KENSEI & HIRO

JAPAN

"I don't understand." Hiro had been following Kensei around his fortress for nearly thirty minutes. The samurai was anything but calm. He had been rushing frantically, barking orders at everyone who stepped in his path, desperately plotting how to rescue his princess.

"This is not good! If Kaori has been found out by her brother, she will be punished…possibly killed!"

"Surely her own brother won't hurt her!"

"He is an evil man." Kensei insisted. "I don't want to think about what he would do."

"Don't worry. We will rescue your princess!"

"How can we?"

"You are Takezo Kensei! You are a hero! And my abilities will help." Hiro was certain that retrieving the princess wouldn't be difficult; especially not when he considered all he had accomplished in the past few weeks.

"Hiro Nakamura, you are a brave man. What you propose though, is not something that I think can be done." Kensei confessed sadly.

"But, you are a hero! You are a great man and…"

"I am a warrior, but even I would not dare to go up against all of the guards who have sword their allegiance to Kaori's brother." He hung his head. "I am not special like you. My abilities are only what I have made for myself…my strength and skill…but even they will fail me if I attempt to rescue my love."

Hiro frowned. "If you do not go after her, she might die."

"I don't know what to do." Kensei fell to his knees and openly wept into his callused hands.

Hiro was overwhelmed with confusion, watching the legendary Takezo Kensei in such a great state of despair and hopelessness. "But…she can't die." Hiro mumbled. Not like Charlie. Remembering the girl whom he had cared so much about but was unable to save, gave Hiro a surge of determination. "I will save her."

"What?" Kensei's sobs quieted as he looked up to analyze Hiro. "It's impossible."

"Not for a hero." Hiro insisted. "I can save her and I will."

"It's too dangerous…you could be killed," Kensei argued.

"If I am too afraid to try, then how can I ever call myself a true hero?"

Kensei smiled at Hiro's insistence, but still shook his head. "We'll find another way."

"No! This is my destiny. I now know why I have come here." Without another word, Hiro squeezed his eyes shut, concentrating with all his might, on where he assumed the Princess was being kept.

JADEN & CLAIRE

NEW YORK

"I'm sorry I've been so busy lately. I've really missed hanging out with you though…"

"Hanging out?" Jaden laughed. "Is that all we've been doing?"

"I don't know what you mean." Claire adjusted the scarf she had tied over her long curls.

"Well, before you decided you were too busy for me, I sort of assumed we had been dating." Jaden told her. "I mean, I did take you out to dinner a few times. That felt like dating to me."

Claire blushed. "You're right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean just hanging out like that. I considered us dating too."

"Good, so then this tonight, this is a date too?" Jaden pressed.

"Absolutely." Claire agreed, raising her champagne glass filled with sparkling cider.

"I'll toast to that." Jaden picked up his own glass, which held an expensive white wine, and clinked it together with Claire's. "Now, there's something I've been meaning to ask you about, but I'm sort of nervous about what the answer's going to be."

"You can ask me anything Jaden." Claire sipped her drink slowly.

"Last time I saw you, you still hadn't made up your mind about whether or not you were going to remain in the city. I was wondering if you had decided yet?"

Claire smiled. "That was your question?" She started laughing. "That's it? I thought it was something serious."

"It is serious!" Jaden insisted. "It's serious to me. Either you're going to stay in the city and I will be able to continue to date you, hopefully on a more frequent basis, or you will be returning to Texas and I may never see you again!"

"I'm glad you feel that way." Claire was thrilled how much he cared about her future. "I should have told you earlier. I'm sorry. Things have been so crazy lately, I just haven't really had much time for my own things…like dating."

Jaden nodded. "I've noticed, but what is it that you should have told me?"

"I've decided to stay in New York, at least for now. I'm not sure what will happen in the future, but I plan on staying for a while. Definitely long enough to start up school here in the fall."

"That's good news," Jaden decided. "And in honor of the good news, I think we should make plans for future dates…lots of them preferably."

"Really?" Claire's eyes glowed. "That sounds like a good idea. What do you have in mind?"

