Chapter Ten

"…I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

--Robert Frost (1874 - 1963), excerpt from The Road Not Taken

Keiki was having a rather difficult time. After he had passed through the Gate, he attempted to reach the Queen in time to pull her back through. He called out her name. Her real name. She did not respond.

The Gate closed behind him, and somehow he woke up in an alleyway resting on piles of bagged rubbish in the fast paced world of Wa. He soon realized that his powers had left him mysteriously and none of his shirei were responding to his summons. Keiki wandered the streets with a sullen expression as passers by whispered and pointed awkwardly at his pale skin and golden hair and odd clothing. Walking down a crowded street under the growing gloom of rain clouds, a gentleman hailing a cab looked at him and gave him his raincoat, saying that Keiki needed it more than he did. He had retained his understanding of languages, but knew that no one could help him here. Of utmost importance was finding the Queen. But where was he to start? Looking around at the tall buildings, flashing billboards and moving vehicles, he realized that he was lost.

Walking past the young people passing out fliers on the street, he thought he noticed students wearing the same uniform that she had been wearing the first time they met. He traced the direction where they were coming from, generally, passing by the ice cream shop, the arcade, the bookstore, the curio shop and eventually found the school where he had first tracked his Queen. But it appeared that their classes were finished for the day and the campus was nearly empty. He did not sense her presence there but still he waited until dark, not knowing what else to do. Surely she would be there again tomorrow…

But then the weather went from cold to cold and wet. He was meandering a bit aimlessly when it started to rain, taking shelter under the canopy of a roadside vendor of soba noodles. A little grin touched the corner of his lips when he thought of that one time she had snuck out of the Palace to Gyouten below the clouds to eat at a similar establishment in town. Unseen, he had followed his lord and master just to make sure she was safe. After eating a hearty meal of two large bowls of noodles and a plate of pickled radish and leeks she let out a hearty sigh of contentment. He kept his distance and did not berate her for the unannounced and unauthorized detour down the mountain, but waited patiently in the dark with his shirei tagging along in the shadows.

"Her Highness does eat a lot," Jyuusaku had remarked.

"Perhaps the palace food is not to her liking?" asked Kaikou thoughtfully.

"Lady Suzu is also from Wa. Perhaps she can help the palace cooks with this dilemma," suggested Hankyou. They all agreed and quietly followed their master trailing behind the Queen back to Kimpa Palace, who was none the wiser that her kirin and his entire entourage of shirei were spying on her. Keiki recalled that the Queen was indeed delighted the next night when she was served with soba-like noodles, roasted seaweed and grilled fish at dinner, prepared at Lady Suzu's instructions.

He smiled in his reverie until the noodle stand owner shooed him away. Miserably lost and getting wetter by the minute in the rain, he stopped by a park where he recalled he had seen children playing once before. He knew that she walked passed this area to go to school. Keiki sensed that she had been there recently as well. In the empty dark, he waited for a sign. A pair of fluttering moths then drew his attention. They were hovering by the warm lamp, seeking shelter. Keiki felt sorry for them as they appeared lost and out of place in the wet weather, just like him and his Queen. He had wished so hard to find her but suddenly he realized that it was she who had found him.

She looked at him with such a puzzled stare, but her eyes had not forgotten him this time. His heart skipped with excitement as he went to her. He had never felt so useless in his life, and he had never been so happy to see anyone. Somehow, he knew she would figure something out. Keiki believed in her.

"At the very least, I need you to believe in me, Keiki."

In the first year after her coronation, she was struggling with her duties and her role as Queen. Everyone in Kei had secretly hoped for a king this time, not having had much good fortune vis-à-vis You-Ou. When Tentei delivered Sekishi all the ministers doubted her ability as a monarch. In her frustration, she had asked him to believe in her. Youko practically demanded it. She didn't care who else believed in her at that point, but he must never doubt her. After that, his faith in her became a steady reserve. Despite her failings, despite the situation, the Queen always pulled through somehow.

He just sometimes wanted her to be less reckless or at least warn him before she was going to attempt something reckless that would inevitably make him worry. Where You-Ou dared to do nothing, Youko dared everything.

