Chapter Nine: Fire and Ice, Part II
  
	The next morning, Saburo awoke, his blurry eyes falling on the figure of a 
young woman laying on the floor beside his futon. Her long, raven black hair was 
wildly spread out across her pillow and she was bundled tightly in a thin blanket 
embroidered with cherry blossoms. ‘Did she stay here all night?’ he wondered, reaching 
up to take away the washrag that had somehow been placed on his forehead while he 
slept. She shouldn’t have done that.

	He was about to wake her up and tell her to go back to bed in her own room, 
but Saburo couldn’t bear the thought of disturbing her peaceful slumber. Instead, he 
dropped his arm back down and managed to roll over on his side, silently watching his 
granddaughter sleep. She looked even more like her mother while she slept, and he 
smiled at the sight.

	It wasn’t until he was overcome with a mild coughing fit a few minutes later 
that the girl’s amethyst eyes finally fluttered open. After realizing where she was, 
Rei quickly sat up and poured him a drink from the pitcher she had sitting near her.

	“Here, drink this,” she said, placing the glass in his hands after he had sat 
up. “Mizuno-sensei says you need to drink lots of fluids.”

	He obeyed, thankful for the cool water to soothe his parched throat. 
“Arigatou, Rei-chan,” Saburo said once the fit was over, giving her a grateful smile. 
“Ohayo.”

	“Ohayo, ojii-san.”

	“Were you here all night?” he asked, motioning toward her tossed aside 
blanket. “You know you didn’t have to do that. I don’t want you to catch the flu as 
well.”

	His granddaughter nodded, her eyes downcast as she reached for blanket and 
began folding it back up. “I wanted to be here in case you needed me,” she answered 
softly. “It’s okay, I won’t get sick. I have a stronger-than-average immune system.”

	Saburo started to argue with her, when he realized Rei was right. He couldn’t 
even remember the last time she had fallen ill. She had had the usual childhood 
illnesses, like the chicken pox and the measles, of course, but once she hit puberty, 
it was like her immune system had turned to steel. No wonder she never caught his 
colds even while she was nursing him back to health.

	“Well, still, you didn’t need to stay with me all night,” he insisted. “I’m 
fine. It’s just a little flu bug.”

	“Ojii-san, you don’t have to lie to me.” Rei scooted back over to the futon 
and reached for one of his wrinkled hands. “I know.”

	“Know what, little one?” he asked, feigning ignorance.

	“Mizuno-sensei told me what she suspected,” she answered. “She thinks you 
might have leukemia.”

	“Oh.” 

	Saburo released her hand, and his shoulders slumped with the weight he bore. 
He hadn’t specifically told Dr. Mizuno to remain mum about her suspicions, but he had 
hoped she wouldn’t tell Rei until they knew something more. He didn’t want his 
granddaughter to concern herself with something that could be a false alarm.  

	“Don’t worry about me, child,” he said. “I’ll be fine.”

	“But what if it is true?” she demanded to know, sounding almost angry at him. 
“You don’t know that. You have been sick a lot this year, and you’re always so tired, 
even when you don’t have a cold. I may not be a medical whiz like Ami-chan, but I know 
enough to know something is wrong with you.”   

	“Rei-chan, the results haven’t even come yet. You shouldn’t concern yourself 
with ’what ifs’ until we know something more concrete.”

	“I know, but…” The raven-haired girl turned her face away, picking at a loose 
thread in his sheet. She was purposely avoiding his gaze. “But I can’t stop thinking 
about it. What are we going to do if Mizuno-sensei is right and you do have cancer? 
I’m not even thinking about emotional impact right now. There will be plenty of time 
to think about that later, if it is true, and quite frankly, I don’t want to think 
about that right now. But what about the practical things?”

	“Practical things?”

	“Hai, like who will take care of the shrine when you are…indisposed and how we 
will ever find the money to pay the hospital bills. I don’t even know how I will pay 
Mizuno-sensei for the visit last night. I have some money put away, but it’s hardly 
enough. Ami-chan’s mother is one of the best doctors in Tokyo, and I know her services 
don’t come cheap.”

	Saddened by what he was hearing, Saburo sighed. Rei was only sixteen years old 
and would still be considered a child by the law for the next four years. She 
shouldn’t be dealing with so much adult responsibility. She should be hanging out with 
her friends and enjoying her youth, not worrying about money and bills. There would be 
time for that later.

	“Rei-chan, don’t concern yourself with the finances. We’ll be fine,” he 
assured her, though that wasn’t exactly the truth. Saburo also had some money put 
away, which he had been saving to send Rei to a Shinto school in case her father 
refused to pay the tuition for her priestess training after graduation, but it 
wouldn’t take long for it to disappear in the face of exorbitant hospital bills. 
Still, he didn’t want her worrying about it.

	“But ojii-san…” she protested, looking back at him with wide eyes.

	“It’ll be okay,” he insisted, starting to lay back down on the futon. Saburo 
was suddenly feeling very tired again. “You should go begin your chores. I don’t want 
the shrine closed another day. We‘ll start losing customers if this keeps up.”

	Rei looked like she wanted to argue with him again, but instead, she kept her 
opinions to herself and helped pull his blanket up around his shoulders. “Fine, I’ll 
open the shrine,” she promised. “But I want you to stay in bed today. No going to the 
kitchen to fix yourself a sandwich or going to the prayer room to meditate. You need 
complete bed rest. If you need anything, I’ll check on you once every hour, and I’ll 
be happy to get anything you want then, okay?”

	“Yes, okaa-san…” he teased, bringing just the smallest of grins to his 
granddaughter’s serious face before she left. 

					*****

	Letting out a huge yawn after changing into her miko attire, Rei stepped 
outside to begin her chores, deciding to skip her breakfast and meditation time. She 
had woken up later than usual that morning thanks to spending most of the night 
watching over Saburo and working on the household budget, so if she wanted the shrine 
to open on time, she would have to finish her chores fairly quick. However, when she 
drowsily reached for the broom she usually kept leaned up by the main entrance to 
sweep the porch, she was surprised when she grabbed nothing but air.

	Strange, Rei thought to herself, rubbing the final remnants of sleep from her 
eyes as she looked around for the broom. She could have sworn it had been there 
yesterday, although it had been a few days since she actually had gotten around to 
sweeping the porch. Perhaps the last time she used it, she had decided to put it in 
the tool shed instead.

