Chapter 11: The Past Revealed

A/N's:

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I wish more readers were like you.

I thought I'd answer a couple of questions, since I failed to explain properly in the story itself… my bad. ^^;

1) Ninja carrying scented salts instead of using pressure points: the salts would be much nicer for the person being woken up than being pinched awake. Less likely to make them cry out, too, which would help stealth. So yes, I think they can carry some around. Never hurts to have more than one way to do something, right?

2) Lily and Marie's reaction: they get over the whole 'my best friend can do magic' fairly quick because they kind of expected it by then. I'm sure they noticed Esuma moving faster than she should be able to (actually slowing down everything else as she's done twice in just the short time since this story started). Plus, they saw her dress magically change, she disappeared when attacks happened, and she has a domesticated dragonfly. Also… white hair and purple eyes. It all kind of points to the girl not being your average high schooler. I'm not saying they knew it, but it was less shocking than if they had never suspected. Also, they're being good friends: she needed them for support, she didn't need twenty questions and a freak out.

This chapter and the next were meant to be together as one big chapter, but it felt like the story was due for an update, and this is pretty long already, so here it is. ^.^

1

A cold breeze tickled Esuma as she stood about twenty paces away from Storm Shadow. Between them, the first few snowflakes of the season drifted lazily. Esuma smiled at the tiny crystals and playfully extended her arm for one of them to land on.

"Isn't it beautiful?" she asked. "I don't know why, but the first snow is always the prettiest."

Storm Shadow shrugged; he was trained to ignore the most glacial of temperatures, but first snows stirred up bad memories.

"You're prettier," he settled for saying. It was perfectly true and also a good change of subject. "One last time," he continued with hardly a pause, "we still have about ten minutes before the other students arrive."

She blushed at the compliment, nodded at the suggestion and straightened up, putting herself in a neutral stance.

Nearly two months had passed since they'd started her magical training, and any false modesty aside, Esuma had to admit she had made great progress. She understood most of her abilities, controlled them quite well and had much better stamina.

"Primary, Water," Storm Shadow called out.

Esuma conjured a ball of water the size of her head and held it in place in front of her, floating chest high. Her dress automatically changed to the silky white and blue dress that always appeared when she called upon that aspect of her magic.

"Primary, Fire."

The ball of water disappeared and an arc of flame encircled Esuma instead, rotating around her, looking coiled and ready to be unleashed. The silky dress was replaced by the one associated with the girl's power over fire, the one made from red and yellow leaves.

The fire was replaced by a small tornado held by Esuma a few paces away from herself, just shy of touching the ground, at Storm Shadow's request of 'Primary, Air." Her dress changed again, this time to the flowy dark green dress with wings.

The tornado vanished just like the water and the fire had when Tommy instructed her to call upon her primary Earth magic. In its stead, sand and dust seeped out from the cracks in the paved schoolyard and started spinning around her in a Saturn-like ring even as her dress changed to a wispy, light fabric wrapped around her in a white and gold pattern.

Storm Shadow nodded, satisfied. Esuma allowed the dust to dissipate and went back to her neutral stance. The exercise wasn't over: next was the tricky part.

"Secondary, Air," Storm Shadow called.

Esuma conjured up her airy green dress and, using the wings that appeared not on the dress as she had first assumed but on her back, flew a few paces off the ground.

"I am light as air, I am free," she recited.

"Secondary, Earth," Storm Shadow continued, throwing a rock in a wide arc above them, aimed to Esuma's left.

"I am one with the Earth and all its elements," Esuma said, landing. Her dress changed into the white and gold wrap again as she concentrated on telekinetically catching the rock and making it land softly in her hand.

"Secondary, Water," Storm Shadow prompted.

My mind flows like water, came Esuma's voice in his head, a hint of nervousness making it tremble. Her clothes did not change this time. They never had when she used telepathy, not even when she had first discovered her powers. The four animals had explained that it reflected the ability was second nature and attributed that to a natural talent.

"Secondary, Fire," Storm Shadow finally said.

Esuma had been flawless today – if their chosen strategy of discovering Fire's secondary aspect by cycling through all of Esuma's powers and relying on her memory to automatically finish the cycle was to work, it would be today.

Esuma opened her mouth. "I… I have no idea," she said with a sigh. "I'm sorry."

