As if nothing had happened, the device sat on the table, acting innocent.

"I suggest that we move back a bit, in case Katsu's theory about a potential explosion is correct." Shingen already had his hand on my shoulder to pull me out of a potential blast zone.

We all scooted back about a meter, staring at the thing.

Waiting.

Nothing happened.

After about a minute when the only sound was our breathing, Sasuke cautiously approached it again. "I believe it sent a signal."

"E-T. Phone home?" Of course it wasn't actually alien device (probably not?), but that was the closest analogy I could come up with.

"Indeed. Er... since we don't know who, or what may answer that call, would you be comfortable if I put this in my safe?" Sasuke gingerly picked up the device and nodded to a built in locker that appeared at first to be a simple cabinet.

"Go ahead." I watched him lock it away. "It's not like I'm going to be time travelling until Aki recovers."

"And if you plan to go back to Sengoku, Honno-ji wormhole will open the night of the winter solstice, or you could come with us when Togakushi manifests a few weeks after that. Lord Shingen has another six weeks of pulmonary therapy, so we were aiming for that."

As if to remind himself that his access to coffee had an expiration date, Sasuke went over to his espresso machine and made another cup.

"Thank you for the offer. It all depends on what happens with Aki, but I will keep this all in mind." Either way, it looked like I was going to be here for at least another month, if not longer. Which meant there were some practicalities that should be taken care of. I glanced at the clock. It was still too early to go to the authorities to replace my identification, but I did need to do something about my clothing to avoid looking like a cosplay reject.

When I verbalized my intentions to the others, Sasuke replied "Katsu, it's Sunday."

"Oh wow. I completely forgot about the concept of weekends." Or seven day weeks, for that matter. In the Sengoku, weeks were ten days long. So, no official business or banking yet. "I can still shop right?" Before I left Tsutsujigasaki, Katsuko had given me some modern yen, as she and Shingen had a supply tucked away in case they ever went through the wormhole again. Plus I had some Sengoku era coinage that I likely could sell at an antique dealer for enough cash to tide me over until I could access Aki's bank account. "Are there open stores within walking distance from here?"

One experience I was not eager to repeat was Sasuke's driving.

Later that afternoon, attired in jeans, a t-shirt (Ironman, of course) and a hoodie, I returned to Aki's room in ICU. His condition was unchanged, and I was half frustrated, half grateful for the fact that I had no idea what all the medical monitoring devices he was hooked up to meant and what information they sent to his treatment team.

Ignoring the beeps and whirs of the machine, I closed my eyes and pretended I was back in Aki's private study, giving him one of the many scouting reports I had delivered over the past seven years, seven years in which I was an apprentice, an employee, not a daughter. As objectively as possible, I told him of what Mitsuhide and I had learned in Sakai, of Motonari's return from the dead, and of the current plot between Yoshiaki and Iekane. And of course I again reassured him that Hiko was safely sheltered in Kasugayama.

He didn't respond. I knew that he would stay unconscious until the hospital decided to wake him up. Could he hear my voice? "Aki… why didn't you ever tell me that you were my father?"

It was a question that I hadn't had the courage to ask at Tsutsujigasaki, a question that the other Katsuko, safely confident in her place in that world, in her place with Shingen, had likely been able to ask during those times she was taking care of him and forcing willow bark tea down his throat.

Was it worth asking when he could not answer, probably could not hear me?

Francisco had said that Aki returned once, and my mother sent him away. Had he given up on us so easily? Or…

"Fourth?" Though I bowed and took my placement with outward humility, inside, I was a bundle of confusion and anger. My balance beam routine had been the most difficult of everyone's in the twelve and under group. Harder than half of the older girls too. Oh not at the level of the girls going to junior or senior Worlds. But I had hit every trick. What had I done wrong?

Still, I knew the rules. Smile. Bow. And if I seethed, I would do it inwardly. Complaining would give me the reputation as a sore loser. I wasn't sore... exactly. Just... confused, in a semi-annoyed way.

