In hindsight, what I really should have done is given Sage the book by Dr. Yagyu and let him read it, then filled in what else I had found out on my own. It would have saved me from talking for an hour and a half straight. But I didn't think of that, and anyway, I hadn't checked the book out of the library recently. Sage would've had to wait till Monday afternoon to get it from the Toyama library and read it- and that was out of the question. He wanted to know what the heck was going on, now, and I was so hyper about finally finding another Ronin that I probably couldn't've stopped babbling to save my own life.

I still think it's funny that it took me so long to cover everything I knew, though. I mean- I just think it's weird that five chapters of a book, a couple one-page summaries, and several hours of personal experience could take so long to get talk about. And that was before Sage asked me any questions, too. I guess that's it- I answered so many of his questions with 'I don't know yet' that I wondered how I could have said so much about something I knew so little about.

"The books aren't much help," I finally pointed out, in defense of my own ignorance. "They're all about the past, they give some background, but they don't help much with what's going on today and what might happen next month."

"Oh. Yeah, I can see how that would be," Sage replied, but he looked a little disappointed. "Especially since you said no one seems to know what happened between the creation of the armor and now. Though there might be some clues in all that obscurity you mentioned."

"Well, I don't know," I said doubtfully. "It's hard to tell what any of that is about- whether it's past, or maybe future, or both, or what. It's like reading some really bizarre riddles written by poets hooked on hallucinogens."

Sage blinked at me, then laughed, thinking I was exaggerating. So I recited one of the paragraphs I'd inadvertently memorized: In the time when the clouds are torn by the dark fire of heaven, the tower of the Emperor will again be seen in the skies above the land of the people. The four will descend, and their descent will herald the time of the black sun. And the power of that sun will be in the hands of the Emperor; the Earth and her children will again suffer and die, until the war is won. For when the celestial city drew near to Earth, the Earth shuddered under the weight of the youja and the power of the Emperor, and only the great Kaos could cleanse it. Thus by his power the five shall cleanse it again.

By the time I finished, Sage wasn't laughing anymore. "I see what you mean," he said ruefully. "It does sound crazy- I think it is both past and future, all mangled together. The past is easy enough to pick out, but unless there's a timeline somewhere, the big question is which parts of the future are our future, and which have already happened?"

"That's too much for me," I sighed, and leaned back against the headboard of my bed.

"Like, the four descending- did they already descend, fifty years ago, and get defeated? Or will they descend in three years and we have to fight them then?"

"Oh! Oh, I get it...yeah, trying to work out what applies to us and what doesn't could take an awful long time- and we might get it wrong. I'd rather work on what the Ancient One actually told me to do- master the rekka. Don't say it!" I added as he opened his mouth. "I know, 'cause I've wondered the same thing- that maybe something in those crazy books will help with that. But I don't think so."

"Probably not," Sage agreed thoughtfully after a moment. "Mastering something means you have to learn it by doing it."

"Right- like you can't master swordwork by reading about it. You have to have an actual sword and physically go through the forms step by step. And even then you wouldn't 'master' it, because there wouldn't be any way to know if you were doing it correctly or not."

"And the odds of doing it correctly without a teacher are pretty low," my friend concluded, then looked at me thoughtfully. "It's interesting that your armor's weapon is katana, isn't it?"

"That is a large and rather suspicious coincidence. Unless- unless the wearer's preference decides what the weapon will be," I speculated. "It is magical- or mystical, as the books like to say it, so maybe we get a choice."

"Do you think the Kourin weapon might be a longsword?"

"I wouldn't be surprised." I agreed, knowing where he was going with that. "I don't remember if the Doctor mentioned which weapons the armors had- I don't think so- but if no-daitchi has the same fascination for you as katana always had for me..." I paused as Sage nodded, smiling. "Makes your training a lot more important, but...I was thinking about it before you got up, and I'm not sure when we're both going to have time, Sage. After school is almost impossible, I have soccer, and then I usually work and train at the dojo..." I frowned, wondering if quitting the soccer team was the answer. I didn't like the thought much, but Sage needed to know how to fight a lot more than I needed to be on the team.

