"Great!" Owaru slid by Matsuri, came to the table. Matsuri and Elenora
followed. "So?" He asked as he sat.

 "The moving company had no record of a stop here, but that truck was thirty
minutes late for it's first scheduled stop at the U.S. Yokamo Air Force Base
to deliver some desks."

 "Good, let's go get them!" Owaru sprang up, frowned at the serious looks on
Elenora's and Jasmine's faces.

 "Odd are they're already gone, Owaru." Jasmine told him softly.

 "Gone where?" He asked, already knowing the answer but not wanting to hear
it.

 "Home. To America. But we'll go check. I can't break into a military
computer with this anyway," she gestured at the laptop, "so we'll have to try
to get a hold of the flight logs at the base. Matsuri, you should go home."

 "No way. I go where Owaru goes." Matsuri stated firmly.

 "Matsuri, this is going to get dangerous. You've already been seriously hurt
once and your Blood is not strong enough to protect you when the serious
stuff starts. Please, go home. We'll keep you informed of anything that
happens."

 "No. I need to be there, whatever happens. If you try to leave me behind,
I'll just follow you and if I don't know your plans, I might put you in
danger." Matsuri crossed her arms, stared hard at Jasmine.

 "She's got you there, Sis." Elenora said up with a grin.

 Jasmine scowled at her sister, looked at Owaru. "Tell her to stay, Owaru."

 "Tell Matsuri-chan to do something she doesn't want to? I don't think so.
Besides, I want her to come. I'd feel better if she was where I could keep my
eye on her." He winked at his cousin, didn't let it show that he was hanging
onto her like a life-line, needing her to keep him focused and out of
despair.

 Jasmine looked at her sister, who shrugged with a smile. "Seems I'm out
voted. This is the deal then, Matsuri. I want you to swear to me that you'll
do what I ask. If you don't, you might get us killed or Owaru captured." She
realized she was pulling a Catherine, playing on Matsuri's fears for her
cousin. But if it got her what she wanted...

 "I swear it, Tanaka Jasmine." Matsuri said as she gave a deep formal bow.
She'd do anything to help get Hajime back. And Amaru and Tsuzuku. But
Hajime...the idea of anything happening to Hajime made her very soul ache.

 "O.K. I need to make a call and then we'll get going." Jasmine picked up the
cel phone, headed for the hall and some privacy. "Matsuri, you might want to
bring some drinks and snacks. We might have to wait a while before we can go
in." She called back.

 Owaru and Elenora helped Matsuri throw stuff in a bag as Jasmine called
Catherine to check in.

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

 "O.K. Owaru. Tell me what's been happening with you and your brothers. What
exactly happened to bring on those manifestations of power." Jasmine asked as
they drove.

 Owaru and Matsuri exchanged uneasy glances in the back seat. "Not until you
tell us more about yourself first." Owaru answered.

 Jasmine looked at them through the rear view mirror. "What do you want to
know, Owaru?" Owaru hated that he couldn't see her eyes through the mirror of
her sunglasses. 

 "I want to know who you are, how you know about us, why you're helping us."
He said it in a rush, trusting the feeling he had that they knew much more
than they where letting on.

 He saw Elenora give her sister with a questioning look. Jasmine shrugged.
"We are Dragon's Children, just like yourself, Owaru. Different Bloodline but
still similar. Our family originally came from China. Our Great-grandfather
emigrated to the United States in 1806, taking his three sisters and two
brothers with him." She paused, focused on weaving her way through a heavy
area of traffic and debated how much more she would tell them and how much
she would have to bend the truth. "We don't know that much about you, really.
One of the reasons we are here is because we too are hunting dragons."

 She saw Owaru stiffen in the back seat, wondered if he'd try to jump out of
the car. "Relax, Owaru. Elenora and I didn't even know you and your brother's
existed until yesterday. Unfortunately, some others did. Elenora, show them
the pictures, see if they recognize any of them."

 Elenora dug around in Jasmine's purse, pulled out a day planner, unzipped
it, took three photo's out and turned to hand them back. She stayed that way,
studying their faces for any reaction as first Owaru, then Matsuri looked at
them.

 "I don't recognize them. Matsuri?" He did notice that the girl looked a lot
like Elenora. When they got a chance to talk in private, he'd have to ask
Matsuri if she thought so too. 

 "Me neither." She said, handed them back. "Who are they?"

