Tsuzuku was struggling to repeat the English names of all the objects 
in their cell, Hajime correcting him gently when he'd stumble over a 
strange vowel sound, only a fraction of his attention on the lesson. 
He wished they had left him his watch. He'd have to ask Travis for it 
back. It had been at least twenty minutes, and still no word on Amaru. 
He rubbed at the ache above his eyes that refused to go away.

	"Hajime-kun?" Tsuzuku asked.

	Hajime looked up, met his brothers concerned green eyes.

	"Was that correct?" Tsuzuku repeated his question.

	"I'm sorry, Tsuzuku-kun. I wasn't paying attention. Where were we?"

	"Well, I guess I'll just have to start at the beginning again. Pay 
attention this time, brother, or I'll subject you to my horrid 
pronunciation until you do."

	He was relieved when his teasing quip brought a small smile to his 
brothers face. Still, it didn't lighten the exhaustion that he saw in 
Hajime's features.

	"Dozo, Tsuzuku-kun. I promise I'll catch every mistake this time." 
Hajime answered with mock-seriousness, trying to match his tone to 
Tsuzuku's.

	Tsuzuku sighed and crossed his arms, looked put upon. "Sa. My 
mistake. If you wander off this time, I'll just let you be."

	Hajime gave a half-smile, pointed at the ceiling.

	"Ceiling. Light." Tsuzuku started. He was halfway through his list 
again when Hajime scowled once more and rubbed at his forehead.

	"Are you all right, Hajime-kun?" He finally asked.

	"Hai. Just can't seem to shake this headache. I, too, seem to be 
getting a lesson in human frailty." He answered lightly as he rubbed 
hard. He had only had a headache once. He had just turned fourteen and 
had woken up around three in the morning with this terrible pain in 
his head. He headed for his parent's room, stood an gazed in confusion 
at their made bed until he remembered they were away on their summer 
vacation. The creak of wood boomed through his throbbing head and he 
whirled. Matsuri was standing in her nightgown just past the door to 
the guest room where she had slept the night, their Aunt and Uncle 
having foisted her off on Grandfather to baby-sit since they were 
having one of their grand parties.

	"Hajime-kun? Are you O.K.?" She had asked in her sweet ten year old 
voice.

	"Hai. Go back to bed, Matsuri-chan. I didn't mean to wake you." He 
whispered back then bit his lower lip, one hand going to his head as 
it pounded in time to the beat of his heart. He was so distracted by 
the pain that Matsuri's light touch on his hand made him jump.

	"Does your head hurt, Hajime-kun?" Matsuri asked with concern as she 
studied him with her big brown eyes.

	He couldn't do anything but nod, and even that hurt.

	"I'll make it better. Come on." She tugged at his hand, led him 
unresisting into his parents room. "Here, lay down." She patted the 
bed.

	He crawled onto it, curled up in a knot of misery. Matsuri jumped up 
beside him, lifted his head onto her lap. "Mother does this for Father 
when his head hurts." She told him as she began to massage his 
forehead. Her kneading fingers where firm yet gentle and warm. And the 
pain began to leave. He sighed in relief, relaxed as her hands worked 
their magic.

	"Hajime-kun?"

	He woke with a start as the birds sang their greetings to the rising 
sun, realized the pain had vanished and Matsuri was a warm presence 
cuddled asleep against his side. He raised his head to see Tsuzuku 
standing at the end of the bed.

	"Did you and Matsuri have a bad dream too?"

	"Hajime-kun?" The older voice of his brother questioned. He looked 
up, still half caught in the memory.

	"I had a headache like this once. It was on the night Mother and 
Father died. Matsuri made it go away." He said, sounding far away.

	Tsuzuku looked at his brother startled. "Do you want me to call for 
the Doctor, Hajime?"

	The tone of Tsuzuku's voice snapped him all the way back to the hear 
and now. "No. I'm all right." He leaned forwards, rested his elbows on 
his knees and let his hands hang relaxed between them.

	"Maybe you should lay down, Elder Brother. You are tired."

	"Not until I know about Amaru. It was just a vivid memory. Nothing 
more. I think you had a similar experience earlier."

	Tsuzuku nodded. "You think it's the collars?"

	"At the moment, I'm trying very hard not to think. Probably."

	"Please stay where you are, Ryudo-san." They heard Travis before they 
saw him.

	The doors parted and the white haired man stepped through carrying 
Amaru. He went a laid him on his cot without even a sideways look at 
the brothers sitting on the cot against Tamanji's Wall, as the lab 
crew had dubbed it. 

	"Is he all right?" Hajime asked, trying to see around Lee's frame as 
he put Amaru down.

	"Yes. We had to use a sedative. Don't worry, it's not the stuff he's 
allergic to. Lights out in ten minutes." Travis answered flatly.