Keiki shuddered from the cold. He knew he had collapsed after Yin's suicide but he could not rouse himself to open his eyes. The blood of one who took her own life had a stale, miserable air to it and it weighed down his spirit. He was sorry if this caused trouble for Youko, who most likely could not carry him anywhere. In his mind he thought he saw himself lying on the pavement amid the dim light, his head cradled in his master's lap as she held an umbrella over him to shield his face from the rain. Her expression was inscrutable and silent.

Shu-jou, he thought. Youko...

Youko gently shifted position, trying not to not disturb her sleeping kirin. Trying her best to wipe whatever blood remained on his face with her scarf, she knew that he really needed a change of clothes and bed rest to counter the effect that blood had on him. The tapping of raindrops against her large umbrella was the only sound she heard as she watched his slow, steady breathing. With the back of her hand, she felt his warm cheek and hoped he was not coming down with a fever. Or maybe the Shitsudou? Youko brushed the thought to the corner of her mind, though it still nagged her from there. If she did not return to her throne…

Pondering these heavy thoughts, she thought she heard someone approach. Now what? she groaned inwardly. She peered past the soft lamplight, through the sheets of rain coming down in front of her, and saw a small figure walking towards them. When he finally came into the light, she saw that it was an old man with a long, immaculate white beard that almost touched the ground. It would have been longer but for the fact he had tied it curiously in the middle in an elaborate knot. He was wearing an archaic looking straw hat, like those often worn by rice patty field laborers in the sun, but bigger and grassier, and a cloak of woven straw to keep dry. Regardless, the rain seemed to fall everywhere but on him, as if to avoid wetting him.

"Youko," the old man said, inclining his head slightly in greeting. Inadvertently she inclined her head in response.

"And you are…?" she asked cautiously. Her surroundings suddenly wavered and blurred, as if a bucket of turpentine had been spilled all around on the painted backdrop. She was again suddenly blinded by a familiar white light that absorbed the blur of colors that was her old world and closed her eyes to protect herself from it, all the while holding Keiki closer to her so as to not lose him.

When Youko opened her eyes again, she saw that she was in a large, open garden. Around her were flowers both familiar to her and unfamiliar. Most could be found in Japan as well as Kei, but never together. Looking up, she saw a pale blue sky and she closed the umbrella she was holding over her head, putting it aside. She looked at the old man again, still dressed in his old straw getup. He took off his hat and cloak and put them on a stone bench beside him, looked at her and gave her a wide grin. His beard had been untied and now it trailed in a snowy white pile at his feet.

"I am the Creator of many things," he said simply. Youko felt her jaw drop and tried not to gape too long as the full meaning of his statement sunk in. So this is…the Creator… of…It's an old man… Her thoughts jumbled and tripped over each other as she tried to comprehend what was happening. She wanted to speak, but found that she did not have anything particularly important to say

"You may speak your mind to me, Youko," said the old man, gently. "I took this form because I thought it would invite a conversation and be less threatening for you. I supposed I could have appeared to you as a large, disembodied head that spouts green fire, but that would have been a little too gaudy." He sat down on the bench beside his hat and stared at her, waiting for her to speak. "I suppose I could also turn into an old woman, if that would be more comforting," he helpfully suggested.

"Tentei…sama," was all she could manage for the time being.

He laughed heartily. "That is what they call me." They stared at one another for a long moment.

"Was I really in Japan, then?" she asked, looking down and realizing she was still dressed in her raincoat.

"It was as real as anything else is, I suppose," he answered.

"Why was I there?" she asked.

"Well, I thought since you had made such an effort to stop Yin, and considering everything else you had gone through since you first came to this world, I thought, 'Why not?' and sent you over."

Youko thought his answer was so cryptic as to leave her as puzzled as she was before her question. She ran a hand through her hair and noticed that it was again, its bright, cherry red tint.

"That is the color it was meant to be. I admit I got a little creative with it. You will find that no one else in all Twelve Kingdoms has the exact shade as yours," he smiled. Youko knew that this was the Creator of the world, though she wasn't sure what his relationship was with the famed 'other' creator of her old world, or if perhaps they were the same. She was never so religious as to study any lines of theology, though her traditional family did observe some Shinto practices. Still, she couldn't really say that she believed in God, or whatever. "Tentei" really could have been a giant, disembodied head to her, since no one had ever seen the Creator of the Twelve Kingdoms, or come back to tell about it.

Yet, here was this little old man, speaking to her; saying that he had created her and used artistic license with the color of her hair. It boggled the mind.

