It was here. The final banquet he'd always imagined but never quite believed in came to him, came to all of them. After, he sat with his two friends, the only friends he'd allowed himself over the years, sharing a bottle of sake and…not mourning their loss, but feeling its absence together. The freedom that must be heady for the younger ones weighed more heavily for the three men who had been of the Juunishi.
Hatori poured out another round of drinks and raised his cup without comment. Tonight was time enough to dwell on what they had shared and what they had lost. Tomorrow would be a new world. Tomorrow was the open door of opportunities he'd never even allowed himself to consider. Tomorrow, he would contemplate his future.