Okay, this time why don't I just say that I don't own anything except the Takahari family. Those disclaimers were getting just too long.

Author's note: This chapter returns to Ian's perspective.

I awoke slowly, puzzled somewhat by the lack of pain. The first thing I noticed when I became fully conscious was that my arms and legs were tied. The second thing I noticed was Ryan standing nearby, grinning.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Ian."

"Ryan…" I growled. "What's up with this?"

"Relax, Ian," Dart said. "Ryan just happened to point out that you'd be easier to carry like that."

"Really. So Ryan hasn't gone nuts again?"

"No, he hasn't," I heard a familiar voice say. "In fact, it's because of him that you're intact."

I was quite thoroughly shocked. "Karen? Is that you?"

My supposedly dead sister looked amused. "You know, that's about the same reaction Ryan had. Speaking of which, you're lucky to be you, at all."

"What do you mean by that?" Now I was puzzled. "Last thing I remember is being knocked out by that sword fragment."

"What she means," Ryan said, "is that that fragment was trying to make you its slave. That's why you blacked out. Matter of fact, it's amazing that you resisted as long as you did. I had to cast a time spell on you, and by the end there, you were turning gray. I don't know what that meant, but the Soul Slayer's shard was clearly gaining the upper hand."

"Well," I said, "now that we've got the obligatory confusion out of the way, am I well enough to travel?" I was getting tired of being gravely injured by one thing or another.

"Yeah, you're ready," Ryan said. "Next stop is some place called the Barrens, up north of here, and from there, Donau. And if you're wondering why Albert here is looking grumpy, it's because he provided us with some out-dated information. He told us that there was a doctor here in Fletz that could deal with your wounds, but it turns out the doctor in question died five years ago. So Karen decided to use some fancy kuji tricks to hang him from the ceiling all night. And it didn't help that he'd stayed up half the night talking to the psychotic plant man that owns this place."

I carefully got out of the bed, noting with relief that my legs still supported me properly. Locating my gear next to the bed, I strapped the pistols to my waist, the sword to my back, and climbing claws to my hands. Meant primarily as tools, they were still lethal hand-to-hand.

Testing a hidden mechanism in my boots, I rapped my heal on the floor. Instantly, a set of climbing claws emerged from the toe of the boot as well. Nodding in satisfaction, I pulled on my gloves, then tested another mechanism hidden within my ninja gear: spiked forearm guards, fit for stopping swords or inflicting very nasty wounds. On one occasion, I had actually reacted fast enough to snap on arrow in half on the blades.

Even Ryan and Karen were looking surprised at the deadly implements hidden in my clothing. "Uh, Ian? How long have you had those up your sleeves?" Karen clearly meant both as being clever and literally.

"For a long time, Karen. I just haven't needed them here yet, and using them in training would have resulted in my losing siblings. But now, we've got very dangerous prey to deal with. I have every intention of turning Lloyd into bloody meat. Failing that," I said indicating the pistols, "I intend to blow his head to paste."

Karen's eyes were wide. "You must really mean business. I've never seen you or Ryan take such a loathing to someone you simply want to kill. Normally you reserve that for someone you want to pitch screaming off a cliff, like politicians."

Ryan replied for me. "Lavitz was our friend. We're not gonna let an arrogant Wingly get away with it."

Karen's eyes got even wider. "Lloyd's a Wingly? How do you know?"

"Know of anybody else that flies with wings of light?"

She nodded slowly. "You've got a point. But doesn't that mean that he can teleport, too?"

I grinned savagely. "That's what Dragoon Ryan is for. He's going to cast a time spell on Lloyd, allowing me, or possibly Dart or Albert, to turn Lloyd into hamburger."

"Well," Dart said, "if you three are finished thinking up graphic ways to kill Lloyd, we're ready to go."

I retracted the forearm guards. "Ready. Let's get out of Dodge."

The Endiness natives looked puzzled. "'Get out of Dodge'?" Shana sounded confused.

"Sorry. It's an expression from where we're from. Basically means that we're ready to go. Now come on. My problems have left us enough behind schedule as it is."

It took us two days to reach the Barrens. Once inside, we encountered plenty of monsters.