"When three souls came through my front Gate, who were not by any means dead, it drew my attention. All three souls had desires--wishes if you will. Dead souls that pass through my Gate all have the same single desire to be at peace. But living souls have very complicated desires. So on a whim, I thought to grant them all," he explained in a matter-of-fact tone.

A wish to live in a world of personal freedom…

A wish to mend the past…

"Keiki had a wish?" she asked.

"To be with you and make sure you were all right," he responded.

"Oh."

"I sympathize with you, Youko. You deserve at least a choice. I felt it unfortunate that you could not be brought back sooner to ascend your throne. It would have saved you the trouble with Kou-Ou," he sighed.

"Was that…unplanned?" she asked tentatively.

He nodded wearily. "Though I created the Twelve Kingdoms with a sense of what it should be, and what it had to be in order to function properly, I let it all loose to see if the mechanism I had installed into it was operational. It ran smoothly for a long time. Then one day, I look away to work on my garden and then it all went to hell," he frowned.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I let my children do what they think is best for themselves. They have free will. They rely on their own abilities and the system itself is also self-reliant. But with free will, since no one wants to create a world of automatons--except maybe in Hourai--there are some unexpected variables, to say the least," he sighed. The old man ran a hand through his downy white, gossamer hair.

"Next thing I know, there are civil wars brewing in every kingdom among the Seinin, some of the immortals lost their way to corruption and this took a toll on the mortals. Seinin have tendencies to become evil with time, though not all of them do.

Even my gods were not acting as they should. After all, Yin was the first goddess to defy my Will. She even found a way to cultivate ranka from a youman bearing tree. My kings were becoming jealous of one another. Kou-Ou was the first to ever attempt to take the life of another chosen ruler. Even my model kingdom, Ryuu, standing proud for twelve hundred years, is failing. Hou-Ou being overtaken by revolution, was beheaded by a wiser man who scarified his own soul to save the people. I did not choose him, though. Tai-Ou and Taiki disappearing at the same time—all quite unheard of in the grand scheme, I daresay. Queens and kirin falling in love with one another…you know the rest." He waved a hand dismissively to end the list of disappointments. "It really questions the usefulness of the entire system all together."

He sighed and got up. His simple white robes woven with silver and gold embroidery trailed the ground. His clothes had the appearance of being very old but not dirty. She doubted that he ever washed it. She concluded that dirt and rain equally avoided him.

"That was not your Will, either?" she asked carefully. Though she was asking the question on general terms, there was that last part in particular that she wanted to ask about.

"Of course not," he said in return. "My Will has only been marginally operational since the creation of the basic structure. The chaos is self-contrived by my creations." He looked at her thoughtfully and added, "Though I did make it so the ruler and kirin would be extremely attached to one another… This promotes harmony in their relationship and in ruling the kingdom. They are the embodiment of yin and yang, moon and sun. It is only natural that they are intuitively connected and are attracted to one another, although not necessarily romantically. Still, it works better if the ruler was not already mated. Three's a crowd and all that… Only with this balance can a kingdom truly flourish. If the ruler is strong and wise, my mortal children will be happy. If not, they will perish or suffer and a new ruler with the same potential will be chosen by the kirin, if still alive. The deaths of my mortal children would be followed by new ranka from parents in times of flourishing prosperity elsewhere. The population balances and fluctuates backward and forward like the flow of the tide. So the system is to work--supposedly."

"I see," responded Youko.

"But to answer that other question that still lingers in your heart, I believe Keiki would have liked you regardless of whether you were Queen or not," added the old man. He looked down upon Keiki's still sleeping form. "I know also that my most understated kirin holds you in higher esteem now more than ever, and you are more dear to him than anyone who has crossed his path in life. You seem to have won him over at last. He can be so stubborn," he chuckled.

Youko couldn't help but chuckle with him. "So what shall I do now?" she asked in earnest, looking around at the flowers surrounding her.

"I had great expectations for you in Kei, Youko. But I cannot deprive you of your free will nor deny a choice to you as you have truly earned it. I daresay that no single ruler has suffered such unexpected trials as you have. For that, I am sorry," he said sympathetically.

"I have a choice?" she asked.