Her clothes changed back to the ones she had put on before leaving that morning: the purple wool jacket brushing her slender hips, contrasting nicely with the pale denim of her fitted jeans and making her laced ankle black boots look almost purple too, by association.

She kept her eyes down, dreadfully disappointed in herself. She felt a hand under her chin and obediently tilted her head back straight as the strong hand gently pushed upward.

"Esuma, such beautiful eyes should never hide," Storm Shadow said. "You did well today."

She sighed. "I know I'm getting better, but it's taking so long! I never seem to be good enough when there's an attack, and…" she swallowed, tears welling up in her eyes, "you're always getting hurt protecting me!"

Tommy pulled her into a hug.

"Injuries on my body will heal... the wounds my heart would suffer if you were to be harmed yourself never would. You see fourteen monsters that hurt me while I protected you, I see fourteen of my greatest victories."

Esuma sighed against his chest – he always brushed his injuries off, he only ever cared that she didn't have a scratch. It wasn't fair… she was the one with magic, she felt she should be the one doing the protecting. It wasn't fair for another reason, too, one she felt far worse about: Tommy had been true to his word and had not pushed their relationship at all. He was very clear on the fact he loved her, but he hadn't even pressed for another kiss, limiting himself to hugs, and Esuma had found herself simultaneously grateful for it and hating herself over it.

She settled closer against his chest and closed her eyes. She felt safe, she felt her heart bursting with love and she knew she was loved in return. She cared more for this man than she would have ever pictured herself caring for anyone, but although she had certainly also felt some lust for him when they had first met, her feelings had been changed by her memories, by stronger feelings returned to her mind and heart. She loved Tommy dearly, and she knew he was in love with her, but as much as she wished otherwise, she was not in love with him. She was still in love with Beldovy, even in Death; and what was worse, she saw more of him in Snake Eyes every day. She didn't know what to make of it, didn't understand her own heart, but she did know that she didn't want to hurt Tommy and so, she was at a standstill.

They heard a cat's meow from towards the entrance to the school yard and broke apart, recognizing Snake Eyes' signal that the first students were arriving.

2

Storm Shadow was in his office, taking a last look at his first group's stats before he started the class, when instead of the bell ringing, he heard an explosion and his outside window blew in from the blast. He dove under his desk, therefore avoiding the shards, then leaped out again, jumping right through the now glass-free hole in the wall.

Not for the first time, he regretted not wearing any weapon under his teaching clothes: the explosion had seemingly originated from a giant robotic Panda that stood on its hind legs in the middle of the courtyard, snarling at the school building. The thing turned its red eyes on the figure in white that had just jumped out a window and the snarl turned into a fierce grin. Obviously, the thing was glad one of its targets had appeared so readily.

From the corner of his eyes, Storm Shadow saw a flurry of people rushing away from the school and the Monster. Unnoticed by most, two figures stayed behind and joined him in front of the mechanical beast.

"A… panda?" Snake Eyes asked, eyes wide. "But… they're Chinese!"

"As if we needed further proof that the Soft Master is an impostor," Storm Shadow remarked grimly.

The Panda extended an arm towards them as they talked and the air shimmered. Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes each rolled away. Snake Eyes, being closer to her, grabbed Esuma and got her out of harm's way as well. The spot of ground they had just been standing on exploded a mere fraction of a second after they had vacated it.

"Esuma! Try to tear it apart!" Storm Shadow called out, running towards the Panda himself, intent on trying to disable it as well.

Esuma concentrated and in an instant, she was wrapped in white and gold again. She narrowed her eyes at the panda, concentrating, but she couldn't get a hold of any of its parts.

"I can't control it at all!" she called out. "It's probably too unnatural!"

Snake Eyes revealed an uzi hidden in his custodial uniform and fired at the mechanical beast, carefully avoiding Storm Shadow, who was hitting the robot in various spots, trying to find a weak joint.

Tommy found no weakness, and Snake Eyes' bullets bounced right off the machine's armoured body. To add insult to injury, the panda ignored both Tommy's close-ranged attacks and Snake Eyes' bullet, and fired his weapon again towards Esuma. Tommy saw it moving its arm and threw himself at it, but was unable to move the robotic limb in the slightest.

Panic gripped him when the metal he was trying to pull grew warm and the air shimmered.

"FLY!" he screamed. "ESUMA!"

