O.K. folks! The first part of this has been tweaked quite a bit. Let me 
know if it's better.

Windlily


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	Hakkei watched his brothers and the Ladies of the Crystal Palace with a 
fond smile as he leaned against the tree. Rankei and Jen-lei were not 
having much luck getting their kite in the air and Kikei and Eyanna were 
gloating loudly over that fact as their own soared high. Shukukei was 
out on the lake in the small dragon bowed boat with Kimiko, courting. He 
could faintly hear her rich laugh. Those two would be a good match. As 
was Rankei and Jen-lei.

	He had refused to do to his brothers what his father had done to him. 
He had suggested a number of eligible ladies and let them court and 
choose as they pleased. In fact, Jen-lei was a rare gem. He had been 
truly pleased with Rankei's choice even though she came with her little 
sister as concubine. Not that Rankei would ever consummate that 
arrangement. And the bond that was forming between his littlest brother 
and Eyanna was not unwelcome.

	This picnic had been her idea. A spontaneous and welcome diversion from 
the preparations for war and a chance for him to enjoy their company 
without the constant silent rebuke of his wife. Shanti, thankfully, was 
off visiting her mother. The soft voice that accompanied the rustle of 
fabric startled him.

	"Have I missed lunch?"

	He turned slowly and just stared at the lady he loved. "What are you 
doing here, Taishi?"

	"And good afternoon to you also, Blue Dragon King of the East." Taishi 
smiled back.

	Hakkei felt himself redden and he bowed in apology. "It is always a 
pleasure to see you, Lady Taishinoufujin."

	She laughed sweetly and stepped up to stand beside him. "Such 
formalities between us are silly, don't you think Hakkei?" She whispered 
in a soft aside as she watched the Dragon Kings play.

	"But necessary, Lady Taishinoufujin." He said it to remind himself and 
her of the danger of the stolen snatches of love they shared. "What are 
you doing here?"

	"Jen-lei invited me to visit her today. Didn't she tell you?" Taishi 
waved as Jen-lei caught sight of her.

	"No. She didn't." *A rare gem indeed.* He thought as Jen-lei gave a 
small bow in their direction and then turned back to her husband and 
their kite.

	"Come and walk with me, Dragon King. Your brothers are well occupied 
and no one will miss us for a while."

	He debated as she turned and started for the grove of silver colored 
trees that stood close to the mirror still waters of the lake. They 
shouldn't though this might be the last time he got a chance to be with 
her. The outcome of the coming conflict with the Gyushu far from clear. 
There was a high probability that he would not survive it.

	"Hakkei? Are you not going to keep me company?" She looked back over 
her shoulder and pleaded with her eyes. She knew this fact also. As 
always when dealing with Taishi, his heart won out over his head. He 
hurried to join her, made sure the proper distance separated them as 
they ambled along and made silly and mundane chatter until they entered 
the shelter of the trees. Only then did he take her hand in his as they 
hurried for one of the secret spots of their rendezvous.

	She pulled him to a stop just inside the glittering cave and pressed 
herself against him. He dropped his head to kiss the graceful length of 
her neck as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

	"You will not die. I forbid it!"

	He had a moment of disorientation as he opened his eyes on the backlit 
canopy of leaves over his head. For a moment Hakkei's memories warred 
with his own then he was once again Hajime. Two things happened 
simultaneously. He realized that Matsuri was cuddled up against him 
under the blanket, her head nestled into the hollow of his shoulder and 
he realized the effect that dream/memory had had on his body. He sat up 
quickly, embarrassed and strangely angry at the jumble of desire-tinged 
thoughts that had accompanied those realizations. At least he was 
clothed. Though why fatigues?

	Matsuri pushed herself up with a sleepy "Hajime-kun? Are you O.K.?"

	He couldn't figure out what to answer as he pressed the heels of his 
hands against his eyes. No. He wasn't O.K. Gods! Lady Taishinoufujin was 
the exact image of Matsuri! Was she that great Lady, reborn as he and 
his brothers? And was this to be his penance for his past life's love of 
her when she belonged to the Heavenly Emperor?

	Jen-lei and Eyanna had both matched the pictures of Jasmine and Elenora 
that he had found in an idle flip through the sketch pad Tsuzuku had 
left out. And Shanti. Hakkei's memory of her face belonged to another he 
had known. He winced physically and mentally against that. Yet he had 
detected nothing from her, no hint of the special scent that Grandfather 
had assured him would be there.

	He had ignored Lady L as she had spun out the sad tale of her life, 
wished that the bullet wounds would hurry up and finish their job and 
put her out of both of their misery. He knew she had fallen from the 
deck as he rose to deal with the laser satellite. He could have caught 
her at the cost of the Dynasty. The Dynasty had won out easily. And 
until now he had not regretted that choice a bit. He hoped that the fact 
that these girls and Lady  L wore faces from their past was nothing more 
than a coincidence, some spiteful prank of the Fates to torment them. 
Gods, he hoped that with all his heart.

