"Combat is the best judge of intent, particularly when sentient weapons are involved. A weapon like Shinaijou would not have allowed itself to be used dishonestly."
- Tsuruko Aoyama; 'Heavenly Sword, Revised Edition'

Chapter VI:
Love's Striking Blade

July 28, 2006
Hinata Aparments, Hinata, Japan
0610 hours, local time

Waking up shortly after the sun rose was not something that Keitaro was very fond of. Or, more accurately, being forcefully awakened just after sunrise was not something he was fond of. He was very much the kind of guy who liked to sleep until his alarm clock went off, then hit the snooze button a few times.

But the slamming open of his door was quite counterproductive to that wish. Equally so was Motoko standing in his doorway, screaming "Keitaro!"

From where he had been asleep, sitting at the desk in his room, Keitaro jumped up, banging both his knees on the underside of the desk. He let out a pained yelp, then sat back down, rubbed his knees, and winced over in Motoko's general direction. "Motoko? What's wrong?"

Further back in Keitaro's room, a lump on his futon shifted and then sat up, the covers sliding away to reveal Naru groggily rubbing her head and looking with one eye open toward the door. "Eh? Motoko?"

The sight of Naru sleeping in Keitaro's futon struck a chord with the old habits ingrained into Motoko's mind, and before she could check herself, she found herself hissing, "What were you two doing?"

Keitaro and Naru exchanged looks, and both visibly reddened. Keitaro turned back to Motoko and tapped his index fingers together. "We were up most of the night studying, and by the time we realized what time it was, Naru was too tired to go back to her room. So I let her sleep in my bed and I slept here, at the desk."

A red tinge crept onto Motoko's face as she realized she'd come dangerously close to making one of the unwarranted assumptions she had managed to avoid making for several weeks now. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to judge. What the two of you do is none of my business."

Naru yawned, then smiled. "It's okay, Motoko," she said. "I understand how this situation probably looked. So what is it you wanted?"

She walked into the room and seated herself at Keitaro's desk. There had been a sheet of paper in her hand the entire time, and she laid it on the desk. Keitaro picked it up, turned it over so he could read it, and then read aloud, "'Dear Motoko, I'm going to Kyoto for a few days. Don't follow me. See you in a day or two. Love, Seno.'"

The Hinata kanrinin looked up at the swordswoman and blinked. "This is pretty suspicious," he said. "I wonder why he'd up and go to Kyoto so suddenly."

"The thought has occurred to me," Motoko said, looking at the desk's surface, "that he may have gone to see aneue, to seek some form of absolution for what happened to me."

Naru and Keitaro exchanged another glance. "Chances are good that Tsuruko wouldn't look very kindly on that," Keitaro said flatly. "And knowing Seno, he'd probably paint himself as being at fault."

Naru, on the other hand, was not so certain. "I think you may be reading a little too much into this," she argued. "After all, he was very happy to be reunited with you, Motoko. Perhaps you're just worrying about nothing?"

"Maybe," the swordswoman replied, coloring slightly as she looked down again. "It still worries me, though. Even though he asked me not to, I want to go after him, to see what he's doing."

"And if necessary, save him from himself," Keitaro finished dryly.

Sighing, Naru shook her head and shrugged theatrically. "I still say it's not what you two think, but I'll go along." She smiled at her friends. "Just to make sure you two stay out of trouble."

"Thank you, Naru, Keitaro," Motoko said. "I appreciate everything the two of you have done for Seno and I."

Keitaro smiled. "Think nothing of it, Motoko," he replied. "Besides, since he was the one that got Naru and I together in the first place, we owe it to him to make sure that you and he are happy too." He looked between the two women sitting in his room. "So I guess we'll leave after breakfast, then? It doesn't make sense to go looking for him on an empty stomach, after all."

Kyoto, Japan
1136 hours, local time

The mountains of Kyoto were beautiful to behold at this time of year. The sakura trees were in full bloom, filling the air with a gentle flurry of pink-and-white petals. Pausing halfway up the stone steps leading to the not-so-secret mountain dojo of the Shinmeiryu school of swordsmanship, Seno reached up his left hand into the swirling downpour of sakura petals.

Out of the countless hundreds of blossoms falling from the trees, one single petal fell into his outstretched hand, alighting gently on his palm. Bringing his hand down before his face, he looked at the petal in his hand, watching as it rocked back and forth in the gentle breeze.

"Sorry mate, but as nice as you look, you can't even hold a candle to the girl I've come here for," he said.

Almost immediately, a gust of wind picked up the sakura petal, carrying it up and away from the swordsman, as though the petal had been offended by his statement. Chuckling, he continued up the stone steps.

After another minute, he cleared the final step and looked out at the Shinmeiryu dojo before him. There was a vast clearing directly ahead of him, with at least a hundred meters separating him from the fort-like wooden gate into the dojo. Mountains rose up on either side of the dojo grounds, creating a majestic view and a rare glimpse into Japan's history.

Resting his left hand on the familiar hilt of his sword, Seno walked forward, following the stone path that cut through the grass of the clearing, leading directly to the gate. As he approached, a man nearing middle-age, clad in a red hakama and white gi, with a sword at his right hip, stepped between Seno and the gate.

"Halt, outsider," the man, evidently a gate guard, said. "State your business with this dojo."

The swordsman paused just long enough to give the man a once-over, appraising his skills. No-go. This guy's not even a challenge to me. Motoko could have beaten him in her sleep, way back when I first showed up at the Hinata and she really sucked.