"And I have to be home by four-thirty every day anyway," Sage sighed. "Half an hour to clean the swords, and then my practice. Such as it is!"

"Hmm. Three-fifteen to four-thirty...that's not a lot of time, but it's enough to get something done, if we can find somewhere private in the city to practice," I mused out loud.

"But-"

"I don't need to play soccer, and leaving the team certainly would take care of this overpopularity problem I seem to be having," I said ruefully. "I'm starting to get the feeling that keeping a low profile is a good idea anyway."

"Ryo, you can't quit soccer, it's required, remember? Mandatory after-school participation."

"Mandatory..." I lifted my hand and thumped my forehead a few times. "I did forget that."

"Don't hurt yourself," Sage murmured. "I wouldn't want you to quit anyway, Ryo, and besides, everyone would wonder why you did. You'd get even more attention on you while the whole school tried to figure it out."

"That's Wisdom talking," I observed, and we smiled at each other. "Well... I suppose there's the weekends. Sundays for sure, and maybe we could get something done Saturdays, too- at least on the teacher workdays- but still, it's not much."

"Not nearly as much as I'd like. There'll be time during the term breaks, too, but I hate to wait so long," Sage commented, frowning.

"Hey, wait a second!" I sat up as something occurred to me. "The team sports, they always stopped during the winter at my elementary school. Do they do that here, too?"

"Yes, and start up again after the spring break- oh!" Sage beamed at me. "Yeah!"

"So, that's definitely something." I frowned again. "It's still a long time to wait, but you know, Sage, it might be all the best that you have to start out slowly."

"It might?" Sage looked puzzled.

"Well..." I paused, not quite sure how to explain myself. "Well, what would that ogre- the General- think, if someone else was to take over training you? Especially if that someone was me?"

"If he knew you planned to teach me? He'd be furious and he'd probably take steps to prevent it, but I sure wasn't going to tell him about it."

"I didn't think you'd tell him, but your swordwork will."

"What?"

"Sage, all he's taught you is a challenge dance. If you suddenly start using proper styles, he's going to notice, and he's going to wonder who's been teaching you. And he wouldn't be at all pleased that you were getting instructions from anyone else, right?"

"I- guess that's true, but I wasn't going to use the proper styles around him, either..." Sage frowned as I shook my head. "You don't think I could hide it?"

"You could probably do that challenge dance in your sleep," I suggested. "It's instinctive, second nature to you. What I'm going to teach you is going to become just as instinctive, and eventually, those instincts are going to replace the old ones. And the faster you learn, the faster your style will show the changes. Like, he taught you to stop each stroke before you started the next one. I'm teaching you that one move needs to flow into another. It's a very small change, but it's very noticeable."

Sage put his chin in his hand and scowled at the floor. "So, I can want to learn, but I can't actually have lessons because the General will notice- and even if he didn't, there isn't time because of my damned curfew," he summed up bitterly. "Ryo, this isn't fair! And how am I supposed to be any help to you if I can't fight?"

I leaned forward and patted his arm. "You'll have lessons, Sage. I said I would teach you, and I will. But it's going to be not many lessons at first, and they're going to be careful ones, so you don't get into trouble. Once the break comes, we can do more- we'll have more time. And remember, he did say my master's dojo was adequate. If you tell him you went to see the place and watched a few classes, he won't get too suspicious when some variations start showing up in your work."

My friend looked at me for a moment, the scowl slowly leaving his face, replaced with a look of keen interest. "That's true...he did say that. I forgot in all the- excitement last night." He straightened up, letting his hand fall, and smiled thinly at me. "Jin or not, you're pretty devious."

"Thank you, I think." I shrugged. "It doesn't go against my nature to out-smart a bigoted old tyrant like that one."

