"You girls all right?"

	"Hai, Mizuchi-san. We'll put Matsunaga out for you, if you want."

	"Hai. Thanks." He closed the door and they could hear him muttering 
something unkind about dogs as Matsunaga stood up and put his paws 
against Matsuri's knee and whined.

	"Shhh..." Both girls bid him as Matsuri picked him up and followed 
Jasmine down the stairs, leaving Jenny at her post. Jasmine pointed 
Matsuri to the one of the stools in the kitchen and left her cuddling 
Matsunaga while she made a fast trip to the laundry room and set the 
things to soak. Matsuri seemed in better spirits when she came back. She 
got two spoons out and opened the freezer.

	*Those boys better not have eaten it all!* She grumbled to herself as 
she hunted for the container. It was well hidden behind a bunch of paper 
wrapped meat and Jasmine wondered if Tita had known as she pulled the 
unopened gallon of chocolate ice cream out.

	She put it on the counter between them and presented Matsuri with a 
spoon.

	"This is the absolute best thing for the Moon Blues." She said with a 
grin as she pried the top off. "Eat."

	Matsuri blinked at her as she dug in. Jasmine winked back. "Trust me on 
this! There is research behind it!"

	Matsuri gave her a small smile and joined her. After a few bites she 
did feel better. "um...so, will the pheromone be active now or after I'm 
finished?"

	"I don't know, Matsuri-chan. Sorry." She said at Matsuri's sigh.
	
	"O.K. Well, we'll know soon enough, I guess. So, tell me about what you 
and that handsome cousin of mine where up to for all hours of the 
night!"

	Jasmine giggled and shook her spoon at her. "Not what you think! We 
just talked."

	"Uh-huh." Matsuri said all unbelieving.

	"We did!" Jasmine insisted.

	Matsuri winked at her and Jasmine grinned back and changed the subject. 
They spent the better part of the next hour just chatting. Matsuri 
finally yawned and stretched.

	"Go back to bed, Matsuri-chan. I'll clean up and be up in a minute."

	"You sure you don't want me to help?" Matsuri tried to repress another 
yawn, suddenly very tired.

	"Nope. Just going to wash these spoons and get a drink, then I'll be 
up. Go on!" Jasmine assured her.

	She washed the few dishes in the sink along with the spoons as she 
listened to Matsuri go up the stairs, Matsunaga's nails clicking after 
her. When she was done she microwaved a cup of tea and headed for the 
downstairs bathroom by the den. She had decided while she talked with 
Matsuri that she just had to find out what Tamanji had done to Tsuzuku. 
And she had come up with a plan. It had worked when she had gone looking 
for the scarf. Maybe it would work if she went hunting her sister. It 
was worth a try.

	The downstairs bathroom was the most private place she could think of. 
She locked the door and pulled the rug over with her foot so that she 
could sit on it and lean against the wall. She undid her braid so she 
could release the scarf woven into it, shook it out then draped it 
around her shoulders as she stretched out her legs and took a few sips 
of the herbal tea as she worked on relaxing. When she was ready, she 
closed her eyes and built the image of her sister in her mind and put 
the desire to go to her with it. She didn't see the scarf glow gently 
but there was a sudden stomach-wrenching sensation of movement. Then a 
different room came into being around her.

	She took in the fixtures as she focused on her sister. Interesting. 
They were both in a bathroom. Tamanji was sitting cross-legged on the 
floor leaning back against the side of a bathtub with her face in her 
hands. Suddenly her head snapped up and she focused on the wraith image 
of her sister with a glare.

	"New trick, Jasmine?" She snarled.

	Jasmine was shocked at her sisters appearance. She had huge dark 
circles under her eyes and her skin was sallow and seemed stretched over 
the hollows of her cheeks.

	"You don't look so good, Tammi." She wondered if Tamanji would be able 
to hear her.

	"Thanks. Wish I could say the same of you." Tamanji answered with 
sweetly but there was venom under her voice. "What do you want? Or are 
you just checking up on your poor, misguided little sister?"

	Jasmine felt her temper rise at the sarcasm of that question. She took 
firm hold of it, reined it in. Tamanji would get her jollies over being 
able to get her upset, so she would not let that happen. *Just ask, get 
it over with.*

	"What did you do to Tsuzuku Ryudo?"

	Tamanji grinned at her, vindictive glee coming into her eyes. "He won't 
tell you? Well, tsk, tsk. I guess I can understand why. I mean, how 
could he tell the love of his life that he screwed her little sister? 
Oh, he was good Jasmine! For a virgin. I had to use your scarf to make 
him come though." She laughed at the fury that came into her sisters 
translucent face.

	"Have you done it with him yet? No, huh?" She giggled into her sisters 
glare then continued her rapid fire list, wanting to get in as many digs 
as she could before Jasmine fled. 

	"And then what else? Oh yeah. I drank his blood. Very tasty. You should 
try it. And it gives your power such a kick! And I tried very hard to 
kill him. Ask him how he managed to survive that for me, would you? 
That's about it."

	Jasmine just stared at her sister in stunned fury. How could she? How 
could she have done that! Tamanji turned even more pale. "Oh, one more 
thing. Tell Tsuzuku he's going to be a daddy soon." With that her sister 
scrabbled up to her knees before the toilet and got violently ill.