I was plotting how to politely ask the gym's coach to tell me how I could improve my placement in the future, when I realized that all the coaches were huddled together, looking out toward the bleachers. They seemed… tense. Worried.

Better wait until another time.

After politely congratulating the winners, all of whom would now advance to regional competitions, I threw on my clothing and met my brother out in front of the sports facility. Toshiie had been there to film the event on his phone for mom, since she was having one of her bad days and hadn't come with.

"I was robbed," I said, once we were safely on the bus and out of hearing of anyone who had been to the competition.

Aware that his job as twin-who-knows-nothing-about-athletics, was to agree with whatever I said, Toshiie nodded solemnly. Then he spoiled it by saying, "I didn't watch the whole event. Too busy watching the man get thrown out."

Huh? "What do you mean?" And thanks Tosh. I knew he didn't care about sports, but I thought he'd be interested in supporting me.

"Some strange man was watching the meet. He said his kid was competing, but no one recognized him." Toshiie shrugged. "It was more interesting than gymnatistics. Sorry."

Huh. Again. Thanks bro.

My awareness returned to the present, with a hopeful thought. Maybe… maybe once my mother had sent him away, Aki had kept watch from a distance. Maybe he even had been the man at the gym?

I pulled out the temporary pre-paid phone I had picked up that afternoon. Fairly no frills, but since it was on Sasuke's account, I didn't feel comfortable getting a lot of services. Once I got a new ID, I'd maybe invest in an android, but well anyway… this phone did have a browser so I navigated to the Youtube account that Toshiie and I had shared.

Easy enough to recall that my password had been Tony_Stark1610.

I video traveled through time, past all the freerunning videos that Toshiie I had filmed during the our final year in modern Japan. Then to random cat videos of Tony-Stark and hiking videos of Toshiie's, before locating the gymnastics competitions.

I'd rarely looked at them while I was still training, and once I quit, they drifted to the bottom of the date filter. I'd not had any interest in nostalgically revisiting what had never been 'glory days,' but everything was still up there. After a couple false starts, I found the competition in question. If Toshiie had thought the mystery man was more interesting, he would have filmed him.

With the sound turned very low, I skimmed through the meet, making sure to pinch zoom every time there was a crowd shot.

I saw no one familiar there.

Finally, I heard a voice in the background stating, "Of course I have every right to be here. My daughter is competing."

That had not been Aki's voice, unless he was disguising it.

Of course he had never watched me as a child. There had never been any distantly interested father figure making sure that we were ok.

Stupid to have thought otherwise.

I don't know why I felt as disappointed as I did. Whether Aki had been silently watching my childhood or not, made no difference. For over eighteen years, he had not been around when I needed him.

Then for seven, he had been everything.

I was just about to stop the recording, when the camera swung around as Toshiie filmed the speaker. A man who was obviously not Aki. A man who was not my father either. I understood why the other parents in the audience had been suspicious, for he was not Japanese. He was also… not a stranger.

Two months ago, or more specifically four hundred and fifty years ago, this man had tried to buy me at a slave auction in Sakai.

Father Slappy Hands.

He'd tried to purchase me.

He'd tried to kill Mitsuhide.

And he was a time traveler.

"Aki… what the hell is going on here?"

Of course… he didn't answer me.

Aki had been in a coma for a week when my new identification papers came through, thanks to Sasuke doing a little bit of hacking to move things along. Being able to access my money (a lot of money) made me at least feel more independent. "I should probably find a short term apartment and get out of you guys' hair," I said one morning as I folded up the sheets I had been sleeping on. Well, trying to. I never have been able to fold a duvet cover neatly.

Shingen took the sheet away from me, and re-folded it. Perfectly. "If you want to tangle in my hair, you are more than welcome to, Angel."

