O.K. Next beta bit. C&C to your hearts content...huumm...maybe I should 
re-phrase that. Please, C&C it! ^_-

Windlily

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


	She stood side by side with Jen-lei as the Gyushu noble entered with 
his guard, their words put aside for the moment. Here and now they must 
present a unified front in the face of their enemy. Eyanna and Kimiko 
came up to stand at Jen-lei's side as Kath'lau bowed low, his twisted 
features even more mocking than normal.

	"Word has come. The Dragon Kings have been found guilty." He purred out 
that last word.

	"Impossible." It was a lie. He was just saying that to torment them. 
She knew it. It had to be a lie. She felt herself go light headed, felt 
Jen-lei's hand on her arm.

	She grabbed that hand as she started to sway, then frowned. No, that 
wasn't right. It wasn't her that was swaying, it was the bed under her. 
Patricia opened her eyes, stared blankly at the three people in the tiny 
room with her as she waited for the pain that she knew should be coming. 
She only recognized one.

	"Kimiko?" The name was out before she realized it. Then she frowned. 
How come she was still alive? That fall should have killed her, 
finishing the work of the bullets. The slight silver-haired girl shook 
her head as Patricia reached up and put her fingers over the T-shirt 
that hid the hole that should be above her left breast. There was no 
bandage under her fingers, no pain when she pressed.

	"Um...no. I'm Adria. Adria Dupon." She offered with a dazzling smile.

	Patricia almost laughed. Almost. Somehow she had cheated death once 
again! Had the Blue Dragon taken pity and saved her? It was the only 
thing she could think! Then the girls name clicked. *Dupon?*

	"I'm sorry. You look remarkably like someone," *I just dreamed about? 
She couldn't say that!* "I know."

	"And you are?" The nondescript man who filled the only doorway out 
asked. Bodyguard. She knew it as soon as she focused on him. The other 
man produced a blood pressure cuff, began to strap it on her arm. She 
frowned at him.

	"Just want to make sure you're O.K., Ma'm." He reassured her.

	"Patricia Landsdale." She answered the bodyguard and waited to see if 
there was any reaction. She was relieved when none of them showed any 
recognition at her name. Good. She needed some time to think, to figure 
out what was going on.

	"Where am I and what happened?" She asked with the hope that they would 
fill in the blanks.

	"You are on a yacht. As to what happened, we were hoping you could tell 
us." The bodyguard answered, distrust evident in every angle of his 
stance.

	Huum...that was interesting. Why would he have any reason to distrust 
her yet? "I don't really remember."

	"Did you fall off another boat?" The girl asked, barely repressed 
curiosity making her light grey eyes sparkle.

	"Yes. I did." She smiled back, kept her eye on the bodyguard. He tensed 
even more. "But I don't remember hitting the water. Did you find me?" 
She asked, hunting for more information. Surely they would say something 
if they had seen the Blue Dragon.

	"Yes! Dolphins brought you to the boat!"

	"Dolphins?" She blinked, not sure what to make of that.

	"Well, Ms. Landsdale, you seem to be fine. You had us scared there for 
a bit, though. Do you feel all right?" The doctor asked as he patted her 
hand.

	"Yes. Fine. Just a little confused." She did feel fine. In fact, she 
felt...rejuvenated!

	"Well, I recommend that you take it easy for now and go and get 
double-checked at the hospital as soon as we hit port. I couldn't find 
any sign of injury, but it sounds like you hit your head on the way 
overboard and you should have it checked. O.K.?"

	"Yes, I will. Thank you." Patricia nodded and let him help her scoot up 
so she leaned against the padded headboard.

	"What ship did you fall off of? I'm sure they'll want to know you're 
safe and sound." The bodyguard asked.

	She saw the startled look the girl threw at him. What was that about? 
Huum...he either knew or suspected. *Well, we'll play the game and see 
just how much you do know!* "The Dynasty. It's a big ship. I doubt they 
knew I was missing until it was too late to look for me."

	"Is that a cruise ship?" He was still hunting.

	"No. It's privately owned by my Uncle Samuel. But there was a large, 
rather rowdy party on board." She shrugged and offered him an 
embarrassed smile. "I'm sure they'll be more than grateful to hear of my 
rescue."

	He narrowed his eyes a bit but didn't challenge her. He wasn't sure. 
Good.

	"I'll take care of it."

	Adria was frowning at him, her arms crossed. He gave a short, brusque 
shake of his head which the girl seemed to accept. Yes. She would have 
to find out what was going on here as soon as possible.

	"Thank you so much for rescuing me! But if you wouldn't mind, could I 
have a few minutes to myself?"

	"Of course!" The doctor answered. "Come along, Miss Adria! You'll have 
more than enough time to chat with Ms. Landsdale once she gets herself 
put together."

