I guess I got a bit speedy and antsy to get this next part out.  Bah.  If I was greedy for reviews then I would wait and post later, but I think that you all would appreciate a quick update rather than my selfishness.  ::good Angel, keep the greed at bay::

I was thinking, what if someone had just suddenly told you that you were really someone else?  Or that your family was not your family?  How would you take it?  Hopefully, I think I got as close to what Kaoru would really do.  That's the only thing that worried me about this section.

Oh boy, the plot unfolds a little more.  Enishi's plans become clearer, to all of us, and we get a little bit closer to the climax of the story.  I'm excited, actually.  I've had the last part thought out for a while now and I just need to get there.  Ah, precious set-up.  Hm.  The last part is probably going to be really quite long.  I'll try to finish Part V by next weekend, but don't count on it.  Inspiration can't be rushed after all.  ::cough::death by homework::cough::

Disclaimer: (see first part)

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Part IV

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One day.

Twenty four hours.

Where was the princess?

He had felt the magic, but after the initial blip of awareness it had been snuffed out once again.  She had to be here.

Enishi had left the picturesque orchards and the cozy farmhouse to wander into the forest before using a flare of magic to propel himself into the capital where he owned a rather stately house.  There was no staff and the whole place was covered in dust and stuffy from lack of air circulation, but he had only bought the place a few years ago when he was finalizing his backup plan.  At least with all the curtains drawn it had a darkness he could relax in, but something about it filled him with loneliness.

A week without seeing Kaoru.  He only needed to make it one week and then her trip to the city would be done.  By then he should be properly ready to whisk her away.  Maybe he would bring her here first so as not to scare her with the Western Spire and its perpetual night.

Self consciously, he looked around at the cracked and dusty furniture and the cobwebs that lined the ceiling.  Maybe it wouldn't hurt to hire some staff.  Just for while they were here of course.  It wouldn't take long to show her around the city. . .

The knock at the back door interrupted his disturbingly domestic thoughts and he moved himself to answer the door with a grumble.  With a large and conspicuous hat as well as a large black cape, Enishi took in the crouched form of Lord Himura.  Didn't this man even understand how to hide himself in a crowd?  Enishi wanted to groan with his disgust at the incompetence of his minion.  If only any other lord's son had been betrothed to that infernal princess then he wouldn't have had to deal with such sub-par villains.

"May I come in, Your Excellency?"  Himura looked nervous, standing there fingering his black cape, florid face sweating.

"I suppose."  Enishi backed away into the darkness and Himura followed with only slight hesitation at the threshold.  "I suppose you'd like some light too."  With a wave of his hand every candle and lamp in the house burst into guttering flame which settled down and cast shadows in the rickety state of the interior.  In his mind Enishi settled that he would hire people right away to clean up this mess.

Himura shed his heavy cloak and hat, but was soon shivering anyway.  Did the sorcerer know no summer?  He seemed to carry winter everywhere. . .

"Why did you risk everything to come see me?  I assume you made the arrangements already."

"Of course I did, Your Excellency.  My son thinks the ring I gave to him is indeed my late wife's and he will present it to her when he meets her after the king and queen receive her.  It will be tonight because he is even set up to be her bodyguard. . ."  Himura looked a little worried.  "He will not be a problem this time, will he, Your Excellency?"

Enishi sneered at the little man.  "That is not your concern.  You have fulfilled your part of the bargain and once the deed is done, only then will you receive your reward.  At this point the only way you could be of service is if you can tell me where the princess is now."

The lord twisted his face into a look of regret and confusion.  "Sorry, Your Excellency, but no one knows where she is.  Probably not even the king and queen.  They await her arrival in a few hours."

With a wave of his hand and a sharp dismissal, Lord Himura made his hasty exit.  Enishi knew that she had to be here.  Something was amiss with the entire situation.  He wished he knew why his apprehension was so strong, but every nerve seemed to demand he look into this more closely.

"Hellfire!"  He cursed into the darkness.  "Nothing will go wrong tonight!"  Enishi clenched his hands to extinguish the lights even as he would crush that princess.  It was only a matter of waiting now.  Everything would happen after sunset.  Night was the best time for evil deeds.

"Soon, sister. . . soon."