	"Hajime?" She asked again, now totally awake and concerned.

	Her light touch on his arm made his whole body tense. He needed her to 
go away for just a few minutes until he got himself back together.

	"I'm O.K. Matsuri. I just need a few minutes by myself to wake up, 
that's all."

	She withdrew her hand quickly at the hard, tense undertone she heard in 
his voice and bit her lip. Something was bothering him a lot but she 
wouldn't push.

	He lowered his hands as she walked away. Tsuzuku passed her with a 
chipper, "Good morning, Matsuri-chan." as he headed for him with two tin 
cups.

	Her "Good morning, Tsuzuku-kun!" was just as bright. He found himself 
relieved. His tone had been much harsher than he had meant. He was 
afraid his brusque manner might have made her angry.

	He studied the small campsite, willing his attention to other more 
important things as he took the offered cup from his brother. Owaru and 
Amaru were sitting near the small fire talking with Shinkai, Detective 
Nijikawa and the Lieutenant.

	"A word of caution, Elder Brother. The Lieutenant made it to JSDF 
standards." Tsuzuku warned with a slight smile as he settled crossed 
legged next to him.

	Hajime grimaced as the strong, bitter brew hit his taste buds. "What's 
with the fatigues?"

	"I was on an Air Force Base when I realized we might need a change of 
clothes. It was the best they could do on short notice."

	Hajime raised his eyebrows. He hadn't had time to find out how his 
brothers had managed to join him.

	"I'm afraid I've gotten us into even more trouble." Tsuzuku studied the 
surface of his coffee.

	He steeled himself. "What happened Tsuzuku?"

	"Well, after you went with Lady L, Shinkai-san and the others found us. 
We needed a hole to hide in for a while and Detective Nijikawa suggested 
the air raid shelters in the subways. It was a good idea, but the Police 
found us anyway. We ended up in the tunnel that lead to the Prime 
Minister's mansion and, well, ended up taking him and the Secretary of 
Defence hostage."

	Hajime choked on a swallow of the terrible coffee. Tsuzuku kept his 
gaze down and calmly took a sip of his own as he waited for his brother 
to stop coughing.

	"You took the Prime Minister and the Secretary of Defense hostage?"

	"It gets worse." Tsuzuku closed his eyes and sighed. "We saw you change 
but we were trapped in the mansion and then you were gone. I wasn't sure 
what to do. Then Amaru had one of his spells and we could see you 
through him."

	Hajime nodded. He remembered that faint brush of his brothers minds.

	"You told us to follow you. I demanded a plane and safe conduct out of 
Japan. We got the plane and the safe conduct for a while. The plane was 
damaged in a rescue attempt and we had to change to save everyone."

	Hajime sighed. If they weren't on the top ten of every law enforcement 
agency in the world he'd be surprised.

	"I'm sorry, Elder Brother." Tsuzuku's voice was full of apology and 
self recrimination.

	"It's all right, Tsuzuku-kun." He squeezed Tsuzuku's hunched shoulder 
gently and gave him an encouraging smile as his brother looked up. "You 
did what you had to do. No one was hurt and that's all that matters."

	"Thank-you, Hajime." He saw relief in Tsuzuku's eyes. "Now, what 
happened to make you change?"

	Hajime rubbed at the phantom pain behind his left eye as that memory 
reasserted itself. "Lady L let Tsukuba play with me for a while. He 
finally figured it out and Lady L got her dragon."

	Tsuzuku swallowed hard. "I'm sorry I couldn't get to you, Hajime."

	"Me too, brother. Me too." He had tried so hard to hold onto his shape 
but he had still been so weak from the explosion. It wasn't the Time and 
Amaru had warned that something terrible would happen if he changed 
before then. He wondered what chain of events his premature awakening 
had spawned. He glanced over at his brother, frowned as he realized the 
impact of his words. He was definitely having a bad morning. "Tsuzuku, 
it's all right. It wasn't your fault. But it has happened and now we 
have to deal with it."

	"Hai, Elder Brother." Tsuzuku answered in a subdued voice. "So, what do 
we do now?"

	"Survive. Do you remember the pact between the Heavenly Emperor and the 
Gyushu Clan?"

	Tsuzuku tipped his head, his expression quizzical. Gyushu. That name 
tugged at a memory he couldn't quite get to surface. "No. But you do, 
don't you?"

	So far, Amaru had been the only one of them who had any clear memories 
of their past selves and they were only in the form of disjointed snips 
of dreams. What had Hajime remembered? He expected it was not pleasant 
from his brother's tension and touchy mood.

	Hajime pressed his lips into a thin line and nodded. "The Go Clan went 
to war in the Human Sphere against the Gyushu at the Emperors request. 
The pact was that if we won, the Gyushu would be banished to the West 
and the Go would rule the East."

	"And if we lost?" Tsuzuku asked as he put that together with Amaru's 
dream of Shiyu.