	"There are some clothes in the wardrobe. You can see if anything fits." 
Adria offered. "When you're ready and if you want I'll be on the deck. 
Or I'll see you at dinner?" She asked hopefully.

	"Definitely one or the other, Adria." Patricia promised.

	The girl nodded, obviously pleased then followed the doctor out. The 
bodyguard stepped back into the doorway and regarded her with hard black 
eyes.

	"I hope it is not a mistake to welcome you on board, Ms. Landsdale." 
The warning was obvious.

	She bit back the variety of sarcastic replies that rose up and blinked 
innocent confusion at him. "I hope so also, Mister?"

	"Dwain. Just Dwain. If you don't come up to the deck, someone will come 
and get you for dinner." 

	"Thank you, Dwain." She said to the closing door. As soon as she heard 
it click she yanked the T-shirt up and looked down at her unmarked 
flesh. Impossible! She touched each place a bullet had hit. Then both 
trembling hands went slowly toward her face. They could have just been 
being polite. Her fingers touched smooth soft skin, not the hard, slick, 
unyielding scar tissue of the burns that had come from a dragon's fury. 
She rushed to the mirror and stared at the truth her fingers had told 
her. Her own beautiful features once again framed her dark honey colored 
eyes. She backed up and sank down on the bed, still staring.

	Had he done this? Healed her and dropped her gently into the ocean for 
this ship to find? It would be very like Hajime Ryudo to do such a 
thing. God! She flopped back onto the bed, stared at the low wood 
ceiling. What was she going to do? And that dream. What had that been 
about? She just knew it was more than a simple fantasy spun out of her 
subconscious. Adria was the spitting image of Kimiko. The hair was much 
shorter but that was the only difference. The Dragon Kings had been 
found guilty? Of what? She needed to find Hajime Ryudo. No. That wasn't 
right.

	She saw the reflection of the light that danced across the ceiling from 
the faint, vaguely human shaped flame that flickered in the mirror, 
figured it as a reflection from the water that surrounded them. It 
continued to whisper to her silently. Something else. There was 
something else she had to do. She needed to find the other two who had 
been in her dream. And she had to take Adria with her. She didn't know 
why, she just knew that she did.

						*****


	Adria stood next to him as he leaned against the rail, her hands on her 
hips and eyes full of anger.

	"What is wrong with you, Dwain? Why don't you like her?" She demanded.

	He sighed. How could he tell her? He knew who she was. Dr. Patricia 
Landsdale. Lady L. One of the high muckety-mucks of the secret society 
her Father headed and he worked for. She had a bad rep and death and 
disaster always seemed followed her. He wished again that the com gear 
was up and running. How had she ended up here? What had happened? Part 
of his job was to make sure that no part of Mr. Dupon's secret business 
touched his daughter. Yet here was Lady L, stuck on the Toy with them 
for at least two more days. His relaxing vacation had just gotten a 
whole lot more complicated.

	"I just get a bad feeling off of her, Adria. I can't explain it any 
better than that. I don't trust her. And I don't want you to, either." 
He said it in his best, 'listen to me, I'm telling you something 
important' voice.

	"Well, you're wrong! I like her!" Adria was full of challenge, as 
always.

	"How do you know that, Adria? Just trust me on this, O.K.? You can like 
her, talk to her, but just don't trust her. And never be alone with her. 
Promise me that, O.K.?"

	Adria's stance drooped slightly. He knew that she was carefully 
considering what he had just said. He never asked much of her, never 
forbade her jaunts and always followed as an unseen shadow. She knew 
that her safety was the most important thing to him. That he would ask 
this of her was important.

	"O.K." She capitulated with a pout. "But I still think you're wrong."

	He nodded at her and ruffled her hair. "I hope I am, Princess."


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


	The mood was not at all pleasant in the throne room of the Heavenly 
Emperor. A simple chair was before the closed doors which led to the 
Inner Chamber. Doors which had not been opened for 3,000 years. The 
being that sat in that chair watched the assembled elders of his Clan 
gripe and bicker with irritated boredom.

	"What are we going to do!" Dokat grumbled as he turned to address the 
head of The Gyushu Clan. "They are closer to Awakening then ever! Your 
plan has failed!"

	One look from the black winged creature that sat on the chair silenced 
the Gyushu. "No. It has not." The wind-chime tinkle of Ophishu's voice 
filled the nervous void and the black-red feathers of his wings rustled 
softly like dried leaves as he leaned forwards. The hard to look at 
thing which couldn't seem to hold a definite shape at his feet pushed up 
into his caressing hand.

	"The Blue Dragon King has done exactly what I wanted."

	One of the braver of the group spoke up. "Yet they still live! Was that 
in your plan, Great Lord?"