"You can remain a Queen if you'd like. Or would you prefer to be made a goddess of the kaikyaku and hanjyuu outcasts? You seem to have a way with them and can offer your protection over them. Or perhaps you want to return to Hourai? I can bypass you and choose another ruler to replace you. Your kirin will not suffer the Shitsudou, nor will you die early. I am giving you the opportunity to reject the throne, mend your relationships back home, or create new ones and a life of your own over there. You can live your life as you see fit, have children and raise them if you like. It can be as though you never left, just like it was when you returned this time. Everyone here will forget you, as if you had never come to our shores." Tentei explained the process slowly and evenly, so that she fully understood what would happen.

"Will I remember them?" she asked.

"If you wish," he responded.

"And who will replace me? Will he or she succeed in rebuilding the kingdom?"

"Are you concerned that I will choose unwisely?" smiled Tentei. "I consider each candidate equally, and I only choose those with potential. Whether they choose to hone that potential or squander it is not for me to say."

"Then there's no guarantee?" she asked.

"There is never a guarantee to anything Youko. You know that."

Youko thought long and hard. She did not realize that in her deep contemplation, she was gently stroking her kirin's mane of long, golden hair. "He once told me," she said finally, "that if his next chosen ruler should again fail, he would rather die than live to choose another."

"That too, is possible," said the old man gently. "I'm afraid I may have to grow another kirin for Kei on Mt. Hou."

"The choice is unfair," said Youko ruefully. "You let me keep my attachment to my kirin and ask me to make a choice that could harm him."

"Are you saying that I am unfair?" asked the old man, raising an eyebrow. "I only made sure that your decision was well informed, this time around. I also made it so that you could walk away from this with as little or as much guilt as you choose. My choice for your replacement will come almost immediately. The people of Kei will not suffer from further natural disasters on top of what they have suffered thus far."

He added after some more thought, "I can rewind the scene back two years, when Jyoei claims the throne for herself, and I will make Kourin suffer the Shitsudou so quickly that Kou-Ou will be unable to interfere, if you'd like. Your replacement need not suffer the same hardships that you did at that time. That was the way it was supposed to go, anyhow. As a parting gift to you, I may choose to take Yin out of the equation completely before that. What your replacement chooses to do or not do is up to him or her at that point."

Tentei got up and walked over to where she was, still struggling with her choice, and put a gentle hand on her head, accompanied with a tender smile.

"You are the most unique of all my rulers thus far, and Keiki is among the favorites of all my dear kirin. Although I admit that En-Ou is a close second to you and Taiki is just so cute," the old man chuckled again. "But, I digress. You have survived all of the most horrendous ordeals others have thrown in your path, and you have flourished under adversity. You died and rose again, twice now. The Red Child is much akin to the phoenix, burning brightly as she emerges from the embers of her trials. I have no doubt that if you so chose, your reign can last many, many years, and though the pace of progress is slow now, with patience it can outshine almost all other kingdoms, second only to En Kokku. To you alone I will allow a choice: to bear this responsibility or not. I deem that you are at least worthy of this."

"Must I decide now?" she asked hesitantly. Tentei's smile broadened.

"I think you already know your answer," he rebuked gently.

She sighed. "Very well, then," Youko responded. "Please send me back." Tentei looked knowingly at her and the world once again went white.

000

Youko woke lying on a blanket of grass. She sat up and stared at her hands. She was clutching her cream soda rather desperately and the force of her grip was tiring. Her throat felt sore and dry, as if she had been talking for days. She was thirsty. Loosening her grasp, she looked at it intently and wanted to drink it.

Youko looked down at her muddy, bloody armor and smiled. Okaiirinasai, Youko, she thought to herself. Further away from her, amid a patch of flowers growing on part of the grassy field she could see a hint of golden hair gleaming bright under the noonday sun. Her kirin had returned with her as well. She looked up and saw that the color of the sky was the same pale blue it had been in Tentei's garden.

Youko squinted at the faint black dots moving around in the sky. They were too big to be birds. As they descended, she saw that one of them was Kouya, riding atop his favorite youman. He landed on the ground first, hastily dismounted and walked over to her, concern for her well being clearly written on his face.

"You have the look of one who has been enlightened," he said with a slight chuckle as he examined her. "Care to share your experience?"

"He told me to keep it under wraps," smiled Youko mischievously, brushing a lock of red hair behind her ears.

"Figures Tentei would say something like that," responded Kouya somewhat disgruntled. He looked over to where Keiki was stirring and then looked back at Youko. "I'm glad you're both safe. What of Yin?" he asked.

"Dead," she said quietly.

