"What?! That's not even fair! Michiru-san, I have to see Minako!" Michiru sighed tolerantly, chewing another tiny morsel of her meal before replying. "Rei-san, it makes more sense to go around Japan by going north and sailing around the west coast rather then heading south. The current will be more cooperative and the wind should be nicer, too. Then we can meet Minako when we sail around Kyushu to pass Okinawa before we reach Shikoku." Rei crossed her arms. "I don't want to wait. Why can't we go to Minako first?" Michiru chuckled, glancing at Haruka for a moment, sensing in the blonde something she had never met in another woman, though she had no idea what it was. "A little time apart will do you good, Rei-chan. Besides, Setsu-chan has invited us to Hokkaido, and she wants to meet these two young fighters. I, of course, told her that we would be there as soon as possible." "Isn't Tohoku just north of us?" "Yes, Makoto-san, it is. That Region is currently run by a regent of Aomori Family, Ken'nin at the moment. He has a wife but no daughters to continue his family's reign. The former Duke and Duchess died tragically in a car wreck years ago, seventeen or so, and no one knows if they had a child at all. The orphanages were searched in this great enterprise by the Queen to return Tohoku to its rightful ruler, but to no avail. No one knows if Kazeko was ever pregnant." "Kazeko?" Michiru nodded, raising one slender eyebrow at her tall guest. "Yes, that was her name. Why? Do you know someone named Kazeko?" Haruka's dark green eyes went distant, clouding over as her fists clenched. In her mind, she heard a soft voice, floating in her mind, calming her and silencing her cries. "My mother's name was Kazeko," she whispered, a rare smile spreading across her face. "She would sing me to sleep at nights, especially when I was upset." "How old were you when you lost her?" Haruka covered her face, shaking slightly. "Young. I remember a loud noise, and white, and then I was in the orphanage and there was no more music, no one to sing me to sleep anymore." Michiru placed a sympathetic hand on Haruka's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Haruka-kun." Makoto wrapped her arms around Haruka's waist and kissed her cheek. "Just calm down, my sweet. That was a long time ago. I remember my parents sometimes, but there is nothing left to worry about. They are dead and we are alone." Haruka nodded and regained her composure, her attention returning to her food. "Your parents? Who, Makoto-san?" "Um, Meika and Meisha. Why, Rei-chan?" Rei shrugged, sipping her drink. "No reason. I thought I remembered something about a Kino Meika. It was a very old article I was reading, though." "Was a plane involved?" Rei looked up sharply, and Makoto sat back. "What airplane, Makoto-san?" "The one my parents died on. I was told that my parents died in an airplane crash. I was four or so at the time." "The Kino Meika I was reading about died in a plane crash with her husband and a dozen servants and distant cousins. She was the Lady of Nagano Prefecture and the young Duchess of Chubu Region, heir to her mother's position. But she and her husband of six years died on the way to her Crowning. It was very tragic. Her daughter was rumored to be on that plane, too, though in the wreckage no children's bodies were found. Now the Region is ruled by Regent Toyoma Eiki." "Why were you researching that tragedy?" "Trying to find some sort of technicality in your adoption papers to get you away from Kurai," Rei admitted. "But your name brought up that file. Kino is not an uncommon last name in Chubu, because of the Duke's ancient line, but Kino has never been common in Kanto." "She's not from Kanto," Haruka was quick to clarify. "She was born in Nagano-ken. That's what I heard from Kurai when I listened in on his conversations with his lieutenants. I learned a lot that way. I was born in Miyagi-ken." "Kino Meika's daughter was born in Nagano-ken." Rei reached in her robe and pulled out a small notebook, rifling through the pages until she found a picture she had pasted opposite a list of information written in neat, precise hiragana and dozens of kanji. Haruka took the book and the two fighters looked at the picture. "What is all this?" Haruka pointed at the black letters opposite the picture. "It's information on the Kino family," Rei explained, one eyebrow raised. "The picture shows Meika, Meisha, and little Makoto. That's all written there." Haruka shook her head. "Can either of you read?" Michiru placed a hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp of shock. "Neither of you? Not even hiragana?" "No, we can't. We never had the opportunity. I mean, Mako-chan learned Hiragana before her parents died, but she's forgotten many of the letters; she never needed them in the Fighting Palace. She taught me how to write my name, though, and she can write her own. But as for this . . . we can't read hardly any kanji." Haruka, determined to change the subject, pointed at the little girl standing between