He barely managed to contain the smirk those thoughts brought up. "I wish to speak with Aoyama Tsuruko," he said. "Concerning her sister, Aoyama Motoko."

The gate guard paused for half a heartbeat, then said, "And whom shall I tell her is calling?"

"Nakakami Seno."

With a stand-fast gesture, the guard opened the gate and disappeared inside, leaving Seno standing at the entrance of the dojo. He leaned back in place and crossed his arms behind his head, yawning widely. He was still pretty tired.

He didn't like having just up and left in the middle of the night like he had, leaving just a note for Motoko not to follow him. If he knew nothing else about his girlfriend, he knew she'd show the note to Keitaro, and probably Naru, and then none-too-brilliant Keitaro would immediately assume the worst, and put together some sort of rescue expedition to save him from getting himself killed. Again.

Chuckling, he muttered to himself, "In retrospect, it would probably have been a better idea to tell her I came here to get something for her. It wouldn't be a lie at all, just not telling her the entire thing. Sometimes I feel like my life is being scripted just to set up these kind of things, because it was pretty dumb just to go 'Don't follow me,' knowing full well that she will."

He shrugged. "But hey, can't help it if I want to surprise her. It'll definitely blow her away."

"Oh, is that my sister you're referring to?" a feminine voice asked.

Seno focused his attention to the new figure standing in front of him, and knew immediately that she had to be Tsuruko. The resemblance to Motoko was amazing. Take off a few years, get rid of those sideburn-esque extensions, and this woman would be identical to Motoko.

He knew of her by reputation only; the one time that Tsuruko had come to the Hinata for a visit, Seno had been away at an anime convention. When he heard of what had transpired during the elder Aoyama's visit, he wished that he'd skipped the convention. Just thinking about how Motoko and Keitaro had almost been forced to marry still made his stomach churn. There were days when he sorely wanted to throttle his old childhood friend for that incident.

Shaking off his musings, he clutched his sword and bowed at the waist to the woman before him. "Aoyama Tsuruko, I presume?" he asked. "It is an honor to finally meet you."

Smiling, the woman tilted her head to one side. "And you must be Nakakami Seno," she replied. "It is nice to finally meet you, as well. Won't you come inside and have some tea?"

"Thank you," he said, standing up and following her inside the gates of the dojo.

She led him to a small building just to the right after entering the main gate, which was attached to a much larger building. Opening the door, she slipped off her sandals and stepped inside. Seno followed suit, and seated himself on the closer of the two cushions situated inside.

Tsuruko seated herself on the other cushion, then reached to her side, where a tea kettle was sitting idly on a small table. She poured two cups of tea and handed one to Seno, then waited until he took a sip before sipping her own tea. "I've heard quite a bit about you, Seno. Motoko writes about you often in her letters. She fancies you, I think. Moreso than the Hinata's manager, at least. Maybe it was good that I decided not to force them to marry."

Seno's only visible reaction to that seemingly-innocent statement was a subtle twitch of his right eye. Yeah, it's good because I probably would've killed Keitaro, if Naru hadn't beaten me to it.

Opening one eye, Tsuruko regarded him evenly. "I can tell just by looking at you that you fancy Motoko, yourself," she said calmly. "That is why I say it is good that I didn't force her to marry Keitaro. You are very obviously interested in her, and it seems she's also quite interested in you."

That statement got a more visible reaction out of the swordsman. His eyes widened as he thought, What? I thought I was good at keeping my feelings hidden! He paused, considering. Then again, since Motoko and I got together, I haven't bothered to hide how I feel about her. That's probably what Tsuruko is picking up on…

Setting her cup down on the table, Tsuruko smiled, shifting from serious to carefree in under a second. "So! You say that you wished to talk to me about my sister? Are you going to ask for my permission to marry her?"

He opened his mouth to do just that, then realized that she had taken the words right out of his mouth. "Take the wind out of my sails, why don't you?" he muttered.

"What's that?"

"Yes!" he hastily said, then bowed toward her, his head banging on the table as he did so. He grunted, but said nothing. "I have come to ask your permission to seek Motoko's hand in marriage."

Tsuruko blinked at the prostrating swordsman before her, then smiled again. "Oh, you really were?" she asked. "I was only kidding. But, hmm… This does seem rather sudden. Motoko hasn't even mentioned to me that you two are dating yet."

"We, ah, we've only been dating for about a week," he explained, knowing full well that such an admission would make it seem like he wasn't even taking the time to consider the weight and responsibilities of what he was seeking.

"That's an awfully-short amount of time for you to have decided you want to spend the rest of your life with her," Tsuruko said, all business once again. "In fact, it's an absolutely absurd proposition."

You're one to talk about absurd propositions. You tried to make Motoko marry Keitaro! With that one act, you would've screwed over four lives.

Tsuruko pursed her lips, tapping her left index finger against them. "However, you are obviously very serious about it, since you've come all this way to ask for my permission. I wonder, did something happen between you two?"

"Does me dying, coming back to life, and realizing that unless I had her by my side for the rest of my days, my coming back would be pointless, count as something having happened?"

The elder Aoyama blinked in confusion, processing what he'd just said. "I do believe," she finally said, "that this is one story that needs telling."