Esuma had not needed the advice, she was already in the air, flying towards the panda. The first shot missed her and the explosion that occurred where she'd been standing only harmed the nearby grass. The panda, after a brief glance at her, threw Storm Shadow off his arm and a few paces away, and pointed the weapon at Snake Eyes. He turned his other arm towards Storm Shadow and as the first arm hummed while the shimmering explosive energy charged up, the second started making a disquieting hissing sound.

2.5

- 916 years ago -

The white monster who had been her best friend cocked its head at her pleas, clearly not understanding what she was saying. The ugly streak of dirty orange looked like dried blood on his fur, and Esuma, nonsensically, suddenly thought that her friend hated to be dirty.

"Pain?" it asked.

It was the only word he seemed able to say, he had already repeated it a half dozen times since he had found them.

"Please…" she tried again. "Please, remember!"

"Pain."

"Esuma, he's too far gone!" Beldovy said, his voice breaking. Her fiancé was desperately trying to pull her behind himself, to shield her with his own body.

What had once been his brother laughed at his words, and raised its arm, pointing at them.

"Pain," it said, grinning.

Beldovy changed strategy: since Esuma would not go behind him, he jumped over her to land between her and his twin-turned-demon. He was facing her, and the last thing he saw were those beautiful purple eyes widening in horror. An intense, burning pain spread from the middle of his back, taking over his every sense and spreading through his entire body in an instant.

Esuma screamed as her fiancé's body collapsed in her arms, a black magical stain covering most of his back.

"PAIN!" the monster screeched in glee.

2

- Present Day -

The memory only took an instant to replay in Esuma's mind, which was the only reason she didn't plummet all the way to the ground, instead losing only a bit of altitude. She still hadn't seen all of Beldovy's face, even though he had been right in front of her. She had seen his eyes, and his nose, and his mouth, but there was no contour, the rest of his features were a blur.

She noticed the panda's arm pointing at Snake Eyes and suddenly pictured the very same black stain covering the ninja. She dove for him, calling forth the power of fire as she went. He was already moving aside, but she still impacted him and the force of her momentum carried both of them a safe distance from the small explosion.

She was already concentrating on the Panda when they collided, and she extended her arms as Snake Eyes managed to convert the lateral force of the collision into a safe roll, wrapping his arms and legs around her to carry her along. The fire ball hurled towards the mechanical beast before they had even come to a stop, and engulfed it.

Storm Shadow leaped away, just in time to avoid being hurt as the robotic panda exploded. He joined Snake Eyes and Esuma, who were just disentangling themselves, and smiled warmly at them both.

"That was excellent, Esuma. You too, Snake Eyes. Are you both all right?"

"Of course they are."

Storm Shadow whipped around towards the direction of the voice and Snake Eyes and Esuma jumped to their feet to get on either side of him. All three were greeted to a scowling ghostly image of the Soft Master, emanating from the robotic panda's remains. The Soft Master snorted disdainfully at their shocked expressions and started talking again before any of them could recover enough to think of something to say.

"I am running out of patience with you three," he said. "With your history, how can you still all be sticking together? Snake Eyes, I'm not too surprised in your case, you would follow anyone who bothered to so much as look appreciative. But Esuma? And you, Tomisaburo?"

Tommy winced; it had been a while since he'd heard so much irony and hatred in his name, since someone speaking it managed to make it sound like it meant 'worthless burden' rather than 'precious third son'.

"We have nothing to forgive each other, Sorcerer," Esuma said, glaring right back at the apparition.

"Oh? Well, this is interesting…You know my name, and you're using your magic, but you think you have nothing to forgive HIM for?" the Soft Master asked, pointing at Storm Shadow. "You only have bits and pieces of memories, don't you? Do you remember Beldovy Orade?"

Something must have shown in Esuma's face, because the Soft Master chuckled.

"Yes, you do remember that much. Of course you do, you rushed to his defense."

Esuma frowned; that was not the way she remembered it at all, she remembered Beldovy using his body to shield her.

The Soft Master's eyes widened and he grinned maliciously. "Oh, this is too precious; you haven't figured it out yet! Well… far be it from me to keep such secrets. I wouldn't want you to later accuse me of deceiving you."

He gestured then, and for Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes and Esuma, the schoolyard stopped existing and the past became the present.