"I swear, I'm going to put out a flirting jar, and every time you break out one of your cheesy lines, it's going to cost you." Seriously. I hadn't had enough tea to deal with him this early in the morning.

"Katsu, you are of course more than welcome to stay here as long as you need. But I suspect you want a bigger place to bring Professor Yamaoka to when he recovers." Sasuke, who was on his third cup of coffee, brought his tablet over to me. "As it happens, my parents need a house sitter while they travel to Portugal."

"Oh. That's actually." I glanced at the tablet, which contained photos of the house in question. "A good idea. I wonder if they have any photos of my mother."

Sasuke paused, with the coffee cup halfway to his mouth. "Is there any reason why they would?"

Whoops. There was something I'd forgotten to tell this Sasuke (in fact, I had forgot to tell the other timeline's Sasuke as well). "Apparently she was your nanny for a little while. That's how she met Aki to begin with."

He tilted his head. "The Childhood Friends trope! I always wanted to be part of that one."

"If you stretch the definition of childhood friends to include in vitro, then I suppose so." Sasuke had likely been too young to even remember my mother, but... details.

He got up, rummaged in a cupboard and retrieved his go bag of Sengoku era belongings. From there, he pulled out a piece of paper that had a five by five grid and... "Wait. You're playing Trope Bingo with your Sengoku life?"

"It's more of a general bingo, but yes." I watched him check 'childhood friends! "I didn't think I'd ever fill out this card. Now all I need is Ieyasu Tokugawa's autograph for full bingo."

Good to know, Sheldon.

Returning to the original topic, I told Sasuke that I would indeed be interested in house sitting for his parents, and since I had no other plans for the moment, Sasuke and I headed over to their house, while Shingen left for the pulmonary rehab clinic.

Luckily for all involved (meaning myself, and any car or pedestrian who would otherwise encounter Sasuke when he was vehicularly armed), Sasuke's parents lived with walking distance of his apartment. True, to a ninja and a courier who had both roamed the length of Sengoku Japan, everywhere was walking distance, but it really was only about twenty minutes from his high rise.

The Mikumo house was tucked back in a quiet neighborhood, but conveniently still close to a teahouse, a noodle shop, and even a pizza place.

"What was it like, meeting another version of yourself?" Sasuke stopped in front of a historic townhouse, not, actually terribly different in architecture from the Sakai townhouse I'd shared with Mitsuhide, although of course this one had been built within the last century. At least one of their neighbors clearly celebrated Christmas, for they had twinkle lights shining from their window.

"It was weird... surreal, I guess. Possibly not any more surreal than the fact that I had this conversation with your other self too." I watched Sasuke fish a key ring from his pocket. "Yeah, um, anyway, I had to pretend she was an older sister. She said she had already met two other of me, um, us, so I guess she was a little more used to it."

"Fascinating." After jiggling the key in the lock for so long that I was tempted to put my lock picking skills to work, Sasuke finally got the door open, and gestured me inside.

The decor was a hodgepodge of classical Japanese art and artifacts, piles of books and journals, mismatched antiques, all of which barely made sense together, and I finally understood why Sasuke chose to live in a sleek modern apartment. "My apologies. My parents, as meticulous as they are in their studies, tend to be rather random about housework."

"Aki probably felt right at home here. He's the same way in his office." The rest of Aki's manor, though, Fume's domain, was of course neat and clean at all times. "Um, so about that."

"Right. I imagine you'd like to see if they have any mementos of your mother." He beckoned me past a living area with a flat screened TV that felt a bit anachronistic, then into a large office. The office at least was slightly better organized. Sure, the paper clutter was a bit out of hand, but someone had put neat labels on all the file boxes, which were organized by year and topic. "If they do, it would be in here. Er, theoretically."

"Would they be ok with me looking through this? Or… well, with me in general?" Daughter of their former nanny or not, it looked like they had a lot of expensive things here. Not a lot of people would be comfortable with someone they hadn't met staying in their house.