 "Other dragons who are working for The Four Sisters now, it seems." Jasmine
said with a frown.

 "If The Four Sisters already have dragons, why are they hunting us?" Owaru
asked.

 "I doubt that The Four Sisters know they are dragons, Owaru. It's not
something that is wise to go about flaunting, you know? These three work as
mercenaries with a small group of psychics and that's how they hide who and
what they are." She narrowed her eyes, the steering wheel creaking in
distress under her hands. "They can get you anything you want if you can meet
their price. Apparently The Four Sisters could and the thing they wanted was
you and your brothers."

 "How do you know all this?" Matsuri asked suspiciously.

 "We both belong to an organization that studies paranormal and supernatural
events. We came here because we'd seen the news casts on that Fire Dragon
that ate downtown Tokyo." She said it lightly, hoping to break the tension
that had formed a line between the front seat and the back.

 "That's not funny." Owaru growled, crossed his arms. Matsuri smiled in spite
of herself.

 "You're right. Which one of your brothers was it, Owaru?" She asked, her
face innocent as she started to steer him in the direction she wanted.

 "Tsuzuku. Only he and Amaru have changed. He must have been hurt bad. They
had to blow Amaru up to get him to change."

 Matsuri pinched him on the thigh hard, shook her head with a frown. She
still didn't trust these two.

 "What more do you want to know of us, Toba Matsuri?" Jasmine asked, catching
that bit of by-play in the mirror.

 "I want to know about Tsuzuku and the scarf. That seems just a little too
convenient to have happened by itself." That was the only hole she could
detect in their story. They still weren't telling them the whole truth.

 Jasmine shrugged again. "It was a coincidence, Matsuri. Nothing more. I
didn't set out to find your cousin, believe me."

 "What about the scarf?" Matsuri insisted.

 "It's a family heirloom and is very old and seems to have a mind of it's
own." She gave a hard smile.

 "So, what was it was doing to Tsuzuku?"

 Jasmine turned and looked at her in surprise. "Jasmine!" Elenora yelled,
bringing her attention back to the road. She barely managed to swerve around
a slow moving truck.

 "You don't know?" Jasmine asked, keeping her eyes on the road.

 "No. I don't. I think someone should tell me." She said with a scowl at  her
cousin who was blushing bright red.

 Owaru 'umm'-ed, looked to Jasmine with a silent plea.

 "When a male with Dragon blood finds his mate, he can smell her. It's a
scent that only he can detect, like a pheromone." Jasmine explained as they
turned and followed the road that ran beside the high barbed wire fence of
the base.

 "Oh." Matsuri said quietly, dropped her head, thinking. Did Hajime smell
her? He certainly never reacted to her presence like Tsuzuku did to Jasmine
and her scarf. She wanted to know more about this, but would wait until she
had a chance to talk to Jasmine in private.

 Jasmine pulled the car off the road and into a stand of tall trees.

 "So, what do we do?" Owaru asked as they got out.

 Jasmine could tell he wanted to just go charging in. "First off, can you
'feel' them here, Owaru?" She asked.

 Owaru turned to look at the open expanse of runways and buildings, shook his
head. "I don't think so." He answered uncertainly.

 Elenora exchanged looks with her sister. Owaru hadn't even tried. Now that
she thought about it he seemed to have been blocking all of his natural
senses and instincts since she'd met him. She wondered what was wrong.

 "O.K. Well, we'll do a little outside recognizance then and see what can be
seen." Jasmine popped the toggle for the trunk, went around and pulled out a
pair of binoculars, turned and looked up at the trees, picked the highest one
and started climbing.

 Owaru followed her up, settled into the crook of a lower branch as she
studied the layout of the base as she scanned the buildings and planes. "No
signs of unusual activity."

 She dangled the binoculars down by their strap to Owaru's level. He reached
out and grabbed them, took his own look.

 "So what do we do?" He asked full of impatience.

 "Wait 'till sundown." She checked her watch. It was still four hours away.
She hated having to wait, but what else could they do?

 They climbed down the tree, Owaru going to sit on the blanket that Elenora
and Matsuri had spread out in the shade as Jasmine went and pulled a radio
out of the trunk, tuned it to one of the news stations.

 "Uck. Why that?" Owaru stuck out his tongue and grimaced.

 "Just in case their are any reports of unusual occurrences." Elenora
answered as she dug in the bag and pulled out a soda and tossed it to her
sister. "Any one else want one?"