"Well, let's start with tomorrow." Jaden started chose a piece of the bread from the basket on the table and dipped it in the oil he had fixed on a small plate.

"Okay." Claire nodded. "Tomorrow's open for me…oh actually I'm busy tomorrow night…"

"What about the morning? We could do breakfast and then spend the day browsing Soho."

"Browsing Soho? Seriously?" Claire grinned.

"Is that bad? We could do something else if you'd rather…"

"No, it's perfect. I've been dying to go there ever since I moved to the city, but I haven't found anyone who would go with me. I'm just surprised that you're interested." Claire told him. "I don't know many guys who would voluntarily spend the day shopping Soho."

"Well, I'm just trying to go above and beyond."

"That's cheesy." Claire laughed.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Sometimes…this time…not so much." Claire looked up as the waiter delivered their entrees. "I think a day in Soho sounds perfect."

"Great, then I'll pick you up at nine tomorrow morning…" Jaden lost his attention to his cell phone ringing in his pocket. "I'm sorry…I have to take this…" Jaden apologized with a quick glance at the caller ID. "I'll be right back." He excused himself from the table and disappeared in the direction of the restrooms.

He returned a few minutes later with his phone still gripped in his hand and a frown fixed on his face. "Claire, I am so sorry, but I have to go…"

"Go?" Claire frowned. "I thought tonight was supposed to be about making up for the dates we've both been missing!"

"I know, and I feel really bad about this, but that call was work. I've got to go." Jaden insisted.

"Fine, I guess I'll have to settle for tomorrow."

"Yea…umm…about that…maybe we should just wait and see, okay?"

"What?" Claire stood quickly. "Just a second ago you were ecstatic at the idea of being able to spend more time together and now you're canceling the first date we've made?"

"I said I'm sorry, but it's my job. I can't just drop everything for a date!"

Claire pulled back. "No reason to get so defensive!"

"I'm sorry. It's just been a long week and work's been very demanding lately."

"You're an intern, Jaden!"

"And it's an intern's job to always be available when they're called." Jaden reminded her. "The intern does all the dirty work."

"Clearly, I will have to learn that I come second to your career." Claire shook her head.

Jaden's phone rang again. "Claire, I don't know how many ways I can that I'm sorry, but I really do have to go now."

"Fine, let me get my things and you can drop me off on the way to the hospital."

"You should stay and finish your meal." Jaden decided. "I don't want to interrupt your night just because I'm on call."

"Eating alone doesn't sound too exciting." Claire told him. "Seriously, you should just take me home. It's on the way!"

"I feel guilty. Really. Please stay." He pulled out his wallet and withdrew a hundred dollar bill. "This should cover the meal and the tip. I'll make it up to you I promise."

Claire took the money and turned to place it on the table before saying goodbye, but when she turned around again he was already gone.

PETER & CLAIRE

NEW YORK

"I think it was a good idea for Molly to stay with Niki and Micah tonight." Claire decided as she opened the oven door to retrieve the garlic chicken she had attempted for dinner that evening. She was tired of Peter complaining about her meals.

"Yea, me too. It's been hard for lately and I hate feeling like there's nothing I can do for her." Peter watched Claire reach into the oven without mitts for protection and quickly grabbed her hands, pulling her away. "Watch it!"

"Peter, I can't get hurt." Claire tried wriggling her hands free from his grip, but he didn't let go.

"Just because you can reach into a 400 degree oven and not get a blister, doesn't mean you should. Besides, I'd rather not have to smell burnt flesh all through dinner." He pushed her out of the way and used the oven mitts to pull the chicken out himself. "It smells good."

"Thanks. I tried really hard. It's a recipe that my mom uses a lot, but I've never tried it on my own though…" she finished setting the table for two as he served the chicken. "Can you get the potatoes please? They're staying warm on the stove." She poured soda into two glasses while Peter did her bidding.

"You know, you've been awfully quiet tonight about Jaden." Peter mentioned as he placed the potatoes on the table and took his seat.