"You're right, it's the only way to neutralize him. Can't get past that reputation of his." Sage grimaced. "I can't believe I'm saying things like this. I've thought them for years, but I never dared to express them..."

"Feels good, doesn't it?" I remarked. Sage just smiled. A moment later, my stomach growled urgently. "You know, we forgot to have lunch."

"We did. We got distracted." Sage stood up, then caught my arm as I got off the bed. The look he gave me was very kind and I suddenly remembered, half-embarrassed, how the whole discussion had begun. "Speaking of feeling better...?"

"Much," I agreed, trying not to blush. "It's good to have you here, my friend."

"It's good to be here, niichan."

The rest of that remarkable Sunday seemed to pass with incredible speed. After we ate, we went back outside and Ryo drilled me on what he'd taught me so far, then had me go over the challenge dance again. "You're already moving more smoothly," he said ruefully; "try to put some awkwardness into it." He paused then, reflecting, "That's got to be the most unusual instruction I've ever given."

"Certainly the most unusual one I've ever heard," I had to agree, and tried my best to comply.

After another hour or so, Ryo decided I'd done enough for one day. I stretched again- something else Grandfather had never included in my lessons- and then the two of us sat on the steps for a long time, talking. I told him about Mother, Father and Yayoi; he told me how White Blaze had so unexpectedly entered his life.

"You mean you dreamed about him and he came true?" I concluded, shaking my head. "That's..."

"I think it's something to do with the armor, but I can't imagine what. But Kaos had a white tiger as an ally too, so... maybe it's hereditary or something." Ryo shrugged, smiling. "He's been a good friend, anyway; that's more than enough for me."

"I know how you feel. Though I would never have thought..." I paused, wondering if I should say what I was thinking.

"Thought?"

"That you were lonely. I mean, I know being popular doesn't always mean having a lot of friends, but..." I paused again, frowning as my perception abruptly shifted. Suddenly it wasn't my friend Ryo I was sitting beside; it was Sanada-san, the highly admired soccer-star whose status was almost the highest in our school, the-

"It seems to mean a lot of people want to think of themselves as my friends," Ryo sighed, and I gave myself a shake. "What?"

"My brain disconnected and I started thinking about school," I replied. "Everyone kinda wants a piece of you, right? But I thought there must be some real friends among all those...admirers."

"I wish. I hadn't been around long enough to make real friends before I got so popular. Now...well, now either they want a piece of me, as you say it, or they are too in awe of me-" Ryo snorted. "As if there was anything to be in awe of. I'm normal, for goodness sakes. I do homework and chores like everyone else. I train with the katana, sure, but I also mop the floors in the training rooms... If they only knew, huh?"

"Well, I don't know that normal is the word, since you're crazy, but you're pretty typical," I qualified. Ryo laughed and leaned his head against my arm for a moment.

"So having a tiger for a friend falls under crazy-yet-typical?"

"Um. Perhaps you stretch the definition a bit," I had to agree as he sat up again. "But you didn't go get him, he came to you, so that's more him being weird than you."

"Oh, thank you!" my friend said sarcastically. "Choosing me for a friend makes Blaze weird. That's so good to know."

"Hmmm...whimsical, then."

"Ok, whimsical, that's better. I can handle that." Ryo grinned and I surprised myself by reaching over to mess up his hair. It's not at all like me to reach out to people, and touching is pretty well frowned on anyway. But Ryo was an exception and there was no one there to see.

"You have to admit, though, he's not an ordinary tiger. No more than we're ordinary boys."

"I wonder if being ordinary is good..."

We both went quiet for a while, thinking about that, and while I mused, I noticed the sun had disappeared behind the trees. "It's going to be dark soon, isn't it?"

"Pretty soon, yes."

"I should probably get back to Toyama before that happens. Wouldn't want to be late. Again."