	Shrugging, but not too concerned about the missing broom, Rei then walked over 
to the pails where the corn for the crows was kept. They should have all been covered, 
but as she came closer, she noticed one of the lids had been carelessly tossed aside 
and the cup used for pouring out the corn was gone. She frowned, knowing while it was 
possible that she had misplaced the broom, she would have *never* left the corn 
uncovered. The crows would have already gone through the entire pail if she had. No, 
it must have been opened recently, since none of her avian friends were around. It 
appeared somebody else was feeding them, but who?

	“Hey, sleepyhead, it’s about time you woke up,” a girl’s cheerful voice said 
from behind her, causing Rei to involuntarily jump. 

	She whirled around, coming face to face with a pretty blonde with a large red 
bow in her hair dressed in an outfit identical to the one she wore. The girl held the 
missing broom in her left hand and had a bright smile on her face.

	“MINAKO-CHAN!” Rei screeched, her hand covering her pounding heart. “You 
nearly gave me a heart attack! What in the *world* are you doing here?”

	“Good morning to you, too, Rei-chan,” Minako replied with a slight roll of her 
baby blue eyes. “Glad to see I’m always welcome around here.”

	Rei blushed, realizing how rude she must have sounded. “Of course you are, 
Minako-chan. Gomen nasai. I was just… surprised, that’s all. I wasn’t expecting to see 
you here today.”

	The blonde shrugged it off, showing she didn’t take offense, and resumed her 
sweeping. “Sorry, I suppose that’s my fault. We thought about calling you before 
coming over, but I wanted this to be a big surprise.”

	“Well, it certainly… Wait, who is this ‘we’ you‘re talking about?” Rei asked, 
whipping around just in time to see Makoto walking toward them, lugging two large 
plastic trash bags filled with cherry blossoms, some which were falling back to the 
ground thanks to a small hole ripped in the bottom of one.

	“Us, of course,” Makoto answered for the blonde. The auburn-haired Amazon, 
also dressed in the traditional robes, set the two bags on the ground and went over to 
place the lid back on the pail of corn before they forgot. “Ami-chan told us that your 
grandfather was really sick, so we thought we would all pitch in around the shrine so 
you could take care of other things. Usagi-chan and Chibi-Usa-chan are feeding the 
crows right now, Ami-chan decided to get the charm office in order before opening, 
Minako-chan is taking care of the sweeping, and I’m going to head to the kitchen to 
fix breakfast now that you’re finally awake -- that is, if you don‘t mind. I didn‘t 
want to sneak inside earlier and have you think I was a burglar.”

	“Mako-chan, Minako-chan…” Rei said, shaking her head in disbelief. She 
couldn’t believe all the trouble her friends had gone through, and on a Sunday, no 
less, the one day of the week when they could have slept in. She couldn’t even stay 
mad at Ami-chan for telling the others about Saburo’s condition, though she certainly 
wanted to. “I-I don’t know what to say. This is just so…”

	“You don’t have to say anything, Rei-chan,” Minako told her. Coming up beside 
Rei, the blonde wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into a hug. “We’re your 
friends, and we all love you. You know if there is anything you need, we are always 
happy to help. All you have to do is ask.”

	“Thank you,” she whispered, struggling to hold back the tears of gratitude 
that were threatening to fall. “Thank you so much.”

					*****

	A little later that Sunday morning, Keitaro stifled a yawn as he opened his 
eyes, surprised to see that instead of the digital alarm clock on the nightstand that 
usually greeted him when he woke up in the morning, he was staring up at the ceiling 
of a room that was not his, his neck sore and his arms folded across his chest to 
combat the slight coolness of the air-conditioner in lieu of a blanket. His glasses 
still sat on his face, and he wore the same suit he had worn yesterday.

	“Where am I?” he mumbled, struggling to sit up from what he now recognized was 
a large leather couch. The motion gave him a slight feeling of dizziness, but Keitaro 
shook it off and blinked a couple of times until the blurriness of the room came into 
focus.

	He was in his office -- not his study at the manor, but his office in Tokyo. 
Well, technically, it was Kaidou’s office now, he reminded himself as he noticed how 
empty the room looked, but he would still have full access to it until the 
inauguration. But the question was, why was he at the office?

	Keitaro tried to remember what had happened the night before, but his mind was 
still a little fuzzy. Standing, he walked over to the table at the corner of the room 
and poured himself a cup of coffee. It was leftover from the day before, but Keitaro 
barely noticed as he took a swig of the stale liquid, hoping the caffeine would help 
wake him up. He then started on a fresh batch and walked over to the window behind his 
desk to wait, pulling back the heavy curtains to reveal the usual morning hustle and 
bustle of Japan’s largest city. Even on a Sunday, people were busy going about their 
lives.

	He should have been at church by now, Keitaro suddenly realized when he took a 
look down at his watch to check the time. He had woken much later than usual, and Mass 
would have already started about twenty minutes ago at the little church he attended 
by the manor. There was no point in trying to make it. He decided he would try to make 
the evening service instead, not in the mood at the moment to go down to the church a 
few blocks down from the office. Though he didn’t know why, Keitaro got the feeling he 
was angry at God for something.

	It wasn’t until a few moments later, when he went to pour himself a second cup 
of coffee from the fresh brew and resumed his position of staring blankly out the 
window, that he realized why.

	Negishi Shinji had died.

	Keitaro still didn’t remember much about what had happened the night before. 
He remembered Negishi’s first wife coming out of his bedroom to tell them the news 
about an hour or so after he had said his final goodbye, and he remembered wanting to 
be alone after giving the family his condolences, but everything that happened after 
leaving Negishi’s house was pretty hazy. There were some vague memories of a dark 
place filled with smoke, however, and Keitaro swore when he noticed he positively 
reeked of perfume and alcohol.

	“Please tell me I did not go to a bar last night,” he groaned, lightly banging 
his forehead against the glass of the window. “What was I thinking? What did I do?”