3

- 916 years ago -

3.1 Tommy

Tommy had his face buried in his knees, holding himself tight in a desperate attempt to ease the pain that radiated from his heart and that his cries and tears had not diminished in the least.

It wasn't working.

"Esuma…" he croaked. The young elf barely recognized his own voice; the steady, self-assured tone had mutated into a shaky, tear-filled whine. He fleetingly thought he would normally hate that, but he felt numb to anything but the pain.

His own brother, his twin… favored again. It shouldn't have been a surprise, it was always the same thing: their parents, their teachers, the elders, their peers… and now by the princess. Dear Beldovy, everyone's darling; stronger, faster, better with his hands, nicer personality, nicer face…

"That's really no excuse," came a voice from right in front of him, startling him. His head snapped up and his heart skipped a beat: before him stood the most famous Sorcerer in the land.

Tommy made the biggest mistake of his life and sealed his fate at that precise moment, by not immediately plunging his dagger into his own heart.

3.2 – Beldovy –

"Did you find him?" Esuma asked urgently.

Beldovy shook his head, not meeting her eyes. The two of them had been looking for Tommy for hours, ever since he had run off following their announcing their engagement, putting an end to his brother's misplaced hopes that Esuma might still come back to him.

Beldovy sat down heavily on the nearby bench and immediately slumped down, elbows on his knees and chin resting on his hands. Esuma sat by him and leaned his head against herself instead, stroking his hair gently and just barely brushing her fingers against the points of his ears. The familiar caress, by its softness, transformed from its usual romantic nature to gentle comfort and a simple expression of love.

"I thought he was over that," Beldovy sighed. "I really did. You two broke up over two years ago, and he's been friendly, and we've been getting along as well as ever... I never dreamed that he'd be heartbroken even now. I was an idiot!" he finished angrily.

"You weren't," Esuma said. "I was. I should have known, I should have seen his feelings weren't changing." She sighed heavily. "I was a child when I thought the love I feel for him was romantic, and when I realized otherwise, he understood and never felt any anger towards me. I know he didn't, and you do as well. At first, I could tell he was sad, and it upset me, but he soon seemed happy again… I thought he was over me, but I see now that he was really just hiding his feelings because he couldn't stand to upset me. Should we keep looking for him?"

Beldovy shook his head and shifted position slightly to lock eyes with her. As usual, doing this resulted in parts of his brains locking down at the sight of the incredibly beautiful purple eyes, like two pools of water at sunset, framed by the snow-white mane and features so soft and perfect that they'd make any angel jealous. He swallowed and had to make a conscious effort to steer his mind away from the desire to be with her and back to the matter at hand. "We've hurt him," he said, the thought finishing to sober him up. "We've already told him how sorry we were… if he still wanted to be away from us badly enough to hide so well, I think we need to respect his wish. He'll come back when he's ready to let us patch things up with him."

Esuma nodded. Beldovy knew his twin better than anyone else; she trusted his judgment in this.

3.3 – Esuma –

The noise of branches breaking outside her window woke her up. She gently shook Beldovy's shoulder and when his eyes shot opened, she briefly put a finger to his lips, and then tiptoed to the window to see what was going on outside.

The sight made her gasp and stagger back. Outside, basked in the full moon's glow, augmented further by a wall of fire surrounding it, the Royal Garden was devastated. In the middle of it stood… something. Esuma could see it clearly, but would have been hard pressed to put a name on it.

It looked like an elf, except covered in white fur almost from head to toe, the one exception being an orange streak connecting his heart to his head. The elven princess mentally corrected herself as she examined the creature closer: its ears were too small to see under its fur, so it really looked more like the humans.

As she looked, a ghostly figured appeared next to the creature, one more recognizable and because of it, much scarier: the very Sorcerer her parents had been trying to apprehend for reprehensible use of magic. The apparition looked straight at her window and smiled evilly.

"There she is, Tommy," it said to the creature. "The one who hurt you… I bet her boy toy is in there as well, mocking you and delighting in your pain."

Esuma's eyes went wide with horror. She staggered back again, a hand over her mouth and her long ears flattened against her scalp. Tommy? That thing… that thing was Tommy? And he was under the sorcerer's spell? The Sorcerer was using his pain, the pain SHE'd caused him… she had to help him, she had to break the spell and set her best friend free.

Beldovy was suddenly beside her, holding her. "Esuma, what's wrong? Tommy's here? Who's with him? What's going on?"