Ryo nodded, sighed, and stood up. I got up too, even less delighted at the prospect than he was, and felt his hand on my back as we began to walk towards the dirt road on the far side of the clearing. I hated to leave; in the brief time I'd been there, Ryo's house had come to seem more like a home to me than any place I'd known. But remaining there was, of course, out of the question.

It took most of the twenty-minute walk to convince Ryo that he didn't have to come all the way to Toyama on the train with me; the Azu station was far enough. Finally, as we were nearing the paved road, I managed to persuade him by telling him that I much preferred to think of him in his house with White Blaze than riding the train back to Azu alone. He reluctantly gave in, but insisted on coming to the station anyway. "It's on my way; I do have to do that shopping I was putting off. Sage..will you be okay?"

I nodded, though I wasn't sure. "I suppose he'll insult me for a while, but I doubt he'll do anything worse. Not now that he's had a chance to think about things. Besides, he already thinks I'm weak, so if I tell him I avoided him from fear-" I shrugged. "You don't attack inferiors. It's not honorable."

"True." Ryo sounded unconvinced. "But- if you have to leave again, you know where to go. Right?"

I looked over at him, into his serious, worried eyes, and felt...honored. Protected. Grateful. "Yes," I murmured, and impulsively stepped over to hug him. He returned it, his arms tight and warm on my shoulders, and for a moment I closed my eyes and savored the affection he wasn't afraid or unwilling to show me.

The trip home was awful.

The first reason was simple: I was scared stiff.

The second reason was that leaving Ryo behind had been a lot harder than I had expected it to be.

It's hard to say which feeling was stronger; even as I walked up the driveway to the house, biting my lip at the sight of the brightly-lit windows, I felt almost more miserable at leaving my brother than apprehensive of the General's likely reaction. Almost, because the closer I got to the house, the less certain I was that even the most submissive and obedient attitude I could muster was going to save me from a beating.

I got as far as the front door- I even reached out to touch the doorknob- but I could not make myself go into that house. My heart was racing, my hands were cold and my knees seemed to shake under me. All I wanted was to turn and run- run back to the station, get on the next train back to Azu, hurry the mile through the woods to where friendship and kindess waited for me. I closed my eyes and tried to take courage from the memory of Ryo's face, his blue eyes looking at me fondly; his arm around me; his comforting words...but it seemed so far away, as far as he himself was. It seemed as though I had forfeited all those emotions, left them behind when I left Azu and wouldn't find them again until I went back. The warmth of his unconditional acceptance had faded, and now all I had was cold fear and a heavy bleakness. I wondered if this was how a prisoner felt when being chained back up in his cell after a brief freedom.

I might have stood there all night, too daunted to go inside despite the chilling air, if the General hadn't decided he needed to go to the market. Without warning the door opened, the knob pulling from my hand, light spilling through the opening. I gasped and stepped back; my grandfather stopped on the threshold, frozen in surprise that quickly shifted to glacial anger.

"Well?" It was all he said, in a low, grim voice.

I had no idea what to say; all the explanations and pacifications I had gloomily contemplated on the train seemed to have deserted me. I bowed deeply, stalling for a few seconds while I tried to pull myself together. "Honored sir, I- th-this one asks your pardon for the long absence," I managed after a moment, barely remembering to use the formal mode of address that indicated humility and respect. "This one was afraid- the head of this honorable house was greatly angered, and-"

"You thought I would beat you for bringing that brat into my practice room and sassing me, is that it?"

"Yes, sir, and- and for the honor of your name- if others should notice and ask-"

The General snorted, his eyes narrowing. "I see. Rather than suggest that people mind their own business, you would explain that you are so undisciplined that I have to beat obedience and respect into you? Or would you lie and say you had been injured accidentally?"

My stomach was knotting so badly I thought I might get sick. "Sir," I said desperately, "those in authority- teachers- they would not let it go, and telling them it was no concern of theirs would only convince them there was something that needed to be looked into. Even as discipline- it- it would not look well, and this one is unwilling to risk bringing trouble to his name. This one would not willingly lie, but it is not always good to tell the truth, either."