	The good thing was, it seemed he had managed to sleep most of his drunkenness 
off. His memories of what happened were still dim, and he had a small headache, but it 
was a mild hangover compared to some he had experienced before in the past. Maybe he 
hadn’t drunk as much as he feared… 	

	Then again, Keitaro reasoned, he must have been pretty smashed if he hadn’t 
even made it home last night. At least he had the good sense not to drive back to the 
manor in his condition, though. Thank goodness for minor miracles. That was probably 
how he ended up at the office -- to spare himself the embarrassment of calling Ogata 
to pick him up at some dingy drinking hole. He knew there was a reason why he always 
preferred to drink in private.

	“I am such an idiot!” Keitaro suddenly growled, slamming his coffee mug down 
on the cleared-off desk. “Out of all the stupid, vile, disgusting things I could have 
done, why did I have to go to a bar!”

	Keitaro plopped down in the chair behind the desk and hid his face in his 
hands. He felt so ashamed of himself. Drowning his sorrows in alcohol once again was 
not the answer. After what happened after Takara’s death, he promised himself he 
wouldn’t allow himself to go down that road anymore. Keitaro thought he was stronger 
than that, but apparently he was as weak as his father had been.

	His father… Keitaro sneered at the man’s memory. Even Negishi Shinji had been 
more of a father-figure to him than Takeo ever was. He regretted that he hadn’t 
realized how much he cared about the old man until it was almost too late. Keitaro had 
always thought of Negishi as his idol, but in reality, he had been much more than 
that. Negishi had been the one who had taken him under his wing and guided him, 
filling the role left behind when his uncle died. Without him, he never would have 
fulfilled his political dreams and aspirations, the goals Wataru had shared with him. 

	Losing Negishi was like losing his beloved uncle all over again. In a way, the 
former governor had been the final remaining link between him and Wataru. The two had 
been such close friends, and Negishi had often loved to share stories about Wataru and 
him during their earlier years. Those stories had helped keep Wataru’s memory alive, 
but now...

	Keitaro realized then that he truly was alone. Sure, he still had Minoru, but 
things had gotten so strained between them over the years, he might as well count 
their relationship as a loss. They were more close acquaintances than best friends 
now. There was also Kaidou, but they weren’t really friends as much as mentor and 
student. And, of course, he couldn’t forget his daughter, but he had to admit that she 
was only a daughter in blood and name. When it came to feelings, thoughts, ideas and 
shared experiences, Rei might as well have been a stranger to him.

	No, he was alone, and it left him feeling cold as ice inside.

					*****
	
	As the last rays of sun disappeared under the horizon, Minako finished putting 
the last of the fallen cherry blossoms into her trash bag and wiped her arm across her 
lightly perspiring forehead. Finally, she was done! She thought she would never finish 
with the raking she had naively volunteered to do after the rest of the girls had left 
for the day to prepare for school the next day. Being a miko was a lot harder than it 
looked. No wonder Rei was so cranky at times.

	“Well, that’s the last of them,” she declared, dragging the bag over to where 
Makoto had started the pile earlier. “At least for now. I honestly don’t know how you 
do it, Rei-chan. Keeping this courtyard clean in the springtime is a full-time job in 
and of itself.”

	Rei, who had just come back outside after checking on Saburo and was building 
a small fire nearby, gave Minako a tiny smile, the first true smile Minako had seen 
all day. “I guess it takes practice,” the real miko replied. “But thank you for 
staying behind to finish, Minako-chan. I really appreciate it. I’m afraid I’ve been 
getting behind on my chores these last few days.”

	“No problem! After all, what are best friends for? Like I said before, we‘ll 
always be there if you need us. You can always count on us.”

	The miko sighed, tossing the first bag of cherry blossoms into the cackling 
fire. “I feel guilty, though,” Rei admitted. “You all gave up your Sunday to help me 
out at the shrine when there are plenty of other things you could have been doing. I’m 
sure becoming an honorary miko for the day was not your first choice of how to spend 
your day off.”

	“Actually, it was,” Minako said with a giggle as she sat down on a log beside 
Rei in front of the fire. The dark-haired girl raised her eyebrow, looking doubtful. 
“Well, it was either working here at Hikawa or finishing my homework,” she explained. 
“Okaa-san grounded me when she found out I failed that math test I took last week, but 
when Ami-chan called me this morning to tell me about Kondo-sama and we decided we 
wanted to help, my mother was so touched by the gesture, she said I could go.”

	“Ah, so working here was the lesser of two evils for you, then.”

	Minako shrugged her shoulders and threw another bag onto the fire. “I guess 
you could say that, but I really did want to help,” she said, grinning. “Besides, this 
was fun, even if it was a lot of work. Some of the guys who visited Hikawa today were 
*really* cute. I made sure to give them all special love charms, blessed by the 
Goddess of Love herself, guaranteed to find them true love -- with me!”

	As usual, her boy-crazy antics provoked Rei to roll her amethyst eyes in 
exasperation. “Minako-chan, when will you learn that there is more to life than 
chasing after cute boys?”

	“I already have,” Minako answered softly, reaching beside her for Rei’s hand 
and giving it a gentle squeeze. No other words were needed to convey what she meant. 
Yes, she may like to chase after boys and idols every once in a while (what normal 
teenage girl didn‘t?), but the most important things in her life were her duties as a 
senshi and her friends, especially Rei. Nothing else would matter if she didn’t have 
them.

	The beautiful miko smiled. “I know. I was just teasing you, Minako-chan. 
You’re not the boy-crazed, blonde ditz everyone thinks you are. Although, sometimes I 
wonder if you aren‘t just a little bit psycho…”

	“Rei-chan!”

	What could have been a touching moment was ruined when Minako reached into a 
nearby trash bag and grabbed a handful of cherry blossoms, giving her best friend a 
menacing look. Rei started shaking her head in protest, knowing exactly what Minako 
was going to do, but it was too late. The miko’s long black hair was soon coated with 
the delicate pink blossoms, and Rei began hopping around like the true psycho, 
attempting to shake them off. 

	“I can’t believe you did that! Look at the mess you made.” Rei squealed, 
trying unsuccessfully to brush the petals out of her hair. She was trying to look 
upset, but Minako knew by the smile Rei was attempting to hide that she wasn’t too 
mad.

	“That’s what you get for calling me psycho, Little Miss Perfect.”

	“Oh, really?” Rei bent down and gathered her own handful of blossoms, arching 
an eyebrow in Minako’s direction. “Would ‘Little Miss Perfect’ do this?”

