EPILOGUE to Book I:

Thalia stopped suddenly once she was inside their cottage. It seemed strange and familiar at once, she thought, her head spinning a little. She remembered how she had cried herself to sleep on the Hellfire Rising ship the first night, wearing something that reminded her of Tetsuya, trying to imagine she could smell him. That had only been three nights ago, though it seemed another lifetime.

She really had not been sure she would ever see this little house again, where she was so blissfully happy. It made her cry to think of it.

“Thalia, love, what’s wrong?” he asked softly, having closed the shoji screen and lit the lamp.

“Everything’s right, Tetsu; I was just remembering how afraid I was that I would never be here with you again.” She choked on her emotion.

He went to his knees and embraced her with all the love and fear he had not allowed himself to fully express while they were still in alien territory.

“I wouldn’t willingly spend a single day here without you. I would have gone on searching no matter how long it took, but I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to find you even if I spent the rest of my life trying.” He shuddered, remembering the nightmares and the constant haunting fear that she was lost just when he had found her again.

Thalia buried her hands in his silky black hair and pressed his head to her breasts. She was startled to find that the intense emotion of the moment brought with it an equally intense wave of desire. Regardless of her injuries, she desperately wanted him inside her.

“Make love to me, Tetsu,” she whispered.

He looked up at her, hesitant because of her injuries; she smiled and removed his cravat, then began unbuttoning his shirt. That was all the persuasion he needed. He unbuckled her belt and pulled off her pants, careful of the injured thigh, then lifted her and moved to the futon, where he set her down gently.

The pace was slow, gentle, yet the intensity never waned. He covered her with tenderness, loving every inch of her with soft caresses and sweet kisses. She was very wet and ready for him when he checked; that knowledge spurred his own desire. He entered her with a long, luxuriant, slow thrust that made her gasp and pull him closer, wrapping her good leg around his, shifting her hips to take him in more deeply still.

In spite of the unhurried sweetness of their lovemaking, it did not take long for them to reach the peak together, then leap off, spiraling higher still before coming back down to earth, where they lay in each other’s arms.

“I finally feel full when you’re inside me,” Thalia murmured, tracing the outline of his face, taking joy in the beautiful shape of his deep golden-brown eyes so near hers.

He smiled and pulled her closer. “It’s where I belong,” he said quietly. It was not long before they fell asleep, replete, content, and unaware that as they slept an ancient process went busily to work within her womb.

***

They took a few days off to recover and deal with pressing issues – including the funeral for Sekiguchi Teiji. It caused no small sensation when reporters discovered his death at the promised press conference; Thalia fielded some of the questions as well as she could, but was not equal to the whole task.

Kirito was also interviewed, and even Izumida Kei was quoted in a few of the more daring news carriers, despite his status as a wanted criminal. They both decided to stand up as his brothers for the funeral after reading the letters he left them. Thalia never asked what they said, but she thought she could hazard a few good guesses.

She and Harada read their own letters the day after their return; the one for Thalia was longer. Tetsuya went to train at the dojo once he finished his, leaving Thalia to read hers in privacy.

Sekiguchi’s words echoed in his mind: ‘I won’t attempt to pretend we are or could ever be anything but enemies, since we love the same woman and have for centuries,’ it began, ‘but that is perhaps no one’s fault. I can certainly not blame you for adoring her, understanding so fully why you do; yet I resent you for being the one whose love she returns. Be worthy of it, as far as possible, though neither you nor I nor any man I know could truly deserve her.

‘I know she will tell you what happened on the dead planet; I know too that she is terrified you will never forgive her for it. It was neither her fault nor her doing; the blame lies entirely with me – I hope you are not too stupid to see that. If I felt more generous, I would let you take my head; but I don’t feel that generous.

‘I have dishonored myself and the woman we both love, so I will die a samurai’s death by my own will – an act I suspect will annoy you greatly. I confess it gives me some small pleasure to think so, though it grieves me that Thalia may blame herself. Please do what you can to prevent her from taking any blame or bearing any burden for my death – for her sake, not for mine.’

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Harada had never imagined he could feel even a grudging admiration or sympathy of feeling with Sekiguchi, yet this letter made him feel both.

“I’m glad you died a samurai, and I understand you far better than I wish to, you bastard,” Tetsuya murmured as he worked off his conflicted emotions.

Thalia cried bitter tears over her letter, as she had known she would, and she was grateful that Tetsuya was sensitive enough to leave her alone so she would feel free to express her grief for the one who had been in some way his rival – though she doubted he understood quite how impossible it was that he would ever have a true rival for her heart.

When she felt calmer, she prayed for his soul’s comfort as he continued his journey, prayed that he would be loved in the next life by his own twin flame as deeply as she loved Tetsuya. She wrote back to him words of love and forgiveness and burned her letter afterwards, releasing the ashes to the West wind. His letter she kept, putting it in an ornate wooden box filled with other keepsakes.