And so he did just that. He told her about the night that the hitokiri spirit had assumed a corporeal form and raped Motoko, using his own visual appearance to make her believe it had been him. He told her how Motoko had attacked him without warning, and with plenty of deadly intent, the next morning, how he had had to drag her admission of being raped out of her, and how he had, driven by guilt, subsequently run himself through on her sword. He then told her of how he had visited Motoko in her dream, and how Mutsumi had managed to bring him back to life, and how that somehow involved Naru being an angel. And how during those course of events, both Seno and Motoko had realized that the love they had for one another was so strong that it could not properly be described in words.

After he had finished telling his story, Tsuruko sat back on her heels, her left eyebrow raised as she picked up her cup and took several sips of tea. "That…is a very interesting turn of events," she said. "While it both saddens and enrages me that my younger sister's chastity was stolen from her in such a manner, it pleases me that you love her enough to shoulder the burden of responsibility, even when you were not at fault. The issue with this rogue spirit is very troubling, and I promise that we here at the Shinmeiryu will look into ways of dealing with it."

Seno waited anxiously for her to say something about the reason he had come here, but several minutes passed in silence as she slowly sipped her tea. Once she had emptied her cup, she refilled it again, took another sip, and set it down on the table.

"I apologize for having made you wait for my decision, but I admit that all of this has come as a surprise and I have had to take a few minutes to catch up," she said. "You seek my permission to marry Motoko. I will give it to you under one condition."

In a casual, nonthreatening manner, Tsuruko reached to her left side and picked up her sheathed sword, laying it across her lap. Then she looked up at Seno and the expression on her face must have been what Motoko had described on a number of occasions as the 'Demon Eyes.'

"If you want my permission to marry Motoko," Tsuruko said, "then you must impress me."

Seno grinned and dropped his left hand down to the hilt of the Shinaijou. "I was waiting for you to say that…"

At that exact moment, Motoko, Keitaro, and Naru were stepping off the train at the main station in Kyoto, perhaps a mile away from the mountain range in which the Shinmeiryu dojo was located. The two Tokyo U hopefuls looked around in awe at all the blooming sakura trees surrounding the train station, and lining just about every street in the city. Motoko was also cheered by the sight of the blooming trees, smiling at the wind-blown shower of soft white-and-pink petals.

Leading the group, Keitaro already knew the way to the Shinmeiryu dojo, from the last time he'd come to Kyoto, forced to be Motoko's fighting partner against Tsuruko, all because Motoko had lied in order to avoid leaving Tokyothe Hinata. Walking behind the chatty couple of Keitaro and Naru, Motoko blushed as she thought about how very, very close she had come to losing any chance of enjoying her romance with Seno.

Her left hand came up, wrapping around the medallion she now wore around her neck as a permanent part of her attire. Whether it was casual, uniform, or training clothing, she never went without it. The only times she took it off were when she bathed and slept.

For her, the medallion, despite being a cheap trinket marketed by Disney due to the release of Dead Man's Chest, was a symbol of the love she had with Seno. If, those few months ago, she had failed to destroy the demonic spirit in the Hina blade, if she had not managed to sufficiently impress her sister, then she would have been married to Keitaro right now. While just looking at how he and Naru were together, she knew that Keitaro would have been good to her, but she knew now, with the perfect clarity of hindsight, that Keitaro was meant for Naru, not for her. Seno was the one meant for her, and if she had failed to impress Tsuruko, all four of their lives would have been ruined.

It is for the best, she thought, smiling, that things turned out the way they have. Perhaps aneue did what she did to ensure that this would happen…

Belatedly, she realized that Naru and Keitaro had paused at the bottom of the steps leading up to the Shinmeiryu dojo, and were looking back at her. "Is everything alright, Motoko?" Naru asked.

"Sorry," the swordswoman murmured, catching up with her friends. "I was just thinking about the last time we were here in Kyoto…"

Naru stiffened immediately, and Keitaro winced. Neither of them had fond memories of the last trip to Kyoto, either. As the trio began their ascent up the stairs, silence passed between them for a few moments. Finally, Keitaro spoke up, "It's just good that things turned out the way they did. This is the way things are supposed to be."

Smiling, Motoko nodded. "I agree," she said. "All things considered, it's quite fortunate that you tried to use the Hina blade to help us, Naru."

The angelic girl laughed. "It was one of the few times that my impulsive nature turned out to be beneficial, wasn't it?" she asked. "If I hadn't been possessed by that sword, then you never would've impressed Tsuruko enough for her to declare you the victor, and where would we all be now?"

"Not here," Keitaro replied, taking her hand in his and twining their fingers together.

Motoko watched them hold hands with a wistful smile, and her right hand instinctively clenched as though she were holding Seno's hand. When she realized what she was doing, she felt a coldness along that side that she knew was because he wasn't standing close beside her, the warmth of his body emanating into hers.

Her smile dropping a little, she looked up toward the end of the stairs up to the dojo. I really do believe that I overreacted to your note, Seno, she thought to herself. It's just that I can't bear the thought of losing you again. She smiled. You're probably just here asking Tsuruko what kind of things I like so you can surprise me with something. That's just how you are.

"Motoko, you're spacing out again," Naru said, smiling.

"I was just thinking," the swordswoman explained, "that Seno probably came here to ask Tsuruko about my interests so that he could surprise me with some sort of gift or date."

"That sounds like something he'd do, alright," Keitaro offered. "If you girls thought I was selfless, you haven't seen Seno do it."

"I have had reason to consider whether you learned your own selflessness from him, Keitaro," Motoko replied. "When I saw him in that dream, all he was concerned with was the state of my emotional well-being. He wasn't at all concerned that he was dead. In fact, were it not for the knowledge that he would be physically separated from me for the rest of my life, if not longer, he seemed to be enjoying the fact that he could do things like control peoples' dreams."