	Minako held her hands up in front of her, slowly backing away from the armed 
woman. “Oh, no, Rei-chan, you wouldn’t dare!” she said. “You wouldn‘t dare throw those 
petals at me, not after all the help I gave you today.”

	“You want to bet?”

	“No…”

	Shrieks of laughter filled the normally serene shrine as Minako sprinted off, 
Rei following only a few feet behind her. For a moment, they were like children again, 
smiling and carefree. Even Phobos and Deimos joined in the fun, helping their mistress 
in her mission to get even. Minako didn’t have a chance against all three.

	“Okay, okay, I surrender! I surrender!” Minako finally said after a few 
minutes of running around, knowing there was no outrunning Rei and her crows. She 
closed her eyes and dramatically threw her arms out to her sides, prepared to face her 
punishment. “You got me. Do as you must.”

	Smiling wickedly, Rei came up to Minako and tossed the handful of cherry 
blossoms right on the top of her head. The delicate petals spilled down her hair like 
lava from a volcano, many catching on the strands of gold and the rest pooling on the 
ground around her feet. “Hey, pink looks good on you, Minako-chan,” Rei commented with 
a rare giggle as Minako opened her eyes.

	“You think?”

	“Sure. Maybe you should ask Chibi-Usa-chan what dye she uses and color your 
hair,” she joked.

	Minako pretended to ponder the suggestion, tapping her chin in mock 
concentration. “Hmm, I have been thinking it’s time for a change…”

	Purple eyes widened in horror. “You can’t be serious!”

	“Why not?” Minako asked, fluffing her sakura-adorned hair. “I’ve always liked 
the color pink, and it would certainly get rid of the blonde ditz stereotype people 
have of me. I think I just might do it.”

	Rei‘s normally elegant face contorted into a combination of pure shock and 
horror. “Minako-chan, you are *not* dyeing your beautiful hair pink!”

	Unable to keep up the façade any longer, Minako burst into laughter. “Okay, 
I’m not, but it was totally worth it to see that look on your face, Rei-chan,” she 
said, pointing to said face. “It’s priceless! Man, do I wish I brought my camera 
today!

	Rei scowled. “Oh, grow up,” she huffed good-naturedly, going back to the 
untended fire to finish burning up the rest of the leaves. 

	A few seconds later, Minako joined her, still giggling a little at the image 
burned in her mind, and with her help, soon all the bags were gone. They then returned 
to their seats on the log, enjoying the heat of the vibrant flames in the quickly 
cooling nighttime.     

	“You know what would be really good right now?” Minako asked after a while, 
breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen over the two. “S’mores. I have such a 
huge craving right now. Hey, do you happen to have some marshmallows, chocolate, and 
graham crackers around?”

	Rei shook her head, her eyes never leaving the blazing inferno in front of 
them. “I’m afraid not, Minako-chan,” she said softly. “Sorry.” 

	“Oh, that’s okay.” 

	Noticing Rei’s usual melancholy had returned, all thoughts of the sinfully 
delicious campfire treat disappeared, replaced by concern. Minako thought she had 
finally managed to cheer her friend up a little after their impromptu game of chase, 
but the darkness of Rei's eyes told her otherwise. It was going to take more than just 
a game of chase and a few silly words to lift her sadness.

	“He’s going to be okay, Rei-chan,” Minako assured her. “Don’t worry so much. 
After all, it’s just a nasty little flu bug, right? As long as it doesn’t turn into 
pneumonia, he should be fine. That’s what Ami-chan said, at least. And you’re taking 
such good care of him, he‘ll be better in no time.”

	“I hope your right, Minako-chan,” the miko said, her fingers digging at the 
fabric of her robes. “I really hope you’re right…”

	Minako didn‘t fail to catch the slight tremble in her unflappable friend‘s 
voice, causing her to frown. Was there something Rei wasn’t telling her? Ami had told 
her and the others that Saburo had come down with a bad case of influenza, but the 
future doctor said he should be fine in a couple days. Minako thought Rei would be 
relieved at the news. She had been so worried about her “feelings” the other day, it 
seemed like Rei would have been happy to have been proved wrong. Instead, she was 
acting even worse than before when she didn’t know what was wrong with her 
grandfather.  

	“What is it?” she asked, linking her arm with Rei’s. “What’s wrong, Rei-chan?”

	The dark-haired girl shook her head. “It’s nothing, really.”

	“It doesn’t seem like nothing. Come on, I know something is bother you, so 
there’s no point in trying to hide it from me. Tell me.”

	“I don’t feel like talking about it right now,” Rei said, tossing a nearby 
stick into the dying fire. Her tone was sharper than usual, startling Minako.

	“Are you sure? You know you can tell me anything. It‘s not healthy to keep 
your feelings all bottled up inside. I think it causes stomach ulcers, or something 
like--”

	“Minako-chan, I said I don’t want to talk about it,” Rei snapped, her face 
immediately softening as Minako jumped and pulled away in surprise. “Gomen nasai, I 
didn’t mean to yell at you.”

	Minako gave her a small smile. “No, it’s okay. I know I shouldn’t be prying 
into your private life, but I’m worried about you.”

	“Worried about me? I’m fine.”

	“Then why such the glum face? It’s hardly attractive, you know.”

	That got a little chuckle out of Rei, brief as it might have been. “It’s 
nothing, Minako-chan. I guess I’m just worried about this business with the Dead Moon 
Circus.”

	Minako rolled her eyes. “You and I both know that is not it, Rei-chan. Yeah, 
we’re all concerned about the new enemies and Mamoru-san’s strange illness, but it 
isn’t like you to be so depressed about a threat. I have a feeling this runs closer to 
home.”

	Completely ignoring her comments, the dark-haired girl turned away and began 
drawing some fancy kanji in the soil with another stick. Minako took Rei’s refusal to 
talk to mean that she had hit upon a nerve. Rei had a tendency to clam up whenever she 
didn’t want to talk about something, but Minako wasn’t going to let her get off so 
easily this time. Something major was bothering Rei, and she wasn’t leaving until she 
knew what it was.

	“Is there something else wrong with Kondo-sama?” Minako asked softly after a 
few seconds of frosty silence had passed. “Is that why you’re so upset?” 

	Rei shook her head, but still didn‘t turn back around. “Minako-chan, leave me 
alone. It’s none of your business.”

	“But it is my business when one of my best friends won’t let me help them 
through a difficult time.”