Claire quickly turned her back to him, pretending to be busy with retrieving ice cubes from the freezer. "Umm, yea I don't really want to talk about that."

"Come on Claire." Peter waited for her to finally take her seat before bombarding her with questions again. "He ditched you at dinner three days ago! I had to come and rescue you so you wouldn't look like an idiot sitting there by yourself."

"I don't need you to remind me." Claire snapped. "Do you think I liked having to call my uncle because of a bad date?"

"Wow, the way you say that makes it sound really lame."

"I don't mean that you're lame. It was really nice of you to come. It saved me an expensive taxi ride if nothing else." Claire sighed. "I feel bad making you drive all the way out there though."

"I didn't mind coming to your rescue," Peter said. "What I do mind is you crying yourself to sleep for the last two nights."

"Were you spying on me?"

"Not really, but you weren't exactly being quiet." He shrugged. "I wanted to say something, but I didn't think you'd want to be disturbed. I don't like that guy making you cry!"

"He doesn't do it on purpose." Claire argued. "His job just keeps him busy."

"I've never known an intern to work as much he does."

"He's dedicated."

"He's hiding something." Peter exclaimed suddenly.

Claire narrowed her eyes at him. Why are you jealous?

"I'm not jealous!" Peter defended.

"I…I didn't mean for you to hear that." She told him. "You know some of my thoughts are meant to be private. Of course you're not jealous. You're my uncle. That would be ridiculous."

"Exactly." Peter agreed quickly. "I'm just…"

"Protective." Claire finished his thought.

"Right." Peter took a bite of the chicken and smiled. "This tastes really good Claire. I'm seriously impressed."

"Thanks." Claire tasted it herself and nodded, impressed with her own cooking skills. "Maybe I'll try salmon tomorrow."

"Sounds delicious."

A knock on the door interrupted their dinner.

"I'll get it." Claire offered, but Peter held up a hand.

"Let me." He motioned to the door and used his telekinetic powers to flip up the lock and twist the handle. The door opened and Matt walked in.

"I think having powers has made you lazy." Matt accused Peter as he entered the room and closed the door. "You're lucky it was me out there; you're not exactly being secretive with your abilities."

Peter grinned. "I knew it was you, Matt. I could hear your thoughts."

"Through the door? Impressive. You're adjusting to them faster than I thought." Matt pulled out a chair at the table to join them.

"It's because he practices so much," Claire said. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Yea, I just came from dinner actually." Matt told them. "Janice was tired, so I sent her home to get some rest while I came to check up on the two of you."

"Check up on us?" Claire repeated. "You make it sound like we're incapable of taking care of ourselves."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't imagine Peter's very good at the whole housecleaning thing…"

"And you think you're somehow better equipped to instruct us on the fine arts of housecleaning?" Claire laughed. "Thanks for wanting to help, but I'm actually a very good housekeeper!"

"That's true." Peter contributed. She'd make a really good wife.

Matt glanced at Peter curiously and raised an eyebrow, but refrained from saying anything. Peter didn't seem to catch the look.

Claire looked at Matt skeptically. "What did you really come over here for?"

"I…" He hesitated and Peter quickly read his thoughts.

"You wanted to talk about what we didn't discuss the other night." Peter finished for him.

He nodded. "I just…it's been hard with Janice and everything that's happened…now that she's pregnant…I just don't know what I'm doing with my life anymore."

"You guys decided to stay here in the city. That implies that you had some sort of idea about what you wanted to do."

"All I know is that we are done with California. That place doesn't have happy memories for us. We need to start a new life together and with our child. And New York's a good a place as any."

"Well, it might be a little selfish of me, but I'm glad you're staying. I enjoyed getting to know you while you were in the hospital." Claire told him.

"You too." Matt smiled at her appreciatively. "Anyway, Janice likes it here. She grew up in Chicago and she never really settled in LA. She's already counting the days before winter comes and she gets something other than an eighty degree Christmas."

"Isn't Janice due right around Christmas?"

"A couple weeks before actually," Matt nodded.

