Ronin

A TGS-based story

by C.S. Hayden

Disclaimer: Gargoyles is the property of Disney and Buena Vista Television. Characters from "Yama's Path" by Kimberly T. appear by permission. All original characters and plot are the creative property of Christi Smith Hayden.

Part II

From the journal of Kirin, teacher and weapons master, formerly of Ishimura

In time, I came to accept my place in Tengu life. Things were awkward between Miza and me for a time but we eventually became friends. Like O-tama, Miza was gentle and easy to talk to. She was the rookery keeper here as was my friend Sakaki, back in Ishimura. It was essential that we work together; her duties as keeper and mine as teacher were dependent on each other. We did not speak of the incident in the bath house and kept things on a purely platonic level but the memories lingered.

The seasons turned and soon it became time for the eggs in the Tengu rookery to hatch. There were five; apparently Bana had laid two, not uncommon among mature females. Since there was no room for the clan inside the tight confines of the rookery, a former silver mine, the eggs were moved to the main meeting hall where they rocked gently in their padded boxes.

Everyone was hovering excitedly around them but I stood back in the shadows. I smiled and nodded and to all appearances, shared in their joy but inside I could not help but think of the egg that was meant to be mine – the child that I should have been eagerly waiting for. Faraway in distant Ishimura, Ikeike's egg would be hatching. I had arranged for that egg to be and I felt responsible for it. Even though my ex-mate had made it brutally clear that we were through, I would have liked to have been there.

I felt cheated.

In the village of the Tengu

Spring, 1998

As the eggs rocked violently, the Tengu clan gathered around them. It had the air of a festival dance, Kirin mused, as he watched from a far corner with his students. He had made the mistake of mentioning to O-tama that he had played the shakuhachi flute when he was younger and she immediately arranged for music to be performed during the hatching. Luckily, the Tengu encouraged music as a pastime during the long Japanese winter so Kirin was joined by two elderly females playing the koto as well as his own students. Tancho, while tone-deaf as a singer, had surprisingly good rhythm as did Takakura. Mozu's talent was whistling; he provided a treble descant to Kirin's flute.

The females knelt facing the eggs. Each egg bore faded ink where the rookery keeper had marked its parentage with a soft bamboo brush. The males stood behind them, thrumming low in their throats. Kirin nodded to Tancho and Takakura who began a soft rhythm on their drums. There was a sharp crack as the first of new hatchlings chipped through its shell. Old Sakura clapped her hands over her koto and touched her prayerful hands to her forehead in a gesture of thanksgiving. Mozu couldn't contain his curiosity and climbed up behind Kirin on his stool, standing on tiptoe and leaning over his teacher's shoulder.

"Which one is it?" Kirin asked quietly.

"I can't tell," Mozu reported. "Two other eggs have cracked – no, three!"

"Very good," Kirin murmured back. "It's going well." He lifted his flute to his lips and began a languorous melody which was picked up by the kotos. It helped to have something else to focus on besides the hatching in progress. Mozu's fingers tightened on his shoulder and he missed his cue to join in the song.

"Sensei?"

Kirin continued until the end of the musical phrase before asking, "Yes?"

"Sensei, one of Bana's eggs isn't moving." Mozu's voice quavered. "It's not hatching."

Standing up, Kirin could see through the males gathered around the eggs. The purplish shell was already beginning to turn grey. "Oh, no…"

"Kirin-san?" Sakura asked, the wrinkles deepening on her face. "What is it?" The other elder, Deiji, plunked a discordant note as she stopped playing as well. Takakura and Tancho's drum solo lasted less than a minute when they became aware of the tension in the room as well.

"Boys, stay with Sakura and Deiji." Kirin strode across to the group gathered around the hatching eggs. Kiyo had her infant in her arms, soothing and cuddling it and Miza was helping hers out of the shell but Bana and O-tama were having problems.

The baby in O-tama's arms let out a feeble squall but its face was strange as if it was only working on one side. She looked up and Kirin had never seen such a panicked expression on O-tama's face. "Kirin-san! Did your rookery training include—?"

"Hatching emergencies? Yes, the clan healer gave us all basic training."

"Bana's hatchling is not breathing – help her!"

Doryo was hovering anxiously and shrugged off Kirin's hand on his shoulder when he tried to move the toad-faced gargoyle. He and the elder had come to odds over the way he was teaching the Three; Doryo had considered readings from the clan scrolls preferable to Kirin's modern topics and had felt slighted by the newcomer.