When her solitary mourning rituals were complete, she went to find Tetsuya, knowing he would stay away until she came for him.

***

The day of the funeral was almost a week after their return from the haunted planet. The weather was overcast and chilly, which Thalia felt was appropriate.

Chief Kato had issued a temporary pardon for Izumida Kei, in a gesture of compassion that would allow him to stand as brother to Sekiguchi one last time. Kirito approached Thalia after the ceremony was finished, asking her on Izumida’s behalf to come and meet him – which she was more than happy to do at last. As for Harada, he turned a blind eye for the day, along with the rest of the Shinsengumi.

Izumida was a warrior of middling height with long black hair, dressed traditionally. His manners were correct in the extreme, which made Thalia nervous because she worried she might offend him accidentally.

“I know Sekiguchi loved you deeply, Lady Cairde,” Izumida said once introductions had been made and they had been left to speak privately. “I know also that Kirito cares for you as a sister. You have made them both bring out good in themselves that, at least in Sekiguchi’s case, were otherwise buried. I loved him as a brother, but hated him for his betrayals. You made it possible for us to know he still had honor in the end, that somewhere deep down he was still the brother we loved; that is worth more to me than I can ever repay.”

Thalia was a little shocked to see tears coursing freely down Izumida’s face as he said this. He bowed deeply in a show of profound respect, one normally reserved for royalty. “Thank you, Thalia-sama. If you should ever stand in want of something I can do, please do me the honor of allowing me to serve you. I stand in great debt to you.”

Thalia was too choked with emotion to find words immediately. She wished she could embrace him, but knew it would embarrass him intensely if she did. He was far more formal than either of his brothers, just as they had said.

Finally, she found words. “I would not wish you to think of the affection I bear your brothers as something that should incur a debt, Izumida-san. It is my great honor to meet you, and I hope very much we’ll be friends, despite current politics. We’re all on this perilous journey of the soul together, after all, and it is our honor as well as our burden to help each other insofar as we are able. I will certainly call upon you should I have need, but as a friend rather than as one collecting on a debt.” With that, she bowed to him in return.

“You are even wiser and more beautiful than I’d heard,” Izumida replied, finally giving her a glimpse of his smile. She wondered if all the men here were gorgeous, or if it was just the ones she was fated to travel with.

“Look out, Thalia-chan, Zumi has a housewife fetish. Pretty soon you’ll be fair game. Guess I’d better warn the Vice-Chief,” Kirito said from behind her. He had been shoved toward the door by Harada, who was getting antsy over how long his fiancée and a wanted terrorist were alone together. Kirito supposed he couldn’t be blamed after what had happened with the last terrorists who got too close.

“It’s not ‘Zumi’, it’s ‘Izumida’, damn you, as I’ve told you twenty thousand times,” retorted his friend, blushing. “We’re not in the nursery anymore. And don’t speak as if I have as little honor as you. Thalia-sama, I trust you know how much faith to put in this scoundrel’s slanders. I hope to meet you again in the near future – for now, I think I should depart rather than presume upon the Shinsengumi’s generosity any further.”

“Be well, Izumida-san, until we meet again,” Thalia replied correctly. When Izumida had departed, she elbowed Kirito in the ribs. “Idiot! Have you spent your whole life embarrassing that guy like that? I’m amazed he doesn’t murder you.”

“Hah! You don’t know what I have to put up with from him. Just wait until you get dragged into one of his crazy plots where he’s cross-dressing at a hostess club or infiltrating noble households as a maid. Of course, it wouldn’t bother you to cross-dress, I imagine, since you basically do it every day at work – although if you ask me, that uniform looks a hell of a lot better on you than any of them.” Thalia kicked him in the shin, he yelped, then continued as if nothing had happened. “But lip gloss for a samurai isn’t comfortable. I owe Zumi every moment of torture I can possibly invent, believe me,” Kirito retorted, unrepentant.

Thalia could not help laughing, the images were so incongruous with the grave, ceremonious, scrupulously polite man she had just met. “Sekiguchi told me about the maid episode,” she told Kirito. “And that you and he always mocked Izumida-san for how good he looks in a Lolita costume.” She smiled, her eyes filling with tears again. “I wish so much that it could have been different for him, Kiri-chan,” she said. “For all of you.”

Kirito put his arm around her shoulders. “Me too, Thalia-chan. I wish you’d been around sooner, for one thing. But at least we’ve all got each other now, this crazy group of misfits.”

Thalia hugged him wordlessly, and they all departed on excellent terms with one another; both the dead and the living.

***

The End

Ja, matta (Until next time)!