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"You both suck at relationships,” Keno said bluntly, like he was an expert. “Why don't we just deal with this later."

"Good for me, because I feel like an ass now telling you all this crap,” I said. This was about all the sharing I was willing to do right now.

We ended up at a restaurant that was pretty nice, eating in a private room with a really cute waitress. The food was good, and the sake flowed freely, even though I noticed Keno stuck to tea. We made an odd party, I thought, but Keno gradually drew Noma out, making him comfortable with us, asking him questions about Edo and translating the things we said to each other. Noma didn't know English, and it turned out his Spanish was worse than mine, but that was the only other language he knew. I was getting the vibe that he was oddly flattered by Keno's attention. He disappeared for what I guessed was a trip to the bathroom, and Keno turned to talk to me, shaking his head slightly at something Noma said on his way out the door. Thankfully Keno had taken off that stupid hat for the meal.

"What's wrong?” Keno asked.

"Noma. He isn't getting the wrong impression, is he?” I asked, hating that question, but only hearing half the conversation was a little confusing for me.

"And what impression would that be?” he asked, a little pissed, but curious too. Because unlike Wolf, I hadn't given him shit about what he was doing. I just didn't know the rules of the Game that he and everyone else here was playing. He was cutting me some slack because of that.

"That he really, really likes you,” I didn't know why I was being so coy about it. But I didn't feel comfortable coming out and saying that Noma might want to fuck him.

"Being seen with a
tayuu
raises his standing with the men who see him,” Keno said. “A samurai of his stature rarely gets to deal with one, even if he is only escorting me around town. He's flattered by my attention, and he's flirted a little, but we both know that it's not going to go beyond that."

"And what the fuck am I?” I asked.

"Unarmed and with a shaven head?” he asked with a grin. “A priest maybe. Or just a stranger that Noma may be introducing to me. Or I may be introducing him to you."

We heard a bang outside the room. Keno looked up in alarm, and I was halfway to the door when it was kicked in. Overkill on their part, because it was just made out of paper and bamboo. A half dozen really big guys muscled their way in. I got in a couple of punches, but there was too many of them, and the room was too small for me to do any real damage. A couple of them wrestled me to the floor and Keno down beside me, his outfit all torn up from fighting them, with a knife at this throat. I was going to ask what the fuck was going on, when another guy strode in, stepping over the wreckage of the door easily and acting like he owned the place.

"Sakura-chan,” the guy practically purred at him, sounding like a villain from a bad B movie. “So nice to meet you here."

I was hoping Noma would manage to either rescue us or get help. It was kind of worrisome that he hadn't gotten back from his bathroom run yet. Then I realized that the man was speaking English, and his accent wasn't too bad.

"Iida-san,” Keno said coolly, like this was some formal meeting.

I looked at the guy again, wondering what the fuck was going on. The last thing anyone knew, this Iida was trying to take over Tamazusa's
kuni
, with her guys holding his army on the beach like it was fuckin’ D-Day. Inuta and that little shit Inue were protecting their borders, with occasional raids, and Tamazusa's other neighbors were doing the same thing, so what was he doing here?

The sad part was that I would have passed the man on the street without a second glance. He was dressed like everyone else here, in a kimono and
hakama
. The colors were brighter, reds and oranges, when most of the men seemed to wear blue, brown, or black. He had a pair of swords stuck in his belt, but he didn't look that dangerous. I believed that until I looked into his eyes. The man was made out of hate and something evil, as strange as that sounded.

"You seem surprised to see me,” Iida said. “My attack is only a feint. It did, however, manage to distract the
Hakkenshi
. They didn't see what my other allies were doing until too late."

"You lost,” I blurted out. “She's got her place back."

Iida shrugged. “I can kill the bitch later."

The knife at Keno's throat was the only thing that stopped him from trying to kick the man's ass then and there. I unconsciously lunged forward, though, which caused Iida to laugh.

"You're fond of her?” he asked me, tilting his head to one side and studying me. “You fuck her?"

"None of your goddamned business,” I snarled at him.

