"Shiyu goaded me into attacking him and drew me away from the others." 
Hajime shook off the image and picked the narrative back up. "He went 
after Amaru and Owaru first, dropped a building on them before I could 
reach them. Then he went after Tsuzuku." He covered his eyes with his 
hands and took a shuddering breath. Then he lowered them, kept his gaze 
on his where they rested on his knees.

	"I'm sorry, brothers. What Shiyu said was true. I was overconfident and 
lost my temper and almost got you killed. I have no control."

	They all had the good grace to avert their eyes and give the Ryudos a 
moment of privacy as his brothers soft murmurs of disagreement and 
comfort came hard and fast on that heart wrenching statement.

	"So, did Matsuri's bird save you?" Mizuchi asked after the Ryudos 
seemed to have gotten past that little crisis.

	"Yes. What was that Matsuri?" Hajime asked, managed to smile just for 
her, to try to reassure the concern and fear that showed in her 
expression.

	Matsuri blushed. "I don't know! I was just wishing so hard that there 
was something I could do to help you and, well, I was trying not to cry 
but a tear got out anyway. It turned into that bird. I have no idea 
where it came from! But it helped you?" She seemed relieved and pleased.

	"It saved our lives, Matsuri-chan." He answered and felt his heart 
thump at her dazzling smile. He told it to behave then continued.

	"It took us somewhere else. Not here. We could see the Earth. And we 
were, restored?" He glanced at Tsuzuku, who nodded. "This time when 
Shiyu showed, I was ready."

	"I still think I should have been the one to kick his ugly butt!" Owaru 
muttered.

	"He pleaded for his life, citing the Heavenly Pact. I hesitated for a 
moment." Hajime shook his head. "It was enough time for him to do 
whatever he did to launch the ICBM's."

	"HUH?!!!" The Lieutenant sat up straight.

	"It was an all out nuclear strike." Jasmine informed him. "Every silo 
launched."

	"Holy shit!" Mizuchi sank back against the sofa in shock.

	"It was Shiyu or the missiles. Shiyu escaped, but it wasn't him. It was 
something else wearing his shape." Hajime narrowed his eyes and frowned. 
"We came back to our Dragon shapes and took out the missiles. We got all 
of them, didn't we?" He looked at the women. It would have been so easy 
for one to slip by, there had been so many.

	Jasmine and Tita nodded and he breathed a little sigh of relief. "It 
took all of our remaining energy to do that. Then we Changed and fell."

	"What was the pact, Ryudo-san? Do you know?" Tita asked, wondered what 
had created the troubled look on Jasmine's face.

	Hajime nodded. "If the Go lost, the Gyushu demanded the elimination of 
all of the Dragon Blood and would retain control of the Human Sphere. If 
the Gyushu lost, they would be banished to the West and the Go would 
control and protect the East."

	"They'd still get half the world? But we'd all be killed? That's not 
very fair!" Owaru said with righteous anger.

	Hajime smiled. Shukukei's reaction had been the same.

	"But it doesn't make sense." Tsuzuku said with a puzzled frown. "Shiyu 
seemed to be showing us that the Gyushu had been behind all these human 
wars and they were taking place all over the globe. If we won, why 
wasn't the Heavenly Pact enforced? And what happened to us? Why were we 
asleep for 3,000 years?"

	"I don't know, Tsuzuku." Hajime's frustration filled his voice. "Either 
something else happened after that or the Gyushu are lying to throw us 
off."

	"I had a strange dream when I was coming up out of the coma." Jasmine 
offered softly.

	All eyes focused on her.

	"Coma?" Tsuzuku bit out. Had she been that hurt?

	Jasmine shook her head. "That doesn't matter. But this might. I wish I 
had told it to you then, Elenora. A lot of it has gone fuzzy." She 
sighed. "O.K. Don't laugh."

	"I was another woman named Jen-lei. And Elenora was there but her name 
was Eyanna. And there were two others I didn't recognize." She shot an 
apologetic smile at Matsuri. "I think their names were Shanti and 
Kimiko. Well, anyway, we were having a fight over a game, I think. We 
were under something like a house arrest. Well, anyway, I just really 
remember the end of it. These creatures came in, they were our guards 
and they were Gyushu. I remember that very clearly. And one of them, the 
boss, said, "Word has come. The Dragon Kings have been found guilty."

	Tita watched the Ryudos' reaction very carefully. Tsuzuku, Amaru and 
Owaru seemed curious and surprised but Hajime. Ah, that one recognized 
something out of that telling.

	"Guilty of what?" Owaru asked.

	"I don't know! That was all there was." Jasmine blushed and shrugged. 
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything about it. It was probably 
just a silly dream." She was really glad now that she hadn't said that 
her dream self and the other ladies had been the Dragon Kings wives and 
fiancee. She glanced at her sister. Or a concubine. She would never tell 
Elenora that. She'd go ballistic. 

	"Have you had any other dreams about the Dragon Kings?" Hajime 
encouraged, managed to keep all traces of the tension he felt out of his 
voice and face.

	Tsuzuku gave him a sideways glance and Hajime knew that his brother was 
certain that Hajime had recognized something from Jasmine's dream.