	Lee looked sideways at Tsuzuku as he passed and Tsuzuku wondered at 
the hate that simmered in his eyes.

	The tone of Travis' voice concentrated all of Hajime's tired focus. 
Something had happened. Something that had upset Travis a lot. What? 
"Travis-san, what happened?"

	"Lights out in ten minutes, Ryudo-sama. We are all tired." With that, 
he turned and was gone.

	Hajime and Tsuzuku hurried to Amaru. "Look." Hajime gently turned 
Amaru's arm, showing the unblemished skin.

	"His dart wound is gone too." Tsuzuku added. "Travis was in a 
different chair. Did you notice?"

	Hajime shook his head. "What do you think happened?"

	"They took the collar off?" Tsuzuku shrugged as he flicked out the 
blanket and covered his baby brother.

	"It makes sense. But what happened when they did?" Hajime worried 
that around, but was relieved that Amaru had healed himself. That 
meant that he and Tsuzuku's systems were all right also. Just 
suppressed for some reason.

	The lights dimmed, throwing the little room into shadow.

	"Go rest, Elder Brother. Do you want me to rub your head for you?" 
Tsuzuku suggested shyly.

	"Thank-you, Tsuzuku-kun. But I'm all right. It will be gone in the 
morning." He gave Tsuzuku's arm a gentle squeeze to show him how much 
he appreciated the offer.

	He could see the nod as Tsuzuku rose, a slender outline of blacks and 
grays as headed for his cot.

	He went to his own, stretched out and closed his eyes, worked on 
thinking about nothing. He heard the rustle of bedding and movement as 
Tsuzuku shifted and settled. He wasn't aware of the point where he 
slipped from consciousness into sleep.

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

	Tamanji checked her watch in the dimness of the lab, her chair back 
on two legs, the front ones kept off the floor by her feet against the 
wall. Almost time. She played with the end of her braid, pleased that 
the dim light picked up the glimmer of copper. The others had looked 
at her strangely when she had come back down after dinner as a red 
head but had wisely not commented on it. She had stayed out of Travis' 
sight. He would have figured out what she was up to. Though not all of 
it. Doc really should be more careful about encrypting his computer 
files. His notes on his experiments with her blood had proved very 
interesting reading, leading her to some fascinating research and 
conclusions of her own. She wondered if it would work. Oh well, she'd 
get at least one of the things she was after. She licked and bit her 
lower lip as she took in Tsuzuku's perfect features one more time. 
*Man, he was beautiful. He could capture the heart of an angel, or a 
devil.* Her lips quirked into a one sided smile. Yes, she would enjoy 
finding out.

	That Travis had forbidden her to have any more interaction with these 
dragons had pissed her off, they were going to be family soon after 
all. And in more ways than one. But she had acquiesced quietly, 
willing to bide her time. She had learned early that one did not go 
against Travis when he was in one of his moods. But he wasn't here 
now. That Baby's ten second power up had been a god-send. Travis would 
be upstairs fawning over Doc for hours. She couldn't have arranged a 
better distraction in a million years. She leaned farther back, 
flirting with the edge of balance so she could see the bright spot of 
the kitchen where two of the techs were playing cards. The third was 
with Lee at the lowly lit control board. She checked her watch again, 
felt a glorious flutter of anticipation. Time.

	She put the front legs of her chair down gently, wandered over to 
Lee. He looked up at her as she leaned against the side of the 
console, pretended to check a read out. It had been so easy to 
convince him to help her. His gray eye's glowed in the muted light and 
he gave a small, cold smile as he nodded and hit the mike pickups. She 
took a few deep breaths as she headed back for the cell, gathering her 
power into her mind as she took the scarf out of her pocket, wrapped 
it tightly around her left hand and closed her fingers around it in a 
tight fist. She had no idea of how it would react, if at all, to what 
she was planning to do but she wasn't letting go of it for a moment.

	She leaned back against the southeast corner of the room and began to 
sing. It was the same lulling tune that Jasmine had used on Owaru and 
Matsuri. She started softly, keeping her voice unobtrusive, then 
gradually increased the volume until it filled the high dome of the 
Lab. She wove her spell, singing the techs into a dreamless sleep 
until she bade them wake, singing to the dragons in their tiny room 
that they were dreaming lovely dreams as she kept her eye on Lee. He 
looked at the tech next to him, then over at the kitchen, gave her the 
O.K. sign.

	The doors next to her slid open. She slipped into the room, keeping 
the song going as she padded silently to Tsuzuku's side. This would be 
the hard part. He was so powerful that he might immediately see past 
what she was doing. But again, he was so unschooled in those powers 
they might work against him to trap him in the dream she would weave. 
Only one way to find out. Either it would work, or it wouldn't. The 
uncertainty just made her anticipation sweeter. She knelt on the floor 
next to his cot, put different words into her song. Words meant only 
for him.