"Never really can tell what Seno's thinking," Keitaro said. "He's about as predictable as a lightning strike."

The corner of Motoko's mouth quirked up as she smirked. "A fitting analogy, I think," she agreed. "The night that he helped the two of you to confess to each other, I certainly never knew what hit me. All I knew was that it felt right. And the next morning, I woke up to find that I was in love with the greatest man I had ever met." She paused. "No offense, Keitaro."

The apartment manager smiled and shook his head. "None taken, Motoko," he replied. "Seno is much better for you than I could ever be, I'll readily admit that. You two are going to have a long and happy life together."

Her smirk transformed into a smile as she noted that they were clearing the final stone steps up to the dojo and were now walking toward the gates. "Thank you, Keitaro," she said. "You and Naru likewise, will be happy together for the rest of your lives." She closed one eye in a playful wink and stuck her tongue out at the couple. "In a few years, the dorms are going to be even more lively than they already are."

In response, Naru reached over and looped her free arm around Motoko's neck, pulling the taller woman down to her level. "Oh, that it will be, but don't you dare think that it'll just be because of Keitaro and I," she said. "You and Seno are going to contribute to that, too!"

The swordswoman blushed, but didn't deny what she knew would eventually become truth anyway. She likewise looped her arm around Naru's neck and said, "One thing is certain. Any children born into the Hinata will have more than enough love and devotion to be raised with."

Naru beamed as her eyes lost a little focus, imagining how life around the Hinata would change when a number of wild children were thrown into the mix. "Kitsune will have to stop drinking," she said. "And Haruka will have to stop smoking."

"This is the point at which Seno would usually say 'Good luck with that,' but considering we are discussing the health of our future children, this isn't a topic to be laughed about," Motoko replied. "Though I suppose that it would be unfair of us to attempt to force them to give up their habits so soon, especially considering that there are no prospects for children yet."

Keitaro tilted his head to the side. "You're giving this an awful lot of thought, aren't you, Motoko?" he asked. "I mean, it is something that needs a lot of consideration, but you seem to be thinking more about it even than you need to."

Blushing furiously, Motoko looked away and didn't reply.

Fortunately for her, the trio had reached the gates by then, and the same guard that had stopped Seno bowed in Motoko's direction. "Greetings, Miss Motoko," he said. "Are you here to see your sister?"

Attempting to regain her composure, and mostly failing, Motoko bowed to the guard in return. "Yes, I am," she answered. "Is she available?"

"She received a visitor a short time ago, but I have not seen him leave. Allow me to go check. If you'll excuse me."

As the guard left to check on Tsuruko, Motoko exchanged a glance with Naru and Keitaro. All three of them knew immediately that Tsuruko's 'guest' was none other than Seno, himself. Motoko felt a little ball of dread forming in her gut, and prayed that her more recent thoughts on the matter were the correct ones.

"Motoko? Ho, ho, ho, what are you doing here, little sister?"

The swordswoman spun around to find Tsuruko standing inside the open gate, her unsheathed sword resting lightly on her left shoulder. The elder Aoyama was blinking at the sight of Motoko, Naru, and Keitaro, seeming to be genuinely surprised by their presence.

"A-aneue!" Motoko uttered, her eyes locking on her sister's unsheathed sword. God, no. Was I right with my first thoughts? Is she trying to hunt Seno right now?

Tsuruko, ever insightful, noticed Motoko staring at her sword, and gave her sister a reassuring smile. "Oh, this? If you are worried that I am trying to harm your friend Seno, you needn't be. I simply wanted to judge his skills."

Placing her right hand over her heart, Motoko visibly relaxed, thanking the gods that she had been wrong. "So Seno did come here?" she asked.

"Yes, and I suspected that he didn't want you to know why he came," Tsuruko replied. At her sister's mortified expression, Tsuruko hastily added, "He wanted to ask me something that would make a lovely gift for you. I asked him for a test of his skill in exchange."

Naru and Keitaro watched a large bead of sweat form on the back of Motoko's head. "You…haven't changed at all, aneue," she said.

Smiling, Tsuruko placed her free hand over her mouth. "Ho, ho, I suppose I haven't," she replied. Then her expression sobered. "I don't think Seno would want his surprise spoiled by knowing that you three are here. So if you wish to see our little duel, then you should quickly find a place to hide."

Turning in a full circle, Tsuruko pointed with her sword toward a small building overlooking a meditation courtyard filled with large stone statues. "You can hide in that building and watch from there," she said. "I can sense that Seno is recuperating there."

"Recuperating?" Motoko asked, paling.

The elder Aoyama turned toward her sister with a sheepish expression and nervously scratched the back of her head. "I'm afraid I caught him off-guard earlier and struck him a minor blow in the side," she explained. "It's not a serious injury, but it can cost him if he doesn't account for it."

"TSURUKO!" Motoko all but screamed.

"Oh, that's the first time you've called me by name since you were very little," Tsuruko said, smiling again. "I see that Seno is drawing you out of your emotional shell. Perhaps he's better for you than I originally thought, and believe me, my first impression of him was already very good."

Her eyes widening, Motoko's entire face flushed red. "I…but…you…I…"

Fighting to contain her smile, Tsuruko turned away from her sister. "The three of you should probably go hide in that building now," she said. "I need to get over there, or Seno will wonder why I'm taking so long."