	“There’s nothing you can do, so why even bother?”

	“Because I care about you, and even if I can’t make the problem go away, it 
helps to talk about it.”

	“I said I don’t want to talk.”

	“I know you did, but…” Minako sighed and stood up from her seat on the log to 
kneel on the ground in front of Rei. “But I really wish you would,” she continued, 
taking the other girl’s hands in both her own. “Please, Rei-chan, tell me what’s 
wrong.”  

	At first, Rei refused to look at her, her gaze staring down at their clenched 
hands behind a wall of black hair.  Minako couldn’t even make out the expression on 
her face.  But eventually, the miko raised her head and the curtain fell away, 
revealing what appeared to be tears in her sad, purple eyes.

	“Rei-chan!” Minako exclaimed, throwing her arms around her best friend and 
pulling her close. She was glad when Rei didn’t try to pull away, even though she 
didn’t return the embrace. “What is it? Why are you crying? Please tell me.”

	“Mizuno-sensei suspects ojii-san has cancer,” Rei finally admitted in a hoarse 
voice. “Leukemia, to be exact.”

	“What?” Surprised and saddened by the news, Minako gently pulled away so she 
could better see Rei’s face. “Is she sure? Ami-chan didn’t say anything about the 
possibility of cancer.”

	“Her mother probably didn’t tell her. Mizuno-sensei didn’t really want to 
share her suspicions with me either, but I forced her to tell me. She’s supposed to 
return tomorrow for a check-up and to tell us the results of the tests.”

	“Oh, Rei-chan… Why didn’t you tell us?”

	“I didn’t want to say anything until we were positive of the diagnosis,” Rei 
said. “Besides, everybody should be focusing on Mamoru-san and the new threat, not me 
and my insignificant problems. We’re Sailor Senshi, and our duty is with the prince 
and princess.”

	“This isn’t an insignificant problem, Rei-chan,” Minako said, holding her by 
both arms so she couldn’t turn away again. “Yes, we are senshi, but that doesn’t mean 
everything else in our lives is unimportant. If the others knew about this, I’m sure 
they would want to help you in any way they could.”

	“I don’t want their help, Minako-chan. Ojii-san and I can handle this by 
ourselves, if it comes down to that. They needn‘t concern themselves.”

	“But what about Hikawa?” Minako asked, looking around at the sacred shrine. 
She and the other girls had done a great job cleaning the place up, but when they had 
first arrived that morning, it had been obvious that Rei had fallen behind on her 
chores. There was no way she could finish all her chores, go to school, and fight the 
occasional battle all at the same time, on top of taking care of her grandfather. Even 
a super heroine had her limits. “You can’t run this place all by yourself. You’re 
still in school. And then, of course, there’s the question of money. I know you’ve 
always been a penny-pincher when it comes to finances, but if Kondo-sama really is 
ill, his medical bills are going to be astronomical.”

	“I’ll figure something out,” Rei insisted. “I’ve already decided I’m going to 
pawn some of my jewelry after school tomorrow to pay Mizuno-sensei for her visits and 
the blood test, and combined with the money I have saved, I think it will be enough 
for now.”

	“What about later, though?”

	“To be honest, I don’t know,” Rei admitted, her slender shoulders slumping as 
she loudly exhaled. “Ojii-san told me not to worry about it, but I know he doesn’t 
have enough money saved to cover the possible expenses. I was thinking maybe I would 
quit school and get a job somewhere.”

	“Quit school? Rei-chan, you can’t do that.”

	Rei forced out a dry chuckle. “Somehow, I thought you would be the last one 
who would try to talk me out of dropping out. Ami-chan, sure, but not you.”

	“Hey, I might not make the best grades in the world, but even I know the 
advantages of having a high school diploma.”

	“Well, what else am I supposed to do?” she asked with a defeated sigh. “I 
can’t keep pawning my valuables forever. I‘m not exactly a princess with a vault full 
of jewels.”

	Minako thought about it, but, unfortunately, her mind was coming up with 
mostly blanks. As much as she hated to admit it, Rei was probably right about quitting 
school and finding a job. It seemed like the only logical choice at the moment. “But 
there has to be some other way,” Minako muttered to herself, standing back up and 
pacing in front of the other girl as she bit on her thumbnail in contemplation. “There 
has to be.”

	“Minako-chan, this isn’t your problem to wor--.”

	“What about your father?” she interrupted, finally hitting on something. “From 
what you’ve told me, he has money to spare, and you did say before that you were 
fairly certain he would give it to you if you asked.”

	“Otou-sama and I barely speak to each other, though,” Rei said. “The last 
thing I want to do is ask him, of all people, to loan us money. No, that would be the 
absolute last resort.”

	While Minako understood the bitterness Rei felt toward Hino Keitaro, he seemed 
to be the only reasonable alternative. “Rei-chan, I’m afraid you might have to swallow 
your pride this time. There’s really no better choice. You cannot drop out of the 
Academy, and even if you got a job, you wouldn’t earn nearly enough to pay the medical 
bills and the paychecks for extra help around Hikawa, as well as to take care your 
usual expenses.”

	Rei started to argue, but instead sighed and made a face, the reality of the 
situation apparently sinking in. “I hate it when your right, Minako-chan,” she 
muttered, erasing her work in the soil with her sandal. “I just wish there was some 
other way to go about this.”

	“I know,” Minako said sympathetically, sitting back down beside Rei and 
wrapping a comforting arm around the other girl’s shoulders. “But asking Hino-sama for 
the money, if it is needed, is the best solution. And who knows? You might not even 
have to worry about it. Doctor’s suspicions have been proved wrong before. Kondo-sama 
might not even have leukemia. You just need to keep positive.”

	“I suppose you’re right,” Rei grudgingly admitted, reaching for Minako’s hand. 
“Thanks, Minako-chan. I do feel a little better now that I‘ve talked about this and 
have some kind of plan, even if it is not exactly what I wanted.”

	Minako grinned. “See, I said you would,” she said before standing back up. It 
was getting late, judging by the dusky blueness of the sky and the appearance of a few 
twinkling stars, so she figured she might as well get home before she added another 
day to her punishment. “Well, I think it’s about time I left. There’s some homework I 
need to do for tomorrow, but if you need anything -- anything at all -- don’t hesitate 
to call, okay? I‘m always here for you.”