	"Tsuzuku-kun! It's Jasmine! I've come to be with you." Tamanji sang 
softly. "Come, walk with me under the stars." She ran the back of her 
hand with the scarf lightly along the side of his face.

	He took a deep breath, turned his head to pressed his cheek against 
the scarf around her hand, whispered, "Jasmine?" in his sleep.

	"I'm right here, Tsuzuku. Open your eyes. I've come to take you out 
of here. Would you like to go with me?"

	He opened his eyes, smiled at her, then frowned. "What are you doing 
here?"

	"You are dreaming me, of course. And what a wonderful dream it is." 
She smiled sweetly, ran her forefinger down the curve of his cheek.

	"I'm asleep?"

	"Yes. See, your brothers are also. I want to be with you, but your 
brothers are so tired and we don't want to wake them up, do we? Come 
with me. We'll go someplace quiet and private." She cooed in her 
sing-song voice.

	He looked past her to his brothers, then brought his focus back to 
her. He narrowed his eyes and looked uncertain as he fought the 
illusion she was weaving around him. "This is wrong." 

	"This is a dream, Tsuzuku-kun. How can it be wrong? Don't you want to 
be with me, even if it's just for a little while as a dream? Do you 
want me to leave?" She leaned close and kissed his forehead with 
whisper soft lips. "All you have to do is say yes, and I'll be gone 
forever."

	"No. Don't go! Please, stay. I want you to stay." He really did. Her 
scent was faint, almost more of a memory of a fragrance yet still it 
had set his nerves on fire. He reached out tentatively, wanting to 
touch her, to see just how real this dream was.

	Tamanji leaned back so his fingers just brushed against her skin.

	"Then I will. Now, come." She let the scarf out, kept a death grip on 
the end as she rose gracefully to her feet and spun a few times as she 
tip-toed back for the doors making the scarf wrap around her. She 
didn't look back to see if he was following or not. He would. She had 
given him the freedom to choose and in doing so, made his choice for 
him.

	Tsuzuku sat up, looked at his brothers sleeping so peacefully. They 
wouldn't need him for a while and to be out of this confining 
room...he hesitated for an instant. There was something wrong. Wrong 
with Jasmine, with the way she looked. He just couldn't put his finger 
on what was missing...the scent of the scarf, of Jasmine called to 
him. He heard the doors open, caught the gleam of copper from her hair 
as her lithe figure slip past them. It didn't matter. It was just a 
dream, after all. He leapt to follow before the doors slid shut again.

	There was teasing laughter under her song as she ran just out of his 
reach down the cave like corridor created by the huge trunks of 
soaring trees, their branches so high he couldn't see them. He 
grinned, willing to play her game. But when he caught her... she 
turned into a doorway and stopped with her back to him in the middle 
of the barren room. It blossomed into a lush garden as he watched. He 
had to admit, this was a wonderful dream. Much better than the one's 
that had been haunting his sleep of late.

	"Close the door, Tsuzuku-kun." She purred at him. He pushed the heavy 
door that hung free-standing in space behind him shut with a flick of 
his wrist as he advanced on her. She leaned back against him as he 
wrapped his arms around her.

	"Now that you've got me, what are you going to do with me, 
Tsuzuku-kun?" She whispered as she turned in his arms, her body soft 
and pliant against him as she stood on tip-toe to leave a tingling 
trail of lingering kisses along the angle of his jaw then down the 
side of his neck.

	"I...um..." He blushed, his need for her so great but suddenly shy 
and embarrassed in his inexperience.

	"You want me to show you how, Tsuzuku-kun?" She asked in a sultry 
voice as she ran her fingertips down his back, up over his hips and 
brought them together to press lightly on the fabric over his erect 
manhood.

	He shuddered as her touch brought his desire up to a fever pitch, 
nodded into her hair.

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

	Amaru stirred on his cot, sat up and blinked sleepily into the 
dimness. He rolled off, stumbled to the toilet, glanced around him as 
he relieved himself. Hajime was the long dark shape behind him but... 
"Tsuzuku?" he questioned into the darkness. He went and patted the 
empty cot, looked under it.

	"Hajime-kun? Where is Tsuzuku?" Amaru's voice and gentle shake 
brought Hajime's eyes open with a snap.

	"He's not here?" Hajime asked as he sat up, scowled into the shadowy 
recess of the room.

	"No. Did they take him?"