With that, the older woman shot toward the destined battleground, leaping across rooftops before disappearing down into the courtyard. As soon as she had done so, the trio could hear the clashing of steel.

Tsuruko brought her blade down hard in an overhead strike that began on her right side, the edge of her blade singing through the air. Seno stepped back out of the path of the blow, and continued moving backwards as she sent a follow-through left-to-right horizontal slash toward him. As she stepped forward and shifted her grip on the blade to swing back to the left, Seno finally stepped into the blow, their blades crossing in the open air between them with the striking tang of steel meeting steel.

Bringing her sword up and over his, Tsuruko executed a short cut to slap his blade aside, then reared up to bring her blade crashing down on his head from over hers. He twisted aside, then brought Shinaijou around to strike at her head. She lifted her sword up, twisting it to angle the blade skyward as she did so, and intercepted his attack. The strength of her parry forced Seno's weapon up, and she immediately brought her blade back down, but his own blade was already in position to stop the blow in its tracks and send it back.

Seno struck forward, leaning his weight into an overhead strike, but she leaned her body out of its path and answered with a quick strike at his torso. He struck her blade with his own, deflecting the blow, and then brought his arms down, aiming a strike to her midsection. Tsuruko's blade knocked his aside, and she continued to turn, adding the momentum and power of a full rotation into the power she sent with her next swing toward his head.

Realizing the power behind the coming strike, Seno maneuvered the Shinaijou to intercept the blow farther away from him, leaning back to put his upper body strength into the block. The crack of their blades meeting echoed over the courtyard, but unlike the previous blade locks, neither gave ground in this one.

In this contest, Tsuruko had the advantage of leverage, an advantage she utilized as she pushed against Seno's blade, carefully twisting hers to bring the point of her sword closer and closer to Seno's shoulder while using the length of her sword to keep him from being able to strike her. In a desperate gamble to counter this bad situation, Seno grabbed his own sword near its point and used that grip as a fulcrum, pushing forward on the hilt of his blade until he had turned hers almost completely over, her blade beneath his, his back almost pressed against her chest. While this solved the dilemma of her being able to take out his sword arm, she now had a direct path to slide her blade along the bottom of his and strike him full in the torso. So he did the only thing he could think of.

He jumped.

Twisting his body into a cartwheel, Seno sailed over the singing blade of Tsuruko's sword as she struck at him, causing her sword to pass through thin air as he twisted around to land on his feet behind her.

Immediately returning to the offensive, she turned and charged him, striking at his legs while he attempted to regain his balance. But he was nothing if not fast on the uptake, his blade intercepting hers and the two turning each other to the side. She spun, her right foot lashing out in a roundhouse kick aimed for his head, but his body contorted back beneath it. Sensing his momentary vulnerability, she once again struck at his legs, but he was already turning back toward her, lifting his right leg up and over her swinging blade.

As her momentum momentarily overbalanced her, he drew his blade back in his right hand to deal a finishing blow to the side of her head, but her sword rose to strike his aside even as she was righting herself. Unperturbed, he spun completely around to strike at her side, but she calmly stepped back, giving herself plenty of room to raise her left leg and block his strike with the underside of her sandal. She then jabbed her blade forward, intending to catch him in the back or side as he turned back around, but he had inverted his sword, supporting it with his hand on the back side near the point, and used the sharp edge of the blade to turn her strike aside.

Their duel once again turned into a saberlock as the two combatants stood toe-to-toe with each other, their blades locked together and hissing angrily as they battled for dominance. Neither combatant gave ground.

"Your skill with the blade is impressive, Seno," she said. "Are you not lying to me when you say you have no set school of swordsmanship?"

"It's no lie, Tsuruko," he replied. "I was trained by myself, all the video games I've played, and all the anime I've watched."

"Ho, ho, ho, that is very impressive," she said. "Regardless of how this turns out, I would gladly welcome a swordsman of your skill into the Shinmeiryu."

"I'm flattered by your offer. But if I may, I'd like to point out that so far, our duel has turned out almost identical to the duel between Margulis and Jin from the start of Xenosaga II."

"Oh?" she asked with a smile. "Which of us is which?"

"So far? You appear to be Margulis. Which means you're probably going to win."

"Ho, ho, ho, then you should probably change how our version of their duel ends, wouldn't you say?"

"Probably."

Without warning, Tsuruko's right foot shot up, slamming into Seno's chest and knocking him back slightly and breaking the lock. She swung her sword up in a punishing uppercut, forcing him to jump back and pull his arms and head aside in order to keep them attached to his body. Smiling slightly as he fell into her trap, she spun around and launched a punishing sidekick into his chest, the force of the ki infused into her kick sending him skidding back across the ground.

"Gurenken!" she shouted.

His balance failing, Seno fell down to a knee, the tip of his blade driving into the ground and finally dragging him to a halt. A dozen feet away from him, Tsuruko leapt high into the air, her sword raised above her head as she sailed down gracefully toward him, intent on finishing him right then and there. Scrambling to get away, Seno pushed himself awkwardly to his feet and back away from her, causing her blade to gouge into the ground, the charged ki in her sword discharging itself into the ground with an explosion of soil and grass.

In front of her, Seno fell flat on his back, but quickly turned the motion into a backwards roll to come up in a low crouch, his weight balanced on his right knee, his left leg forward, his left arm held behind him, and his right holding his sword out before him, sharp edge angled toward his left.

Not even bothering to stand back up to her full height, Tsuruko charged the swordsman, her "demon eyes" expression dominating her face, and struck out at Seno even as he scrambled backwards, their blades striking together in a series of rapid, back-and-forth blows that continually pressed the swordsman back.