"That's so exciting! I can't wait." Claire beamed, clapping her hands together in an unconscious display of her cheerleading tendencies. "Do you think I can be there at the hospital when she delivers? I mean not in the room or anything, but just waiting!'

"Claire, it's still a few months away."

"I know! I'm just so excited. I've just never actually known anyone to have a baby. I was so little when my parents adopted my brother, I don't really remember what it was like! I can't wait to be able to baby-sit." She jumped up from the table to fetch more soda from the fridge.

"Baby-sit? Aren't we jumping ahead a little here? How do you know if you'll even still be around then?" Matt questioned. "You could be back in Texas, or something."

Claire returned to the table. Her eyes had dimmed and she wasn't smiling anymore. "Nathan said he wanted me to stay here. I'm supposed to start school in a couple weeks. Why wouldn't I still be here?"

"He was just trying to say to be patient, Claire." Peter encouraged her quickly. "Of course you'll still be here." If I have my way, you'll never leave.

Matt again caught Peter's thoughts, but decided not to mention it. Instead he tried to further encourage the girl. "I'm sure Janice will love to have you in the waiting room when the time comes. And if we ever need a baby-sitter, you'll be first on the list."

"Thanks!" Her smile returned in full.

God, she's so beautiful when she smiles. Why can't Jaden appreciate what he has? I know I would if I were him…

Matt couldn't ignore Peter's thoughts anymore. He cleared his throat and looked at him with narrowed eyes. Understanding hit Peter suddenly and his cheeks flushed red.

"Umm…Claire, can you excuse us for a minute. I needed to talk to Matt about something…nothing important. Guy stuff." Peter stood and jerked his head, signaling for Matt to follow him into the bedroom, while Claire continued eating. "Were you reading my thoughts?"

"Not on purpose."

"Matt, you don't have any right in my head! My thoughts are private!"

"You're not kidding." Matt agreed. "Peter, she's just a kid! Not to mention, she's your niece!"

"I know!" Peter protested. "They're just thoughts…they don't mean anything, and they're not hurting anyone…"

"But you're having them all the same, and I have a feeling this wasn't the first time you found yourself thinking along those lines."

Peter didn't answer, and he did his best not to think, but it was impossible. He couldn't lie to Matt.

"Peter, that's screwed up."

"I know!" He agreed quickly. "Don't you think I've thought about it? Don't you think I feel bad about it? I can't help it! Living with her for the past couple weeks has been so great. She's incredible, really. She's everything that's best about girls, and people for that matter." Peter tried rationalizing his thoughts.

"You're related." Matt rebuked him, ignoring the turmoil that Peter was clearly feeling about the issue.

"I know!" Peter repeated. "And that's what gets me. God, what do you think she'd do if she ever found out that I think she's the most beautiful girl…" He stopped himself suddenly, realizing this wasn't a conversation he wanted to continue with Matt. "Look, it doesn't matter. She is my brother's daughter and she trusts me to take care of her, not to…"

"Not to what?"

Peter forced himself to keep his brain quiet, but it was useless. Not to fall for her.

"Oh my god." Matt shook his head. "How can you seriously be thinking that? How can you have feelings for Claire? Do you have any idea how sick that is?"

"Of course I do." Peter was angry now. He was angry because he had spent the past week trying to convince himself that he only cared about Claire as an uncle should care about a niece that he wanted to protect, and not as anything more. Now that Matt knew, it made everything more difficult to ignore. He really did care for Claire. And not just in a familial way. "I can't help it."

"Well, you better do something about it then. This can't continue Peter. Think of Claire. Think of how she would feel if she knew that you were taking advantage of this living situation to lust after her."

"God, when you put it like that…" Peter felt more disgusted with himself than ever. I sound like a pervert.

"Yea, exactly."

Peter brushed his hair out of his eyes and nodded firmly. "I'll take care of it."

"Good." Matt paused. "How?"

Peter hated it, but he didn't know what else to do. "I'll have her move in with Nathan and Heidi. If she's not living here, I won't be able to think about her. I'll just keep myself distant from her…" God, I'm going to miss her.

"It's for the best."