"Well, that saves me the trouble. I'm going to go ahead and see if I can discover Yin's tower and base, and that tree I told you about before that I suspect she's been cultivating her youman with. I can almost feel its presence nearby. I'll be sure to keep it hidden away from any further discovery if I do find it. I'll let you know if I need your help again." Kouya looked at the shiny bottle in her hand.

"And that is…?" he asked.

"A souvenir," she smiled. He laughed and gave her a slight bow before he mounted his youman.

"That's it? You're leaving?" she asked, rather disappointed. She had hoped he would share some of his knowledge about Tentei with her.

He looked back at her with a wry grin. "We should have tea sometime, Kei-Ou sama."

She mirrored his grin and remarked, "If you run into him, tell him he can have my umbrella." They flew away as quickly and silently as when they arrived. His warm smile stayed with her, even when he was long gone.

"Youko?" said a familiar, and somewhat unsteady voice. She looked and saw that Keiki had sat up, and was looking around as if completely lost and puzzled as to how he returned here. He caught sight of her and attempted to get up. His shirei were immediately at his side, helping him up and dusting him off.

"What did you call me?" asked Youko, astonished. She got up, walked up close to him and stared at her kirin intently. He stared back at her and turned a little pink at his realization.

"S-Shu-jou," he stammered in reply. She laughed in response, which only turned his cheeks into a darker shade of pink in his mortification.

"I believe he called you by your name, Kei-Ou sama," said Kaikou, holding a hand to her face to hide her smile. Keiki shot his shirei a dark look and they all bowed their heads apologetically. Youko knew that they were all hiding their grins.

"You and I may be friends yet, Miyoushi, my baka kirin," she smiled.

"Shu-jou?" he asked questioningly.

Looking up, she saw that Kantai and the Queen's Guard were also descending to where she was. They immediately dismounted and knelt before her.

"Kei-Ou sama," said Kantai in his relief.

"It's good to be back, General," she smiled.

"Back?" asked the general, slightly puzzled.

"Never mind," Youko said, catching herself. "Yin is disposed of and Kouya will take down her tower. I presume the Royal Army succeeded in disposing of the other wayward youman in this vicinity?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," responded Kantai faithfully.

"Casualties?" she asked carefully.

"Less than a fourth," he answered. She allowed herself a sigh. That was still hundreds of men.

"And Doumon?"

"He'll live," Kantai smiled. Kei-Ou breathed a sigh of relief.

"And what of our friend Shoukou?"

"Captured and awaiting your disposal," said the general.

"Escaping from prison and harboring treasonous intent to kill and overthrow a ruler is punishable by death, immediately enforceable by the ruler without a trial. If Suzu does not mind, I'd rather we accomplish this here, and bury him here, in an unmarked ditch. I suppose her only regret would be that she couldn't kill him herself. But I'd rather not have her stain her hands with this traitor's blood," she said in a steely voice. "I've already revoked his Seinin status and spent too much effort to retrieve him. He's already served his purpose in bringing out the other main players connected to the Wa Province Rebellion. So you can behead him, push him off a cliff, drop him from a great distance in the sky or shoot him full of arrows--I don't really care which." She paused. "Those are just suggestions," she added thoughtfully. "Feel free to be creative."

"Yes, Your Majesty," he responded. He looked at the curious bottle she held in one hand. "May I…" he started hesitantly. "Inquire as to where you've been Your Majesty?"

"No, you may not," Youko replied with a smile. "That will be all, General. Please stand up, Kantai. You know how I hate it when people stand on ceremony overly long," she said. "Tell the others that we are packing up and leaving this place. We will return to Gyouten immediately. Someone find me a fast mount—I want to return as quickly as possible," ordered the Queen. "I could sure use a thorough soak." Youko said the last sentence softly, almost to herself. She looked over to her kirin in his soiled clothing and his shirei by his side.

"Kaikou, Hyouki," she summoned.

"At your command, Kei-Ou sama," they responded.

"Please escort the Taiho to the palace immediately. He needs a change of clothes, a nice hot bath and plenty of bed rest."

"As you command," they responded. Keiki gave her a grateful, if not part baffled and part worried look, and headed back towards the palace first.

000

Youko watched as the steam rose up from the surface of her giant bath and hovered in the air in wisps and puffs of white. The flower petals her handmaidens had sprinkled in with various bath salts and perfumed oils drifted lazily in all directions, some in slow circles, meeting and touching, and then parting again as Youko moved.