Letting go of her blade with her left hand, she pressed that hand to the ground and kicked off with her feet, shoving out with that hand to add a rightward spin to her missile-like flight toward Seno. The swordsman efficiently managed to block her midair strikes, culminating in a powerful right-sided parry that ended her flight and sent him spinning away. As he turned, he found that one of the stone statues was directly in his path and that he was going to hit it, one way or another. So rather than slam face-first into it, he turned to face back toward Tsuruko, his back slamming hard into the statue.

She was right behind him, striking from the right, then the left, then taking her sword in both hands and drawing it back behind her right side like a baseball bat before swinging a brutal horizontal strike directly at his head. He blocked the first two blows, but chose to duck the third entirely, slipping away to his right even as her blade slashed into the statue he'd had his back against, ripping a gouge five inches deep and three tall all the way across it.

Leaping up, Seno kicked off of another statue, sailing back through the air toward Tsuruko. She leapt up to meet him in midair, their swords clashing together between them an amazing fourteen times before the duo finally answered gravity's call, falling back toward the grassy courtyard. Seno landed on the ground, stumbling slightly, but Tsuruko lighted herself atop the very statue that he had used as a springboard, balancing herself in defiance of the laws of physics for an instant before she leapt up and back off of it, rotating in midair to bring a powerful downward cleave smashing upon Seno's head.

At the last second, the swordsman raised his own blade, held right-handed by the hilt and left-handed near the point of the sword, and the impact of their blades clashing together sent shockwaves coursing through his upper body. He grunted, but held strong.

"Holding back, Tsuruko?" he asked. "You've barely used any of your ki-based attacks against me."

"If I am guilty of holding back," she replied, "then you are as well. I can sense a number of special skills that you could be using, but you opt for simple swordplay. Perhaps we are doing this for Motoko's sake. We both know that she does not want to see either of us severely hurt, so we are limiting ourselves to minimal use of ki techniques to minimize potential harm."

"Good point," he chuckled. "I didn't think about it, but that is why I haven't used any of my overdrives."

"I, too, have refrained from my special techniques. Even though I am sometimes harsh on her, I do love my little sister, and I do not wish to see her hurt by bringing severe harm to you."

"A self-sacrificing love for Motoko is one thing both of us seem to share, isn't it?"

"Ho, ho, that it is, my potential brother-in-law."

Seno suddenly shoved up, knocking Tsuruko off-balance long enough for him to reclaim his feet and turn toward her, striking one-handed from his right side. She met his blow, holding the grapple for an instant before she shifted the hilt of her blade toward him, and striking upward with her sword. This knocked his arms up, once more leaving his chest vulnerable.

"Gurenken!" she shouted again, drawing back her left arm and slamming her palm into his chest.

The force of the blow knocked him back into the statue she had previously carved a gash into, and neither paid any attention to the resulting cracking sound that emanated from the statue. Drawing her sword back on her right side, Tsuruko rushed toward Seno, but drew up short when she noticed the statue tilting down toward her. Stopping in her tracks, she took herself out of harm's way with a series of fast, short leaps backwards.

Seno had noticed the crumbling statue at the same time, but his method of escape was far simpler. He simply ran out to the left side from beneath the statue, escaping its crushing weight with less than half the effort Tsuruko had used. As the statue crashed to the ground, breaking off several additional pieces of itself, Seno watched idly.

"I don't know what it is with me and causing property damage in every fight I get into…" he said. A sharp spike of pain shot through him, and he looked down. The wound Tsuruko had struck to his left side was bleeding through. All the fighting must've pulled it open even further.

"Ho, ho, ho, your injury seems to be bothering you," she said, holding her sword loosely in her right hand. "Do you want to forfeit? I don't think that fighting yourself to death will make Motoko very happy."

"Not on your life," he grunted back, pressing his hand to his side. "I'll finish this all the way, and I'll prove myself to both you and Motoko."

Unbeknownst to Seno, but fully apparent to Tsuruko, the trio from Hinata had been watching the entire sequence of events, all of them shocked by Seno's sheer swordsmanship ability. They all knew that he was exceptional with the blade, but none of them had ever seen him in a knock-down, drag-out fight like this one before.

While Naru and Keitaro watched with simple awe, Motoko noted the blood staining his left side, and felt tears welling in her eyes. Injured as he is, he still gives his all to fight for me, she thought. Reaching out a hand imploringly, she fought to contain her tears. Seno, you don't need to do this for me! You've proven yourself to me for a thousand lifetimes. Please…don't hurt yourself over me.

"That is starting to look like a very serious injury," Tsuruko said, her mannerisms oozing concern. "We should probably stop, and get that looked at."

Seno smirked, recognizing that this was still playing out like the game duel he'd mentioned earlier. So, as he was wont to do whenever he recognized such an occasion, he did what he did best: He stole a line. "It's nothing. If you'll pardon the cliché, it's just a scratch."

Tsuruko sighed at his stubbornness. "Just like Motoko," she muttered. "Very well, then. There's no point in prolonging this anymore." Flourishing her sword before her, she slid backwards into a stance, her left side toward him, her sword held with the blade toward the sky on her right, and her left hand palm-out toward him. "It's time we finished this, once and for all."

Wordlessly, Seno raised the Shinaijou in his right hand, the tip of the blade pointed unerringly at Tsuruko's head. He shifted his left side to face toward her, drawing his right arm back but keeping the blade on target. Resting his weight evenly between both feet, he raised his left arm and held his hand out as though gently cupping a softball in his hand.