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A few hours earlier, Kaoru was waving her goodbyes to Enishi as he moved down the road.  Every so often he would turn back and wave again, and every time he did Sano would squeeze her shoulder ever so slightly.  Kaoru had a feeling that her uncles knew of her feelings for the man.  Well, she would defy even them for her love.  She only hoped they would forgive her.  The four of them walked back into the house and sat down amid a mess of clothes thrown about and items knocked over from the rush of the past day.  Kaoru fixed them all a small midday snack and offered them some juice when it seemed as if no one had any appetite at all for the food.

"We had better finish packing.  All I need to do is make some food for the trip down to. . . why are you all looking so grim?" 

Aoshi, Sano, and Jiro sat in a half circle around Kaoru with various expressions, but she knew them well enough to sense what they were all really feeling.

"C'mon you guys.  Just a day left, and then I'll be eighteen.  Nothing wrong with that right?  You look like you just found out the entire orchard had been eaten by aphids or something."  They looked at one another and then back at Kaoru.  "Don't tell me we won't be able to go to the city.  You promised!"  With her animated face already fluidly moving from a laugh into something more like her stubborn anger, the men finally forced the words to come from their throats.

Aoshi tried to talk first but Sano interrupted him.

"It's like this, Jouchan, we've all got to go to the capital.  Today.  And you won't need any of this stuff here.  Not unless you really want to take a few trinkets to remember this place by. . ."

Aoshi finally got his chance to speak after a harsh look at Sano.  "A long time ago, when you came to us Kaoru, it was not because your parents were dead.  They are very much alive and now it is time you went back to them."

This time Jiro spoke, the smile gone from his face for once.  "I'm not your cousin, Kaoru.  Sano and Aoshi are not your uncles.  You are like family to us, but it would be impossible for you to be a blood relative."

"Wait a minute."  Kaoru put up her hands as if she could physically halt these words that were making her comfortable world spin out of control.  "What?  My parents are alive?  And why would you take me in if you weren't related to me?  None of this makes sense."

Running a hand through his hair, Aoshi stood.  "When you were born there were complications, and it was decided that we would be the best people to take care of you.  I wouldn't have had it any other way.  These past eighteen years have been the best I've spent in over two centuries."

"Didn't you even wonder why I never seemed to get any older Kaoru?"  Jiro asked gently.  "We aren't even human.  We're special.  You are human, but you are also special.  The story of the baby cursed at her christening. . . that was you Kaoru.  You're the lost princess."

It was as if they had struck her, and the same nauseated feeling gripped them all.  "No."  Kaoru rejected this information outright.  "It isn't true."  She looked to Sano for encouragement.  "Those were just stories, Uncle Sano. . . weren't they?  There's no such thing as magic, or real curses."

Sano couldn't meet her eyes.  "Sorry kiddo."

"Then that would make you. . ."  She wanted to run from the house.  She wanted someone to jump out from behind a doorway and yell 'surprise' as if this were all part of some birthday gag.  But her family had never lied to her in her life.  Her 'family'.  The quotes inserted themselves mentally and now that they were there she felt very small and alone, as if she had only just realized she had been living with strangers for her whole life.

"We wanted to protect you from everything.  Your parents and we made a deal.  We, the fairies who were present at your christening, would take care of you until you turned eighteen and the curse had been lifted.  You have always faced very real danger, and more so today than any day before."  Aoshi's words were firm.  He had always been the one to discipline her when she had done something naughty and he was using that tone of voice on her now.  It made her feel young in addition to already feeling lost.

"Prove it."  She wasn't going to cry.  There was no way she could crumble now.  Even if all she wanted was to fold herself into a ball and disappear, she wouldn't allow it to happen.  The horror of the situation was starting to make her go numb.

The men shared a glance and then Aoshi walked outside.  He was gone for a few minutes while Kaoru sat with Jiro and Sano in silence, arms folded and face stony.  Sano tried to give her a hug but she wordlessly dodged his attempt and gave him back only a withering glance.  He looked terribly hurt but not very shocked by her reaction.  What had any of them expected?  She wasn't the type to be blinded by the excitement of being a princess so much as hurt by finding out the extent of her life that had been a lie.  Aoshi returned with three wands in hand, now retrieved from their hiding spot and looking as nice as the day that the three of them had buried the wands beneath a corner of the house.