	“I will. Thanks again for all the help.”

	“It was nothing. Sayonara, Rei-chan.”

	“Sayonara.”

					*****

	The next day, school was unbearable. The day dragged by unnecessarily slow, 
and Rei simply went through the motions of pretending to pay attention in her classes, 
not particularly caring about how to perform the Pythagorean’s theorem or who won 
World War I. By the time the final bell rang to dismiss school, she was sure that most 
of her peers and teachers thought she was a complete space cadet.

	Archery practice wasn’t much better. Rei performed worse than she had the 
previous Friday, unable to keep her mind focused on anything but Dr. Mizuno’s upcoming 
visit and the impending test results. Father Arakawa, normally an easy-going guy as 
far as priests went, nearly threw a fit when one of her arrows didn’t even reach the 
target, instead embedding itself in the ground.

	“Hino, you have got to focus here,” he yelled, emphasizing each word with his 
booming voice. “We have competition coming up soon, and you are performing like a 
beginner at her first practice, not the expert we know you are.”

	“Gomen nasai, Arakawa-sensei,” Rei apologized, bowing toward her teacher. 
“I’ll try better next time.”

	The next time did go better, with Rei managing to hit a bull’s-eye after 
blocking out her worries about Saburo long enough to concentrate, but thankfully, 
practice ended shortly after she finished her shot. Walking right passed a concerned 
Kotono, who had apparently been watching practice again, Rei went to the locker room 
to change, then started on her way to the pawn shop in the shopping district.

	It didn‘t take her long to find the place. It was located right next door to a 
bookstore Ami had taken her to a few times, though fairly nondescript. Only a faded 
sign in the window, reading “Hideki’s Pawn Shop”, told her that it was the place she 
was seeking. Stopping when she saw the sign. Rei patted the small purse she had 
brought with her and opened the door. 

	As she entered the shop, a bell above the doorway tinkled prettily to announce 
her presence, and an old man, assumedly the owner, looked up from the silverware he 
had been polishing behind his counter. 

	“Ah, konnichiwa, miss,” he said, welcoming Rei inside with a kind smile. “What 
can I do today for a pretty girl like you?”

	Surprised, Rei blinked and checked the sign in the window once again to make 
sure she had the right address. This wasn’t what she imagined at all. She had been 
expecting some shady, money-grubbing pawnbroker, not a rosy-cheeked 
grandfather-figure, to be running the shop, but sure enough, she had come to the right 
place.

	“Are you Hideki-san?” Rei asked tentatively, still a little shocked.

	The old man grinned. “I sure am. I’ve owned this shop for well over forty 
years. This place is my baby.” 

	Feeling nothing threatening about him, Rei relaxed and finally returned his 
smile. “You have a lovely shop, sir. My grandfather told me about this place. He’s 
been coming here for years.”

	“Oh, really? Well, it’s always great to meet the next generation of customers. 
Who is your grandfather, if I may ask? I know most of my customers pretty well.”

	Rei hesitated a moment, but didn’t see the harm in revealing the information. 
"Kondo Saburo.”

	“The Shinto priest? Yes, I know him. A friendly one, he is, although not 
exactly my typical clientele. You must be Rei-san, then. The governor’s daughter?”

	“Hai,” she answered, her eyes widening when she discovered he already knew her 
name. While people familiar with politics often recognized her, it was rare to be 
noticed outside of fancy restaurants.

	“Your grandfather speaks very highly of you, Rei-san,” Hideki explained, 
causing Rei to faintly blush. “Is there anything I can do to be of service?”

	“Actually, there is. I came here to pawn some of my jewelry,” Rei said, 
suddenly remembering why she had come in the first place. 

	Stepping up to the counter, she opened her purse and spilled its contents 
across the surface. Admittedly, there wasn’t much. Mostly it was her mother’s jade 
jewelry, including the lavender hoops Takara had worn the day she died, but she had 
also brought a couple of rings set with semi-precious gemstones and a strand of small 
freshwater pearls her godfather had given her for her sixteenth birthday. Rei also 
pulled out a pair of ruby, pearl, and diamond combs from her pocket and hesitantly set 
it with the rest. 

	“How much can I get for all of this?” she asked.

	Hideki, losing some of his friendly countenance as they got down to business, 
slid a pair of glasses on his face. He began examining each piece with care, 
occasionally mumbling something to himself that Rei couldn’t comprehend. “I can offer 
you 500,000 yen,” he answered once he had finished the appraisal.

	Rei‘s spirit fell at the offered price. She knew her jewelry wasn‘t much, but 
she had expected them be worth a little more than what Hideki offered. “Five hundred 
thousand yen? Is that all?”

	“Gomen nasai, Rei-san. I’m afraid that is the best offer I can give you. The 
rings are virtually worthless, and while these appear to be Mikimoto pearls, they are 
not large enough to be of any true value. The combs, also, are not worth much. The 
rubies are simulated and the diamonds are of low quality. I will say the jade pieces 
are lovely, though, and that is reflected in my price.”

	“Oh, I understand,” she said softly. The price wasn’t as much as she had 
expected, but if Hideki was right -- and she knew instinctively that he was an honest 
man -- she probably would not get a better offer anywhere else. She had not choice but 
to accept. “I’ll take it then.”

	Nodding, Hideki went to his cash register and pulled out the money. “Here you 
go, miss,” he said, placing the yen in her hand. “I’m sorry I could not offer more.”

	Rei closed her hand over the money and put it inside her now empty purse. It 
would probably be enough to pay for Dr. Mizuno's visits and the blood test, but there 
wouldn't be much left if additional tests were needed. “No, that’s okay. Any little 
bit helps. Ojii-san is sick, and we need the money.”

	“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, Rei-san,” Hideki said, sounding honestly 
sympathetic. “I’ll tell you what. If you are willing to part with that pendant as 
well, I could give you an extra 100,000 yen for it,” he said, indicating her mother’s 
necklace. “It’s a very beautiful piece, and it looks like a genuine Burmese ruby.”

	“My pendant?” 

	Rei’s hand reached up for the beautiful heart-shaped pendant hung from the 
delicate gold chain around her neck, and she bit down on her lip as she considered the 
offer. She never intended on pawning her mother’s necklace, hoping it would not be 
necessary, but Rei had to admit 100,000 yen was a good chunk of money. She would be a 
fool to turn that kind of money down. 