From their hiding place, Naru couldn't help but quietly mutter, "He'll still fight her, maimed like that?"

Keitaro gave her a sideward glance. "That's how Seno is," he told her. "He never gives up once he's decided to do something."

Despite the grave situation they were watching, Naru smiled and bumped her shoulder into Keitaro's. "Just like you."

"I admire your dedication," Tsuruko said. "Though, in this case, it may prove to be futile."

"You never know," he replied smoothly, "until you try. Sister."

"We will see," she said, smiling wickedly at him through her demon eyes.

Suddenly, a swirling, spherical orb of ki energy formed before Tsuruko's hand, roiling and swirling as it built in strength. The ball glowed an icy, light blue color, powered by the cold determination of Tsuruko in testing Seno's worth to be Motoko's husband.

Across the field, a ki orb likewise formed in Seno's palm. His orb was a brilliant, fiery red, burning with the passionate love for Motoko that consumed his entire being and dictated his every action.

Smirking, Tsuruko launched her ki orb at Seno with a backwash of energy, watching it grow larger and larger as it crossed the distance toward him. His own ki orb rocketed out of his palm, closing toward Tsuruko at a faster rate of speed than hers approached him. His also grew in proportion to the distance it traveled.

If the three onlookers had been expecting the two orbs to meet in between the two combatants and explode violently against one another, they would have been sadly disappointed. The two orbs bypassed each other harmlessly, locked without error on the opposing fighters.

And then suddenly, both orbs exploded simultaneously, releasing a tremendous amount of ki energy that would have flattened the three onlookers if they hadn't already been lying prone. A blinding flash of light blanketed the battleground, and the pained screams of both combatants were clearly heard.

When the light died down enough for Motoko to see again, she lowered her hands and looked out at her sister and boyfriend. Both were standing fully upright, swaying slightly in place, but otherwise looked none the worse for wear for the devastating attack that had exploded on both of them.

And then, to her horror, Seno collapsed, falling from upright to prone in one single movement with a dull thud as the Shinaijou embedded itself in the ground beside him.

Her eyes widening in terror, Motoko raised her hands to her mouth to better hold in the sobs she knew were coming. No… God, please no, not again. I can't stand to lose him again, not after just getting him back. Please, Seno, get up. Get up, please… "SENO!" she screamed, leaping up and running out toward her fallen boyfriend as fast as her legs would carry her.

Breathing heavily, Tsuruko glanced from Seno lying on the ground before her, badly injured, likely unconscious, to Motoko running full-out toward him, panic written all across her face, tears streaming from her eyes. Closing her eyes, Tsuruko tightened her grip on her sword and walked toward the fallen swordsman. Motoko, please forgive me for this, but before I let this man marry you, I must know the full extent of your devotion to him.

Raising her sword high above her head, Tsuruko stood over Seno and called out in a voice loud enough for even Naru and Keitaro to clearly hear, "If you are incapable of defeating me, then you are wholly unfit to be with my sister. So I must remove you from this existence."

And her sword came down, the tip of the blade aiming for the base of his neck.

"NO!" she heard Motoko scream, her voice raw with emotion, and then her blade stopped its downward descent.

Furrowing her brow, Tsuruko looked at her sword to see what was holding it back, and found a length of gold chain wrapped around it. Following the length of chain with her eyes, she traced it all the way back to Motoko's hands, with the pirate medallion resting against her knuckles. A fierce determination shone in Motoko's eyes, burning even through the tears she was still crying.

"You will not hurt him again, sister," she hissed.

Surprised once again by Motoko calling her anything but 'aneue,' Tsuruko tugged backwards on her sword, breaking free of the chain holding it back. "Motoko, did you know that he came here to ask my permission to marry you?" she asked. Before her younger sister could reply or even react, the elder woman continued, "You interfered in my testing him, so I am afraid that, win or lose, I cannot give that permission. You are forbidden to ever marry this man."

Tsuruko's softly spoken words were a wrecking ball wrapped in velvet, shattering Motoko's glass dreams of spending her life with Seno, of starting a family with him. The weight of that oppressive condemnation crashed down on her heart, threatening to crush it entirely as she felt fresh tears rising up.

But then something else crashed against the weight of Tsuruko's pronouncement. The pain that she had gone through the past several days, her rape, Seno's death, and the dream in which she thought she would never be able to hold it again. And then that pain was joined by the pain caused the last time that her sister had interfered in her life. Tsuruko had attempted to strip her of the sword, her only passion until recently. She had then turned around and attempted to force her to marry Keitaro. It was too much. It was all too damned much.

Everyone has a limit. Every person has a certain breaking point after which they will not take any more bullshit.

For Motoko Aoyama, being forbidden to spend her life with the man she loved was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Tsuruko had to forcibly restrain herself from smiling as she felt Motoko's ki surge powerfully within her form, rising to the challenge that had been placed before her spirit. Good, Motoko, she thought. This is how I wanted you to react.

By now, Motoko's ki was surging off of her in visible waves, sparking a powerful wind to blow through the courtyard, billowing her hair off to one side. Even Seno was being roused by this display of energy, and looked up to see Motoko standing over him, her fists clenched tightly, a mixed expression of outrage and determination on her beautiful face.

