Sanosuke pushed open the gate and started slowly up the path to his little house, wincing slightly with every step. He sighed as he reached the porch, debating whether to go inside or just sit for a while in the sun, then frowned as he heard something fall. It was the middle of the day and Megumi wouldn't be home for hours-who could possibly be in there? He tore inside, stopping in amazement at the sight in the kitchen.
Suzume was down on her hands and knees, sweeping up the pieces of a broken vase. She looked up, starting at the sight of the master of the house, then sat back on her heels. "Megumi is going to kill me."
"What are you doing here, Suzume?" asked Sano mildly.
The young woman got to her feet, dropped the broken china in a small basket, and brushed off her hands. "A couple of children came to the clinic with measles and Megumi didn't want Mariko exposed, so she asked me to bring her home. What are you doinghere, Sanosuke?"
The tall man shrugged. "I took a pretty hard fall at the dojo."
Suzume's eyes widened. The Kamiya Kasshin dojo was famous throughout Tokyo for being the only school to offer training in both swordsmanship and unarmed martial arts and Sanosuke had been teaching hand to hand combat there for years. Before that he had been the most fearsome street fighter in the city, and it was strange to think of him being injured by a student. "Are you all right?"
"Just winded, but Kaoru thought I should take the rest of the day off." Sano smiled ruefully. "Guess I'm not as young as I used to be."
Suzume giggled. "Well, at thirty-five you're hardly over the hill."
"Right now I feel like the hill is over me." He looked around. "So where's Mariko?"
"In the back yard." Suzume picked up the basket of broken china. "If you're going to be home now, I'll get back to the clinic."
"Sure, go ahead." Sanosuke smiled at his young friend, then put out a hand. "I suppose you have to tell Megumi what happened, but make sure she knows I'm okay. I don't want her worrying about me and rushing home when there's nothing really wrong."
Suzume smiled back understandingly. "Don't worry, Sanosuke. Do you want me to give her a message?"
"Just tell her I love her and I'll see her tonight….oh, and would you ask her to stop at the dojo and pick up Sozo on her way home?"
….
Sanosuke went out the door to the small yard in back of his house, smiling at the sight of Mariko at her favorite spot under the cherry tree he planted a few days after she was born. He started towards his daughter and she looked up. "Daddy!" She jumped to her feet, running to him and throwing her arms around him.
Sano couldn't help gasping as Mariko hugged him and she let go of him immediately. "What's wrong, Daddy?"
He dropped to the ground, smiling reassuringly. "Nothing, honey. I just got knocked down a little too hard at work today so I decided to come home early."
"Oh!" Mariko stood looking down at her father. She was tall for a five year old, with Megumi's slender build, ivory skin, and ebony hair, but her deep brown eyes were all Sanosuke's. Like her brother, Sozo, she had a good share of her father's stubbornness, but she had also inherited Megumi's kind heart and gentle ways and now an expression of concern spread across her face. "I know just what you need."
The child sped towards the house and Sanosuke grinned. She was so much like her mother that he sometimes thought it was like seeing Megumi when she was small-a Megumi with a happy home and no war to tear her family apart. He leaned back against the cherry tree, breathing in the fragrance of the fluffy white blossoms and closing his eyes.
"Daddy?"
Sano blinked up at Mariko. Had he actually dozed off? He must have-she had brought out a little table, a teapot, and a cup and set it all up next to him. "What's that?"
The child poured tea into the cup and handed it to her father, who obediently drank it down. "Mommy says there's nothing like a nice hot cup of tea when you're feeling bad."
"This tea is cold." Sanosuke's eyes were twinkling and Mariko huffed in annoyance.
"Well, it was hot when Aunt Suzume made it. I couldn't get it hot again because I'm not allowed to light the stove by myself."
"I'm just teasing, honey. It's really good." Sano held out the cup. "Can I have some more?"
The little girl poured, shaking her head in a very Megumi-like way, and her father bit back a smile as she handed him the cup. "Thank you, Mariko." He drained it and set it on the table. "I feel much better now."
"Good." Mariko moved the table to one side and scooted over to sit next to her father. "Now I'll tell you a story." She took out a little quilted silk pouch and poured some wooden tiles on the grass.
"What are those?" Sano peered with interest as his daughter moved the tiles back and forth.
"They're called tangrams. Uncle Katsu gave them to me. See, there are two big triangles and two little triangles and a middle-sized triangle and a square."