Aoshi nodded after they had inspected their beloved items and all three performed the minor magic to return them to their original forms.  All three looked essentially still like the men she had always known, but with just enough differences to make them look not quite human.  There was the slight point to the ears, for one thing, and the silvery sheen to their skin, but most of all what she noticed was the wings.  They were large like a butterfly's but veined like a dragonfly's and they seemed to glow in rainbow colors under the light from outside.  Kaoru resisted the urge to sink into the chair.  She thought about things hard for a minute or two while the men waited for her to say something.

"Just because I'm a princess doesn't mean I'm not me.  Just because you all happen to be fairies, or whatever it is that you are, doesn't mean you are not the same people who brought me up.  This is just a change in name.  That's all."  The men looked visibly relieved.  "But,"  Wings fluttered in renewed tension.  "If you all ever lie to me again I swear I will never forgive you."  She gave a trembling smile.  Obviously she would make it through all of this.  Even if it would take a little longer than this initial period to fully convince her.

"That's my girl!"  Sano rushed forward and Kaoru allowed herself to be hugged this time, careful to avoid his wings.  Aoshi and Jiro soon followed and they stood in a large group of tangled limbs until Kaoru began to shudder beneath them.

Kaoru cried in earnest from the stress of dealing with so many emotions and new facts.  Honestly, she was overwhelmed.  She tried to tell herself that this was great, that it meant that she would only have that much more family, but as she tried to recall the tale that Sano had related so many times she could barely comprehend how this would change her life for the better.  Wanting to go to the city had been one thing; to be forcefully relocated with no prospect of coming back to this little farm which for all purposes was her home made this trip which should have been full of wonder simply an ending to everything.  What of Tae and Yahiko?  What of the fall harvest?  All that fruit just hanging on the trees. . .  What of Enishi?

Enishi!

She hadn't even thought about him yet.  What would happen when he discovered that she was the kingdom's princess and (from what she knew) its only heir?  Would she be allowed to see him?  Would he even want to see her?  What if he thought she had been lying to him on purpose?  Maybe she could catch him if she hurried.  He couldn't be more than a couple of miles away by now.

As if they knew what she was thinking, when they all pulled back from their hug and Kaoru mentioned chasing after her much healed patient, the fairies simply tightened their hold on her hands and made her sit down once again.

"There is something else you have to know Kaoru. . ."  Jiro began.  "It's about Enishi."

"What could you possibly tell me now?  I don't know if I can take any more shocks today."

Sano cleared his throat with a nervous cough.

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Now, Kaoru found herself sitting in a palace, looking down on the city she had so craved to visit from high up in a tower.  It was a good thing heights didn't make her nervous.  The traveling spell that her relatives. . . her 'relatives'. . . had used to bring them here had left her feeling very dizzy.  As soon as she had arrived and nearly fainted into the arms of the stern looking man and the strong looking woman who embraced her with tears and expressions of gratitude, Kaoru knew that her life was really actually no longer the same.  She had announced her desire to be alone and with sad faces all the company present had granted her that wish.

It was as if she had become putty to fate's will.  She could take finding her parents and discovering her uncles and cousin were really otherworldly beings.  The only thing that still caused her actual physical pain when she thought about it was Enishi.  She couldn't accept the things Aoshi, Sano, and Jiro had told her about him.  There was no way he was a dark magician, and it was especially hard to believe he was out to kill her, or even that he had killed before.

None of it was very important, however, since the shock was still seeping through her system making her feel tired and sluggish.  Kaoru yawned, placed a hand before her mouth after a moment of thought since she figured a princess was supposed to be delicate.  Or something like that.

"Please, Your Royal Highness, you need to hold still.  The light is dying outside and I must work quickly."  The little old painter, a man well into his seventies but looking even older with his stooped shoulders and wrinkled face, scolded her.

"I don't see why I have to sit for a painting right this very second.  There is plenty of time later. . ."

The little man looked to the side of his canvas, he took in some detail and addressed her even if he wasn't meeting her eyes.  "You don't know that, now do you?"

With some pain she remembered the curse.  It was all the fault of it that she had to go through all this.  The whole situation still seemed to fantastic and ridiculous to be real. 

"Their Majesties wished to have a real portrait of you and the king and queen are rather stubborn when it comes to getting their way."  Kaoru smiled at the comment that just as well could have been said about her.  "I am honored that they would choose me again to present your likeness.  Your eyes haven't changed since you were a baby. . . remarkable."

"Oh?  When did you paint me before?"  Kaoru leaned forward to ask and got a stern look until she sat again with her back straight in her official pose.

