The next day the rain was gone, it was once again the day was bright and sunny. The rain from yesterday still lingered on the ground, houses, and other foliage. It

looked to be another beautiful day, and already the heat was rising. Jack got up a bit early as usual and got dressed and headed to the garden. He walked out back

and headed to his usual spot where he normally sat near the flowers. But when Jack got there, he stopped suddenly. The ladybug was not there. Where could it be?

Thought Jack. It was always here, every day. Jack hoped that whatever happened to it, or her, it or her would come back. Jack quietly headed back inside, to start his

day, on a different track.

His parents soon came downstairs, with Keiko following behind them. Instead of being loosely tied back like it was the past two days, her hair was put up into a bun,

similar to how his mother wore hers. The sunny day was already doing them well by the looks on their faces.

"Good morning, my son," said the Emperor. "How's your little ladybug friend this morning?"

"it wasn't there," said Jack plainly.

"Ladybug?" asked Keiko.

"Really? That's a bit unusual," said the Empress. "It's usually always there."

"Maybe it got washed away in the storm," suggested the Emperor. "It did rain quite heavily all yesterday."

"I don't know," said Jack. "Maybe."

And for some reason, Jack had this strange feeling that the ladybug wouldn't be back.

Later after breakfast, Jack took Keiko out to the stables to show her his horse. Keiko was delighted to see the horse, she smiled when he nuzzled her chest as she

smoothed and brushed his soft mane.

"What is his name?" Keiko asked.

"His name is Hiroto," said Jack, as he too, brushed the horse's soft mane.

"What a nice name," said Keiko.

"Would you like to ride him?" asked Jack.

"Yes, please!" said Keiko, and Jack carefully helped Keiko onto the horse's back.

"Hold on now," said Jack, and slowly, the horse began to trot.

"This feels nice!" said Keiko.

"You got it!" said Jack, watching as Keiko slowly went around the stable and around again on Hiroto's back.

Despite his ladybug friend not being here, Jack didn't feel too upset. Even though he still had a lot more to learn and understand about Keiko, he was happy for the

pleasant, unexpected company. It had been so long since he had been in the company of a woman, and now that Keiko was here, it felt almost natural. Like a long-

lost friend kind of feeling. After Keiko had her ride on Hiroto, Jack took a turn on the horse. Jack, who was the experienced rider, galloped quickly across the field, and

over obstacles, while Keiko stood amazed, and watched. Afterwards, Keiko had another turn on the horse, then they led him back to the stables and gave the horse

some water, some hay, and some sugar cubes.

"In the fall I give him apples and other fruit," said Jack. "Sometimes apples over the summer but they aren't as sweet and ripe as they are in the fall, you know."

Keiko nodded. "I like sweet things," she replied. "Cookies, cake, candy, anything sweet."

Jack smiled. "Me too,"

"Tell me the story of this horse," said Keiko. "I mean, when did you get this horse?"

"After I had come home from my training, my Father had got me a horse to use so that when battle came, I could be ready to travel," said Jack. "This horse has been

my friend ever since I came home from training."

"Have you ever been in battle before?" Keiko asked.

"Yes, many times," said Jack. And suddenly, another awful flashback hit him, the time of when he was a little boy and seeing all the death and destruction of Aku. Jack closed his eyes.

"Are you okay?" asked Keiko, reaching out to him.

"Yes," said Jack, reopening his eyes. "Just a bad thought."

"I get bad thoughts too," said Keiko. "And then, sometimes I forget them."

Jack looked at her with a sad smile on his face. "Sometimes I wish I could forget everything too," he said. "All the bad thoughts of course."

Keiko nodded, then she looked sad. "I wish I could remember where I came from."

"You went through a terrible experience," said Jack. "Your memories will come through, in due time, when things heal."

"I just remember a place, somewhat dark, and I was floating," said Keiko.

"Floating?" said Jack, confused.

"Yes," said Keiko. "I couldn't feel anything, yet I had a need to move, so I moved, and then I saw people."

"Who were these people? Did you know them?" Jack asked, puzzled about her story.

Keiko shook her head no. Jack and Keiko headed inside, after feeding Hiroto. Jack was puzzled by Keiko's strange description of a place and people. A place where she

was floating, nothing around her, she couldn't feel anything, yet there were people there. Was Keiko talking about the spirit realm? Jack had heard stories of people

experiencing death and going to the spirit realm and coming back, but was that Keiko's case, or was her mind trying to formulate up a memory of her traumatic

experience? To Jack, that made her even more mysterious.

The next day, Jack asked his parents what they thought.

"It definitely is strange," said the Emperor. "But you're right, maybe the girl's mind is trying its best to recover and in the process is getting one memory after another

mixed up."

"I can't imagine how hard it would have been had she been left all alone," said the Empress.

"Terrible," said Jack.

"Well, we can't keep focusing on the bad," said the Emperor. "It'll just keep wearing us down."

"A good statement," said the Empress, looking out the window. "These last few days have just been so pretty."