	"I don't know, Amaru. Hey!" He yelled at the ceiling. "Where's 
Tsuzuku." The flutter of panic that started in his chest kicked his 
headache back into full gear. *Where was he? How'd they get him out 
without me knowing?* "Answer me!" He demanded. *What was going on? 
This wasn't the way Travis worked.*

	"Don't worry about it, Ryudo. He's just out for a little stroll." A 
disembodied tenor voice answered calmly.

	"I want to talk to Travis!"

	"I'm sure you do. I'll pass it along." *In the morning.* Lee's grin 
was full of malice. The fact would be over and done with by then and 
what would Travis do?  Hell, the boy should thank Tamanji for some 
valuable if frustrating experience. His eyes narrowed into slits of 
gray ice as his grin turned into a silent snarl as he thought of that 
pretty boy touching his Jasmine. She was his and his alone. He didn't 
care if she wasn't his breeding mate. He could live with that 
frustration. What he wouldn't tolerate was this pretty boy who was. He 
had decided that the vehicle that came to pick up these Dragons would 
have a fatal accident as it backtracked along the winding thin road 
that connected the compound with the highway.

	Hajime clenched his fists against his knees, eyes narrow and focused 
on the wall across from him as he fought to think. His ramrod straight 
posture told Amaru that something was seriously wrong.

	"Is Tsuzuku-kun all right, Hajime?" He asked in a little voice as he 
sat, then wiggled up close to his brother on the cot.

	"Of course he is, Amaru-kun." Hajime answered automatically. Someone 
else was playing games with them without Travis's knowledge. Who? And 
what did they want with Tsuzuku?

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

	Something was wrong. Travis stirred, coming up from the light doze he 
had slipped into with a start. Doc? He propped himself up on his 
elbows and looked over at Doc's quiet face then down at the bandage 
that covered most of his chest as he touched the surface of his 
sleeping mind. No, he was all right. But something...he frowned, 
reached out to scan the minds around him. The buzz of the weaker 
techs, Jonah's firm earth flavored rumble, the twins delicate glow, it 
wasn't upstairs. He sent his mind down, winced at the chaotic 
fury/concern/fear that came at him. Hajime. He blocked that out, 
touched Amaru's troubled thoughts, the cold shields that was Lee. 
Tsuzuku? Where was he? And Tamanji? He expanded his mental touch to 
encompass the compound. Not a flicker of either of them. What the 
hell? Where could they be? Then he knew. The Quiet Room. It was 
shielded against psionics. Damn you to hell, Tamanji! And Lee had to 
be in on it. Damn! Could he trust Jonah?

	"Doc!" He shook his shoulder gently with one hand as he picked up 
mobile intercom and hit the numbers for Jonah's room.

	Doc grumbled and cracked one eye at him. He made a Œquiet, wait' 
motion as Jonah picked up.

	"Hurumph." Jonah's voice growled sleepily.

	"Jonah, we have a possible situation in progress. Go and get Tsuzuku 
away from Tamanji. They're in the Quiet Room. Lock her in, then get 
Tsuzuku back to the cell. Trank them both if you have to." Doc pushed 
himself up with a hiss of pain next to him as he heard that.

	"On my way, Boss." Jonah said around a yawn as he disconnected.

	"Evacuate the house." Doc told him in his no-nonsense voice as he 
struggled to his feet and headed for his pants.

	Travis looked at him.

	"Just do it." Fleeting images full of fire and pain. That was the 
dream Travis had shaken him out of.

	"Why?"

	"Tamanji. If she freaks him out enough, he might take the collar off. 
Or she might take it off herself. Just to be on the safe side, Trav."

	*Surely Tammi wouldn't be that stupid. But then again...* Travis put 
the intercom on Œall open'. "All Ops personnel, evacuate the premises. 
There is a situation in progress. Wait for the all clear." He 
instructed as he slid over into his chair. He'd just informed Lee that 
he was in deep shit. He couldn't wait to hear his excuse.

	He handed Doc his shirt, impatient to be on their way.

	"We're getting out too." Doc said calmly.

	Travis looked at him, one eyebrow going up in surprise. "Oh, really?"

	"Yes. I'll put you under, if I have to. Don't make me." He pleaded in 
a quiet voice.

	"Doc..." Travis started.

	"Let the Dragons deal with the Dragons, Travis. It's out of your 
control." He interrupted. *You should have put them out when I told 
you* "We stay, we die."

	He said that with such a flat certainty that it made the fine hairs 
on the back of Travis's neck stand up. "O.K." He had never had the 
precognitive gift, but those four words had the touch of power behind 
them.

	"The blood samples in a safe place?" He asked as they headed down the 
hall towards the front door, the house weirdly quiet and abandoned 
feeling.

	Doc nodded. "They're in the Vault." Carefully packed in a cryonic 
cooler. Even if the compound was nuked, the Vault would be waiting, 
untouched for them to return.

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