A/N: This chapter has been re-uploaded to correct section breaks. No other changes have been made.

Chapter Ten: Never Tear Us Apart

They walked back to her chamber and she led the way in. It wasn't often that she allowed anyone into her 'inner sanctum' as she called it, and Kenshin wondered what the special occasion was.

She must have sensed this, because her first words were "I need to tell you what I saw last night." She kept her back to him as she crossed her arms tightly over her chest and seemed to shudder. He could feel the waves of anxiety roll off her through their bond, and wondered how bad it could be to cause this kind of reaction from her.

"Have you told Aoshi about it yet?" he asked, sensing her reluctance to begin.

"No, there wasn't time before he left, and I didn't want to say anything in front of the Jedi. There's no telling how he would twist this, with his opinion of me and all being what it is."

There was no mistaking the bitterness that coated her voice, and he felt the pain beneath it. He knew that she was in a tough position, one that wasn't likely to get any easier while the Jedi remained with them. All he could do was show his support and hope that it helped.

"So, what happened? Was it your reading?"

She took a deep breath before she finally turned to face him. There was a haunted look about her face, one that experience told him never boded well. "Yes, it was the reading I did. I have a very bad feeling about it."

She moved to sit on the edge of her large bed, motioning him to bring her desk chair over. As he settled across from her, she took several more calming breaths before she began.

"It was one of those that looking back I can't tell if it was what would happen without interference, or with us becoming involved. I meditated on it afterwards of course, but I fear there are too many variables to see clearly. Either that, or I'm too close to it."

He knew that she was working up to the reading itself, and remained silent as she continued.

"I also had a dream yesterday, before I learned of anything. I had forgotten it when I woke, but it came back during the reading." The haunted look grew more intense as her inner pain mixed in. "I'm afraid Aoshi may be right to suspect a trap."

This took the young man by surprise. "Are you sure? I thought you trusted Toril's information?"

"I do," she replied quickly. "But that doesn't mean that he isn't suspected as a double agent, and they're trying to flush him out either. I don't believe he would pass me bad information on purpose, but a set up would make too much sense."

He thought over her words and found himself agreeing. "So what about the reading, and the dream? What were they about?"

He saw her shudder slightly before she looked back up at him. "Death, chaos, and isolation dominated the dream. Like I was being forced to watch everything from a distance. There was a fire that sprung out from everywhere at once and consumed everything around me. And the laughter…" she shuddered harder this time. "This eerie laughter that filled the air, enjoying what was happening…"

Her words trailed off as her expression grew distant. Kenshin didn't know what to say, so he remained silent as echoes of her dream reached him through their bond. Suddenly she shook it off and continued.

"The reading was more focused, but at the same time just as murky, if that makes any sense." She gave a grim chuckle as he nodded. "I felt betrayal, but I couldn't pinpoint who, except that the hair was lighter colored. Death will happen despite our precautions, one being bad enough to send us all into turmoil."

She locked her eyes with his, broadcasting her fear as to who the death would be. Realization hit him with all the force of a falling boulder. "Okubo," he whispered.

"Aye, that is my fear. And worse than that, I'm not sure how to avoid it. I ran several scenarios through my meditation, and they all ended with the same result."

Kenshin swallowed hard. Though they didn't much trust Okubo, it would be devastating for the planet if they were to lose him to an assassin, especially at this point. "Do you have any suggestions?"

She shook her head slowly. "None. But that doesn't mean that we can't still figure something out."

They were silent for several minutes, Kenshin's mind running through the ramifications should they lose the Governor. With the tensions growing at the rate they were, he had no doubt that civil war would erupt. What he did doubt was if the planet could recover completely this time.

His grim thoughts were interrupted when she spoke again.

"That's not all, or possibly even the worst."

He looked up, startled, trying to figure out what could be worse than planetary civil war. She soon provided the answer.

"The sense of isolation I felt in the dream was repeated in the reading. The three of us were isolated from each other, and we couldn't reach each other through our bonds or through the ryuus. Like we were torn apart." She looked up at him with more fear in her eyes than she had yet shown. "The feeling I got was that we had done it ourselves."