"You must let me help the baby, Doryo," Kirin said urgently. "Move aside!"

"No! I will not leave!" Doryo snapped and aimed a savage wing slash at the taller male's face. Kirin side-stepped it and unceremoniously pitched Doryo across the room. Bana cried out but would not look up from her hatchling.

"Bana-san, let me see the baby," Kirin said gently but firmly. "I worked in the rookery at Ishimura for a time. I can help."

Wisps of hair were coming loose from her elaborate coiffure as the parrot-faced female looked up with tearful eyes. "She's not breathing," Bana sobbed, "she's not moving and the other—" She choked back a spate of tears.

"Here," Kirin took the hatchling from her just as Doryo lurched back. Bana grabbed her mate's sleeve to keep him out of the way. Checking the baby's vitals, Kirin couldn't get a pulse in the neck but he could sense a faint thumping in her chest. He jumped to his feet, and supporting her body along his forearm with her tiny head cradled in his hand, he swung her down towards the floor, letting the centrifugal force clear her airway.

"What are you doing?" Doryo bellowed. "You'll kill her!"

In the shocked pause that followed, the hatchling coughed and gave a mewling cry. Kirin raised one eyebrow at Doryo and passed the baby back to Bana. "Rub her all over to stimulate her," he said, putting motion to words with a soft cloth. "You must keep her crying to strengthen her lungs."

"But the other egg—" Bana's voice caught as she glanced at it desperately.

"Your daughter is alive," Kirin pointed out. "You must keep her that way. I will deal with the egg." He turned his back to her to shield her from any unfortunate sights. All the adult gargoyles present knew that it was a bad omen when an unhatched egg changed color. Tapping the shell with a talon, Kirin listened carefully for any signs of life from within. Nothing. He picked it up gingerly and tilted it. There was a wet, mucky slap as the contents shifted and a faint sulfurous odor permeated the shell. He glanced at O-tama and met her stare. She lifted her brow slightly. He shook his head.

O-tama bent her head but before she could speak, Takamatsu did so for her. "I am very sorry, Bana-san," the raven-headed leader of the Tengu said, "but I think it would be wise for Kirin to take the egg away. Doryo will show him where to lay it to rest."

Goro spoke up from his spot between Miza and Kiyo. "Let me go with Doryo instead, Takamatsu-sama. O-tama may need Kirin here to help her."

Takamatsu nodded slowly. "You're right," he agreed. "Fetch your tools, Goro, and go with Doryo." The big tusked gargoyle bowed briefly before he padded to the door and left, heading towards their supply cave.

Kirin busied himself with making a sling for the dead egg. Doryo slapped it out of his hands with narrowed eyes white with anger but Kirin backed off, knowing that Doryo was lashing out in his grief. The older gargoyle schooled his broad features into a stern, unyielding mask as he shared a brief word with his mate before leaving on his grim task.

Takamatsu put a hand on Kirin's arm. "Have you seen anything like this, Kirin-san?" he asked urgently, pointing down at O-tama's baby. "What is wrong with its face?"

Dropping to his haunches, Kirin looked over O-tama's shoulder at the newborn gargoyle. It was another female with Takamatsu's sooty feathers but O-tama's silvery hair. She would have been an attractive baby if not for the flaccid droop of her features along the left side of her face. In fact, the entire left side of her body seemed affected; her arm and leg were barely moving and her left wing was still curled up in wet folds. They were symptoms more common in the very elderly not the newly born but Kirin chose discretion over honest opinion.

"I am a teacher, not a healer, Takamatsu-sama," Kirin commented. "How are the others? Kiyo? Miza?"

Kiyo looked up, her high arched brows giving her a perpetually startled look, and smiled. "Mine is fine," she reported. "It's a male and he's hungry." She winced and shifted him in her arms. "Very hungry!"

"I've got a daughter too," Miza said softly, "but she's not acting right." She frowned. "Her eyes won't focus and she seems listless."

"Mine is still having difficulty breathing," Bana commented, still weeping over her lost egg. She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "What can we do?"

O-tama finally shook off her momentary bout of panic. "I wish I had another healer here to consult," she said anxiously. "I've never had a hatching like this!"

Kirin tapped his finger on his chin. "Perhaps we should call Ishimura," he mused. "Kado might know something and he could consult with the village doctors if necessary."

