On the night of her birth, exactly seventeen years after the old man had found her sleeping amongst the bamboo trees, there was a full moon.

All were sleeping peacefully, content in their dreams, except for one. The moon princess stepped out the door of her family's house and into the night. She walked as if she did not know where she was, as if she was still half asleep with her eyes open.

As her gown trailed behind her, it knocked over a small vase that had been a gift from one of her suitors. At the noise, the old man woke up with a start. He looked around for a moment, to see what had awakened him and he noticed his daughter's absence. He opened the door to call her back inside, but what he saw caused memories to flood back to him. Memories of a night seventeen years ago.

In the clearing before his house, the moonlight shone bright and silhouetted two figures. It was his beautiful daughter, and her bright father.

The moon god looked back at the old man, and he could see his deep blue eyes clearly, despite the distance.

The one that had been a daughter to him, raised her hand in farewell, then, with a last sigh, they were gone.

Now Sora, this is the fifth time I have told this tale, and I am all run out until at least another two months. Next time, you have to tell it" I laughed at her.

"But grandpapa, you tell it so much better" she whined.

"Now my dear, flattery will get you no where" I tweaked her nose.

She scowled and went off in a huff back to her own sleeping mats. We all settled down to listen to the silence of the snow falling.

Then, young Kage began to sing a soft song. So soft, that at first none of us realised that he was singing. I wonder where you learned such a song. Which life are you singing from behind the screen?

The plum blossoms

that I thought I would show to my love

cannot be distinguished now

from the falling snow

The silence falls once more.

You do come up with the oddest things, don't you boy.

We settled down to sleep. The weather kept us indoors and without much activity for another week. By that point we were all going a little crazy, and as soon as the snow allowed it, all the children piled outside.

Except you of course, You were never much for tumbling around in cold, wet substances, were you Kage?

Do not snort at me so in such an inelegant manner. I am still your elder, no matter what it may seem to you.

Now where did I leave off... training... Tomoe's hair, no... female samurai... ah yes, Yoshinaka and escaping outside.

Yes I stayed outside for a while, just breathing in the clear night air. Finally he stepped out beside me.

"Forgive my outburst" he told me, not as a question, but more of a demand.

It has been some time since I have brought these things back into my mind, and I find that I do not have the forbearance I once had."

I could tell it was like pulling teeth to get him to say that, so I said nothing.

We both went back to the fire, our feet beginning to numb from the cold night. He continued with Tomoe's tale.

"I saw many things as a guard. Many nights spent on patrol leads to the discovery of such things that are best done under the cover of darkness.

I saw money exchange hands where no dept was due, at least not in official circles, and eyes behing turned away to let small things pass. I saw strange men sneaking into rooms where I knew a lone wife lay, and I saw other women, with desperate and angry eyes walk down the streets. I saw children begging for small scraps, and when their pleas were not heeded, I saw those same children dying in gutters, only to have their corpses kicked aside come morning.

Suddenly the world was much darker.

A year passed and I suddenly found myself the center of attention of a dissolute group of young men, the kind of men I often saw meeting up with the women with desperate eyes. The kind of men I would not want to meet without my sword and badge of office in plain site. Unfortunately for me, these small protections only worked against the first group.

I suppose you could say I upgraded" she laughed bitterly, "a couple of young courtiers noticed the rabble at the gates and chased them off, only for them to turn their attention on me. I was left in the same situation as before, only my oppressors were better dressed.

I quickly saw that I would find no help from my fellow guards, they all felt it was my due as a woman and were eager to be rid of me and have my male replacement.

One of the courtiers was particularly persistent, he was also my least favourite. Not that I liked any of them at all, but he felt greasy somehow, as if he was an oily substance that stained all who touched. I did not trust him further than I could throw him.

Strangely enough, he was perhaps the most, I guess you would call it polite. He never referred to me in the derogatory terms that the others did, rather he added the respectful -san suffix to my name. He never made lewd jokes or innuendos in my presence, but merely asked how my day was. But there was something about his eyes. They were smaller than most, but they held a look of malicious cunning and greed, especially when he watched me when he thought I was not looking. And, I recognized him as one who kicked aside those children's bodies with the most force and with a gleeful expression on his face, as if he found pleasure in their deaths.