Sasuke looked up from where he was multitasking on his phone. "I sent them an email telling them about you. Statistically speaking, it takes them a mean of three days to remember to open their email; but since the previous house sitter left without notice, I'm sure they won't be upset if you go ahead and move in."

Oh. Well. Good. Except. It didn't feel good. It felt… lonely.

Sasuke edged out of the office, and gestured to the stairs. "The bedroom is on the second floor." He looked back at me. I hadn't moved from the office. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing wrong. Not really. I guess I just got too used to being surround by people." First Mitsuhide, then Yoshimoto, the gang in 1586, and now Sasuke and Shingen. "Eh. I'm sure I'll be back to my hermit ways in no time."

He paused between the first and second floor. "Do you want to wait for Aki to be released first before you move in? I am more than happy to continue to host my childhood friend."

Perhaps I knew then already that Aki would never be coming home with me. Psychic flashes of the other timelines aside, I've never been particularly perceptive. Maybe I'm just used to Aki's ways. Maybe I'm just used to people leaving without saying goodbye.

A few days after I moved into the Mikumo's house, I finally received an alert from the hospital that they were bringing Aki out of the coma. By this time, I had Sasuke's parents' vague assurance that they remembered my mother, and a rather (thankfully) less vague one that they would be fine if I searched through their archives for a memento or two. Archives was a rather odd way to describe their method of organization but... details.

I had at least managed to sift out a photograph of Aki and my mother smiling at each other and holding hands. It didn't even look like they'd realized the photo had been taken. I put it in an inside pocket of my new messenger bag. Then, prepared with the photo, and a list of questions, not the least in which involved the Nanban priest and Francisco, I headed out to the hospital.

The late December clouds were thick and some hopeful weather forecasters were promising a "White Christmas for those who celebrate it." I imagined that would make the Mikumos' neighbors (who, I discovered were visiting American professors) very happy and I supposed their multicolored Christmas lights (which they never turned off) would look lovely against the snow. But given the warmer air that came with a light drizzle of rain, I doubted we would see any snow today at least. Dodging the raindrops, I hurried to the hospital arriving just as visiting hours began.

Even before I got to his room, I could hear Aki's voice, patiently explaining to the police (yes, oh of course the hospital would have called them too) that he had no memory of being shot. His mind was a blank. "The last thing I recall was trying on an outfit for a costume party I had been invited to."

Eep. I hope he wouldn't be required to produce that invitation. Then again, maybe he had stuff like that set up in advance.

"Excuse me. Hello officers. May I be allowed to visit my father? "I bowed respectfully toward them. "I've been very worried."

I summoned all the acting skills that Aki and Mitsuhide had taught me and put on an 'I'm innocent and naïve' expression. After an unspoken conversation between the police, they both retreated to the hallway, where I'm sure they could both overhear us. With that in mind, I pitched my voice louder and said, "Dad! You're awake! I've been so scared!" It wasn't all acting, I realized. I had indeed been scared.

Aki took my hand, patted it gently. He didn't smile, but that wasn't a surprise. He wasn't much of a smiler. I suppose that was something I inherited, or learned, from him. Or my mother. Hard to say which.

He crooked his finger, and I moved closer to him, knowing that he was about to import a great secret. Or as it turned out, ask a question. "Where is it?"

Confused, I looked around the room, then realized he was referring to the time traveling device. "Sasuke has it locked in his safe - where it will stay until further notice." I added the last part in case he was about to try to zap himself into another timeline.

All he did was nod approvingly, so maybe he was just making sure it was secure. "You are with young Mikumo then?" He made a move to sit up, but I pushed him back (on the non-injured shoulder).

"Careful, don't strain." He scowled at me, so I fiddled with the mechanics of the bed and raised the frame under his head he was sitting upright. "No. I'm house sitting for his parents. Whom… I believe you know." I got out the photo of him with my mom. "What happened?" Vague question. It could have meant 'how did you meet?' or 'how did it end'?