It was risky, reminding him of what a burden of dishonor I was to the family- especially when he was angry- but it worked; the General stood silent for a moment, still frowning, but more thoughtfully. "Hmmph. I am going to the market," he changed the subject abruptly, and my stomach unclenched just a bit. "Some of the vegetables I was planning to cook are wilted. You go to your room- no. First, clean yourself, you stink. Then remain in your room until I return. We have more to discuss."

I bowed again and stood aside as he walked out the door, then hurried in and shut it with a shaky sigh of relief. It had worked...for the moment. But I didn't like the sound of that coming discussion, and I was shaking as I removed my shoes and hurried up the stairs to obey him.

The hot shower helped me calm down, but only a little. I dried off, dressed again, hung my towel up- all with the most awful anxiety gnawing at me. I couldn't sit still: I wandered around my bedroom tidying this and that, sat on the bed and tried to meditate, got up again and looked out the window, got everything arranged for school the next day, tried to read a little- no use, my mind refused to be distracted from its fears. I even dug out the Kourin orb from where I had stashed it in my drawer and studied the character carefully- but even that wasn't much help. It did ease my mind a little to remember that I was a Ronin, like Ryo, but there was too much I didn't know about being a Ronin for it to be a comforting thought. For a few moments, I actually played with the idea of telling Grandfather that I was Halo, for I knew how he revered the old legends. He might treat me better, stop calling me such awful things, quit telling me what a disgrace I was...

No. First, he might not believe it, and he'd yell at me for making up lies about the legends and trying to make myself more important. 'Specially since I don't know how to use it yet. And if he did believe it was real, he'd be furious that something so important could come to me. He'd say that being in my hands had defiled it. He might even take it away from me! The thought of losing my now-doubly-precious orb horrified me, and I quickly put it away, tucking it between the side of the drawer and an old sweater I didn't often use. That way it wouldn't get caught in the folds of cloth and inadvertantly fall out when I removed clothes from the drawer-

The sound of the car crunching up the gravel driveway sent a tremor of fear through me; I quickly closed the drawer, sat down on my bed, and tried to assume a meditative look.

Two hours later, I was still waiting for him to come upstairs and 'discuss' things with me. I had gone past fear and dread; I was numb, my mind dull, my body stiff from inactivity. For a while I had smelled food cooking, but had not been called down to eat and now the odors had faded. That didn't bother me much- I had made a point of eating well on the train- but even if I hadn't, I think I would've been too stressed to be hungry. I wondered if he had changed his mind; maybe I'd just end up sitting there on my bed until it was time to go to sleep- but though I hoped so, I doubted it. He was just giving me a long time to anticipate and wonder... A few minutes later, I heard a familiar creaking noise and sat up very straight, fresh fear jangling through my nerves and making my heart race. He was coming up the stairs. I fixed my gaze on the door, but even so I jumped in surprise when he abruptly opened it and stepped into the room. I struggled to my feet, fear and stiffness making me clumsy, and bowed.

What followed wasn't a discussion in any sense of the word: it was an interrogation. Or as Kento says, I got 'grilled'. Where had I gone? How had I gotten there? Who had I met on the way? Where was this village? Who else had I seen and spoken to there? Where was that boy's house? Who lived with him and why had they permitted it? Why had I not come back immediately this morning? What had I done all day? What had that boy and I discussed? And on, and on, and on.

I managed not to tell him everything, partly by just not mentioning things and partly by outright lies. I didn't mention White Blaze at all, nor the armor; said nothing about swordwork; gave only the vaguest outline of what Ryo and I had talked about, and explained that since his mother and grandparents had died he was often alone, but his father was a photographer who traveled a great deal, even, frequently, to America. That was, after all, what everyone in Azu believed, so it wasn't as big a lie as it might have been.