"Yes they have," said the Emperor. "Which makes me have an idea."

"What's that?" asked Jack.

"Why don't we go down to the oceanfront tomorrow and go catch some fish to have the cooks fix up for dinner?" the Emperor asked.

"Sounds like a great idea," said the Empress. "I could go for some good steamed pike, flounder, or snapper."

"Let's do it," said Jack. "We go down to the ocean tomorrow, and catch fish."

They headed out the following day, after breakfast on their way to the oceanfront. The sky was blue, with a few clouds here and there, but no sign of rain. There was

a slight wind but the day was quickly heating up and the breeze felt good. Keiko was excited as she got into the carriage. She had never gone fishing before. Keiko

sat in the middle of Jack and the Empress, and the Emperor sitting directly across from her. They were all smiling, for they were all happy. It took them an hour and a

half to reach the ocean front. When they arrived, they got everything set up, nets on rope, bait, and the snacks they had packed. Keiko found seashells she found

pretty and collected them for her, Jack, and his parents. The water was nice and cool and Jack and Keiko stood near the shore letting the waves crash over there feet

and ankles. Then, they headed out to the fishing area near the rocks. It took a while, either the fish weren't hungry or there just weren't many around that day, but it

took a while. They sat with their feet in the water, waiting patiently. Finally, when the Empress pulled up the line, there was a fish on it. They carefully put it in the

basket that had ice. The next person to get a fish was Keiko, and she laughed excitedly as they all helped her pull it out of the water and off the line. It was a big

flounder fish. Then, they checked the baskets they had filled with bait and there were crabs in them.

"I can swim, look!" said Keiko to them, and with that, she jumped into the water, appeared at the surface a few seconds later and swam around in the water to show

them. Jack decided to take a dip in the water as well, but the Empress and Emperor said they would rather to sit quietly this time. After Keiko and Jack swim for a

little bit, they went back to fishing. At long last, the afternoon was over, they had caught enough fish and crab, and it was time to go home and change into dry

clothes and prepare for dinner.

It was great tasting fish. The Emperor said it was the best he had in a long time.

"We should have this more often," said the Emperor scraping his bowl.

"I'm stuffed," said the Empress.

Jack and Keiko had eaten most of the share of crabs and were on their third piece of fish. After they ate, they all prepared for bed. Jack decided to do a little bit of

reading before he went to bed, and he headed to the library. There, to his surprise, he found Keiko there, sitting in a chair, reading.

"I see you've made yourself comfortable with the books here," said Jack.

"Yes," said Keiko. "It's amazing how writers can paint pictures with words." She turned the page of the book she was reading, then read aloud a sentence.

"And then the sun rose up plainly from behind the clouds, its rich, golden and amber rays casting a blanket of warmth and comfort over the people that stood before

it," read Keiko. "That sounds nice. I would love to see a sunrise."

"How about tomorrow morning, I'll wake you up early, and we can go watch it rise together?" asked Jack.

"Yes please," said Keiko.

"Good," said Jack. "I'll see you very early tomorrow morning."

So, Jack woke up the following morning very early. There was no light at all, except for a few strips of light in the distance, signaling that the morning sun was soon

to come. Jack entered Keiko's room and gently shook her awake.

"Ready to see the sunrise?" Jack asked.

"Yes," said Keiko quietly with a smile.

The two of them walked out and down the hallway together, and up towards the main balcony where Jack had stood out so many times. They stood side by side,

enjoying the fresh air.

"This is a best spot," said Jack. "One of them at least." He thought about the tree.

Slowly the sun began to appear, a shining ball of orange, slowly changing to a bright golden yellow the farther up it went along the horizon. The sky lined with deep

red, orange, then yellow, as the sun continued to move its way up. At long last, the light reached over to Jack and Keiko and casted the warm glow over them, and

they seemed to feel it right down to their very core.

It was just like in the book, thought Keiko. She would never get tired of a sunset.

"It's very beautiful isn't it?" Jack asked Keiko.

"Yes," said Keiko, turning to look at him.

At that moment, Jack found her very stunning. Of course, Keiko was beautiful, but at this moment, Jack found her unbelievably beautiful. She was shining with the

sun, her long hair blowing out with the wind, a bright smile on her face.

Get it together, thought Jack. The woman had only been here for a few days. But yet it felt so natural, and again, Jack hadn't been in such nice company of a woman

close to his age in so long. But it was kind of scary, to see that he could get attracted so fast, and to him, it still felt so soon after Ashi had disappeared. But Jack was

happy, he had brought peace to the land, the world, and the people, and as long as he remembered what he had done, he felt some happiness.

"Are you okay?" asked Keiko, seeing that Jack had gotten lost in his own thoughts.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine," said Jack. "Just had a thought."

"Bad ones?" asked Keiko.

"No, no, these are good thoughts," said Jack reassuringly.

"Okay," said Keiko.

The birds began to sings their songs, and the insects began to be on the move.