She also noticed his return to consciousness, and smiled as a plan formed in her head. Reaching back her right hand, she tightly grasped Shinaijou and ripped Seno's blade out of the ground. The natural ki of the enchanted weapon joined with Motoko's, sensing that she was fighting for the sword's namesake, love and truth.

"Seno, listen up," she said, stepping between her boyfriend and her sister. "I love you with every fiber of my being, and I would die without you. If you would allow me to, I would spend the rest of my life by your side, loving you until the end of time. And if aneue won't allow us to marry, then I would give up my family to marry you!"

By the time Tsuruko realized what Motoko was doing, it was already too late. The Shinaijou in Motoko's right hand burst with the brilliant heavenly light of love, blinding everyone within sight of it. Everyone except Motoko. Drawing Seno's sword back on her right side, she clenched it in both hands and struck out with the sword, empowered by her love for Seno, by his love for her, and by the full power of love contained within the sword she wielded.

A massive wave of ki energy, the largest ki attack she had ever channeled, rose from the blade and rocketed toward Tsuruko. Sensing the massive attack incoming, though completely unable to see it, the elder Aoyama raised her blade in front of her in a desperation attempt to defend herself.

She never had a chance.

"AOYAMA KOKUHAKUKEN!"

When the light from the blast finally died down enough for Keitaro and Naru's vision to clear, they saw Motoko standing in the center of the courtyard, leaning slightly forward, the Shinaijou held in a reverse grip in her left hand. Seno was still laying on the ground where he had been, though he was up on his right forearm and left hand and staring in awe up at Motoko.

Tsuruko was over a hundred feet back from where she had been standing, smashed against the side of a building. There were fragments of steel lying scattered between where she had been and where she was currently resting, and it took Keitaro noticing the bladeless hilt she held in her right hand to realize that the steel fragments were the remains of her sword, completely destroyed by the raw power of Motoko's strike.

"Holy shit," Naru uttered, staring wide-eyed at the scene before her.

Keitaro agreed. There simply wasn't any other way to put it.

Shakily, Tsuruko got to her feet and looked back on the flight path she had been sent on, then looked at the remains of her sword in her right hand. The bells tied to the hilt jingled lightly in the breeze. She managed to smile, even though every conceivable part of her body hurt.

"You continue to surprise me, little sister," she whispered to herself. "The Aoyama Confession Blade was just something I made up when you were little, to try and teach you to never lie, most of all to yourself. But here you go and turn it into an actual technique." She looked over at Motoko, who was already kneeling beside Seno, trying to tend to his injuries. "Motoko, you've discovered the true key to being a more powerful swordswoman than me, even if you don't know it yet. You must fight with your heart, and only draw your blade to defend those who you love."

Across the field, Motoko had gotten Seno to lay on his back, his head in her lap, as she pulled away his shirt and inspected the wound. It wasn't as deep or serious as all the blood suggested it was, and it hadn't come anywhere near any of his organs. It had just happened to cut into a number of minor blood vessels, which was causing all the bleeding. Even now, the blood was well along with clotting up.

Staring up at her lovely face, Seno couldn't stop himself from asking, "Motoko, did you mean that? If Tsuruko won't allow us to be married, would you really give up your family to marry me?"

She smiled down at him as she held her hands against the wound to assist in stopping the blood flow. "Of course I did," she replied. "That technique I used was the Aoyama Confession Blade that aneue told me about when I was a little girl. It wouldn't have worked if I was lying, and Shinaijou certainly wouldn't have loaned me its power."

For the first time since she had known him, Seno didn't have something witty to say, or a quote to steal from somewhere. He didn't even have any statements of reassurance to offer her. But for some reason, the quiet moment of love between them comforted her more than any words would have.

"Ho, ho, ho, that won't be necessary, little sister," Tsuruko's voice said.

Motoko looked back over her shoulder at her sister's battered form. Before, when she'd used the Confession Blade, she'd been angry at Tsuruko for daring to deny her from marrying Seno, but now that she had calmed down, she felt guilty for having hurt her older sister. "A-aneue, I…"

Smiling, Tsuruko shook her head and waved her left hand. "I am fine, Motoko. By its very nature, the Confession Blade is not a technique that can kill someone. And you need not worry yourself about Seno." She turned to the swordsman. "You have my blessings to marry Motoko."

The younger Aoyama's jaw dropped. "But… you said…"

"Mmm, how else was I going to test your devotion to him?" she asked. "Understand, Motoko, that you will be spending the rest of your life with him. I wanted to make sure that you would allow nothing to stand between him and you. Even family. So I had to put on that little ruse. I never intended to kill him, and I never intended to truly forbid you from marrying him."

"I… I…" Motoko stammered, unable to produce even a coherent thought, let alone an entire sentence. She slowly realized that her face was reddening, more at the knowledge that she was completely free to marry Seno than her inability to articulate speech.

On impulse, she looked back down at Seno, who was just as red as she was. Almost immediately, she smiled. Seno was hardly ever embarrassed by anything, and she found the sight of him blushing to be adorable. She had to resist the urge to cuddle him.

His right hand reached up, and he gently tangled his fingers in her hair. He smiled that warm, loving smile at her and slowly pulled her down toward him. "Motoko?"

Her heart hammered in her chest. She knew what he was about to ask. "Y-yes…?" she breathed, her voice catching in her throat.

"Will you? Marry me?"

For that moment, her heart stopped, and she couldn't breathe. But then she closed her eyes, feeling a single tear break free from the corner of her left eye and trail down her face. She smiled. The world was absolutely perfect. "Yes," she answered, and then kissed him before he could even think of kissing her.