	Yet, the thought of selling the necklace pained her heart. It was one of the 
few things she had left to remember Takara by, and she feared she would forget her 
mother completely without it. Try as they might, nobody could put a price on memories. 

	Rei knew what choice she had to make.

	“I can’t,” she answered. “It’s a very kind offer, but this necklace means too 
much to me. I cannot sell it.”

	Hideki smiled. “Somehow, I figured that, but you can’t blame me for trying. 
Tell Kondo-sama I hope he gets well soon, and please come again. I’ll keep the items 
in storage for a month if you can come up with the money to buy them back.”

	“Arigatou, Hideki-san. I will. Sayonara.”

	“Sayonara.”

	Rei bowed politely, then exited the small shop, her steps quickening as she 
headed toward a nearby bus stop where a bus heading to Sendaizakaue had just stopped 
to load passengers. Ami said her mother would be stopping by after her shift ended at 
seven, so she wanted to get home as soon as possible so she could check on Saburo and 
prepare a quick dinner. Rei hopped on board, the last person in line, and took a seat 
in the back, her feelings in turmoil as she watched the world go by out her window.

	A short time later, although it had felt like an eternity to Rei, she was 
home. Entering the shrine, she immediately went to the bedroom to check on Saburo, 
finding him asleep, but comfortable. He was about over his flu, so he was no longer 
sweating, and some of the color had even returned to cheeks. Rei was glad to see he 
was recovering and pulled his blanket up around his shoulders before heading to the 
kitchen to prepare supper.

	When she finished, Rei didn’t bother waking Saburo up, not wanting to disturb 
him when he looked so peaceful. He hadn’t slept well over the last few days, so he 
still needed his rest. Instead, she took the instant ramen she had made to the main 
room and kneeled down at the table, eating her dinner while she waited for Dr. Mizuno 
to arrive.

	As it turned out, she didn’t have to wait very long. There was a knock on the 
door about ten minutes after seven, the doctor arriving right on schedule. Rei pushed 
her half-eaten ramen aside and went to show their guest inside.

	“Konbanwa, Mizuno-sensei,” she greeted the doctor, who wore a serious 
expression on her face as she stepped inside. “Do you have the results of the blood 
work?”

	The blue-haired woman nodded and held up a large manila folder. “They’re right 
here, but if you don’t mind, I would prefer to examine Kondo-sama first before I talk 
to you both about what the test showed. May I see him?”

	“Oh,” Rei exhaled, disappointed but willing to wait. “Of course. Right this 
way.”

	Rei lead Dr. Mizuno to the bedroom, and after she had woken her grandfather 
from his sleep, she went to the kitchen to brew some tea, just as she had done during 
the previous visit. This time, however, she refused to wait outside and entered the 
bedroom with a tray set for three once the tea was done. Dr. Mizuno was just 
completing the check-up when she arrived.

	“How is he, Mizuno-sensei?” Rei asked as she kneeled down beside the futon and 
began pouring the tea.

	“The good news is, I think the worst of the flu bug is over,” Dr. Mizuno 
answered, putting away her stethoscope. “He may still seemed tired and weak for the 
next couple of days, but I think I can safely say Kondo-sama is out of immediate 
danger. We were lucky his illness didn’t develop into pneumonia.”

	“And the bad news?” Saburo prodded, his voice weak and scratchy still.

	The doctor’s expression didn’t change as she reached for the manila envelope 
and pulled out a couple of sheets of paper. “These are the results of the blood test I 
had the lab perform,” she announced needlessly. “I’ve read over the report, and the 
test indicated exactly what I expected. There is an abnormally high amount of white 
blood cells in his blood.”

	“What does that mean?” Rei asked, reaching for her grandfather’s wrinkled 
hand. “Does ojii-san have cancer?”

	Her face softening slightly, Dr. Mizuno nodded. “I’m sorry, Hino-san. There is 
no doubt, now. My diagnosis is leukemia.”

	While Rei had expected the news, hearing it officially from the doctor’s mouth 
made it frightening real. Her already porcelain complexion paled, and she tightened 
her grip on Saburo’s hand as if by doing so, she could somehow give him some of her 
strength. “Oh, ojii-san…” she whispered. 

	Strangely enough, though, her grandfather hardly reacted to the diagnosis, 
simply nodding his acceptance. Rei assumed he had plenty of time to prepare himself 
while he was sick in bed. “Arigatou, Mizuno-sensei,” he said. “Now that the diagnosis 
has been made, what’s next?”

	Dr. Mizuno slid the report back into the envelope before speaking. “First, I 
would like to have you admitted to the hospital and perform some more extensive 
tests,” she began. “While the blood work indicates leukemia, it does not show me what 
type with which we are dealing. Once that has been decided, then we can discuss 
treatment options. Most likely, we will try chemotherapy at first to get the cancer 
into remission, and if that doesn’t work, we may do a bone marrow transplant. 
Hino-san, I would like you to have yourself tested as a possible donor, just in case. 
Research has shown a bone marrow transplant has a higher success rate of being 
accepted by the body when it comes from a blood relative.”

	Rei didn’t have to think twice before agreeing. “Of course.”

	“Good. I can schedule you an appointment whenever Kondo-sama is admitted into 
the hospital.”

	“And when would that be?”

	“My advice is as soon as possible. If your grandfather has acute leukemia, as 
I first suspected, then we need to begin treatment as soon as possible. I can have him 
admitted tomorrow, if you agree.”

	“Ojii-san?” Rei asked, looking over at the elderly man. She already knew what 
she would decide, but it was ultimately his decision. “Is that okay with you?” 

	Saburo sighed, resting his weary head back on his pillow. “What about Hikawa, 
though?” he asked. “Who will take care of the shrine in my absence? I was hoping we 
could resume a regular schedule once I got over my sickness. We‘ve already lost so 
much business…”

	“I will, ojii-san,” Rei promised. “I’ll skip school for the next few days and 
keep the shrine open while you‘re in the hospital.”

	“Are you sure, Rei-chan? Taking care of the shrine full-time is a huge 
responsibility, and I don’t want you to fall behind in school.”