"What's the last one called?" Sano held up the last tile, shaped like a skewed rectangle, and Mariko shook her head.
"Uncle Katsu told me that one but I can't remember."
"I don't know what it's called either." Sanosuke laid the tile back on the ground. "What do you do with them?"
"You make shapes. Look, I'll show you." The little girl bent over the tiles, her nose scrunched up in concentration, and Sano's heart turned over. She was so sweet he felt blessed every time he was with her and he breathed his usual silent prayer that nothing would ever hurt her. She sat up, smiling triumphantly and pointing to a large square formed of the seven shapes. "That's the first one I learned."
Sanosuke studied the square. "Very nice. What else can you do?"
"I can make lots of shapes!" Mariko moved one of the tiles, then another and another. "See, that's a man. He's going to take a walk in the forest." She shifted the tiles. "That's a tree."
"Did anything interesting happen to the man while he was walking in the forest?"
The little girl nodded vigorously. "He ran into a tiger!"
"A tiger!" Sanosuke's eyes widened. "I think your story just ended, honey."
Mariko shook her head as she formed a cat with the tiles. "No, because here's the tiger. See his paw? He has a thorn in it and the man is going to take it out and make him feel better."
"Ah." The tall man smiled. "Is he a doctor like Mommy?"
"No, he's just a man." The child formed her protagonist again. "Now he's walking again and it's about to get really exciting."
"More exciting than a tiger?"
Mariko nodded. "He runs into a bandit!"
Sanosuke shook his head. "This time your story really has ended."
Mariko switched the tiles around again. "No, because the tiger came to help the man. See? There he is, chasing the bandit away."
"Then what happened?" asked Sano, smiling.
"Nothing." The little girl manipulated the tiles a final time and sat back. "That's the man's house. He went back home."
"What happened to the tiger?"
"Well, he stayed in the forest, of course. But whenever the man walked in the forest he was always safe because the tiger watched for him."
"That's a great story, Mariko." Sanosuke put his arm around his daughter as she snuggled against him for a moment, then she sat up.
"Now you tell a story, Daddy." She held out the tiles.
"Honey, I don't know how to make any shapes."
"That's all right." Mariko made the square again. "You tell the story and I'll help you with the shapes."
…
Megumi pushed open the gate and hurried into the house, followed by Sozo. Hearing voices in the yard, the mother and son followed the sound to the door and stopped at the sight of Sanosuke and Mariko, sitting side by side and absorbed in something on the ground.
"So then the King of the Butterflies called his people…." Sanosuke sat up from the shape he had formed of the tangrams and Mariko shook her head.
"No, Daddy, one wing is bigger than the other. Here, I'll fix it." The little girl shifted the tiles and a more symmetrical insect appeared under her hands.
Sanosuke gave her a quick hug. "Thanks, honey. Anyway, the King of the Butterflies called his people and they all came in a big cloud of butterflies and carried the princess back home. And then she lived happily ever after with her mother and father."
Mariko smiled brightly, then caught sight of Megumi at the door. "Mommy!"
She jumped to her feet as the doctor approached, hugging her tightly. "Daddy came home early today."
"I can see that." Megumi smiled down at her daughter.
"He got hurt at work but I've been taking care of him." The little girl bent down and picked up her tiles, tucking them back into the silk bag. "Can Sozo help me with the stove so I can make some hot tea for Daddy?"
The tall youngster had been looking at his father with a keen eye. Deciding that Sanosuke looked all right, he grinned at his little sister. "Sure, Mariko, I'll help you. Come on."
The two children went into the house and Sanosuke got to his feet. "I specifically told Suzume to let you know you didn't need to worry about me."
Megumi snorted. "And you thought I wouldn't? What happened?"
Sano stretched, flinching. "I was practicing throws with the advanced students-one of them threw me and I missed the mat." He held up a hand. "I'm all right, Meg-chan. I was just stunned for a minute, but Kaoru sent the students home and said I should take the rest of the day off."
"You didn't hit your head, did you?" Megumi studied her husband's face.
"No, I just landed badly. Maybe I'm a little stiff and sore now, but I'm okay." He grinned mischievously. "On the other hand, if you insist, I'll go to bed right now and you can wait on me hand and foot…."
The doctor laughed. "I can see there's nothing wrong with you."
Sanosuke put his arms around Megumi and held her close. "No, there isn't, but I'm still glad you came home early."