The painter gave a little 'ah' and worked for another minute before answering her question.  "You were just a baby.  I painted you in your mother's arms.  It was never finished of course, for after the christening I simply couldn't continue.  Didn't seem right.  They still insisted on keeping what I had completed.  It hangs in their chambers, or so I was told."

That sounded so very sentimental and sad.  At first she had resented being thrown into this new situation, but maybe she wasn't thinking enough about the people who had spent so long thinking and wondering about her.  What if she had a daughter and had to be separated from them?  What if she was in constant ignorance of their safety or their happiness?  It must have been abominable.

"There we are.  Now, Your Highness, if you could only give me the barest of a smile. . .?"

"I was smiling."

"You can't fool an old student of human nature, Your Highness."  His eyes seemed to sparkle with something like condescending amusement.  "Now think of something that makes you truly happy and then I'll add it to my canvas."

Kaoru tried to find something that made her truly happy.  Several hours ago she could have thought of just about anything in her life, but now it was difficult to come up with anything.  Maybe. . .

Sano telling Yahiko stories.

Tae and she eating an entire pie and getting sick from having too much sugar.

Jiro juggling knives for her while she looked on in horror in case he should hurt himself.

The way Aoshi's face would pucker when he was losing an argument.

And Enishi. . .

After a brilliant moment her heart filled like a bellows and then deflated again.  Yes, Enishi.  Where was he?  Did he know?  Would he still come to kill her?  She had to have faith that what was budding between the two of them was more real than an old hurt he nursed in his heart.

"Why did you stop smiling?  I was nearly done. . ."

"I can't anymore, I'm sorry."

The little man seemed to understand and he didn't push the issue any more.  He completed as much as he could in silence.  By the time he gave up for the day, the sun had sunk beneath the hills.  He packed up his things and excused himself.  She almost wished he hadn't gone so soon, because once she was left alone her thoughts turned dark.  Kaoru wished it hadn't taken so long to do the drawing.  If she had missed the last sunset she would ever witness, then that would make dying that much more depressing.  Normally she would try to snap herself out of this type of mood, but with no Tae around to come make her laugh at herself it was difficult to even conceive of a time when she was carefree.  She looked down on the courtyard stories beneath her and experienced a simultaneous feeling of vertigo and a fleeting urge to just toss herself from the edge.  Just get it all over with.  If indeed Enishi was coming to kill her then what was the point in stopping him?

The knock at the door forced her out of herself and more into the immediate nature of the room.  It was too dark.  Not much she could do about that.  Tokio was revealed by the turn of a knob and the mother she had only just met swept into the room with a dress in one hand and a small box in the other.  The dress looked more expensive than the one she had been changed into upon arrival and for the picture.  Kaoru was already afraid of ripping this one; she wouldn't be able to even breathe in that one.

"About four more hours and then you'll be presented to the court.  Your father and I are very sorry for having you locked up all alone in the tower, but it is all being done purely for your safety." 

Kaoru watched as Tokio moved and noticed the unconscious conservation of movement.  It wasn't that she expected Tokio to be old, but there was a spry quality about her that implied that this was a more active queen than Kaoru's expectations would have dictated.

"Are you nervous?"  Tokio examined Kaoru and then kept talking despite her unresponsiveness.  "I was nervous the first time I went into battle.  Not ashamed to say I threw up the first time it was all over.  It was such a relief to be alive."  The queen smoothed out the dress and then opened the box to reveal a brush which she then inspected.

"Battle?"  Kaoru was jolted into curiosity.

Tokio motioned for Kaoru to come over, and once she had situated herself on the edge of a chair in front of the vanity table in the corner, Tokio began to brush Kaoru's hair. 

"I disguised myself as a man for two years and joined the army.  Through distinguished service I got assigned to your father's company.  It was my bad fortune that an infected arrow wound put me in the hospital and the general discovered my little anatomical discrepancy."  Her mother's laugh was somewhat rough and deep, like her voice, but comforting.  "Instead of sending me away in shame he promoted me.  Said he needed more people with ambition and drive like mine.  Imagine my surprise when he proposed to me a few months later.  Heaven only knows why I accepted when we argued so much.  Maybe I just love a challenge."

Wanting to commiserate, Kaoru's mood fell again.  Naturally she thought of Enishi.  Best not to mention him right now.  No one wanted to think about what the next hours would hold, especially this mother who was obviously cherishing the time she was spending with her lost daughter.