 Owaru nodded, Matsuri shook her head. Elenora tossed another one at Owaru
then got one for herself.

 "Owaru, Matsuri, you need to tell us about what's been going on. Please."
Jasmine asked as she popped open the lid.

 Owaru looked at his cousin, who nodded. They told them together about
Kamadura no Gozen's hounding and attacks that ended with Amaru getting blown
up at the artillery range and changing into the Black Dragon. Jasmine choked
on her soda when they told her about no Gozen's attack on the three of them
and the reason for it.

 "He turned himself into a dragon by drinking a dragon's blood and wanted
yours too?" She managed to get out around Elenora's thumping on her back.

 "Yes. It was really gross." Matsuri shuddered at the memory. "He took Hajime
out with one punch and had just bitten Tsuzuku when Amaru came to the rescue.
That was really something!"

 "Wait a minute. You said that Amaru tuned into a dragon?" Jasmine frowned at
them.

 "Yup." Owaru answered proudly.

 "You're sure it wasn't just an image of a dragon with Amaru in it?" She felt
a tremor of fear go through her. Actually turning all the way over had never
happened as far as the Order could determine. They didn't think it was
possible.

 "No, he was a dragon. The Black Dragon King of the North, just like the
legend."

 "What legend?" Jasmine and Elenora asked together. This was going way beyond
anything the Order had on this Family. *At least anything they admitted to.*
Jasmine thought with a frown. The next time she saw Shubata, she'd make sure
to find out.

 "Well, it's just a legend. No Gozen told it to Hajime. Let's see, how'd it
go? Yeah. O.K. Three thousand years ago, the King Dragon had four son's. The
Blue Dragon King of the East, the Red Dragon King of the South, The Black
Dragon King of the North and the White Dragon King of the West. That's me.
Well, the four brothers took human form and ruled China. They married with
human women and had children. Now, we're missing a big part here. Tsuzuku is
trying to figure out what happened, but there is a prophesy that after three
thousand years the descendants of those four brothers would reclaim their
Dragon forms. Seems like it's us."

 Jasmine worked on digesting that. *Good God! Real dragon's? Why? And what
would happen if all three of the brother's that Tamanji had changed at once.*
She didn't like the uneasy feeling that settled on her as she thought about
that  and the legend and all the implications that flowed out of it.

 "So what happened that made Tsuzuku change?" Elenora asked.

 "The Four Sisters came after us after Amaru killed no Gozen. They set up a
trap to lure Tsuzuku in alone. I still don't know exactly what happened.
Tsuzuku won't talk about it. But I guess he was hurt bad enough to make him
change like Amaru did. But Hajime got him to change back." He said with a
grin.

 "How? Do you know?" Jasmine wanted that vital piece of information badly.

 "Not really. Amaru," he paused, looked down and swallowed hard, "wasn't
conscious when he changed. He didn't have any control over what he was doing,
just striking out in pain." The sound of his little brother screaming in
anguish in his dragon's voice still haunted him. "He finally just ran out of
power and changed back. We were really scared that he was going to be a
dragon forever. I guess Hajime did something similar to make Tsuzuku shift
back." He trailed off, his eye's getting distant.

 "Wonderful." Jasmine muttered as she studied the slowly shifting patterns
created by the sun through the leaves. Real, very powerful dragons with
little or no control over their transformed selves. Now she knew why Owaru
Ryudo was fighting his power. He was scared of it. Scared of becoming a
'real' dragon.

 Matsuri reached over and patted her cousin on his leg and gave him a brave
smile. "It'll be O.K. Owaru. Everything will work out."

 "Well, I, for one, am going to take a nap. It has the potential of being a
long night." Jasmine said in a bright tone, stretched out on her back and
folded her arms behind her head and closed her eyes. "You might want to
consider it also, Elenora."

 "Hai, Eldest Sister." Elenora said playfully curled up next to her.

 "Owaru, you and Matsuri should too."

 "I can't." Owaru said as he rested his chin on his knees and stared at the
landing field. "I'm too keyed up."

 "Sing me a lullaby, Jasmine." Elenora asked, knowing that her sister would
pick up on what she was suggesting.