	"The Go have always been difficult to kill. And there are still those 
that protect them in secret." His eyes raked across the group. "It is a 
shame that Yin-ko could not remove one or two of them." Those two pieces 
of the void came to rest on the snake-bodied Gyushu. The Gyushu closest 
to him moved away slightly. Then those eyes moved on, came back to his 
pet.

	"There is nothing to fear. The Dragon Kings are still crippled, still 
trapped by their human limitations and perceptions. We need simply to 
make sure they stay that way."

	"And how do we accomplish that? Everything we have tried so far has 
failed!" Dokat challenged.

	That earned him a bemused fang-tipped smile from Ophishu.

	"Remove their minions, destroy anything that might aid them in 
regaining their identities. A much simpler task than trying to kill 
them, don't you agree?"

	Dokat lowered his head.

	"Kath'lau." Ophishu summoned.

	The Gyushu came forwards on his knees. Ophishu held out his hand and 
one of the servants scurried to bring him a large, ornate scroll case. 
He held it up between both sharp-nailed forefingers and gave a benign 
smile.

	"Kath'lau. You will destroy the Village of the Dragon Springs. Make 
sure this," he offered the case, "is somewhere it will be discovered."

	Kath'lau eyed the dragon seal of the Go Clan.

	"Don't let your curiosity kill you, cousin." Ophishu warned with a wry 
smile. "What is inside is for the Dragon Kings alone."

	Kath'lau bowed, backed into his place.

	"Yin-ko, take the necessary steps to begin the hunt."

	"As you wish, Ophishu-sama." Yin-ko inclined his head, his serpentine 
body not designed for bowing.

	Ophishu dismissed them with a wave of his hand, continued to caress his 
pet as they left. When his kin were gone he rose and padded to the 
window and glared out possessively over the landscape that spread out 
below the Mountain of The Heavenly Palace. His hands tightened on the 
starred black marble sill. *Now, with any luck, the Dragon Kings destroy 
themselves and their threat will be gone forever!*

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


	Matsuri felt much better. Amazing what a quick shower and a change of 
clothes could do for one! She took the stack of plates out of Jasmine's 
hands and gave half to Owaru and the rest to Amaru. She smiled to 
herself as she caught Hajime's eyes on her again. Jasmine had excellent 
taste in clothes and the green sun dress that she had insisted Matsuri 
wear, taking the white one she had originally chosen for herself, was 
very flattering.

	Jasmine and Elenora had confiscated her after the controlled chaos of 
deciding the division of the five available bedrooms and helping the men 
and her cousins sort out the clothes that Tita had produced from 
somewhere. They had 'caught up' as they waited for their turn in one of 
the three bathrooms of the house. She had explained about Shinkai-san, 
Detective Nijikawa and Lt. Mizuchi and how they had ended up in America. 
Both of the sisters had been incredulous. Then she had told them about 
the bird.

	They had no idea what it could have been either. The best they could 
come up with was that it was her own special gift. That would be nice, 
but she doubted it. She knew that whatever gifts she had inherited from 
her mother's dragon blood had been greatly diluted by her fathers human 
heritage. She didn't have her cousins or the sisters strength or speed 
or their impenetrable skins. And she didn't mind, much. The only thing 
she wanted from her dragon heritage was the scent that she hoped Hajime 
would be the one to smell.

	She was pulled from her thoughts at Amaru's "Voila! One table set and 
ready to go!"

	There was no lack of hands ready to help carry the food to the table 
and after the bit of 'musical chairs' Jasmine started by moving Matsuri 
so she would be next to Hajime at one end of the table everyone was 
seated.

	"Ah ha!" Mizuchi grinned and pointed at Jasmine as the platters were 
working their way around the table.

	Jasmine raised her eyebrows at him.

	"I knew I had seen you and her," he pointed at Elenora, "before! It was 
at the JSDF artillery range! You were hunting dragons!"

	The brothers all looked at Jasmine who blushed and nodded. "Yes. That 
was us."

	"Why?" He all but pounced on the question.

	"We were checking out reports of dragons." Jasmine answered with an 
amused smile.

	"For this mysterious Order that you belong to." Hajime jumped at the 
opportunity that the had created.

	"Yes." She answered without looking up from the mashed potatoes she was 
putting on her plate.

	"Tell us about it, Jasmine. Please?" Tsuzuku asked from across the 
table when no more information appeared to be forthcoming. She looked at 
him and his silent plea for information, then up at Tita at the other 
end of the table. Tita shrugged.

	"Might as well. Though I expect an equal exchange of information, 
Dragon-sama." She gave an small amused smile at the uneasy glances that 
produced between the brothers.

