaru. And pick up Amaru's manga when you get
your own. And be careful!" She called after him with a grin as he hurried out
the back door.