"Kado?" Takamatsu asked sharply. "Who is that?"

"Master Kado is the healer for the Ishimura clan. He would know me – he was cataloguing the clan's medical records when I was a student and I was allowed to help him transcribe it." Kirin called across the room to the Three. "Tak! Didn't you see a bunch of campers down at the river bottoms?"

"Yes, sensei," Takakura spoke up eagerly. He and his rookery brothers had been waiting nervously while the adults were busy. "There were lots of young humans. We heard them say it was Golden Week."

"Teenagers away on a school holiday – good." Kirin chewed on one of his barbels. "Did any of them have cell phones? A box that they were talking to that fit in their hand?"

"Yes," Tancho answered thoughtfully. "The things would make a funny noise and then the people would talk into them."

Kirin looked at O-tama and then at Takamatsu who nodded his permission. "You three go down to the campgrounds and bring back one of those cell phones." He thought for moment. "Better yet, each of you bring one back. There's no telling how much charge there will be on those batteries."

Miza raised her feathered crest indignantly. "Kirin-san! That's stealing!" The Three paused in their tracks and stared at her.

"If it makes you feel better," Kirin said dryly, "when we are finished with them, we will drop them off at the ranger station. People lose their cell phones all the time, Miza, no one will be the wiser."

"Go on," Takamatsu said, gesturing to the youngsters with his staff. "Your little brother and sisters are depending on you." The Three were out the door and airborne before the Tengu leader finished speaking.

"Takamatsu-sama," one of the elder males said, "is this wise? We Tengu have struggled long to stand on our own since Nagasaki. To call upon the Ishimuran clan now might seem like a sign of weakness."

"Perhaps, but for our newborns, I would dare it!" Takamatsu replied hotly. "There is something clearly wrong with them – can you tell me what it is?" The elder immediately lowered his eyes to the ground.

The male hatchling in Kiyo's arms began to choke and splutter. She had him upright and was patting his back when he spewed milk and some greenish fluid. An experienced mother, Kiyo had a burp rag ready so most of the mess was contained but even she wrinkled her nose. "Phew! What a sour smell!" She wiped the baby's mouth. "I wouldn't want that in my stomach either!"

Makino chuckled and handed her a clean rag. "Less than an hour in the world and he's complaining about your cooking already, Kiyo-chan." The quiet-spoken gargoyle with the curving spikes from jaw to brow had been hovering attentively over his mate throughout the hatching. He was one of the few males that had taken a fatherly interest in both the new brood and the older hatchlings. Kiyo was taken care of so Kirin turned his attention to the others.

A quick glance at Bana told Kirin that she was in good hands with Sakura and Deiji; with the Three out from underfoot, the two female elders had put away their instruments to help her. Takamatsu had settled on a cushion by O-tama and was murmuring encouraging words into his mate's ear. By contrast, Miza seemed lost and alone with Goro off on burial detail. She rocked back and forth, crooning softly to her newborn. Burdened by a momentary twinge of guilt, Kirin padded over and hunkered down besides her on his haunches.

"Miza-san," he said softly, "how is she?"

"I think she could nurse if I just had enough milk," Miza replied. Her neckline was draped loosely so that the tops of her breasts were showing. "She's so weak; if I had more milk then it would be easier for her."

"Didn't Goro rub your back for you?" Makino asked, frowning. "We agreed that I would get Kiyo ready and he would take care of you." He was referring to the prenatal practice of preparing one's mate to nurse since gargoyle eggs had such a long gestation period. When the eggs were nearly ready to hatch, they began to emit gases that brought on hormonal changes in breeding females. Their mates would complete the process by stimulating certain pressure points to bring on lactation. Kirin felt a brief twinge of regret; he would have learned such techniques himself if things had been different back in Ishimura.

"He did," Miza answered defensively, "but he had to go tend his kiln and skipped a few nights."

"Kirin-san," O-tama said sounding relieved to have something practical to focus on, "there are acupressure points that will stimulate milk production. Will you rub Miza's back as I direct?"

"I can't – I mean, that is Goro's duty, not mine," Kirin objected. "I would not want offend him." This comment earned him a piercing look from O-tama that said very clearly that she didn't have any patience for his self-pitying moods tonight. "Very well," he agreed reluctantly, "if I must." He knelt and parted her feathered wings. Since she was expecting to nurse, Miza was wearing a skirt with a separate top. He untucked it from her embroidered obi so he could slide his hands under and avoid nagging the fabric with his talons.