"You know, Dart," I said as I beheaded a Frilled Lizard, "why is it everywhere we go, we end up fighting about a million monsters?"

"I guess it's our lot in life," he replied, bisecting a Scissor Hands. "Who knows, maybe Lloyd has something to do with it."

"Possibly," Albert said as he jabbed an Arrow Shooter through the heart. "Or they may simply dislike dark clothing."

"Give me a break," Ryan retorted, slicing through a Stinger. "Just because we're ninjas and wear black as part of the job doesn't mean we attract big nasty creatures."

"Yeah," Karen agreed, using her katana to send an Earth Shaker to the next life. "We're assassins. Besides, they're probably color blind."

"Do you have anything better to do than discuss the habits of monsters?" Rose complained, using only as much force as necessary to dispatch her opponents. "This much talk will only attract more of them."

"Too late," I said, looking up. "Bandits." There were three of them, crouched atop a rock bridge. "Wonder who they are?"

The one in the center, with claws on his wrist, snickered. "They're asking who we are! Maybe they think we're doctors!" The others snickered with him. "We're the Gehrich Gang, and you'd better give us your valuables or else!"

"Let us pass or you'll need a real doctor." Rose evidently had no patience for bandits.

For that matter, neither did I. I glanced over at Ryan and Karen, who nodded back. Slowly, I drew my sword, then abruptly vanished, my siblings following suit.

When we reappeared behind the bandits, one was missing limbs and run through, another was missing his head and part of his right leg, and the leader, Mappi, was bleeding from several gashes.

In a flash, Mappi had hit Dart, knocked his Dragoon Spirit to the ground, and was off with it, snickering. "This little jewel will fetch a fine price!" And then he was gone.

"Blast it!" Dart slammed his fist into the ground. "How could he have taken me by surprise like that!?"

"We have to get it back." Rose's voice was uncompromising. "A Dragoon Spirit in the hands of a bandit would cause devastation. I doubt that it would choose someone like Mappi to bear it, but there may be others in the Gehrich gang that it would accept. Recall that Doel and Greham held Dragoon Spirits, and they were less than acceptable by normal standards."

"He may have gotten away for now, but we can find him later," Ryan said unexpectedly. He held up his left wrist, revealing something I had assumed to be a wristwatch, but evidently wasn't. "This fires tracer darts, with an anesthetic so that the target doesn't even realize he's been hit." Ryan grinned at my surprised look. "Hey, Ian, you're not the only one with fancy tricks. Gotta remember that sometimes a ninja's mission isn't the immediate death of his target. Sometimes you have to track him, in cases where, for instance, he'll lead you to his friends."

"You can talk about the tricks of your trade later," Rose snapped. "Right now, we have to retrieve a stolen Dragoon Spirit. We cannot afford to lose it, especially since we'll be going up against Lloyd sooner or later. Believe me, normal humans are no match for Winglies." She looked over at Karen, gauging her strength. "Most humans, that is. There are certain exceptions."

I grinned inwardly. That was as close as Rose came to complementing someone's abilities. That was in keeping with her personality, so it didn't bother me a bit.

I turned my thoughts to the ancient Wingly artifact now in my possession. The Dark Mirror gave me the option of taking a trip to Earth if need be. I recalled one item in particular that I wanted to retrieve from the dojo.

I decided to go back for it the night we arrived at Donau. My absence wouldn't be missed there, except possibly by my ninja brother and sister, who wouldn't be concerned.

My thoughts were interrupted by Haschel. "Come on. If we pick up the pace, we can be in Donau by noon tomorrow."

"We're going to have to call it a night," Shana said. "It's getting dark."

I looked up in surprise. I hadn't realized how long I'd been lost in thought. "Right. Let's get some sleep."

As Haschel had predicted, we arrived in Donau just before noon the next day. We three ninjas broke away from the others for a while, exploring the town on our own. Rounding a corner, we encountered a young woman with a large mallet being confronted by bandits. From what I could see, the bandits had her right where she wanted them.

As we watched, she whacked one of the bandits, sending the others scurrying away in fear. "You handle a sledgehammer well for someone so young," I said.

The girl whirled, then relaxed, noting that our weapons were still sheathed. "They're just bandits," she said with a shrug. "My name's Meru, by the way. Who are you?"

