"I'm not leaving your side!" I shouted to him outright. Rolling his eyes, he sighed and shook his head.

"Pack your things." He demanded, hurriedly doing the same. I did as he said and packed only my necessities and as soon as I had draped my bag over my shoulder, he gripped my by my arm and we ran off. When he tugged me along we moved much faster but I always struggled to keep up. It seemed like we had been on the move all night, although Saizo reminded me it had only been 4 hours. We stopped several times so I could catch my breath. My pregnancy had me getting winded very easily. Each time we stopped he kept looking around, as if he checking to see if we were being followed.

When the sun began to rise the next morning, we retreated to the first cave we came by. He said we would be much safer if we traveled in the dark. I was too exhausted to ask questions, and I soon drifted to sleep in his arms. He was still highly alert when I faded away. I wasn't sure what time it was when I finally awoke. I found myself alone, but we were no longer in a cave but now sleeping in a futon in a well decorated room. Strange, I swear I've been in this same particular room once before. Suddenly, from behind me I heard a sharp "ahem!". It was Saizo, sitting peacefully against the wall, with a hot bowl of soup in his hands. I jumped in surprise.

"Calm down, it's just me." He chuckled while sipping on his soup.

"I didn't know that! It could have been anybody!"

"Don't be silly." He muttered. "The worst I can do is tie you up."

"And I'm the silly one? I have lots of questions." I began, only to be abruptly interrupted.

"If I told you anything I could jeopardize the mission."

"Well you know I wouldn't tell a soul."

"Someone could be listening at any moment." He retorted, pushing me to my limit. I huffed over to the table that was nearby and grabbed a slip of parchment and something to write with and wrote on it my question 'whats going on?' and handed it out to him. He didn't even bother to look up from his soup.

"If you weren't my wife I would kill you."

"Enough. Please stop sheltering me, I need to know!"

He then took the paper from me and wrote down only a few words. 'I don't know'. I was absolutely bewildered and too shocked for words, tears welled up and began to fall down my cheeks.

"All I know is someone has been making threats to me. I don't know who it is. The word is he's let it slip to a few undercover ninja while he was on his route to find me. If this man wants me dead he wouldn't hesitate to kill you too." He whispered as quietly as possible. I cried even more. Here we are running for our lives from reasons unknown and I was due to give birth in a few short months.

"We can't run forever." I sighed, wiping my face with my sleeve.

"I know. That's why we are where we are now. In Hanzo's compound."

Now it made sense! This was the same room we stayed in when we were in the middle of war.

"I'm waiting for him to find me. I know you'll be safe here. When he comes for me I'll challenge him head-on, Then we will never have to worry about him again."

With this new set of information I was able to calm myself down enough to fetch myself a bowl of soup from the kitchen. As I was pouring the liquid from the ladle to my bowl, a man's voice beckoned for me from across the room. I turned my head to see who is was. There stood Hanzo with the most stunned face I had ever seen him wear. Then I realized it was most likely the sight of my now noticeable belly. Without haste he cleared his throat.

"Well, Princess, I'm releived to see you have been doing fairly well. Congratulations." His deep voice trembled at that last part.

"Thank you Master Hanzo. It's an honor to once again have the chance to see you."

"Yes, Yes it is. " He agreed, his eyes shifting to my belly.

"How long has it been?"

"Oh!" I exclaimed excitedly. "I'm close to seven months so far. Not much longer now."

"I'm happy for you." He said with a loving smile. "Please, if there is anything you need, feel free to let me know."

I concurred and made one small request, and we soon parted ways. I wasted no time finishing my dinner and rushed to lay back down. Hanzo had made sure one of his maids brought a couple extra feather pillows to my room as I had appealed. Although I had already slept so long, my body was still in so much pain, all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. I closed my eyes and prepared for sleep until I felt Saizo's cold thin fingers creep into the slit of my kimono.

"What are you doing?" I asked sheepishly.

"Nothing." He replied, rubbing his palms along the tips of my breasts. I simply sighed with a smile on my face. Sometimes he would do this at night when he was too exhausted from working. Sometimes he even suckled on them for a while. I never minded. I let him play as I gradually fell back asleep.

(Go to chapter 13)