Waiting And Sitting Eats Me Away

Mei and Yukemori were serious and quiet, something that didn't generally occur when the two spent time together.

- "Mommy?" Umikaze asked, looking lost, sensing the tension.

- "Mommy is... 'kicking ass'," Yukemori said with a hint of smile, stroking the child's hair.

- "Peri speaks in such a funny way," Mei said.

- "Yes..." Yukemori said. "I really hope she will survive, that they all will. Not only for Kozakura - for themselves also."

- "How I wish we could be there with them!" Mei burst. "This waiting and sitting eats me away!"

- "But the Oyabun was right. This is beyond us. We would only be killed. Now, if they survive, we can actually be of help to them as we know Kozakura."

- "Yukemori. I really hate it when you talk sense," Mei said, a grudging smile on her face.

They fell quiet again, and Yukemori picked Umikaze up, trying to cheer the forlorn child up.

- "He was the one, wasn't he?" Yukemori said after a while. "The one in the tea leaves, and the one of the prophecy."

- "Sarevok... yes, I think so," Mei replied, but there was pain and sadness in her voice. Yukemori seemed surprised about that.

- "Now, remember that night a while ago when you tried to kiss me?" he went on.

- "I would rather not, but yes, I do recall," Mei said evenly.

- "No loss of face, sweet friend, as I told you then. But you will remember me declining, for your heart belonged somewhere else - as I wanted to be more than just good enough. Well, now I see where your heart belongs. The moment you saw Sarevok, your heart started to fly."

Mei smiled a bit.

- "It was magic... but sadly, it does not seem to be in balance."

Yukemori frowned.

- "What do you mean? His heart was just as touched as yours. I don't know the ways of the gaijin, but I do know this when I see it."

- "Oh, he felt something all right. But perhaps it is no more than what any of these men feel when they see me prettied up like a little porcelain doll. It felt like more than that, sure... I even... Yukemori, this is crazy so please say not a word, but I told him my secret. In my bed chambers. Just like that. And kissing him... it was like melting together."

Yukemori was shocked, but did his best not to let it show on his face.

- "But he balked after not too long, practically ran away from me. You could have thought I turned into a bog hag," Mei smirked. "Next morning he told me that his heart belongs to a dead lady whom he has wronged, and he is doomed forever to love only her."

- "That is not the way of things. The way of things is to let the dead ones go where they belong now, and live, and love again."

- "So I said to him, but he says that he is no ordinary man. That he was consumed by a great evil and madness, and this is his penance."

- "I... don't know, but I wager he has set this penance on himself. He, and no-one else. It is cruel, it is wrong, and it is out of balance. The Celestial Ones would not will it. Did he say what kind of evil?" Yukemori asked, keeping his voice calm and soothing, wanting to make Mei feel better.

- "We didn't have time to exchange life histories, what with the Kusatte Iru on rampage," Mei smiled, uttering a mirthless laugh. "And... I do not care. I do not care if he was the First Oni himself - now he is noble and fierce and honorable, I just know it. The way the best of the samurai are."

- "So it certainly seems."

- "But... I can't force him into my company or bed. If he is so determined, what am I to do about it?"

- "I think there may be a way..."

But before Yukemori had time to explain what he meant, a messenger entered the chambers.

- "They are back," he said, forfeiting all the normal long courtesies.