"Start one hand's width from the base of her tail," O-tama instructed, "and begin rubbing gently with your thumbs on either side of her spine."

"All right." Kirin flexed his fingers and laid them gently on the flat of Miza's back. "You will tell me if I press too hard, neh?" he commented as he began the massage.

Miza smiled at him over her shoulder. "Do not worry, Kirin-san," she replied. "Goro's hands are toughened from throwing pots. I am used to it!"

"Hmmph." Concentrating on O-tama's instructions, Kirin traced a diagonal path up Miza's back from her tail to her shoulders, stimulating acupressure points every two or three inches. He kept well clear of the erogenous zone between her wings, although Miza did slowly rotate her shoulders when he was near that area. Her skin was soft and downy beneath his fingers. The hatchling in her arms made a soft gurgling sound and Miza caught her breath, tensing her muscles beneath his fingers.

"Are you all right?" Kirin asked, lifting his hands away.

"Yes," she sighed, a wistful catch in her voice. "The baby's finally latched on. I can feel her getting milk."

"Good – you can stop now, Kirin." O-tama sighed and frowned down at her own baby. "Now if I can only sort you out," she murmured. "This is not normal." She uncurled the baby's left hand and pinched it on the webbing between thumb and forefinger. "There's no reaction – it's as if she has no feeling."

The snap and crunch of branches heralded the return of the Three. Takakura bounded into the room and brandished two cellular telephones in one hand. "Success, sensei!" he called excitedly. "They were having a bonfire so Tancho kept watch while Mozu and I went through the campsites."

"Excellent!" Kirin said as he held out his hand for the pilfered phones. "Now let's just hope that Hiroshi hasn't changed his number."

"Hiroshi?" Takamatsu asked. "Who is this, a member of the Ishimura clan?"

"Actually, he's a constable in the village," Kirin answered as he tentatively pecked out a sequence of numbers from memory. "However, his family has been the clan's daytime caretakers for generations. We can trust him."

The thought of involving a human set the Tengu to muttering anxiously among themselves but Kirin ignored them as he listened to the dial tone. Hiroshi picked up on the third ring. "Constable Hiroshi here," the Japanese policeman answered. "How may I be of assistance?"

"Hiroshi-san, you might not remember me but I am Kirin, rookery brother to Kai-sama," he said quickly. "I have a medical emergency. I need to speak to the clan's healer, Master Kado, if that is possible."

"Kirin-san? Ah – I know you now! You are the one that went wandering so many years ago!" Hiroshi sounded both astounded and pleased. Kirin remembered Hiroshi as a human of average size and appearance but one of the few humans that had attended the clan's bushido lessons. As result, it was not surprising when Hiroshi chose to join the police force as a young man. "There was a sighting of you in Kyoto a few years ago that had everyone talking. You turned up in a photo of a temple statue garden."

"Really? I did not know that," Kirin replied politely. "About Master Kado--?"

"Do not worry, Kirin-san," Hiroshi said, his footsteps echoing in the background. "This is my mobile phone. I was just on my way to the temple for the blessing of the hatchlings. Kado should be there or at the very least, his apprentice Kawa. He's been coming along nicely."

"Well?" Takamatsu demanded, leaning heavily on his staff as he stood up. "What do they say?"

"Hiroshi is looking for Master Kado," Kirin answered with his hand over the receiver. "The clan has gathered in the temple so the Shinto priest can bless the hatchlings." He glanced at O-tama. "Kado will probably want details – will you speak with him?"

O-tama looked nervously at the phone. "If I must," she said reluctantly. "I have never used such a device."

"Ah, here he is," said Hiroshi's voice in Kirin's ear. "Kado-san, I have a call for you!"

"Who is it?" demanded Kado testily. The blue-skinned healer sounded annoyed and Kirin guessed that Hiroshi had gotten there just before the opening of wine barrels. Kado was always called upon to give his blessing to the new hatchlings and he always made sure to have a cup of sake for each and every new life that he brought into the world. "I'm in the middle of a hatching here! Whoever it is—"

"A thousand pardons, but it is Kirin, the one that went ronin," Hiroshi explained politely. "He asked for you – it is a medical emergency, he says."

A hubbub of raised voices rose up, many of them repeating his name but the next voice on the line belonged to Kado. "Kirin-san?" the Ishimuran healer asked curiously. "What's the matter? Where are you?"

