Leigh wasn't one for reading the local paper. She never had been, thinking that it was stupid and depressing. But, when a familiar face was depicted on the front page, it's features twisted in agony, she had to pick one up. She didn't even glance at the actual article until she got home and threw the paper over her kitchen table. There, she desperately scanned through it.

The picture—it was Toklata's corpse. Her neck was twisted in a very gruesome angle and her face was in complete shock—eyes wide, mouth open in a silent scream.

According to the article, Toklata had fallen out of a huge tree in the forest that she was fond of climbing and broken her neck, dying instantly.

She remembered what Ronin had said to her:

"Let's just say, if you hear that she's dead a few weeks from now, don't believe it. Even if you see physical proof."

It was just a photo, but…it really hit her, even after thinking of Ronin's confident tone. The girl in the picture was identical to Toklata in every way, right down to her soft, doggish nose and her short fingernails—it just had to be her! Despite what Ronin had said to her.

She bit back bitter tears, slumping into a chair and putting a desperate hand to the paper, as if her fingers would search out some proof against what she was so obviously seeing.

She scanned the girl's hair—each piece was flawlessly in place, and exactly the color and shade it should have been. Her face was the same, right down to the childish curve of her cheeks and her small, pinkish lips. Then the shoulders: slim and slightly droopy.

Out of hope, Leigh continued downwards out of lack of anything better to do, noting the way her oversized shirt hung over the right shoulder, revealing quite a bit of her chest.

Where there should have been a scar.

Leigh was fairly certain that when you got a sword stuck through you, it left a scar.

She blinked. Toklata did have a scar there. So the girl in the picture…couldn't be her.

She heaved a huge sigh of relief, blocking out the new questions that her revelation raised long enough to enjoy the thought.

--

Several days later, Leigh was still trying to sort out the whole thing in her muddled head. She hadn't slept well the last few nights and her work had gone by in a haze, even after an alarming amount of coffee. Her empolyees didn't understand it (not only that—they thought it unhealthy), but they didn't pry either.

She almost got hit by a car while fetching the mail that day.

On her lunch break, she sorted through it, only to get to the last one and close her eyes in agony. All the others had been bills. And the last one would most likely be the same. She cracked an eye open to peek at it.

Her first name, and her first name only, was scrawled across the front of the lavender-colored envelope in curvy, romantic lettering, along with her address underneath. The corner reserved for the return address was empty, but when she flipped the letter over, written in the same light handwriting was 'Ronin.'

Anxious to read it, she made herself some hot coco and took it to the living room, where she could wrap up in a blanket. Only then, once completely comfortable, did she rip it open.

She nearly choked on her drink.

The outside writings may have looked nice, but the letter…well, Ronin's swordsmanship may have been good enough, but he needed a little help with his penmanship. His handwriting was awful—so awful that he would have been better off if he had just made Toklata write it for him.

Getting over it (while still hoping that she would actually be able to read it), Leigh began to read.

Leigh,

Well, you must have seen it by now, and I will apologize for it. The Toklata-corpse doll, I mean. My old friend Sakura knows the dark art of karakuri, which is creating lifelike dolls from…well, I won't get into what they're made out of, but, the point is that they're an exact copy of their subject, so intricate that a doctor wouldn't be able to tell the difference. (We did leave off her newest scar, though, and I knew that you would catch that.)

So, I'm sorry. We had to make people think that she was dead. I know it was gruesome, but Sakura had to make it so there wouldn't be an autopsy, because the dolls are all wires on the inside.

On to brighter matters—she's a regular swords genius! (This is something I will never admit to her face, however. So if we do happen to see you again, you should keep your mouth shut.) Thinking about it—maybe not a genius, but she works hard.

Not only that, but her odd personality shows in every aspect of what she does. Only a few days ago did she declare that the stuffed animal I got for her was to be referred to as "Mister Konosuke."

She's missed having Kam to play with—apparently he was more fun than I am. In truth, I've kind of missed you as well—or arguing with you, one of those two. You are such an interesting and intelligent woman, and I wish we could have gone farther (much farther) than we did.

Now, before you rip up the letter out of anger (which is very much something you would do), I'll stop.

Toklata is quickly learning her real place. She has stopped calling me by name and has started to refer to me as 'master' instead. Not only that, but she sometimes acts adorably rebellious, as she very well should be. Blind, unquestioning loyalty is not a good thing, and a child should be skeptical of the things that they are taught. It's only healthy.

I know that you're worried about raising Kam by yourself. But don't worry. Raising a child seems to come naturally.

I wish I could give you a return address, but vampires aren't very partial to settling down. And soon, we will be out of these horrid cities and I won't be able to write you either, unless we happen upon a small town with a post office during our travels.

So this is probably the real good bye. Take care of yourself and that kid of yours. And wish me luck with mine.

Farewell,

Ronin Takoda.

Leigh smiled. That man was one that could both insult you and compliment you at the same time. Poor Toklata.

-End-

A/N-Kya! It's finally finished! Now for my usual explanation. My cousins came to visit last weekend, so I couldn't write, and then my dad's laptop broke, so I'm using a piece of crap computer that didn't have spell check until a few moments ago. This weekend was my brother's birthday, and when I posted the last chapter, I was in such a rush because he asked me to play monopoly with him. The last chapter had a lot of spelling errors, but I fixed them once my dad took a few minutes to install the spell checker. Now the other things.

Anonymous reviewers: Since I reply through personal e-mail, I never go to thank any of my anonymous reviewers. So now, thank you all so much for taking the time to read and review my humble work. I appreciate it.

Signed reviewers: I have probably already wrote back to you, but will thank you all again for taking time out of your schedule to read this.

Thank you to everyone—I couldn't have done it without your support. Twenty-nine chapters of vampire goodness… is a lot of work.

Sequel: I would like to write one, if enough of you would like me to. If I do, it won't be all OC's like this one, and will include other saga characters. This means it'll (most likely) focus on Toklata and Ronin heading for Vampire Mountain, and Leigh, Kam, and Konosuke will not be included (T.T). Anyway, if you'd like to see a sequel, just leave me one last review saying so.

Paws