Tsuzuku stepped out into the rapidly cooling mountain night and slid 
the screen for the sliding door shut behind him. Jasmine wasn't waiting 
on the deck as he had expected, nor was she by the softly lit pool. 
Where could she be? Then he smiled as the smell of the flower she was 
named for came to him on the still air. He followed it past the pool and 
into the trees, his eyes finding the narrow path that headed toward the 
babble of the creek that flowed through the property.

	He heard the creak of rope and wood as the path led him around some 
trees, then paused, hesitant to intrude upon the moonlit scene before 
him. The old fashioned porch swing was attached to a huge old limb and 
faced the glitter of the fast water of the brook beyond it. Jasmine kept 
the slow rock of the swing going with a gentle push of her toe against 
the ground. Her eyes were closed and her face soft and relaxed and she 
held her head tipped as if she were listening, perhaps to the night, to 
the water. She seemed ethereal, a dream that his physical intrusion 
would chase away. He gave himself a mental shake. She wasn't a dream! 
She was here and real!

	He crossed the distance and stopped before the swing. Her eyes opened 
slowly, glowed like molten pools of gold as she smiled.

	"Hello, Dragon-sama." There was the trace of a tease in her tone.

	"Dragon-sama?" He answered with a slightly amused smile. "No, not at 
the moment, Jasmine-san. Right now I am just Ryudo Tsuzuku. May I join 
you?"

	She nodded and brought the swing to a halt. She kept it still as he 
settled at the far side, then sent it into motion again. After a few 
false starts that ended with them both laughing they fell into an easy 
conversation and began exploring each others interests. He was nervous 
when he slipped and called her Jasmine-chan but she seemed pleased and 
ended her response to his question with Tsuzuku-kun and a dazzling 
smile. They shifted slowly toward each other as they talked and somehow 
during that time he found his hand on hers where it rested on the smooth 
wood. She relaxed her hand and intertwined her fingers into his own. He 
was pleased to find that they held similar loves for reading and art and 
shared a similar outlook on the world at large. Yes. He was very pleased 
with Jasmine and she seemed very pleased with him.

	She shifted suddenly and he saw the frown of pain that tightened her 
features as she straightened her damaged knee.

	"How did that happen?" He asked with a frown of his own.

	Jasmine felt herself color at bit, yet was still happy at the concern 
and undertone of fierce protectiveness that came with that question. 
Then she gave a mental sigh. Well, here was her opening to ask about 
Tamanji and find out what happened between her sister and her dragon.

	"Did you meet Tamanji when you were in the Dragon Ops care?"

	It was too hard to read the subtle shifts of his face in the moonlight 
but for a moment his fingers tightened hard against her own.

	"Yes. I met her." His answer was cautious and void of any emotional 
clues.

	All of the warning bells went off in her head. Something really bad had 
gone down between them. "Well, Tamanji and I, we have some bad blood 
between us. In fact, one of Tamanji's main goals in life is to kill me." 
She said that with a hard smile. "You don't know how lucky you are that 
all of your brothers get along so well!" 

	For a moment she swore she saw flames flicker in the depths of his 
green eyes.

	"Your sister did this to you?" The question was soft and full of 
disbelief.

	"Yah." Anger, embarrassment and shame all washed over her. "She was 
waiting for me when we came to get you. She almost did it this time. I 
got very lucky. She was different, her power was different...wrong." She 
bit at her lip. She still didn't know how else to describe it. She was 
shocked when Tsuzuku released her hand and scooted away from her, head 
down.

	"Tsuzuku-kun, what happened between you and Tamanji?" She demanded, 
frightened by his reaction. She watched as he closed his eyes and 
crossed his arms and closed his whole self against her.

	Tsuzuku managed to repress the shudder that ran through his frame. He 
couldn't tell her. Not about the...seduction or about how her sister had 
almost killed him as she stole his power with his blood. And then used 
that power to almost kill her! He just couldn't!

	She came to him, her touch on his arm tentative. He looked at her out 
of the corner of his eye and saw the concern and fear in her face...fear 
for him, he realized! He took a deep breath, took a hold of the hatred 
and anger and disgust with Tamanji and himself and hid it from her. He 
didn't want to trouble her with this. Not yet. Not ever! He covered her 
hand and made himself relax.

	"It doesn't matter, Jasmine-chan. It is in the past. It's very late, 
perhaps we should head back?"

	Jasmine hid her own reaction by looking down and hitting the toggle to 
light the dial of her watch. He wasn't going to tell her! *Damn Tamanji 
to hell! And beyond! What did she do to him?* She decided to match his 
mood and play along. She didn't want a bad ending to this evening 
either. But she was going to find out. And soon.

	"2:00? I didn't realize it was so late! I'm surprised they haven't sent 
someone out looking for us!" She offered her acceptance of his change of 
topic with a smile.

	"Perhaps they were afraid they would stumble into 
something...embarrassing." He tried to flirt, hoped he could distract 
her as he hopped off the swing and offered his hands to pull her up.

	"They would have been sadly disappointed." She answered with a teasing 
pout as she took his hands.

	He felt himself blush, side-stepped the innuendo of her statement. "Do 
you think Oba-san will scold me for keeping you out so late? Especially 
on our first date?" He put his arm around her waist and took her hand to 
give her support once again as they started back along the path.

	She just shook her head 'no' as their pace got slower and slower. He 
looked carefully at her features in the patchy moonlight that found it's 
way through the leaves.

	"Jasmine? Are you all right?"

	"Yes and no. My knee just hurts. I must have been on it too...hey!" She 
gave an embarrassed giggle as he lifted her into his arms.

	"Oba-san will definitely scold me if I let you walk on that knee any 
more tonight, so stop wiggling!" He told her sternly but with a wink.