Kirin glanced briefly at the anxious faces of his hosts. He would have to proceed cautiously. "I am with the Tengu, Master Kado. Do you remember them?"

"Yes, I was only an apprentice then but I recall them. Why?"

"Their hatching has gone badly," Kirin continued. "One egg did not hatch and all of the babies are exhibiting strange symptoms." He quickly listed them. "The Tengu healer has never had a hatching like this. Is there anything that you can do?"

"What, you want me to make a house call? I'm a healer, not a long-distance repairman!" Kado demanded incredulously. "Never mind, let's look for some common factor. A lot of those symptoms sound like neurological damage. Were these eggs shaken or jostled in anyway?"

"Well, there was quite a bad earthquake in these region a few years back." Kirin looked around at the attentive Tengu and explained quickly, "Kado asked if the eggs had been shaken prior to hatching."

"They did get moved around during the Great Quake," Miza offered as she gently burped her baby. "They were all over the cave floor but the straw was very thick and deep. There were no cracks so we thought they were fine."

"The rookery keeper here says that the eggs were moved about but that none were cracked," Kirin reported back. "Do you think the quake could have damaged the hatchlings in ovum?"

"Where did you hear that term?" Kado asked and then laughed. "Ha! That's right – you learned it when you were copying those scrolls for me! Yes, it could be a possibility – it's well-known that shaking an infant can cause brain damage. There is something else – it also sounds like some form of heavy metal poisoning."

"Heavy-metal poisoning?" Kirin repeated. "I'm not sure how that could be possible. The Tengu live a very healthy lifestyle, faraway from cities and other pollutants."

"Where were the eggs kept?"

"In a cave," Kirin answered. "It used to be an old silver mine. The area's riddled with them." A sick thought occurred to him. "Silver mining gives off chemical by-products, doesn't it?"

The background noise quieted on Kado's end as the Ishimuran healer moved away from the crowd. "I recall reading about something called Itai-Itai disease back in the fifties or sixties. It was caused by the runoff of mining operations in the mountains."

"But how could that affect the eggs? Nothing can get through the stone shell, can it?"

"Ordinarily, I'd say so," Kado drawled out, "but a severe earthquake could have caused microfractures that could not be seen with the naked eye." He paused and let out a heavy sigh. "These eggs have probably been exposed to these toxins for – how long ago was the earthquake?"

"Three years," Kirin answered. "It was in nineteen ninety-five."

"Was it? So that's where you are, neh?" Kado clicked his tongue thoughtfully as he put Kirin's comments together with past events; there had been minor earthquakes since but none as disastrous as the one that had nearly destroyed Kobe. "There are tonics that can help leech out the heavy metals in their bodies but the damage has been done, Kirin-san. Heavy metal poisoning has a high mortality rate among the old and the very young. You must prepare them for the worst."

Kirin swallowed hard. "I understand, Master Kado. Do you wish to tell me your recommendations or do you wish to speak directly to O-tama?"

"Ah, did O-tama become clan healer there? I remember her as a scrawny little thing with a bent wing when the Tengu were last here. Put her on – I will be glad to speak to her."

"Master Kado has some suggestions to make to you," Kirin said as he held the phone out to O-tama. "Will you speak to him?"

O-tama looked nervously from the phone to Takamatsu. The Tengu clan leader sank down besides her. "Go ahead, aisai," he said encouragingly. "It will be up to you to make the hatchlings well. You must speak to him, healer to healer." He nodded to Sakura and she came over to take the baby.

"He remembers you from when he was a healer's apprentice," Kirin said encouragingly. "It will be all right." He waited a few moments as O-tama took the phone and began to speak tentatively into it. When her conversation turned to medical matters, Kirin took a moment to step outside. The Three were sitting on the edge of the porch with their heads together in a worried huddle. "Such serious faces," he commented as he took a seat next to Mozu. "This evening has not turned out the way that we thought it would, has it?"

"No, it hasn't, Master Kirin," Tancho answered thoughtfully. "What's wrong with the new hatchlings?"

"Sometimes karma is fickle," Kirin said carefully, "and hands us a fate that we do not deserve."

Takakura snorted. "I saw how you and the other adults were acting in there. Something bad has happened – don't talk to us like we don't know because we do."

"Please, sensei," Mozu said as he leaned against Kirin's side. "We really want to know."

"As do I." They all looked up to see Takamatsu leaning against his staff. "I would know what the Ishimura healer has told you. I could tell by your face that it was not all good news."