He craned his neck to look out the window and paled, his own ears twitching but still standing tall.

"How…?" he said. He then seemed to give up on asking questions and jumped out the fifth stories' window, screaming his brother's name.

Esuma followed and used air currents to deposit them both safely on the ground.

The monster turned to her, and his eyes confirmed the Sorcerer's image's words: they were Tommy's. The ghostly sorcerer, now that all the players were in place, floated a safe distance upwards to watch.

"PAIN!" the monster roared at Esuma and Beldovy.

"Oh, Princess," the Sorcerer said in mock reproach. "How could you hurt one of your future subjects so?"

"Tommy," Beldovy said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Oh, Tommy, I'm so sorry. I had no idea you still felt that way... Tommy, you can fight this. I know it hurts, but…"

"Pain…" the monster groaned in answer.

The Sorcerer laughed. "Not just a subject, either: a friend AND the brother of your consort! You're not fit for the throne, you cruel girl. In fact, I really do feel you're only fit for the grave. My new pet will see to that, now."

Beldovy snarled at the Sorcerer. "YOU did this to him! Why? Why would you want him, or anyone, to attack Esuma? She's never done anything to anyone! She's beloved by all! What is WRONG with you?"

"Pain!" Tommy cackled.

The Sorcerer chuckled in answer. "She hasn't done anything yet, and I intend for things to stay that way. I'm ending the threat she is now. Attack!" he added, addressing the monster he had turned Beldovy's twin into.

The monster threw his head back and screamed "PAIN! PAIN!", seemingly telling off the very heavens. He then turned his glare to Esuma and bared its fangs at her. "Pain," it repeated, this time very distinctly addressing her.

4

- Present Time -

Esuma finally managed to force her mind back to the present, just in time to avoid reliving Beldovy's death again. She found herself slumped on the ground and scrambled up in a hurry, darting her eyes around in search of danger. She found none: the Soft Master's image was gone.

She turned to Tommy and Snake Eyes and swallowed. The Soft Master, by unlocking her memories, had also enabled her to finally recognize her two friends; it was no wonder the three of them had been able to get so close so quickly, they had known each other before the two men were even born, back before her parents had sent her to the future disguised as a human baby, back in what was, for the two ninja, a previous life.

She found her eyes resting on their ears, small and round and human, like hers were at the moment. The vision of the past was so vivid, even now that it was over, that the diminutive ears seemed unnatural. They weren't, of course, at least not for them: they had not been reborn as elves, possibly because there were no more elves to be reborn as.

She looked at Tommy and tears welled up in her eyes. She'd never wanted to hurt him, she loved him more than life itself. And yet, she had broken his heart and so had been as guilty of his transformation as the Sorcerer. She was also about to do it again, she'd have to; trying to avoid it would only make things even worse.

She turned her eyes to Snake Eyes and let out a small cry as her heart welled up and jumped in her chest. Other than the ears, he looked almost exactly the same as he had before. She wasn't aware of walking but she fell on her knees next to him and cradled him.

"Beldovy," she whispered. "Bel, please tell me you remember too. We've found each other again, you must remember me. Please…"

"Pain…" came Tommy's voice, a few paces to her left.

Her eyes widened and she bolted up, letting Snake Eye's head fall back to the thankfully soft grass. Tommy was still sprawled on the ground, facing up and moaning. She rushed to his side and shook him.

"Don't say that!" she begged him. "Wake up! Please wake up…!"

His eyes opened and locked on hers right away. "P… princess?" he muttered.

She felt her cheeks turn red: this was another part of the memory that she would just as soon have done without; not only was she a bit old to dream of being a princess, she had never really been that keen on the idea even as a little girl. She dimly wondered if it was simply because human nature is not to wish for things that one already has and brushed the thought away to focus on Tommy.

"Not anymore," she said. "Just Esuma. Tommy, it's the 21st century, remember? You're here as a gym teacher? All the bad stuff is over. Say something, please!"

He stared off into the distance for a second, processing what she had just said.

"I… yes. You're right, that was… the past… not…" he cast his eyes down. "That was me," he whispered. "I…"

"I'm so sorry," Esuma croaked, her beautiful eyes filling with tears and her pure voice breaking. "Tommy, I…"

"Stop," Tommy cut her off. "Please, don't. Don't apologize, I beg you. You were a child, you made a mistake, and I couldn't accept it."