She knew that she would smell like a perfumed rose when she emerged but there was nothing she could do about it. Asking for a bath was not a simple task here, especially when the servants clucked their tongues and shook their heads in disbelief when their Queen returned to them with leaves and twigs in her hair and bruises all over. She was a wild one, this Queen of theirs, but they continued their efforts to turn her more into a lady day by day. They decided to hide all of Youko's commoner clothing for a while, to dissuade her from going outside.

This was fine with her. Youko was in no hurry to venture outside again. She just wanted to rest and sleep. For now, these were the only two goals in her life. A far, distant third was to get to the stack of documents the Taishi had brought to her desk earlier that evening waiting for her signature.

Youko groaned inwardly and sunk down deeper into the hot bath water until her nose hovered just above the water level. In the end, she had always known that she could not forsake her kingdom here, her friends or her baka kirin. Still, she thought to herself. It was nice to have a choice. As she watched the small droplets of water drip from her wet hair and disturb the smooth glassy surface of the water, her thoughts inadvertently flowed towards her mother. However imperfect her parents had been in Hourai, she knew she would miss them and silently wished them well as there was nothing that she as a daughter could do for them now.

Perhaps she would try to locate the parents who had tied a ribbon on the branch of a riboku tree and prayed for her birth here in Kei. Youko had always been curious and wondered how long it would take if she actually tried to find them. She smiled sadly and wondered if they were still alive.

Youko leaned back and stretched out, wading in the water. Her spray of red hair floated out and up around her face. The bath was more like a small pool, but it wasn't long enough for the backstroke. She looked up and stared blankly at the decorative wood paneled ceiling with her royal emblem emblazoned on each square foot.

She couldn't help but play out the conversation she had with the Creator of the world in her head over and over. Even he was eager to see what kind of kingdom she would create in Kei.

"I guess I can't let Him down now," she said with a smile. Still, she thought. I should have asked him for a case of cream soda to take back with me. Youko couldn't help but laugh aloud at the ridiculousness of such a request. Sure enough, her one bottle of cream soda had made it back to Kimpa safely in her saddlebag and was presently displayed by the servants on an elegant three-legged table in her bedchamber. It was her parting gift from Tentei, like a door prize. Her laughter bounced along the surface of the water and against the marble floors and stone walls throughout the bath chamber. She laughed until tears came out of the corner of her eyes.

"Shu-jou," said Keiki's voice from behind the large painted screen at the entrance. "Are you all right?"

"I'm all right," was the response he heard from inside the bath, stifling her laughter. Keiki sighed and continued his vigilant guard of the bath entrance until she decided to come out. He had wanted to ask her what had happened and how they had come to be back in Kei when the last he could remember, he had lost consciousness and they were soaking in the cold rain in Hourai. But when he came to the inner palace to see her, the servants said the first thing the Queen requested was a bath, which was odd for her, and she immediately sequestered herself. Her sudden outburst of laughter shattered the silence and was slightly alarming to him at first. But as he sat on the cushioned bench on the other side of the screen, the sound had also brought him great comfort. It was like music to him when his Queen laughed in such an unrestrained fashion.

The second reason he wanted to see her was to remind her to sign the documents the Taishi had left earlier on her table. But after further consideration, he decided to forego the request all together and let her do it when she was ready.

In silence and with a genuine smile on his lips, he patiently waited for her to emerge. In truth, he really just wanted to see her again before he retired for the night, to make sure she was all right.

Comments: Please R&R. Like or not, this is the end. Hate it, or love it, your choice. I'm just happy I can move on with my life now… I tried not to tie up the loose ends too quickly, but alas, I didn't know what to do with Shoukou—he was more a catalyst than an actual character in my story. (Kouya seems to have made it out okay without being completely out of character or mutilated by my literary and artistic license.)

Originally, I thought perhaps Youko and Taiki should meet briefly, obviously an interlude prior to the novel where she actually helps retrieve him from Hourai. But since Tentei unintentionally appeared on the page, I thought he and Youko should have a discussion about what it meant to be offered a choice.

Tentei reminds me of the uncle in Avatar.

BTW You can stop here if you'd like, since this is where the main story ends. (The rest is just mindless fluff—b/c I can.) Until next time! –Kero (1/19/07)