"Master Kado suspects heavy metal poisoning," Kirin answered. "How long have you been using that rookery?"

"The last two rookeries were kept there," Takamatsu said slowly. "As you can see, the Three had no problems."

"The earthquake might have caused tiny cracks in the stone shells," Kirin continued. "That could have left the eggs open to poisons and bacteria that they wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise." He felt Mozu tremble and he put his arm around him. "The best Kado can do is advise O-tama. The symptoms make him think that the damage is neurological in nature."

"What does that mean?"

"Their nervous systems, perhaps even their brains have been affected." Kirin met Takamatsu's eyes. "If these hatchlings survive, there could be long-term developmental problems."

Doryo and Goro landed in the clearing. The toad-faced elder headed towards them while boar-tusked Goro went to put away his tools. "Is there any chance that they will get better?" Takamatsu asked as he watched Doryo come closer. There were signs of grief on the bereaved father's face.

"Kado was not optimistic," Kirin said simply. "The next few nights will tell."

Takamatsu sighed deeply and went to intercept Doryo and Goro. Hushed words were exchanged and the three males returned inside.

"Sensei," Mozu said in a small voice, "I'm scared." The seriousness of the situation had begun to sink in; Tancho and Takakura were regarding him with solemn eyes.

"So am I," Kirin agreed gently, gesturing for the other two to join him. Even though they were trying hard to act grown-up, the Three were still only children. He gathered them in like frightened chicks beneath his wings. "All we can do for now is to help out whatever way that we can." He smiled at them. "A clan stands together, my students."

"No matter what?" Tancho asked, his brow twisted with worry.

"Many gargoyles together can do more than one alone." It was an oft-quoted parable but typically Tak picked up on an aspect that Kirin hadn't considered.

"You were a gargoyle alone, Master Kirin," Takakura pointed out, "and yet you've done more than any of us. We've never made a big journey or lived in a city or any of the things that you've done."

"One does what one has to do to survive," Kirin answered curtly as he rose from the porch. "Now, what we must do is to go to the kitchens and see what Miza and Kiyo have left in the warming trays. I'm sure that everyone is hungry now, neh?"

The prospect of enjoying the hatching feast cheered the three youngsters up tremendously and they chattered amongst themselves as they headed off to the kitchens. Kirin started to follow but O-tama intercepted him on the porch steps.

"Kirin-san," she said holding out the phone, "a thousand thanks for calling Master Kado. He asked to speak to you again."

"Thank you." Kirin gave her a courtesy head bow and took the cell phone. "Kirin here," he said. "Is there anything else I should know, Master Kado?"

"Brother! It is so good to hear your voice!" Kai exclaimed enthusiastically, so loudly that Kirin had to back away from the phone. "I had hoped you were still alive, especially after that picture of you turned up. Why haven't you called sooner?"

"I-I did not think of doing it," Kirin stammered. The unabashed affection in Kai's voice had shaken him. He still felt the strong bond between him and his rookery sibling. "You know me -- when my mind is occupied, the world goes on without me."

"Too true!" Kai laughed briefly but his tone turned sober. "I was sorry to hear things have gone badly at the Tengu's hatching. Is there anything we at Ishimura can do?"

"Master Kado's advice seems to have helped," Kirin answered, "although time will only prove its worth." He hesitated. "And your hatching there? How has it gone?"

"Most excellently! Sakaki and her helpers have their hands full with the new brood. All of the hatchlings are healthy and hungry and squalling like fiends for their dinner."

"All the eggs?" It was as close as Kirin could come to directly asking.

Kai understood. "Even that one."

"Good." Kirin shut off the phone abruptly before anything more could be said. It was rude but it couldn't be helped. Clenching the phone in his hand, Kirin fought back the surge of mixed emotions caused by his brief conversation with Kai. The passing years should have made the pain more bearable but it had not – the news from home only made him feel hollow inside. A glance through the open doorway showed the new parents communing with their new offspring, happy in spite of their worries. Makino had taken the baby from Miza's arms and was rocking it with surprising gentleness for such a large male. A pain spread across Kirin's chest and his hands ached for the child he would never hold. His eyes watered.

"Sensei!" Tancho called across the courtyard. "Tak's eating the steamed buns and he won't stop!"

Kirin shook off his grief and concentrated on the here and now.

To be continued in Part III of "Ronin" …..