	"Dragon-sama? Someone want to clue me in here?" Nijikawa asked, looking 
at Hajime.

	"It's in reference to a prophesy that surrounds the Ryudo Family, 
Detective." Hajime answered.

	"And that is?" Nijikawa prompted when Hajime got as tight-lipped as 
Jasmine.

	"We're not really sure of the whole thing, Nijikawa-san." Tsuzuku 
answered for Hajime's silence.

	"Perhaps this is a conversation that should be saved for after dinner." 
Tita suggested.

	Hajime agreed with a nod.

	"So, tell me Nijikawa-san, how did you met the Ryudo's?" Tita turned 
the conversation. "Arrested this scoundrel, perhaps?" She winked at 
Owaru.

	"Hey! I'm not a scoundrel! Who told you that?" Owaru grumbled back with 
a playful glare at Elenora.

	Hajime held his peace as Tita and her nieces deftly and innocuously 
ferreted information out of the Lieutenant, Nijikawa and even 
Shinkai-san. By the time dinner was over he knew more about those three 
men than he had ever dreamed. Tita suggested that the men folk retire to 
the living room and gave a few quick instructions on how to work the 
satellite dish for the TV as the girls started to clear the table. Amaru 
and Owaru stayed behind to help declaring no interest in watching news. 
After the table was cleared and the work had come down to the dishes, 
Tita sent the boys off to the little TV and it's Nintendo in the small 
library.

	Tita took a break from drying to set up a tray with cups and coffee pot 
while Jasmine washed and Matsuri dried and Elenora put up.

	"Matsuri-chan. Would you take this out for me?" She asked.

	"Of course, Oba-san." Matsuri answered with a little bow.

	Tita swapped places with Matsuri, watched the girl step carefully 
around Jenny and Matsunaga's dozing forms. She was relieved that Jenny 
had somehow convinced the dog that she and her Pack were no threat. As 
soon as the dog had settled down, so had the tension level of the 
Ryudo's and their companions.

	"Why did they tell them I was dead, Aunt? And how long have you known?" 
Jasmine asked as soon as Matsuri was out of earshot.

	Tita tried to stay relaxed as she dried a glass and handed it to 
Elenora. Jasmine was going to be angry no matter how she said it yet she 
hoped she had found a way not to create an un-healable breach between 
Catherine and her daughters.

	"Your Mother loves you very much. She doesn't want to see you get 
hurt."

	"Uh-oh." Elenora whispered.

	Jasmine just stood and stared at the half-washed plate in her hand. 
"Catherine told them that I was dead?" She said in a disbelieving voice.

	"Jasmine, you must understand that Catherine is responsible for your 
safety. And her decision wasn't just based on the fact that you are her 
daughter but also because you are an irreplaceable member of the Order."

	Jasmine took a deep breath and calmly resumed washing the dish. "Oh, I 
understand Catherine, all right. I even understand the reasoning behind 
it. But it still pisses me off!" The dish shattered in her hands and 
both Jenny and Matsunaga lifted their heads, startled out of their nap.

	"Sis!" Elenora warned, seeing a temper tantrum brewing.

	Jasmine took another deep breath, another dirty dish and nodded at 
Elenora. "I'm O.K. Sorry, Aunt. Is their future so dangerous?"

	"Yes." There. That was all she would give them as she took the rinsed 
plate.

	"Is everything O.K.?" Matsuri asked tentatively from the doorway, back 
from her errand and sensing the tension.

	"Yup. Jasmine just broke a dish." Elenora grinned and offered a cover. 
"They are antiques, you know, and very hard to replace."

	 "We're almost done. Why don't you go and round up Owaru and Amaru and 
we'll get our information exchange started?" Tita found another errand. 
They weren't quite done here yet.

	"O.K. Are you sure you don't need me to help?"

	"No. Go on! Give your cousins fair warning." Tita sent her off with a 
grin.

	They waited a few more seconds. "I've known from the time your mother 
came to me, upset at what she had done. Keep that in mind, Jasmine, when 
you see her next. All right?"

	Jasmine gave a curt nod. "So, she doesn't know that they are here, does 
she?"

	"No. No one but us. I think it would be best to keep it that way for as 
long as possible. Agreed?" Tita looked at Elenora. Her youngest 
grand-niece nodded.

	"Agreed?" She asked as Jasmine handed her the last plate.

	"Yes. I have no desire to talk to Catherine for a while, anyway." Tita 
sighed at her hurt expression, at the pain and fury that she knew her 
grand-niece was burying down deep inside. She watched Jasmine's face 
smooth out, the expression fade as Elenora came and gave her a hug while 
she dried her hands.

	"It's all right, Elenora. Really. Now," she offered them both a smile, 
"let's go and pick each others brains, shall we?"

    						*****