 "O.K." Jasmine started to sing a wordless tune softly. It was one of the
first things that Catherine had taught her to do to help soothe Elenora and
Tamanji back to sleep when they'd wake up with nightmares. In the olden days
it would be called a spell. It was nothing more than a focus of will behind a
learned series of pitches. Basically, she hypnotized them. In ten minutes,
both Matsuri and Owaru where asleep and would stay that way, even through the
noise of aircraft coming and going until she woke them.

 She relaxed, watching the gentle sway of the tree branches as she figured
out their plan of attack for tonight, then thought about what Owaru had said
about Kamadura no Gozen. It was a part of the Dragon mythos that if a human
could catch a dragon and drink it's blood he would acquire that dragon's
powers. But it was just a myth, or so she had thought. That no Gozen had done
it and succeeded frightened her. Was that what The Four Sisters where after?
Or just having the brother's under their control?

 Catherine had said that she'd put the Order on alert for any sighting of
Tamanji or the others, that being something normal for the Order to do with a
fresh sighting and would call her if anything came of it. Then her thoughts
turned toward Tsuzuku Ryudo. She wondered what he was like, really. She just
had what was in the briefing docket. He was nineteen to her twenty, an honor
student who's teachers said he'd excel in whatever field he finally committed
himself to. He was said to be reserved but had a razor sharp wit and a
reputation for playing the field with the ladies. Images of Lee sprang
unbidden into her mind.

 She had been seventeen and on a two week skiing trip over winter break in
Colorado when she had run, literally, into Lee. She knew immediately that he
was one of their Blood, but had no idea that the still unknown person that
was the brains behind the Dragon Ops, as the group of mercenaries that
Tamanji had linked up with called themselves, had sent him to seduce her and
try to get her to join them also. He had been good, hiding his real intent so
well she was clueless to it. He had stolen her heart for a while and almost
succeeded in stealing her soul.

 She had been flattered and pleasantly embarrassed by his flamboyant
courtship and 'surprises' and had found herself falling in love with him by
the end of a week. She figured he was 'her' Dragon, drawn to her by her
scent, though she had been puzzled by the scarf's total lack of interest in
him. Mother had told her when she was little that the scarf had a way of
choosing it's keepers mate. She had waited to call Catherine, who was out
doing a lecture tour in her public guise and had taken Elenora with her,
wanting to surprise her when she got home. It was Friday of the second week
when Lee had given her the engagement ring. She'd been so happy.

 It was then that he had told her who he worked for, had pleaded with her to
come with him and join the team, that he loved her. She had told him that she
needed to think about it a little, unsure and her heart almost breaking from
her suspicions. She had just found out a few days before she'd left for this
trip that Tamanji had been seen in the company of some of the members of this
mercenary group in California.

 She had settled in the big overstuffed chair in front of the fire in her
room and turned the ring around and around on her finger with her thumb as
she stared into the hypnotic flicker of the flames. She wasn't sure when she
dozed off but she remembered the dream as if it had happened yesterday.

 The soft hiss and pop of the flames changed into the soft hiss of waves. She
stood in lightening twilight on a beach with sand so white it glowed, a dark
craggy cliff to her back, facing the ocean. The sky to her left was starting
to glow with the coming colors of dawn as she took in deep breaths of the
clean air that blew over her from the sea. A flicker of white and movement to
her right caught her attention. She turned and saw Lee standing down the
beach. He held out his hand and smiled, wanting her to come to him. She took
a few steps towards him then two hands closed lightly on her shoulders from
behind, bringing her to a gentle halt.

 She stood in that grasp and looked longingly at the handsome white haired
man that wanted her, then the hands turned her 180 degrees so she faced east
and toward the rising sun with an irresistible yet soft pressure. There was
another male standing farther up the shoreline, his back to her, also
watching the sun rise. A faint scent of cinnamon floated towards her as the
breeze shifted direction and blew against them both. The sun lifted itself in
a huge ball of orange glory, out-lining the figure before her in a fire like
glow.

 "Wait." The soft sweet female voice had whispered in her ear.

 She had woken up with a start, realized that the soft blur to her vision
wasn't the fog of sleep but the sheer fabric of the scarf. She sat up, pulled
it off of her face and hugged it against her chest with tears in her eyes.
She had fled from Lee that night, leaving the ring in a envelope with nothing
but his name on it with the consignor.

 She knew now that that figure had been Tsuzuku Ryudo. She let herself drift
into a light doze but keep a small part of her mind aware of the outside
world and the passing time. She woke them just as the sun was going down.