In one way he was lacking in manners, he did not tell me his name. I had no interest in knowing it, my only interest was keeping him far away, but I found the contrast with his overall polite mannerism strange and ominous. Just who was he, and why did he apparently merit such deference?

All of the other young men seemed to tiptoe around him and backed off when he approached me directly. They never mocked him for his manners and they never pushed at him like they did each other, jostling around me in a rough crowd.

It was the second week of the third month, when I found out his name. It was Yoshinaka himself. He often took to disguising himself as a regular courtier and go out with other young men his age to pick up women. Unfortunately he had chosen me as his next prize.

I received the call that night. It was not a request, it was a demand. That was the night I left the capital.

I had yet to take my oath of loyalty to the clan, so my honor is still intact, but I would not stay and allow my virtue to pay the price for my honor. Perhaps I am archaic, but I do not believe that this was a sacrifice that any lord could demand.

And I ran to the furthest, most isolated temple I could find. So here I am" she finished with a slight flourish.

I was silent for a few minutes, internally debating whether or not to tell her my story. She had trusted me, but could I reveal it to her after all she had said of the Minamoto family. I would also be revealing secrets beyond my own. My brothers desire for vengeance, for one. I did not know how far her anger at our family stretched, nor her feelings regarding her loyalty to the emperor.

I did not tell her anything that day, but sought to distract her with another challenge. To this day, I do not know whether or not she realized I debated telling her my secrets then.

What ever her knowledge was then, our relationship began to change after that day.

I still practiced with her and we continued to trek unhindered around the mountain, our days did not change drastically because of my epiphany. But I suddenly realised that she was a woman.

No, don't look at me that way" he smiled, "I did not suddenly begin hounding after her like a dog in heat, nor did I go any easier on her during our duels, it was just that, some instances I had a flash of her femininity. Some rare spark in awareness that made me stop and think. Often such pauses happened while I was in the midst of doing something else, causing many of the monks to question whether or not I had been posessed. There was not any real cause to these flashes, she did not do anything drastically different. There was no batting of eyelashes or glimpses of her figure that I found out later that ladies used to create such an awareness, no, she continued as normal.

I laugh at myself now for my strange behaviour.

It came to the point where I began to avoid extended contact with her. The feelings confused me and made me uncomfortable, and I began to shy away from her.

I would often go off on my own to wander the temple or climb one of the tall pines in the forest and sit for hours, just thinking.

I suppose this moonstruck attitude convinced the monks in charge of me, that I was truly posessed. One day I came back to my rooms, late as usual, to the empty silence of the main house. This was unusual, as they were usually chanting Buddha's name around this time, and the hairs on the back of my neck rose up in alarm. Before I could move to draw my sword, I felt a strong knock on the back of my head and all went dark.

When I woke, I was not where I had been before. It took a moment for me to regain my bearings, but I soon realised that I was on my back, in the shrine room, with small pieces of paper plastered to various parts of my body and a constant hum of voices reciting prayers as their prayer beads clanked together.

I looked up at the man sitting next to my head. I was not amused.

"Praise Buddha," he murmured. "The evil kami has been expunged."

I rolled my eyesinternally, this was going to have serious repercussions on my faith in the religion, were my first thoughts.

I got up and began to peel off ofudas. Bowing and thanking the gathered monks somewhat sarcastically, I made my exit.

It was after this instant that I began to notice Tomoe's eyes. I had noted them before, but only now did I suffer from their clear grey gaze.

Sometimes I would catch her watching me out of the corner of my eye. She held an odd expression, a mix between bemusement and the knowing smirk of the huntress in sight of her prey. It took me a long time to realize that I was prey.

I know, a bit dim of me, ne?

Tension built between us, I could feel it flickering across my skin. When our hands touched in those rare moments of contact, I could practically feel the sparks dancing between us.

These personal concerns did not mean I was unaware of the goings on of the outside world. I continued to receive what news I could and to watch the political environment. I knew that my previous escape from Taira vengeance had been some foible of fate, and that I was no longer the child who could hide behind some woman's skirts. In the same way I knew that the Taira would not have forgotten my brother and I.

It was in the latest letter from my brother that I received word of what he had planned. His writing had gradually become less and less condescengingly affectionate, as if he realized that I had grown and could no longer be the little boy who used to cling to his pantleg and beg for stories. Now I would have exchanged my small toy sword for a real blade. One that could, and would, kill.

This realization came a couple years late, in my mind.