To my relief, Grandfather dropped the subject of adult supervision, but then he demanded more details of what Ryo and I had talked about. "I don't believe you spoke of nothing but school, sports, and the boy's parents the entire time you were there," he said flatly. "Do not think to evade me, boy; speak the truth, now."

So, stomach knotting and pulse pounding, I told him how we'd talked about the forest around the village and the weird stories the villagers had about it, and the strange cafe where we'd eaten, and what foods we liked and what we could cook. And there had been some talk of Ryo's pet cat, a friendly black and white animal called Stripes, who had reminded me of Yayoi's cat. And I had talked very briefly about living in Sendai and how the city compared to Toyama... and finally I admitted that we had talked a lot about American customs. "The family is very familiar with them, and uses some of them. They use forks instead of chopsticks, for one thing."

That made Grandfather frown. Like many elders, he deeply disapproved of most American influence, and hearing that Ryo indulged in it was another mark against my friend- but it was better than admitting Ryo had no family at all and lived alone with a tiger. The General would've reported that within the hour, and that would've been the last I'd see of my new brother. And White Blaze would either be killed or captured and put in a zoo...

"So they are not traditional- that is what you were hiding from me," the General remarked with grim satisfaction, and I unclenched a little inside. It seemed he had fallen for it.

"I was very surprised," I confided hesitantly. "He was- he has a pleasant personality, but it was...disorienting, so many differences."

Grandfather grunted. Then, abruptly, he asked, "And did neither of you say anything about swordwork?"

I blinked, taken completely off-guard. "A little bit," I stammered. "On- on the train. I asked him if he was in tournaments, and he said he didn't like them. Too many people. And he said he wants to be a katana teacher... oh, and something I didn't really understand, about a ninja school. Are there really schools for ninja, or was that a joke?"

"So." The old man scowled into space for a moment. "That was no joke. There are schools for ninja, just as there are training positions for Yakuza. But a sensible person avoids those who are trained in either place. What exactly did he say about it?"

"Just that his grandmother told him many of his family line attended one," I replied. "He didn't say he did..."

"Well, and if he did, he would not boast about the fact." My grandfather was silent for a moment. Then his distant gaze returned to me. "He did not offer to teach you?" he asked, and there was unmistakeable threat in his voice.

"No sir," I replied at once. "He didn't. Perhaps because he uses katana and not no-daitchi. Or," I added thoughtfully, feeling sweat prickling all over me at the fine line I was walking, "perhaps his sensei won't allow him to teach until he's older...?"

The old man grunted again. "And if he does offer?" he said softly, staring at me, "what will you say to him, boy?"

"No student needs two teachers, sir," I murmured, "and the head of my clan is the more fitting teacher. Especially when the preferences are mixed." No need to mention that I would willingly have taken up katana if that was what Ryo insisted on to teach me.

"Hmmm." The General nodded once, curtly. "See to it that you avoid him, son of my daughter. He is very skilled with a sword, but there is far more to a good, respected Japanese citizen than that. To use any blade without proper respect for tradition is to undermine the very tradition of the sword itself; it is a contradiction. It is as if you made a speech in English, urging people to give up American habits and merchandise. And ninja make uneasy companions."

I nodded, dazed. It was the closest he had ever come to expressing approval of me, something I would have given everything I owned to win...until yesterday. "This one will not forget, sir," I promised. "This one begs the forgiveness of the head of the clan for running away and returning late. It was a thing ill-done, and it will not happen again."

"Well, I suppose expecting you to face the General in his wrath was ill-advised, though I was not aware of what a coward I had under my roof. Still, at least one can say you learned something. Did you practice, boy?"

"Yes, sir, for an hour. Though with- with a tree branch instead of my sword..."