"The name's Ian Takahari, and this is my brother Ryan and my sister Karen. We're ninjas." I wasn't at all surprised when Meru looked puzzled.

"Ninjas? Never heard of them. Well, nice to meet you, anyway. What are you doing here?"

"Trying to find out where those scum are based at. They took something very valuable from our group, so we want to put them out of business."

Meru brightened. "Really? The why don't I go with you?"

I looked at Ryan. "Well…"

Predictably, Meru took that for a yes. "Thanks! Let's go take out some bandits!"

Just like Karen. But how in the world am I going to explain this Dart…?

When we located the others, they were quite surprised by Meru's presence. "Who's this?" Dart asked.

"I'm Meru," she replied. "When Ian told me you were going after Gehrich, I decided to come along."

"Sorry, Dart," I apologized. "Wasn't much I could do. A little to much like my sister here for comfort. Took acceptance for granted."

Dart looked resigned. "Anybody have any objections?"

"The more the merrier," Haschel said, Shana nodding in agreement.

The only indeterminate response was, predictably, from Rose. She didn't bother to speak.

"Okay, Meru, I guess it's unanimous, or close enough. Welcome aboard."

That night, I took out the Mirror. After making sure the others were all asleep, I concentrated on it, thinking about the dojo. Moments later, I was in the familiar surroundings of my old home. It seemed much the same as when I had left it, and even the bodies were still there.

After taking the time to bury the dead, I returned to the interior, heading for my old room. Once there, I crouched and removed a floor board. Reaching into the concealed compartment, I pulled out a long, curved object wrapped carefully in cloth.

Partially unwrapping it, I gazed at a very old sword. Years before, I had encountered an old swordsman who adhered to the Samurai honor code. I had briefly trained with him in the art of Samurai swordsmanship, and when I had left for home, he had given me this ancient blade. The old man apparently believed that his life was almost at an end, and he wanted someone who knew how to use it have the katana.

I had never told my family about it, and I only took out the sword now because I did not expect to ever return to my old home in Japan, and I didn't want this deadly weapon to be lost for another seven hundred years, and I needed every weapon available to defeat Lloyd.

Taking out the Scroll of the Nine Hands, I studied a technique that I had never expected to need: a massive invisibility spell. Quickly memorizing it, I set down the Scroll and set to work.

When I was finished, there was no sign of the dojo, or the fresh graves where my parents and the assassins who had killed them lay buried.

It was near dawn in Donau when I returned. I wasn't surprised that Ryan and Karen were already awake.

"Ian?" Karen asked. "Where were you?"

"I was back at the dojo, retrieving this," I replied, holding up the carefully wrapped sword.

"What is it?" Ryan was understandably puzzled.

In response, I unwrapped the old katana. "It was given to me three years ago by an old Samurai that I studied under for a short while." I passed it over to them.

Drawing the ancient, but still shining blade, Ryan whistled. "You never told us about that. How old is it?"

"I didn't tell you about it because I wasn't ready. This was an old, dying man, and the sword is a very special one. It was forged in the fourteenth century by one of the great swordsmiths of Ancient Japan." I paused briefly. "It's an original Masamune."

Karen gasped. "A Masamune!?"

"That's right. It had been lost for seven centuries before the old man found it in his youth. To our knowledge, it has never been used. For years, I kept it in a secret compartment in the floor."

"Who was the old Samurai?" Ryan asked. "And why didn't you bring the sword with you when you first fled the dojo?"

I took back the Masamune. "I never learned his name. I'm not sure that even he remembered it. I suspect that he'd taken one too many hits to the head over the years, but I can't be certain. As for why I didn't retrieve it earlier, the answer is simple: I'd had it hidden so long I'd completely forgotten about it was only recently that I recalled it."

"Should help against Lloyd," Karen said. "Well, it looks like the others are waking up. Better get ready to go."

Author's note: Another one without much action, I know, but the next chapter should have more. For those of you who would think the Masamune a reference to Final Fantasy 7, it was instead a reference to an ancient swordsmith. As I recall, Masamune was sword maker in Japan during the 14th century. As I have an interest in such matters, I decided it would be only fitting to include a reference to his work. As usual, please read and review. -Solid Shark