This seemed inconceivable to the young man, yet he could feel the truth she felt behind the premonition. Speaking with more confidence than he suddenly felt, he declared, "Nothing could do that to us! We've been through too much already to let ourselves fall apart like that! No, can't happen!"

He suddenly found himself up, pacing the length of the room, his agitation irrational but real nonetheless. No, he couldn't see anything capable of destroying the bonds of trust and loyalty they had forged in the last ten years, more if you counted the time before they officially began working as the group they were now. They may have had problems with each other at various times, but they had always worked them out. What could possibly happen to cause a rift as large as what Leika was describing?

A thought began to form in his mind, but he squashed it before it could fully form. *No, that's ridiculous,* he thought, *that wouldn't be enough to do it. No way!*

Slowly he became aware that he was being stared at and consciously calmed himself down. Meeting her wide, worried eyes, he asked in a tone of forced calm, "Was there any indication of what would happen to cause that?"

He watched as she chewed on her bottom lip before answering. "No. I couldn't tell anything beyond the separation, except that pain was everywhere."

"Was there anything else in your reading that could help us?"

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before answering. Though he would never tell her, he could hear the tightness of tears in her carefully controlled voice. "I feel that we may move closer to the identity of the rebel leader, though I don't know how close. Also that the Jedi, as much as their presence has annoyed us, are here for reasons that are too far off to see clearly, but will be important later on. They will likely also play a pivotal role in our upcoming confrontation, but what it is was too murky to see."

He nodded before asking, "When do you plan to tell Aoshi?"

"As soon as I can. Preferably before I leave tonight."

"Are you meeting with Sehh Teren again?"

"Aye, but I was going to see Mother first. I'm hoping she might be able to make more out of my reading than I could. I'll be leaving earlier than I had originally planned, but I'll stay long enough to get the Jedi some practice on the ryuus first."

At the last sentence her face lost some of its grim cast as she obviously anticipated the training Aoshi had planned for that afternoon. "Yes, that should prove interesting," he replied with a grin. "Do you think we should go ahead and start?"

She shrugged. "I don't see why not. We probably should get back out there anyway before Anakin starts suspecting things that Jedi shouldn't wonder about."

They both laughed at that, since neither had ever even contemplated such a relationship between them. "Let's go," he said as he headed for the door, enjoying the easy camaraderie they shared and refusing to think about what would happen if it were ever lost.

~shards~

When they reemerged near the mountains, Obi-Wan had to stifle a gasp of dismay. There, not to far from them, were two other ryuu flying in intricate patterns through the lightly clouded sky with figures almost too small to make out jumping back and forth between them. But even at this distance it wasn't hard to make out his padawan as he landed on Louith before immediately jumping again to land seconds later on the dark red and black one that he didn't recognize. Not that it was difficult to guess whose it was.

"Good, they have started," Aoshi's voice startled him from behind. "Let's join them."

Armanth flew to join them as the Jedi uttered several protests, all of which were overridden. "It is good to know this skill, even if you never need to use it." The leader admonished. "Watch for a time if you must, but I suggest you join us. It is much better to learn this when you aren't under the stress of battle."

Without warning, the younger man was suddenly standing behind him, and then began walking towards the tail. After balancing precariously for a moment near the hind legs, he suddenly leapt off.

"They're as suicidal as Anakin," Obi-Wan said aloud to no one.

He had no sooner said that when his padawan landed behind him. "Gonna join the fun Master?" he asked, merriment dancing on his face. "It's easy enough that even you can do it!" Then he jumped again, landing a moment later on Louith's back.

The challenge his padawan had extended didn't miss the Jedi, so with a resigned sigh he stood and prepared himself to jump.

Opening himself to the Force he let it guide him as he walked down the ridge towards the tail and waited for the right time to leap.

He had never particularly cared for the feeling of freefalling, but he allowed himself as the Force guided him to the back of the darker red ryuu. He landed lightly on the back before his foot slipped slightly on the sloping sides. Quickly regaining his balance, he could appreciate why they wanted to do this before they were under duress.