	"Hai, Dragon-sama!" She teased back as she put her arms loosely around 
his neck and rested her head on his shoulder and let him carry her 
toward the darkened house.

	He refused to put her down at the door and they shared a soft laugh 
full of 'shuu's' together as she wrestled the screen open and then 
closed from her position in his arms. Then he carried her up the stairs, 
the wolf on the rug right beyond the top most step watching thier 
progress with perked ears. Jenny got up and stretched and moved out of 
thier way so they could pass, then settled back to guard as Tsuzuku 
continued down the hall to the door of the room she was sharing with 
Matsuri and Elenora. She kept her arms around his neck as he set her 
gently and carefully on her feet. His arms went instinctively around her 
waist as she turned towards him. She smiled up at him and her eyes held 
a mischievous twinkle.

	"Isn't a first date end supposed to end with a kiss, Tsuzuku-kun?"

	"Yes, it is." He grinned back at her and lowered his head. He had 
intended it to be fast and chaste. He didn't want her to feel pressured 
by the need and heat that her closeness had started in him. That was how 
he had intended it. As soon as their lips met, it evolved into something 
else. Her lips were hot and soft and her kiss as full of passion as his 
own. It set his heart pounding! Her taste was a delicate as jasmine tea 
and her scent was all around him, making him light-headed. It was almost 
a physical presence, like the brush of spider silk.

	She pulled away first and except for her fast breathing, was totally 
still in his arms. She seemed as surprised as he was by her response. He 
wanted to just pick her back up and go and find some private spot. Yet 
he knew in his heart he wasn't ready for that yet, and he suspected she 
wasn't either. Instead he took both of her hands into his as he stepped 
back and made a formal bow, then placed a kiss on the back of each one.

	She had her head tipped slightly and a quizzical yet amused smile when 
he straightened.

	"Good night, Jasmine-chan. Sleep well."

	Her fingers tightened around his own and then she let him go.

	"Good night, Tsuzuku-kun. I'll see you in the morning." They turned 
away from each other at the same time, Jasmine doing her best to open 
the door behind her as quietly as possible as he padded down the hall 
for the room he shared with Owaru.

	Jasmine slipped through the door, closed it behind her and leaned back 
against it and took a few deep, trembling breaths. Wow! She could still 
taste the hint of cinnamon that had come with his kiss. And her whole 
body still tingled with arousal. She stifled her giggle with both hands 
as she crossed the room with quite steps to stand before the open window 
and let the cool air of the night wash over her. She imagined that both 
of them would have interesting dreams tonight.

	Matsuri stirred, then sat bolt upright and was off of the second twin 
bed that shared the room and out the door before Jasmine could ask if 
she was O.K. Jasmine went and shut the door then changed into the 
oversized T-shirt she wore as a nightgown. Elenora shifted on the cot as 
she sat on her bed and wondered if she should go and see if Matsuri was 
all right.

	"S'all right, Sis?" Her sisters sleepy voice asked.

	"Yup. Go back to sleep." Jasmine whispered back.

	"'kay." Elenora mumbled and within seconds was back to the even breaths 
of deep sleep. Jasmine waited another minute, then decided she'd better 
go and check on Matsuri. Jenny was coming up the hall towards her as she 
stepped through the door. The shape-shifter lowered her ears and gave a 
soft whine then motioned with her head back toward the bathroom door 
that stood alone to the left of the stairs.

	Her contented glow fled as she ran with soundless steps for the 
bathroom and tapped gently on the door.

	"Matsuri-chan? Are you all right?" She asked quietly. She heard a 
choked sniffle.

	"Matsuri-chan?! I'm going to come in, O.K.?" She had a hard time 
keeping her voice to a controlled whisper.

	She waited a second to see if Matsuri would say no, then opened the 
door. One glance told her all she needed to know. Matsuri was standing 
before the sink wrapped in a towel and washing out the shirt and panties 
Jasmine had loaned her to sleep in. Jasmine saw her scrub at the tears 
that ran down her cheek with one hand by way of the mirror and heard her 
sniffle again as she stepped in and closed the door.

	"I got blood on your things, Jasmine-chan. I'm sorry." Tears 
overwhelmed her and she gave up trying to rinse them out and just 
covered her face with her hands.

	Jasmine turned her and took her into her arms for a firm hug. "It's all 
right, Matsuri-chan. No harm done. And what's with all these tears?" She 
said it lightly though she had a good idea.

	"I just can't stop! I should be happy! I wanted it to start, but now 
I'm...scared." She dropped her hands and hugged them to her chest.

	"It's O.K., Matsuri-chan." Jasmine soothed as she smoothed Matsuri's 
bangs back off of her face as Matsuri cried with silent wracking sobs 
against her shoulder.

	"It's O.K. Whatever happens, it will be O.K." She just rocked them 
gently until Matsuri had cried herself out.

	When she felt Matsuri relax a bit she let her go and soaked a washcloth 
with cold water and wiped her face, then gave it to her to press against 
her eyes as she got the box of pads out of the cabinet.

	"I'll be right back." Matsuri nodded as Jasmine peeked out of the door 
almost expecting a horde of hovering and concerned cousins. That was the 
last thing Matsuri needed at the moment. Only Jenny. She said a fast 
prayer of thanks that they hadn't woken any of them up and whispered, 
"She's O.K." to Jenny as she hurried back to the room and emerged a few 
seconds later with a new T and panties.

	She wrapped the wet things in the towel as Matsuri dressed.

	"Better now?" Jasmine asked.

	Matsuri still looked miserable. "Come on. I know something that will 
make you feel better." She winked as she gathered up the towel then took 
Matsuri's hand. The Lieutenant opened his door the same time they opened 
the bathroom door. Matsunaga bounced out past him as he blinked sleepily 
at them.