	"The Go Clan would be eliminated."

	"Ah. So I take it we won?" He covered his shock at that idea with humor 
touched words.

	Hajime nodded once more, his expression still hard.

	"And now we are behind 'enemy lines', so to speak?"

	"Exactly."

	He could see the worry in Hajime's face as he glanced over at the group 
around the fire. "What did you remember, Elder Brother? Does it have to 
do with what happened to us yesterday?"

	Hajime looked down at the blanket and ran his fingers through his hair, 
combing it back. Tsuzuku recognized that nervous habit instantly. Hajime 
always did it when he was debating with himself.

	"Hajime! Come and eat!" Matsuri called.

	Tsuzuku gave a little mental sigh. Sometimes his cousin had the worst 
timing. Hajime stood and offered his hand. Tsuzuku took it and let 
Hajime pull him up. Hajime held his eyes as well as his wrist for a 
moment.

	"Later, Tsuzuku-kun. When we have the time and privacy to discuss it 
thoroughly. For now we focus on surviving. We may have to stop pulling 
our punches. And we need to find a way to get to the Village of the 
Dragon Springs. It's vital we find out everything that happened between 
the Dragon Kings and the Gyushu Clan."

	Tsuzuku nodded his understanding with a small frown. Hajime let him go 
with mental wince. Tsuzuku, the family's gentle soul, would injure 
nothing willingly. Yet Hajime might have to order him to do so, and 
soon. He put on a smile as he tossed most of the coffee out of the cup 
and strode for his brothers and his friends.


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	Andrew looked down at the tripometer and checked it against the mileage 
on his instruction sheet. This was crazy! He had been told when Genii 
Transportation accepted him for this part-time summer job that he might 
be called on at strange hours and sent to unusual places. Especially 
since he had a special language skill. So far, it had just been ferrying 
Japanese business men to and fro. He pulled the van off the road. Man, 
this was the middle of nowhere! He checked the instructions one more 
time.

	'Honk the horn until you get a response.'

	He shrugged. O.K.

	He started to put some varying rhythm to it as the minutes ticked by. 
This was beyond crazy! Honk until you get a response. He should have 
asked for clarification on that one. Well, he'd give it five more 
minutes then he was out of here.

	His door was yanked open and a hand hauled him out by the collar. He 
swallowed hard and tried to smile into the stern face that glared back 
at him. *Oh, shit! And he was in military fatigues too!*

	"Good morning. Are you Ryudo Hajime?" He choked out in as friendly 
voice as he could manage.

	The man narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"

	"Nagiwa Andrew. I'm a driver for Genii Transportation." Two more men 
came into sight from behind the van.

	"Who sent you?"

	"Ms. Saint-Germain. I've got the instructions and a letter for Ryudo 
Hajime. Man, don't hurt me!" He was starting to get scared.

	The younger one in fatigues got into the drivers seat and slid back 
out, his instruction sheet and the letter in hand.

	The man who held him glanced sideways at the one checking over his 
instructions.

	"Interesting. Whoever it is knew exactly where we were. The 
instructions are very specific."

	The pressure let up on his collar as the man pushed him forcefully up 
against the side of the van. "Stay there. Don't move."

	"Whatever you say, Sir!"

	Hajime took the offered sheet from Tsuzuku and read over it carefully. 
It made him very uneasy. Who was this woman and how did she know exactly 
where they were? The drop off was an address in Katsuchan, Vermont. He 
took the letter and opened it. Tsuzuku read it over his shoulder.

	'Hajime Ryudo.
		For the sake of my great nice Jasmine Tananka, I offer you, your 
brothers and your companions sanctuary and whatever humble assistance I 
can offer. It would be an honor to have the new born Dragon Kings grace 
my house.

				Your servant,
					Tita Saint-Germain'

	Jasmine's people offering help once more. Just who were they?

	"Tsuzuku?" He asked at his brothers sharp intake of breath.

	"Will you accept, Elder Brother?" His answer was calm and contained.

	Hajime folded the letter and put it back in its envelope to give him a 
few seconds to think. It could be an elaborate trap but it just didn't 
feel like one. And he wanted to meet these people. "We will at least go 
and meet this lady and find out what she wants." He nodded at Mizuchi 
who let out a piercing whistle, summoning the others out of hiding.

	"Nagiwa Andrew, I apologize." Hajime made a little bow.

	"Does that mean I can move now?" Andrew asked cautiously.

	"Yes." The man's smile was reassuring. "Please take us to Katsuchan, 
Vermont."

	"Yes, Sir!" He slid back into the drivers seat as the rest of the party 
piled into the van. The man he figured to be Hajime Ryudo took the seat 
next to him. He turned and took in the crowd.

	"Everybody that can, seat belts please. It's the law. The basket is for 
you. And there is some coffee in the big thermos."

	There were several pleased comments as his passengers explored the 
basket while he turned the van and started back down the single lane 
road.

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