	Jasmine traded a quick glance with Matsuri and Elenora. Matsuri blushed 
and Elenora looked at Owaru, then Amaru and shifted uneasily. Now that 
he'd mentioned it, Kimiko had been in that dream also. Jasmine started 
to get a very uneasy feeling. No. It was not true. Or a thing of the 
past. Had she had been herself in that dream, or Jen-lei. She didn't 
know!

	Tsuzuku blinked, shocked at the terrified look in Jasmine's eyes as she 
glanced at him then down at the mug that had started to shake in her 
trembling hands. The same look came into Matsuri's eyes as she saw 
Jasmine's reaction and she covered her mouth with her hands as she 
stared at Hajime.

	"Jasmine! Report!" Tita bit out. Whatever this was, it was bad.

	"I...I..." Jasmine stammered and shook her head.

	Hajime was out of the chair and kneeling in front of Matsuri.

	"Matsuri-chan! What is it?" He felt helpless at her distress and 
disturbed to the core of his soul at her terror as he put his hands on 
her shoulders.

	Matsuri just kept shaking her head no.

	Elenora high soprano cut through the murmurs and questions.

	"Jasmine, Matsuri and I shared a dream on our trip over from Japan."

	"All three of you dreamed the same dream?" Tita growled, shocked. Why 
hadn't they told her about it?

	"I'll do it, Sis." She told her flustered sister.

	"It started at night. Jasmine, Matsuri, myself and another girl..."

	"Kimiko. It was the same girl." Jasmine broke in.

	"And Kimiko," Elenora added that bit of information, "where standing on 
a cliff. The Dragon Kings had just gone to fight the Nemesis. They won, 
of course but as they came back, they were attacked from the West. The 
Blue and Red Dragons moved to take the brunt of the attack, shielding 
their brothers. The Blue Dragon destroyed the attackers but both the 
Blue and Red Dragons where destroyed in turn. And the White and Black 
fell."

	*We died?* Hajime looked into Matsuri's tear filled eyes, pulled her 
into his arms and let her cry on his shoulder. Was this what had 
happened to them?

	Tsuzuku went to Jasmine, took the mug out of her hands and put it on 
the floor, then took both of her hands into his. At least she wasn't 
crying. He didn't know if he could have borne her tears. "It is a memory 
from the past, or perhaps nothing more than just a dream, Jasmine. I 
could offer an explanation for it, if you'd like to hear it?"

	Jasmine finally looked up and nodded. "You all knew that we were being 
hunted and had been captured by The Four Sisters. There is your Nemesis 
and the attack from the West. You have the dragon blood, you know how 
protective we are of our kin. Perhaps you projected your fears that we 
would be hurt or even killed and your subconscious offered that as my 
and Hajime's death." He said it as seriously as he could even as he 
smiled and winked.

	That bit of silliness earned him a tentative smile and she squeezed his 
hands. "Let me guess. You took Psych last semester?" She asked in a 
shaky voice.

	"How'd you guess?" He teased gently back, relieved that the tremble in 
her hands had stopped.

	"Matsuri-chan. It's all right." Hajime patted her back gently as Owaru 
and Amaru came and sat close to offer silent comfort for their cousin. 
"When Amaru and I have dreamed it has always been of the past. I'm 
almost certain that the dream Jasmine told us about is from the past 
also. So this one should be too." He moved her away, put his forefinger 
under her chin and tipped her face up. "And your dream might have 
provided a clue to what happened to us. So don't be upset. Please?"

	Matsuri wiped at her eyes and nodded. Why did it seem like she was 
crying at every little thing lately? She glanced over at Jasmine and 
Tsuzuku as Tsuzuku added, "Hajime's theory makes sense, doesn't it 
Jasmine?"

	Jasmine nodded and colored. "A lot of sense. I'm sorry I over-reacted. 
It was just a shock to remember it."

	"It's been a day full of shocks. I imagine we're all a bit twitchy." He 
let go of one hand but kept the other as he sat on the foot stool.

	"Well, I need a cigarette! You wouldn't think of reconsidering that 'no 
smoking in the house!' Tita-san?"

	Tita pulled herself back to the here and now. For a few moments she had 
thought that the girls had had a precognitive flash. "No. No smoking in 
the house, Mizuchi-san."

	"Oh, well. Shinkai, Nijikawa, care to join me?" Mizuchi rose in one 
smooth motion and stretched.

	Shinkai and Nijikawa both nodded and headed for the sliding doors and 
the porch outside.

	Matsuri took a deep breath as she felt Hajime withdraw from her once 
again. It was so frustrating when that barrier would slip and she'd be 
almost certain that he had similar feeling for her, then become once 
again uncertain as it sprang back up between them. Sometimes she 
wondered if he had any interest in her beyond cousin. She gave a little 
smile to reassure Amaru and Owaru that she was all right then got to her 
feet. She needed to go and wash her face and get her emotions back under 
control.

	Jasmine gave Tsuzuku's hand a squeeze then let him go and started to 
work her way up from the chair. "I should go with her."

	He nodded and steadied her as she stood then watched as she limped 
after Matsuri and Elenora fell into step beside her.