"Tomorrow." The General turned and left my room, closing the door behind him, then re-opening it to add, "There is food in the kitchen," before disappearing again. A moment later I heard his bedroom door shut. I leaned back against the wall and let out a huge breath of relief, closing my eyes as the tension slowly lifted. It was a few minutes before my pulse got back to normal, and a few more before my stomach shook off the knots of anxiety and asserted its hunger.

I have to admit: it was good to get my hands on a pair of chopsticks again. Forks were an interesting novelty, but I was a lot more skilled with chopsticks.

Later- a long time later, after the house was silent and the nearly-full moon was shining in through my window- I quietly got up from my bed and stood looking out at the night, looking towards Azu and wondering if Ryo was still awake or not. I knew he must be missing me- if he was awake- as I was missing him. I couldn't forget how reluctantly he'd released me go from that last warm hug, the wistful look on his face as I boarded the train, the way he lingered on the platform until the doors closed... Strange, how it was so easy to remember his affectionate friendship, now that my fear of what the General might do was no longer ruling me. I still feared the old man, probably always would, but at least now I need not-

It was like lightning striking, the sudden, astonishing realization that I no longer needed the General's approval or affection, no longer wanted it. I had Ryo's, and he was far more to me than my Grandfather ever could have been, even if he'd tried to care about me. I had called Ryo my brother, and in a very real sense, he was- not the polite 'oniisan' title that takes the place of a name, but a brother of heart and mind, if not blood. I frowned a little at the thought of the more common, courteous use of the word, hoping he hadn't just thought I was being polite. No, he must've known. That wasn't a time for politeness... I closed my eyes and remembered. His friendship had been unexpected enough; his determination to protect me had, as Rowen says, floored me...but... to stand in that kitchen and hold him while his grief ran out...to have the most admired kid in school confiding his heartaches and loneliness to me...trusting me, of all the people he might have chosen-!

What can I say, it went to my head. I'd known what it was like to wish for a friend, but I'd never realized before that having a friend means being one, too. I wasn't just getting affection, I was giving it, and it was...wonderful. But it was awful, too, in a way. No one should ever be as lonely as Ryo- or me. No one should ever need care and affection as badly as we did.

When I told Ryo, at lunch the next day, that I had been strictly forbidden to associate with him, he rolled his eyes and shook his head, saying simply, "It figures." But when I told him I was also forbidden to leave the house without explicit permission, he frowned. "That's going to make things difficult," he muttered, and I nodded, sighing. Gandfather would have no way of knowing whether I 'associated' with Ryo or not during school hours, but being under house-arrest after school and on weekends was another matter. I could only hope that by the time the break came, the old man would have relented somewhat.

He didn't, of course.

The remainder of the school term was very good, especially compared with previous terms, but there were frustrations. The first one was that, though Ryo and I had no difficulty keeping company, there was virtually no time (or privacy) for any sword-training. We could grab a few minutes after his soccer practices, when the other players had gone inside, and a few more while leaving the school grounds, but never enough to make me feel like I was really learning something.

It was a little easier to discuss the armor and the Dynasty- we usually did that, quietly and rather indirectly, during lunch- but neither of us made much progress in understanding it all. I soon found the books Ryo had told me about and stopped reading English books in the library in order to read those mystifying texts instead. He wasn't kidding when he said they sounded like they'd been written by people who'd been experimenting with mind-altering drugs. I had a feeling, though, that with time and effort, we'd make some sense of it. In the meantime, Dr. Yagyu's book was helpful and the vague hints the Ancient One had given Ryo and me began to make more sense. I managed to make the orb turn into the green-and-white undergear one Sunday while the General was out of the house, but didn't try to summon the full Halo armor yet, for fear I'd get caught. That would have to wait until I had more privacy to experiment.