her tall parents. "She has brown hair and green eyes, just like Mako-chan." "That's why I kept the picture. If your parents were really Kino Meika and her husband, then you, Makoto-san, are the Duchess of Chubu." Silence spread through the room. "Duchess? I can't be a duchess." "You can, Mako-chan," Haruka whispered. "I believe that you are royal." "What about you, Haru-chan? You could be royal." Haruka shook her head, pulling her hand out of Makoto's grasp. "I'm not. You be a Duchess and I'll just be a fighter." Rei reached over and turned the page in her notebook. Haruka gasped at the picture of a tall woman with short blonde hair, a tiny baby girl in her arms. The baby had emerald eyes and short gold hair, and she was smiling at the camera. "Mother," Haruka whispered, feeling tears on her cheeks for the first time in years. "That's my mother, Rei-san. Why do you have a picture of her?" Michiru was wondering much the same thing. Rei pointed at the caption under the picture. "Can you read that, Haruka-kun?" The blonde bit her lip and traced the neat lines with one long finger. "Ten'ou," she whispered, recognizing the first kanji compound. The second compound looked tantalizingly familiar. "This one . . . Kaze? And ‘ko'. Kazeko. Hey!" "Read the rest." "Ten'ou Kazeko and Ten'ou"—she had to sound out the furigana written above the last kanji, three of the five or so Hiragana she actually knew—"Ha-ru-ka. Haruka? Me?" "You," Rei confirmed. "Ten'ou Kazeko, Duchess of Tohoku Region, and Ten'ou Koshu had one child, a daughter named Haruka, who was born in Miyagi-ken. There was only one record, including the original of this photo, in a very old file in Miyagi-ken. After the unfortunate accident, this information was never made public. I had to pull so many strings to find this picture of Kazeko and the daughter who is her heir." Haruka stared at the Shinto priestess, unable to believe her ears or the picture she clutched in her hand. "That can't be true." Michiru gently took the book from Haruka's grasp and looked at the two pictures. She called two of her servants over and whispered something. They bowed and left, eager to please Michiru. "I will have these two leads investigated. Rei-san, why didn't you say anything before?" Rei shrugged as she took the book back, glancing at the silent green-eyed women sitting on the other side of the table. "Until Haruka-kun told me where she and Makoto-san were born, I never connected them to the dead dukes. I just kept these notes because one of my hobbies as a priestess is learning about the noble families of Japan. The Ten'ou and Kino families were just two among dozens that I researched, including my own." Rei flipped a few pages and showed the aqua-haired duchess the pictures of the Kaiou family and the Hino family. "Makoto-san, Haruka-kun; do either of you know how to write your names in kanji? I know you don't know very many letters, but you mentioned that you know how to write your names." Haruka took the brush pen that Michiru's servant handed her and looked at the paper in front of her. Slowly, not trusting her own faint memory or Makoto's lessons, Haruka drew two straight lines horizontal and one down from the top line, curving it to the left. The second vertical line she started at the second horizontal line, the shorter of the two, and curved left. The second letter was formed by three horizontal lines, evenly spaced, with the center line the shortest, and one vertical line running from the first line to the third. "Ten'ou," she whispered. "I am told that it means ‘Sky King' like the name of the seventh planet, Ten'ousei." Her first name took more time, consisting of almost a dozen strokes. When she finished her name, Haruka looked up. "I do not know this kanji, and my vocabulary has always been limited by the rough manner of my life thus far." She handed the pen and paper to Makoto. The brown-haired girl was far more comfortable with the pen than her partner. Her last name, Kino, consisted of "tree" and the kanji form of the possessive "no" and meant "of wood/trees". Her first name meant "honesty" or "wisdom". Rei showed her book to the pair and pointed at the kanji beneath the Kino family picture. The kanji matched the ones Makoto had written. Silently, she turned to the Ten'ou family picture and pointed to the name of the daughter. The kanji for baby Haruka's name was identical to the one the blonde fighter had so carefully drawn. "It means ‘distant'," Rei whispered. "And she is you." Haruka jumped out of her chair, shaking her head. "Not me," she whispered, turning away and almost running to her room. Concerned, Makoto bowed quickly to Michiru and followed Haruka deeper into the palace. She might get lost in her confusion. Michiru watched the two women leave, her heart whispering to her, begging her to follow. Haruka needed her, and something inside her needed Haruka. Rei was silent for the rest of the meal, and Michiru was not inclined to start any conversation.
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