He laughed again and stepped closer to Keno. “Such a pretty flower,” he said, stroking the side of his face lightly. Keno cringed and tried to get away from the touch, like it hurt him or something. “Talented, too, it seems. I almost didn't notice you when you played her maid, so mousey and meek. Not looking like the whore that you are now."

I struggled to get loose and kick his ass for that one. I had been pissed about what he said about Tamazusa, but him insulting Keno was too much. He laughed, and one of his goons hit me on the back of the head. It was like getting hit with baseball bat. I saw stars for a second and was hoping like hell Noma was getting some help, because I didn't think he could take these guys on his own.

"I only need one of you as a hostage,” Iida said coolly, glancing between the two of us. I felt like he was going to ask me about my teeth or something, the way he was sizing me up. “And right now, Samojirou's little blossom is the more valuable one. I don't doubt that the Trust would be interested in you also, but I think that I only need one of you to get Dieter."

"Wolf?” Keno almost gasped.

I was confused and slightly annoyed, but I didn't think that this guy would fall for the “I don't know nobody called Wolf” routine. What use was he to them? Shit, his grandfather was a Trustee, but there was like a dozen of the fucking things. Aside from Mrs. Adams and him, the rest of them were probably shits. Was this some sort of corporate takeover? Would Wolf be used to make sure that his grandfather didn't have a shitfit and do something about whoever had taken over Kyushu and stop them? Or rat them out to whatever government actually gave a shit about what we were doing?

"Using you would make sure that both that Samojirou and Dieter don't spoil my plans,” he continued with an evil smile.

I was kind of hoping he'd do the classic villain thing and explain what was going on to us, because he was acting like a slimy villain in every other way, but he just shut up after that and stared at us, debating what to do next. I kept my mouth shut for once. Iida smiled, and my blood ran cold, but I was relieved when the next words out of his mouth were, “Take them both."

What sucked was that one of his assholes hit me on the back of the head to knock me out. I just knew that I was going to have a killer headache when I woke up again.

Keno

I woke up in a small room with Mason. We had both been tossed on the floor and stripped down to our underwear. I shuddered at the thought of Iida undressing me. I knew that he had done that just because he could, so that he could touch all the bruises I had from making love with Samojirou. But mostly because he knew it would upset me. I sat up slowly, aware of the fact that my head felt like it was going to roll off my shoulders and that my mouth was dry and nasty-tasting. After a few minutes, Mason groaned and sat up, looking a little gray. I noticed there was a really nasty lump on the back of his head,

"Fucking asshole,” Mason groaned. I didn't know if he meant the man that hit him or Iida. Knowing him, probably both of them. “Hopefully Noma managed to get help."

"I don't know,” I said. Iida had only had me knocked out after he had told me what had happened to Noma. “Iida told me that he might survive his injuries, if someone got him help quickly enough."

"Shit, I hope so,” Mason said, standing up slowly. “He's a nice kid."

"He left a note on Noma,” I continued, also standing up, glad the room wasn't swimming around me. “It instructed Wolf as to where he could find us."

"And he's stupid enough to fall for something like that,” Mason groaned. “With any luck, McGann will manage to talk some sense into the man."

"And he brings someone with him,” I added. Genpachi or another of my brothers, I hoped. I just wondered how he would be able to get in touch with them. I wondered how long we had been unconscious, too, because for all I knew, Wolf was a prisoner here too.

"What the fuck is he doing?” Mason asked. I took me a second to realize that he was talking about Iida.

"I don't know,” I said. “I had thought that he wasn't working with the Trust, but now I'm not too sure."

"He could be trading favors with them,” Mason said, looking thoughtful. “My question is who in the Trust is he dealing with?"

"Who knows?” I answered. “I really didn't pay attention to that stuff. I don't even know their names or anything like that. The only one that I knew was Collins. And I wasn't around when Tamazusa-sama questioned him."

Mason winced when I said that. I knew why, too. He knew that Tamazusa hadn't sat down and had tea with the man to get the information she wanted. I knew she had his skull someplace in her bedroom. I didn't know what happened to the rest of the body.