But Aki would probably answer how he wanted anyway.

He took his time looking at the photo, and then he finally did smile. It was the smile of heartbreak.

"You know of course, that she was young Sasuke's caregiver. To be honest, I did not notice her at first, I was more interested in working with his parents to research the Sengoku." He paused. Coughed. "No, that's not correct. I tried not to notice her. She...she… had a way of moving that was like water. She danced while she walked. Even moving her hands… she flowed. But I would not have acted on that interest. As you may have guessed, or perhaps Francisco told you, I am not native to … " He gestured to the hallway where the police were waiting, and broke off.

Native to this time. The meaning was clear. I nodded. Questions about his own time would need to wait until we were no longer in danger of being overheard. "One afternoon, I was to meet them for study, but there was a confusion. I thought the meeting was at their house. They thought it was to be at the library. When I arrived at the house, it was to a frantic Mayumi. Sasuke had disappeared."

"Kidnapped?" I threw my hand over my mouth, but thankfully even in my surprise, I hadn't spoken loudly.

"No. He'd just wanted to touch the sky. Somehow he'd managed to climb onto the roof. Between the two of us, we got him down. The child was very pleased with himself and complete unaware of the scare he'd given us. We agreed not to tell his parents. After that intense bonding experience, she and I just gravitated to each other." He coughed again, and I poured him a cup of water. "I knew it was inadvisable to get involved. Yet I could not stop."

"Toshiie and I are the result of an inadvisable relationship. Good to know." Although… hadn't I already known that? Mom's sadness and bitterness had imparted that lesson long ago. Was it really a surprise that Aki felt the same?

Aki winced. "That perhaps did not come out of my mouth the way it sounded in my head."

"Right, old man." I let him go with just the sarcasm. "Francisco said that the two of you had to leave very quickly and that you didn't know about us before you left-"

"This is true." He took hold of my hand. "I would have done things differently otherwise."

"Instead of ghosting her." I took my hand back. Some things are impossible to forgive.

"I thought I would be able to control the time I returned. That would appear that I'd only been away a couple of hours. I'd been one month away in the… you know, then I came back here. The two of you were five. After contact for over five years, she honestly wanted nothing to do with me. I did ask to be part of your lives, but Mayumi wanted a guarantee that I would be able to visit at set times. Which, now you know how impossible that would have been. She said you all would be better off without me, and honestly, I thought she was right. At the very least you would be safer."

I… was getting pretty tired of men thinking I would be safer without them. I got out my phone and found the video of the gymnastics meet. "Interesting you should say that. Because I encountered this man in Sakai. And it was not a pleasant encounter. Is he from… wherever you are from?"

Aki looked at the video, and I watched his face closely. And what I saw there for a moment was fear. "The video is too blurry." He blinked. "Or perhaps my eyes are tired."

At that moment, I felt complete and total sympathy the Mitsuhide I had met in the forest at the beginning of the summer. "What aren't you telling me?"

He closed his eyes. "I think the pain-killers just kicked in."

Before I could call him on that, there was a rustling at the door, and the medical team bustled in to take his vitals and shoo me out.

"One more question, "I whispered it to Aki as I carefully hugged him goodbye. "Did you bring Toshiie I there on purpose, or was it all just a coincidence?"

In typical Aki fashion, he answered a question with question. "What do you think?"

Liquid grey.

Well that weather forecast was wrong. I peered into the grey drizzle of late afternoon Kyoto and cursed the fact that I had yet to purchase an umbrella. December weather in this part of the country was just variable enough that I should have considered that "Sixty percent chance of a white Christmas for those who celebrate it," translated to one hundred percent of something wet falling from the sky.

As I huddled in the covered entry of the hospital, I debated 'taxi' versus 'suck it up and run'.

A large black umbrella suddenly blocked out whatever light was left. "Need an escort, Angel? No, don't say no. At least brighten my day by walking with me."