It wasn't long before he was leaping as quickly as the others and could understand the allure it held for Anakin's sense of adventure. Still, he hoped that it wouldn't become necessary to do this during battle.

Landing on Louith's back, he found Himura sitting in his customary spot. "Have a seat, we're going in."

Within minutes they had landed and dismounted. Bending over to catch his breath and stretch his muscles, he saw the younger man doing the same beside him. "Quite the workout, isn't it?"

"Yes, I would say so." He looked around and saw that they were alone. "Where are the others?"

"They'll be here in a minute." The young redhead sat down on the ledge near the sloping sides. "Might as well sit 'til they arrive."

He did so, and they sat for a moment in comfortable silence in the warm sun. "Aren't you worried about being seen doing things like this?" he asked.

Himura just shrugged. "The general population knows about the ryuus, and that they can be ridden. They just don't know that only sensitives seem able to do so. Or what a sensitive is for that matter." He frowned in thought, turning to shrug at the Jedi. "Besides, we are isolated enough up here that it would be hard to be seen. If you've wondered why air traffic is so heavily regulated here, that's your answer: To keep the average person from finding our bases, as well as avoiding a collision."

It made perfect sense. He could only imagine what would happen if a ryuu came out of between to find an air speeder in its path. Or a shuttle.

Still, he was curious. "Why hide yourselves like this? Wouldn't you be more free to help others if you were in the open?"

"Perhaps," was the unenthusiastic reply. "The tradition of secrecy goes back many, many generations, and it has served us well. The time may be coming to change it, and we will adapt as needed. For now, we remain as we are."

One thing that Obi-Wan had noticed when dealing with the young man was that his answers often produced more questions even as they were able to satisfy the immediate inquiry. This was no exception. However, as the others were now returning he decided that the questions could wait.

Anakin came bounding up to him, looking more excited than he had for a while, reminding the Jedi of the younger version of the man before him. "Wasn't that wizard?" he exclaimed, his exuberance contagious.

Obi-Wan struggled not to burst out laughing, raising an admonishing eyebrow instead. "Wizard? I haven't heard that term in a while."

"Well, it was!" the stubborn youth maintained.

His façade crumbled and the Jedi found himself laughing heartily. "If you insist," he conceded, clasping his padawan's shoulder.

"That's right," Anakin began mischievously. "I forgot that you're too old to have fun like that."

Stepping back from the younger man, his snappy retort was cut off as the others drew near. "An excellent session," Shinomori remarked. "I take it you found no difficulty Master Jedi?"

"Not much," he admitted. "Though I do hope we will not be called upon to perform such feats during battle."

"As do I." He stopped at the entrance of the tunnel. "Still, I hope you can understand why I felt it was necessary."

"I do," he replied somewhat distracted. He had just caught sight of Anakin moving over to talk to Shinju, and noticed something odd about her. Her skin had a reddish cast to it and her eyes were extremely dark, almost totally black where there should be color. "Is something wrong with your eyes?"

He hadn't meant to blurt out the question, realizing his mistake the moment the words were out of his mouth and she suddenly stiffened. "Nothing is wrong with my eyes. Why would you ask?"

He supposed he couldn't really blame her for jumping on the defensive, especially after what he had said that morning. Deciding to smooth over the situation, he said, "It's just that they seem unusually dark. I was simply curious."

The look she gave him showed how much she didn't believe him, but she answered him all the same. "My eyes are extremely sensitive to the sunlight. I wear special lenses that allow me to see without pain during the day. They become clear away from the sun."

He nodded at her answer, having heard of others with similar conditions. When he turned, he saw that Himura and Shinomori had been watching warily, but turned to enter the tunnel when it was apparent that there would be no trouble.

Anakin was asking Shinju something that he couldn't hear as they walked passed him, but he caught her saying that she'd be leaving in a few hours and they'd probably be doing so tomorrow. It disturbed the Jedi to see his padawan seem so comfortable around the girl despite his misgivings, and decided that they needed another talk as soon as the opportunity presented itself. With that thought, he followed the others inside.