"I wonder where the fuck we are, ‘cause I think that the man would have trouble getting us out of Edo. It was a bitch to get in."

"That still leaves a lot of territory for people to search,” I pointed out.

"I know,” he grumbled. “I feel like a fucking idiot."

"You feel stupid?” I posed. “Samojirou-sama sent me to Edo to keep me out of trouble and safe."

And even if I didn't like it, I didn't blame Mason for laughing.

I didn't know how long we were held in that room. Mason seemed kind of uncomfortable that we were both only in our underwear. I was surprised. I also thought the issue might be that we were being held prisoner and there wasn't a way out. We both had examined the room, looking to escape. It was empty, the walls and floor made of some sort of pale wood, without any windows, and had a heavy teak door. I didn't even know if we were still in Edo. That worried me. He could have taken us anywhere. And using us as bait to get Wolf wasn't a good idea either. I didn't think he'd go berserk or anything, but he'd be angry. And even I knew that an angry Wolf wasn't a good thing.

Iida showed up after a while. He swept into the room, followed by a couple of his retainers. I wasn't surprised to see that Mawatari wasn't among them. I would have bet he was the man who was leading the attack on Tamazusa's forces. But there was something odd about the men who were with Iida, like the ones on the boat. I couldn't place it, but even for the Dreamlands, there was something off about these men.

"I expected to see Wolf by now.” Iida smirked at me. I shrugged. He frowned. “I'm surprised that you didn't know how he felt about you."

"How he felt about me?” I echoed, thinking that I must have looked as stupid as I felt. The man had told me he was never going to feel like
that
about me. So why was Iida hinting that Wolf had been lying to me?

Mason looked interested in that for a second before he hid it. Unfortunately, Iida saw it also. “So that quack was right!” he exclaimed.

"Quack?” I asked. What did a duck have to do with this?

"Wolf likes the kid,” Mason said slowly, almost reluctantly. “It was killing him that he stayed here, but you knew that."

Iida smiled. “My informants in your organization mentioned that either one of you would be good bait for him. You've worked with him for years, and he considers you a good friend, one of the few that he has. The boy... well, he seemed to be in love with him."

"Wolf?” I almost gasped, wondering what was going on.

"He was very attentive to you on the journey here,” Iida told me. “Did you not think that odd?"

I thankfully didn't blurt out that he had been checking on McGann all those times. I didn't want her to be involved in this mess.

"And since Samojirou seems to be fond of you also,” Iida continued. “I can use you to get to him. Killing him would weaken that bitch's hold on her
kuni
. The fool didn't bother to claim it when he thought that you both were dead, even though he has the strength to do so. Neither did any of the other idiots who follow her. I'd have thought that one of them was intelligent enough to make a grab for power once she was gone. Instead, they let a woman rule them!"

Neither one of us knew what to say, because Mason was silent too. I was seething with rage. I hated being used, and I was annoyed that Iida seemed to have gotten the wrong information about Wolf and me. Who had been his source?

Iida stepped closer to me, openly ogling me. “I can see the attraction that both of them have for you,” he said. “You're almost as pretty as that bitch is."

He reached out a hand to touch me, and I involuntarily stepped back from him. I didn't want him to touch me, even more than I had ever wanted to avoid Fairinox for the same reason. Both men were unclean, but in different ways. I'd had a hard time not screaming when he'd touched me back at the inn.

"You know, don't you?” he asked.

"Know what?” I asked. I knew something was wrong with the man. That was all. And it wasn't something I had ever sensed before, even with all the people I had met with Samojirou. How had he managed to hide that from me all the times we had met before?

"Don't play dumb,” he said gaily. That was scarier than if he had snarled it.

"I really don't know what you're talking about,” I told him truthfully.

"Kid don't have a reason to lie to you,” Mason said.

Iida looked over at Mason, a slight smile on his face. “You know he is the reason that they survived the ocean. Even those winged beasts couldn't save her."

Mason shrugged. “Not knowing the payload of the fucking things, I couldn't tell you shit about that."