Author's Note: My grey blob (aka brain) is too exhausted to think. Need fuel (aka reviews) to function. Please to enjoy. Also can anyone guess what the stone that Amaterasu gave to Soji in chapter four is. There could be a reward involved. I apologize for the delay, darn calculus among other things. To conclude, Yamazaki lives… at least until Last Time of My Life.

Disclaimers:

I don't own Peacemaker Kurogane or any of its characters. I do, however, own Amaterasu, her father and mother, and any other characters I may come up with. Comments of the positive and negative variety are like stars in the night sky.

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Three Months Later

"How could you let her agree to this?" Soji said angrily as he stormed down the raised deck "More importantly, why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Amaterasu made the decision on her own" Yamazaki replied firmly as he tried to keep up with Soji. "She's the one who's ill."

Those words stopped Soji dead in his tracks "What do you mean ill?" he asked confused.

"Three months ago, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis" Yamazaki said as Soji spun around to face him.

"Three months ago" Soji said confused "but she left to visit her mother's grave two months ago and she seemed fine."

"She wasn't visiting her mother's grave" Yamazaki confessed "she was at Matsumoto's clinic in Edo."

"What was she doing there?"Soji asked as he resumed his journey towards the building where Amaterasu lived in voluntary isolation.

"She was coughing up blood, which indicates that she is in the later stages of the disease. There is a high chance that it is terminal and there weren't sufficient supplies to treat her here" Yamazaki said, continuing to follow after Soji.

Soji rounded the corner and saw Amaterasu lying on the raised deck, her bare feet dangling over the edge, and her three cats (which had grown since he had last seen them) were playing in the grass together.

"All this arguing is giving me a headache" Amaterasu's voice startled both Soji and Yamazaki "plus you're freaking my cats out." Both men noticed that the cats had stopped playing with each other and were eyeing them warily.



"Ama-" Soji began before being silenced by Yamazaki. He glared at Yamazaki before turning back to Amaterasu.

"Are you feeling alright?" Yamazaki asked concerned. As he spoke the biggest of the cats stopped playing with the others and jumped up onto the raised deck and started licking Amaterasu's hand.

"I felt a little dizzy, but I feel better now" she replied as she lifted the cat onto her chest "but you were worried about me weren't you Hotaru."

"Hotaru" Soji asked, a puzzled expression on his face.

"This is Hotaru" Amaterasu said, stroking the head of the cat on her chest "and that's Ran and Satoshi" she continued pointing to the two cats on the grass. Soji wondered to himself how she could tell the difference between the three, they all looked the same to him.

Amaterasu sighed before speaking as she reached over her head and grabbed a stack of papers weighed down by a large piece of dark green crystal and handed it to Yamazaki who tucked the papers in his kimono "I finished that item Hijikata requested."

Ever since Hijikata had learned about Amaterasu's expert-level knowledge of military strategy, he had frequently asked her opinion on military matters and factored that into his decision (this sentence isn't good, I realize that, but this is the best I could come up with after hours of turmoil and I do mean hours).

Yamazaki turned to leave but Amaterasu spoke up and stopped him "No stay, we both have some explaining to do." Yamazaki nodded his head in agreement.

"I'm sorry I had to lie to you Soji" Amaterasu said as she sat up and leaned against the wall "but I panicked."

"You could have just told me that your tuberculosis had returned. Why did I have to hear it from Yamazaki thirty minutes ago?" Soji questioned.

Amaterasu bit her lip as a surprised look crossed Yamazaki's face "What do you mean returned?"

Soji gave Amaterasu a knowing look "Don't look at me like that" Amaterasu asked "I was going to tell him, I really was, but my first concern was making sure that nobody else got sick because of me. I don't want what happened to my moth… I don't want something like that to happen again."

Soji could see that Amaterasu was getting visibly upset and spoke up "I'll tell him, if it's too painful for you." He watched as she nodded slowly, clutching Hotaru tightly to her chest.

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"Amaterasu and I grew up together in the same village" Soji began "when she was four years old she became terribly ill. News spread quickly through the village that she had tuberculosis. I tried to visit her but wasn't allowed to see her for fear that I would catch the disease myself. Her mother spent a great 

deal of time and energy using her crystals to heal Amaterasu. Amaterasu eventually began to recover, but then her mother got sick and died a few days later. After that Amaterasu…" Soji was cut off.

"After my mother's death I stayed in my room for two weeks, then didn't talk for a whole month and never fully recovered mentally" Amaterasu interjected "that's what you were going to say." Neither Yamazaki nor Soji spoke. "So now you know that I had tuberculosis when I was little" the stress from remembering the illness and her mother's death evident in her voice "could you leave me alone for a while, I need to rest." She waited until both Soji and Yamazaki were far in the distance before lifting Hotaru off her lap and standing up. She slid the door open only to find her father's face staring back at her before something struck her forehead and she fell into darkness.

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Well that's it, chapter five in its entirety. I supremely apologize for neglecting my loyal readers, but I had a terrible summer class to contend with. But I'm back now and I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I'm taking suggestions as to what Amaterasu's father is going to do to her. I'll get right to work on chapter six, interesting suggestions may be incorporated. Thanks to everyone who takes time out of their day to read my story and thanks to all the reviewers. Thanks a bunch and torrential rain showers for everyone. Go frolic in the rain.