"I know this is all new to you, but I promise you that I was just as confused when I went from the commander of troops to a maker of tapestries. . . not that I really do that.  I'm just saying that I understand some of what you are feeling, and I'd like to understand more."

Kaoru turned and buried herself into a hug from Tokio, and the queen pulled tightly on her daughter to impress the experience into her heart.  Just in case.

"So are you going to help me into that dress, or what?"  Kaoru's words were muffled by the fabric on Tokio's shoulder.

"That's what I came here for.  You need to look nice to go meet your bodyguard for the rest of the evening.  We trust him completely and you should to.  He's a nice boy. . .if a little bit to strict about his rules of chivalry.  Only someone really talented can get away with using those and living even this long.  Trust your mother; she's just a cunning old war dog herself."  Tokio's wink made Kaoru laugh a little bit.

They picked up the dress and Kaoru eyed it with a slight waver in her outward show of confidence.  "I'm going to look like a purple sausage tied up in that thing.  Do you see how many ties that thing has in the back?"

"I know, I know.  Only the formal gowns are this impossible.  I promise you that in the future you won't have to wear anything this uncomfortable if you don't want to, but first impressions are important.  That bunch of courtiers down there may have a lot of fancy and sweet language to toss around, but they are as vicious as sharks if you give them half a chance."  Kaoru made an 'oof' noise as Tokio pulled the ribbons tightly.  "You'll be as cosmopolitan as the next person before too long, but personally I hope you remember your time in the country. . . there.  And now we'll just get the jewelry. . ."

A large dark amethyst, the color of the royal purple Kaoru wore, was draped about her neck.  With her hair down and flowing and in this dress Kaoru could barely recognize herself in the vanity mirror.  She looked pretty good if she said so herself, even if this wasn't her own preference for style.  Tokio also looked proud of her daughter.

"You can really see that gold in your eyes right now. . ."  She swallowed the lump in her throat.  It was only the start of getting to know her daughter, Tokio reassured herself.  "Come with me.  Kenshin has been waiting for quite some time.  I think he said something about a present for you as well. . ."

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"Your Majesty."  Kenshin bowed in a formal manner.  Tokio liked the serious young man, but he seemed to get too caught up in his sense of duty.

"Kenshin Himura, I've known you for how long?"  Tokio patiently went through the ritual.

"Since I was born, Your Majesty."

"When are you going to call me Tokio?  Even Auntie Tokio would be just fine with me.  I hate to think what will happen after you and Kaoru. . ."  She stopped herself.  It wouldn't be fair to bring that detail up after everything else that happened today.  Tokio cleared her throat.  "Anyway, I leave my daughter in your hands while I go to, ugh, mingle." 

Kenshin just made another quick bow to assent to the order.  Tokio hugged her daughter one more time and then with no more words quickly moved from the room, rubbing the sides of her eyes as she went to keep emotions from spilling out and making her seem vulnerable to the vultures that waited in the great hall below them.

Left alone with another stranger, Kaoru wasn't sure how she was supposed to act.  The way he was staring at her was disconcerting.  It would be better if he was at least somewhat friendly and less stiff, like that nice old painter man.  Naturally, Kaoru was the first one to crack.

"Do you have to stare at me like that?"

"Does it bother Your Highness?"

"It does, in fact."

This little man with his sharp eyes turned them to the side and only glanced at her as his eyes swept the small room over and over again as if some new detail had sprung up to catch his attention.  Her eyes twitching in irritation, Kaoru again turned on the poor man who was only trying to do his job.

"You could at least talk to me.  Then maybe you could still look in my direction and not creep me out.  This whole bodyguard thing is pretty foreign to me, so humor me here."

Kenshin did not think it was appropriate, but he was not about to deny any of her requests.  He fingered the ring in his pocket and wondered if he should bring it up.  There was little else he had to speak of with her, and he hadn't been instructed not to mention their engagement. . .

"Ahem."  Kaoru, who was confused by his sudden spacey look, thought that maybe she had blown his mind in some way.  She wasn't trying to scare the guy, she just wanted a decent bit of conversation, anything to take her mind off of the three and a half hours that were left before she turned eighteen.

"If I may be so forward, Your Highness, I have a gift I would like to present to you.  It would mean a lot to me if you accept it."