The other annoying part of the school year was the students who suddenly decided to be friendly. Most of the students who had enjoyed making fun of me decided it wasn't nearly such fun now that I had such an influential protector, and turned their unkindness on others. I had no problem at all with being ignored; they weren't ones I would have wanted for friends anyway. But a few- all of them kids who had paid no attention to me at all the previous term- began to try and draw me into their social circles. I declined, knowing most of them were doing it to earn Ryo's favor and attention, but did so politely because it would have been rude to accuse them of it. I was tempted to be rude anyway, several times- especially to a certain clique of girls who'd decided I was worth pursuing- but restrained myself. I wasn't so secure in my new role as I would have liked, and didn't want to risk turning anyone against me again. So we were all very courteous to each other; no one was fooling anyone, but it did make the atmosphere a lot less spiteful.

So despite certain irritations, the term passed enjoyably, and that was quite a change for me.

The winter break for New Year, on the other hand, was awful. Instead of seeing more of Ryo and managing to learn something from him about proper sword-work as we'd hoped, I barely saw him at all. That was the General's doing, of course, and he had a very strange way of keeping me home. Some days, he would hand me a list of things he wanted accomplished that day, from taking down and washing all the curtains in the house to studying a book of poetry that he would quiz me on later. Other days, I was left to myself with literally nothing to do, yet my cautious requests to go into Toyama- to the library, the bookstore, clothing shops, even music shops- were flatly denied. The few times the General did allow me to leave the grounds, he insisted I be back within an hour, which was nowhere near enough time to get to Azu and back, much less up to Ryo's house.

Ryo, not so surprisingly, figured out what was going on after I didn't visit him for two weeks straight and came up with a partial solution. He didn't dare send mail to Grandfather's house, but one afternoon when I had won grudging permission to go to the library, I found a note from him tucked into the pages of Dr. Yagyu's book. It asked simply, "Is he treating you all right?" but I could almost hear his concerned voice behind those words. I took the book to a table and, pretending to take notes, scribbled a rather long and complaining reply that ended with, 'Yes, but I am going crazy and I miss you.' A few days later I got there again and found a new note that had some harsh words for Grandfather, some very kind ones for me, and a helpful suggestion of a certain book on no-daitchi that his sensei recommended. "The next best thing to having a genuine teacher," he explained in his wry way.

So that was how we conversed for most of the break: on paper. It didn't take the place of being able to meet and talk, but it helped and we even had fun with it, turning it into a game of 'treasure hunt'. Ryo started this by leaving a note in Dr. Yagyu's book that directed me to look in the 'hallucinogen' book, as we called it, for my next letter. I retaliated by sending him to a history volume, and after that it became a contest to see who could come up with the most intricate set of directions to the 'prize'. We even left each other small gifts for the New Year, hiding them very carefully so no one else would discover them and claim them. As something meant to cheer us both up, it worked wonders, and my only problem was deciding what to do with the notes. I wanted to keep them and read them, but didn't dare bring them into the house and couldn't think of a weather-proof place where no one else would find them. I also felt a little weird about asking Ryo to hold on to them for me, but finally did so and was relieved when he didn't seem to think it odd.

We did manage to meet a few times- mostly by accident, running into each other at the library or in the park- but we never got more than half an hour together and it made me miss him more. A few days from the end of the break, though, I got permission to go to the shoe store for new school shoes and almost literally ran into Ryo there. That was a good day; Grandfather had given me two hours free instead of just one, so Ryo and I got to hang out together for almost an hour and a half. We ended up spending most of the time in the shop where we had lunch, since it was gray and gloomy and very cold out. We didn't spend much time talking about armor or swords or such things, partly because there were too many people around and partly because we were just too busy catching up and enjoying each others' company. The one down-side to the day was having to be socially correct, since there were so many witnesses. Well, two- the other was having to return home. I comforted myself with the thought that it was less than a week till school started: soon we'd be eating lunch together in the cafeteria and spending the time after class to practice swordwork, since there was no more soccer till spring.

I think it was in that shop that I caught the illness that kept me from starting school on time. By the time I did get back to class, after more than a week's absence, I found things had changed very much. But that's Rowen's story, so I'll let him explain how all it came about.