Tommy shuddered violently. "Esuma, I.." he trailed off. Saying he was sorry was such an understatement that it was no better than a lie and an insult to the memory of Esuma's parents, to the memory of his then Queen and King.

"I killed them," he breathed, the words feeling like acid as they went through his mouth. "And I did it while trying to kill you…" he finally opted for the literal approach to stating his feelings. "Esuma, I can't even say I'm sorry because I'm too far beyond sorry. I won't ask for your forgiveness, I…"

She silenced him with a bear hug.

"Stop," she said. "Tommy, there's nothing to forgive. You were used by that Sorcerer, and he was able to do that because of what I did to you. I'm the one who did something wrong, and… and I…"

She pulled away and looked down. Tommy looked from her to Snake Eyes and lifted her chin to make her look him in the eyes again. It took some effort to say what he meant to while drowning in the purple oceans of her eyes and drinking in the beauty that her human disguise had not diminished in the slightest.

"Esuma, do you really think I'd even WANT to stand between you and your soul mate?" He refrained from asking her how she thought he'd dare make any claim on her heart after what he'd done because she had obviously somehow managed to twist what had happened in such a way as to blame herself.

Her tears started spilling, glistening against her cheeks. "I can't stand the thought of hurting you, I don't want to do it twice!" she said softly.

His first reaction was to tell her he deserved all the pain she could possibly inflict on him, but he kept the thought to himself. "Your being unhappy would be much more painful to me," he said instead.

Snake Eyes chose that moment to groan and gingerly sit up. Tommy let go of Esuma and turned to his brother – somehow, the thought of his being his blood brother felt completely right, even though it was only true in another life.

"Bel, I…" He stopped, surprised; the name had come out automatically. Snake Eyes did not react, so Storm Shadow mentally shrugged off the slip and continued. "I'm beyond sorry. You're relieved of your oath; I deserve no loyalty, from you or anyone else."

Snake Eyes blinked at Storm Shadow, dumbfounded. The idea that Tommy could blame himself for having been transformed into a monster by a sorcerer, who had succeeded in part because Beldovy, his twin brother, had stolen his girlfriend and broke his heart, was so ludicrous as to be hard to wrap his mind around.

"My oath stands more than ever," he finally said. "You're not to blame for what happened, I am." He swallowed, looked at Esuma and felt his heart breaking; remembering what they had shared, despite the consequences that had befallen all three of them because of it, made him ache to share the same bond again. He wasn't going to make the same selfish decision as last time, however. Even though she looked so painfully beautiful, even though she had fought so bravely, even though her tears revealed how good her heart was, Tommy was in love with her and he had been there for her first, so Snake Eyes would let the past be the past and not interfere with them. "I can't undo what I did, but I swear I will never betray you like that again."

Tommy caught the look and sighed; obviously, Snake Eyes was going to try and be noble and stay away from Esuma despite the fact his eyes made it painfully clear that he had regained all the feelings he used to have for her. He got up and pulled Esuma to her feet as well. Esuma looked devastated, and Tommy guessed she interpreted Snake Eyes' comment the same way he did.

He took a deep breath and gently pushed Esuma towards Snake Eyes.

"I'm sorry, Esuma, but we're through," he said sternly. "I have no interest in keeping you chained to me when your heart belongs to another. Go with your soul mate."

Snake Eyes' eyebrows shot up and he got up to face Esuma. They just looked at each other for several seconds before he pulled her into a deep kiss that had been centuries in the waiting.

Esuma felt tears rolling down her cheeks again, this time from being so happy it hurt. She wrapped her arms around Snake Eyes' neck and returned the kiss, giving herself to her sense of touch and her always sharp sense of taste, savoring the feel of her love's lips on hers and exploring their taste. She was reminded of bright summer days filled with happiness, of the BBQs her adoptive father used to throw for the whole neighborhood when she was little, before his current assignment. She smiled through the kiss, feeling at home, feeling complete. Snake Eyes didn't just taste like BBQ, he tasted like her happiest memories.

Storm Shadow looked aside and willed his eyes to stay dry. This was right, this was what was meant to be, and the pain he felt now, the deep ache radiating from his heart, was wholly deserved.

Besides, knowing that they would have each other made leaving that much easier.