"I'm not the one recovering from lung surgery." I fell in step next to Shingen anyway, knowing that he would probably argue with me until I agreed, and standing out in this weather wouldn't be good for him.

"My doctors and therapist all say exercise is the best thing for me." He put his arm around my waist. "Stay close, you're getting half wet."

"Haven't you already used up your flirtation stock on the hospital staff?" Knowing that in another timeline this man and an alternative-me were deeply in love had made hanging out with this Shingen awkward at first. But I had come to think of him as an older brother, even though he never could turn off the flirting.

Once he realized I didn't take him seriously, we'd settled into an easy friendship. "The man who is tired of flirting is tired of life." Then, in a completely different tone of voice, he added, conversationally, "Join us for dinner?"

"Which of you is cooking?" A free meal with Sasuke and Shingen would put off my going home alone to sulk about Aki's stubborn resistance to telling me what was going on, but it would depend on the meal. Shingen randomly tossed things in a pan because he liked the ingredients separately, without any consideration to how they would taste together. Sometimes, that worked out. Often, it didn't. He wasn't as awful a cook as Mitsuhide, but he'd had some pretty spectacular fails. Sasuke, at least, could and would, follow a recipe.

"Sasuke." Shingen answered my question easily. I figured he was aware of his own deficiencies as a chef. "I am to provide the ingredients. He texted me a list."

He paused to indicate the market across the street.

Hm. At the very least I should accompany him to make sure he bought the right ingredients and didn't get distracted by sweets.

"How is Aki today?" Shingen asked as I subtly tried to detour him past a sweet shop. "At least let me buy dessert, Angel!"

"Get Sasuke's list first. Otherwise your dessert is going to be squished." I hip checked him toward the vegetable stand.

He frowned for a moment. "You have a rather strategic mind. Any consideration to working for me when we return to the Sengoku?" Obediently, he worked his way through the shopping list occasionally stopping to ask me to help translate Sasuke's text speak (for a scientist, he has a very colloquial vocabulary when it comes to texting).

"I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. It depends on Aki - who, to answer your previous question, is well enough to deflect any questions I throw at him about the whole-" I lowered my voice. "Time travel issue."

He took that opportunity to lean closer (because, Shingen). "When he's well enough to have a long conversation, I would very much like to have a long talk with him."

Wouldn't we all like that. My verbal response would have been just that, but at that moment, both of our cell phones buzzed a text alert from Sasuke: Houston. We have a problem.

"Bad news or good news first," was Sasuke's greeting when Shingen and I hurried into the apartment. Given that the place looked like there'd been a battle - furniture was askew; pillows were on the floor; and … was that a ground spike in the corner?- I suspected I already knew the bad news. "Bad news."

He turned and pointed to the wall safe, where the door was still cracked open. "I walked in just as he opened it. They. There were two."

Shit.

And Aki had just asked if it was secure.

"And your silver lining?" Shingen looked Sasuke over. The moderately awesome ninja didn't look too banged up, he was limping slightly.

"I believe I've just met one of my alternates." He sounded half thrilled, half chagrined. "Theoretically. They were masked, but I ought to be able to recognize myself in a fight."

Double Shit. The implications of Aki asking about the device's location hit me. He hadn't wanted to confirm it was safe. He'd wanted to know where it was.

"There were two of them?" Shingen flipped the table back upright.

"Yes." Sasuke pushed his glasses in place. "Without visual confirmation I cannot be certain, however I believe the other was a Katsu."

The news that I had an alternate who was a ninja would have to wait to be digested later. I was already halfway to the door. At Shingen's quizzical look, I threw the name Aki, over my shoulder, and after a startled moment, the two of them were close behind.

But even though I risked Sasuke's speed demon driving to get back to the hospital as fast as possible, it didn't matter. When we reached Aki's room, it was empty of everyone aside from two very confused and angry police officers.