						*****

	Matsuri had just started to float off when Elenora let out a loud, 
"Huh?" and was out of the door.

	"Tita, trouble!" She heard her shout right before she heard her pound 
down the stairs.

	*What?* Matsuri scrambled out from under the covers to follow her, 
almost collided with Tsuzuku and Owaru as she ran out the door.

	"What's going on?" Hajime demanded as he hurried up the hall while 
Owaru steadied Matsuri. Tita came flying out of her bedroom, pulling on 
a robe. Someone was pulling on a large amount of power. He could feel 
the tickle of it in the air.

	Tita didn't answer, just hurried down the stairs.

	"What's going on?" Shinkai grumbled from his doorway.

	Matsuri grabbed Owaru's arm. "It's Jasmine! Elenora did the same thing 
last time!"

	Tsuzuku was gone from them. He vaulted the rail of the stairs to avoid 
Tita and rushed to where he could hear Elenora's frantic voice. He 
skidded to a stop next to her as she pounded on the locked door.

	"Jasmine! Let me in!!!"

	They both heard sounds of someone getting sick. Tsuzuku pushed Elenora 
to the side and kicked the door. He stepped back and stared at it in 
disbelief. It hadn't even budged.

	"She's keeping it blocked, Tsuzuku!" Elenora stepped back up and 
pounded some more as Tita and the others arrived.

						*****

	Jasmine fled from her sister, barely managed to reach the toilet before 
she threw-up. For a second she was strangely calm as she held the door 
together with her power. She spit and flushed as Elenora continued to 
pound on the door and Tsuzuku's voice joined her sisters.

	*How dare Tamanji do that to Tsuzuku! How dare she!! I'll kill her this 
time! But she's pregnant?* She questioned that even as she knew it was 
true. She felt the rage building, recognized the signs of a beserker 
fury coming. She had to get out of here! But she couldn't go past 
Tsuzuku!

			 			*****
	"Tita, what's happening?" Hajime could see the golden glow which 
penetrated every fiber of the door.

	"I don't know!" Tita reached out and supported herself with one hand 
against the wall as the dizzy feeling of her gift started and a piece of 
what might come spun itself out for her alone. *God, no! They weren't 
ready for that yet!*

	There was a pressure in the air which made their ears pop, then the 
house shook.

	"Hajime, you must stop her before she goes off! If you don't, the 
Gyushu will know there are dragons here!" Tita said in a fierce voice as 
she grabbed Elenora and restrained her as the door stopped glowing and 
crumbled to powder. Hajime stepped up to Tsuzuku and they both looked 
out the gaping hole in the wall that lead into the night. Tsuzuku 
stepped forwards, halted at Hajime's out-thrust hand.

	"You stay here."

	"Hajime..." Tsuzuku started.

	"Stay here." This time it carried the weight of an order and he knew 
Tsuzuku wouldn't follow him as he ran after Jasmine, guided by the 
fading trail left by her power.

	Tita said he had to stop her and he might have to hurt her to do that. 
He wove between the trees, knew he had company in the form of the dogs. 
He grabbed a trunk to help stop his momentum as he hit the edge of a 
small clearing. She radiated light like a small sun and her unbound hair 
floated to form a blood colored halo behind her head and shoulders. 
Gods! She was beautiful! The air hummed as the transparent sphere of 
light around her began to gain substance and started to grow. There was 
a sound like popcorn as it touched small rocks and they exploded. So 
much power! He hadn't seen something like this since Tsuzuku had first 
manifested his pyrotechnic power at seven in the one and only temper 
tantrum he had ever thrown.

	He stepped out into the clearing and could see the fury on her face. 
"Jasmine, stop this!"

	She either ignored him or was so lost in her temper and power that she 
couldn't hear him. And the sphere continued to grow. He had to stop her! 
But how, without hurting her? He blinked. Could it be that simple? Well, 
he'd try this first and pray that it would work.

	"Dragon, you will cease this display now! I command it as the Leader of 
your Clan!" He put his will behind his words.

	The sphere and the light that spawned it winked out and left him blind 
for a moment. He could hear her ragged breathing, though. Finally his 
eyes adjusted and he saw her just standing with feet apart, head down 
and hands clenched into fists at her sides.

	"Jasmine?" He questioned softly.

	She raised her head and looked straight into his eyes. "As the 
Dragon-sama wills." Her eyes still sparked though her voice was calm and 
contained and for some reason more frightening than her temper.

	"Jasmine, what brought this on?"

	"Is that a command or a request?" He assumed she was still angry even 
though absolutely nothing showed in her face or that quiet, flat voice.

	"Jasmine, you had to be stopped. If you vented your temper, you would 
have brought the Gyushu down on us." He watched her take a deep 
shuddering breath and the tension left her body. "And it is a request."

	She made a formal bow. "I apologize, Ryudo Hajime. It was...an unwise 
thing to do. I did not mean to put you or your brothers in danger."

	"What happened, Jasmine?" He pressed as she limped towards him.

	"My sister is pregnant with Tsuzuku's child." She answered flatly as 
she passed him.