She remembered her mother saying something about that.  What a peculiar thing for him to do, but then she didn't know the ways of the city.  Maybe this is just what people did for one another.  With a dazzling smile that made her even more beautiful, Kaoru watched as Kenshin withdrew a ring from his pocket.  It glinted in the light of the lamps just so and Kaoru found herself almost entranced by the way the opal surface seemed to become iridescent and plain milky white in turns.

"Of course I'll accept it,"  Kaoru reached over and turned it about in her hands.  "What's the occasion?"  Unable to focus on anything besides the surface of the ring, Kaoru slipped it onto her right ring finger.  It fit a little bit tightly, but as she pulled at it, it didn't seem to want to dislodge.

"Why, our betrothal of course.  Don't most fiancés give tokens like that?  That's what my father told me. . ."  His voice was so level and cheerful that at first Kaoru didn't think he had just casually said what she thought he had said.  Now she pulled at the ring in earnest, but still it clung to her finger.  Was it her imagination, or was it burning cold?

 She stopped tugging at it, but her eyes kept being drawn back to the surface of the stone.  "Our what?"  But already she wasn't listening to the answer as she fell into a rainbow world where nothing could touch her.

*

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Enishi had been staring intently at the black opal he wore on a ring upon his hand.  It was the twin to that which the princess had just put upon her hand.  He knew it because the rings sensed it.  No longer did it matter that he did not know where she was.  This magic was easy enough to perform now that her will was forced to bend to his.  In a weird way, he would be connected to the one he hated so much, but it was inescapable. 

Closing his eyes, he concentrated on seeing through hers.  For a little while he felt her brain fight against his invading consciousness.  Fight me, princess, just try it.  You're years away from being able to resist me. . .

And then he saw that damned knight Himura.  The muscles in Kaoru's mouth tried to twist into the curl of rage that Enishi currently wore on his real body.

"Your Highness?  Are you well?"

Enishi forced a nod.  This was much more work than he had expected.  He didn't have much time as she was fighting against him still.  Stubborn chit.  He just had to get her to say a few words. . .

"I need to go. . . bathroom."  It sounded childish, Enishi knew it, but her mouth had formed the proper words to get her left alone.  All he needed was five minutes, maybe less.  Kenshin left the room to find a chamber pot and Enishi exerted himself a little more to conjure the object he needed.  There were not many of them left in the kingdom these days.  You had to have a special license to own one these days.  This was a particularly nice specimen too, with its fine cherry wood and the sheen of polish.  It was perfect, and he knew because he had constructed it himself.  The way it worked was an example of enviable and flawless motion, like a dance.  Lovingly he had crafted it, carving and polishing each piece before fitting them all together to make the only item he had ever bothered to create that possessed no magic in of itself.

The spinning wheel was just exquisite. 

And the spindle was sharp, he knew.  Soon the princess would know too.  A surge of her mind nearly knocked his control free.  The perk of some alien attention caught at the edge of his awareness.  Those damned fairies had sensed the ring.  They would try to interfere, but she couldn't resist him much longer.  He wanted this too badly.

Slowly her hand inched forward only to halt and shake as the princess tried to reclaim her body.  Some part of her knew what was going on, and he could feel the fear.  Enishi relished it like a connoisseur might a fine wine.  Every time she pushed at him Enishi simply conjured up the picture of Tomoe, dying, and her hand lurched forward again.  The tug of war continued, but the princess was clearly losing.

"Your Highness!"  The clang of the chamber pot as it hit the stone floor startled Enishi for only a second, but he collected himself together and with a final surge of power he forced the princess to impale her index finger upon the spindle.  He noted that she fell, but before her eyes closed she did not reach the floor.  Little Himura was fast to catch her from so far away.

As she slipped into unconsciousness, there was an exclamation as others entered the room.  The voice sounded familiar in its yell, but the content of yell shook him far more than the timbre.

"Damn you Enishi!" 

And then he was ejected from a mind that did not even contain a cogent thought let alone a will to resist.  Tomoe's curse had been fulfilled.  Almost.  Now he just had to get to her and plunge his knife into her chest.  It was a shame that this way she wouldn't see her end or feel it, but there were some things a villain just couldn't help.

Now that it was done, only two things really bothered him: how anyone in that castle had known his real name, and why he still couldn't picture Tomoe's smile.

Maybe she would smile when the princess was truly dead.

He clung to that hope, but it gave him no real peace of mind.

For some reason he felt dirty.  He desperately wanted to see Kaoru.  She would make him feel better.

But first. . . he had a job to finish.