	“I won’t. I can borrow Sarashina-san’s notes and I’m sure Ami-chan will be 
happy to explain anything I don’t understand, so I won’t fall behind in my classes. 
It‘ll only be for a few days. Besides, I‘d have to miss school tomorrow anyway to get 
you admitted into the hospital and to get tested. A couple of more days won‘t hurt 
me.”

	“You have this all figured out, don’t you, little one?” he weakly joked, 
giving her a small smile before sighing again. “Okay, I guess if you think you can 
handle running the shrine by yourself for a few days, as well as keep up with your 
school work, I’ll go to the hospital. I really don’t have much of a choice in the 
matter, anyway, do I?”

	“You made the right decision, Kondo-sama,” Dr. Mizuno assured him, standing 
from her kneeling position. “Hino-san, why don’t we let your grandfather get some more 
rest, and we can discuss tomorrow? There are some things I want to go over with you 
before I leave.”

	Nodding, Rei started gathering the half-empty tea bowls back on the tray and 
followed Dr. Mizuno back to the main room after saying goodnight to her grandfather. 
They kneeled down at the low table to talk.

	“So, what did you want to discuss with me?” Rei asked, pouring them some more 
tea.

	“Well, mostly I wanted to know if you were Kondo-sama’s only living blood 
relative. Ami-chan told me your mother, his daughter, died when you were younger, but 
does Kondo-sama have any more children or grandchildren? Or perhaps some of his 
siblings are still alive? Nieces, nephews? I would like to get them tested as well, if 
possible.”

	Rei shook her head. “No, okaa-sama was an only child, and his two brothers 
both died in the war before taking a wife. I’m all he has left.”

	“I see. That does make things more difficult if your bone marrow is discovered 
to be incompatible.”

	“A donor doesn’t necessarily have to be a blood relative, does it?” she asked.

	“No, not technically, but as I said before, there’s less of a chance of the 
body rejecting the bone marrow if it comes from a close relation.” 

	“But a bone marrow transplant isn’t our only option, right?”

	“That is correct. I’m not as well versed in the latest leukemia treatments, 
since oncology is not my specialty, but chemotherapy is by far the most popular 
choice. Once we know what we are looking at, I’m sure Kondo-sama’s doctors will 
suggest trying chemotherapy first. A bone marrow transplant is often seen a last 
resort because of the risks involved.”

	“Doctors?” Rei echoed. “You mean, you won’t be the one treating him?”

	“No, I am not a specialist in that area, but I do have several friends who 
are. I can provide you with recommendations if you’d like. They‘re some of the best 
oncologists and hematologists in the area.”

	Looking down at her tea, Rei sighed. Dealing with the hospital bills and the 
tests was going to be hard enough, but how in the world were they going to afford to 
pay for a team of specialists? It was looking more and more as if she had no choice 
but to go to her father and ask for the money.

	“Is something wrong, Hino-san?” Dr. Mizuno asked, noticing her silence.

	“No, it’s nothing, Mizuno-sensei,” she lied, shaking her head. Rei didn’t care 
to advertise their constant money woes, but the intelligent doctor deduced her worries 
right away. 

	“You’re worried about the costs, aren’t you?”

	“Hai,” Rei admitted. “I managed to find the money to pay you for your visits 
and the blood test, but we don’t have insurance.”

	“I suspected as much.” The older woman sat down her tea bowl. “Rei-chan, I 
won’t lie to you. Treating cancer does not come cheap, especially when you don’t have 
insurance. You can set up a payment plan with the hospital, but I’m afraid it will 
still be a financial burden.”

	“Then I guess I’ll have to go to him after all…” she muttered to herself.

	A confused look crossed Dr. Mizuno’s face. “Him?”

	“Nobody,” Rei quickly answered, standing back up. “Let me walk you to the 
door. I’m sure you are probably anxious to go home to Ami-chan…”

					*****

	“Ojii-san, are you ready to leave for the hospital yet?” a girlish voice said, 
knocking on the door to Saburo’s bedroom the next morning. “The bus will be here in 
fifteen minutes. We don’t want to be late.”

	Sighing, Saburo zipped up the rest of the small suitcase he was taking with 
him to the hospital and rolled his eyes. That must have been the fifth time in the 
last half-hour she had checked in on him. As much as he hated to admit it, it was 
starting to border on the edge of annoying, no matter how good her intentions were. He 
felt like a kid being scolded by his mother because he was running late for school, 
which was ridiculous considering he hadn’t gone to school in well over forty years. 

	“Almost, Rei-chan,” he called out. “I’ll be out in a couple of minutes.”

	“Are you *sure* you don’t need any help in there?”

	“I’m fine. Did you finish your morning chores yet?”

	“Hai. I got up extra early to complete them before we left.”

	“Well, why don’t you fix yourself a bowl of cereal while you wait for me to 
finish in here?”

	“I already ate.”

	“Then eat again. You know how bad hospital food supposedly is. I doubt you’ll 
want to eat lunch there.”

	“Is that your none-too-subtle hint to tell me to leave you alone?” Rei asked, 
the slightest bit of a teasing tone in her voice. It was a welcome change from the 
seriousness that had pervaded the young girl that entire morning and made Saburo feel 
a little better about what was about to happen. It was good to know some things hadn’t 
changed.

	“Well, now that you mention it…”

	“Fine, fine, I’ll go fix a bowl of cereal if it’ll make you happy,” she said. 
“But remember we need to be at the bus stop in…”

	“…in thirteen minutes. I know,” Saburo said, completing Rei’s sentence as he 
glanced over at the alarm clock to check the time. “I’ll be done in five minutes, 
tops.”

	“Okay, I’ll see you in five.”

	Finally, he heard the sound of her slippered feet shuffling toward the 
kitchen, and he smiled sadly as he was reminded that it would be the last time he 
heard that sound until at least Friday, if not longer. 

	Saburo hoped Rei would be okay on her own for a few days. That was probably 
his biggest worry. This would mark the first time he had left his granddaughter alone 
for any significant amount of time, so he was understandably concerned. He’d been 
hoping that maybe he could convince Uchizawa Minoru to stay with her at the shrine 
while he was gone, but the playboy businessman was off in Paris and wouldn’t be back 
for another week. 

	Rei would be fine, though, he knew. He was just being overprotective. She was 
a responsible girl and more than capable of taking care of herself and the shrine for 
a few days. It was probably time he let her learn to fend for herself anyway. If 
anything should happen to him…

	Saburo wasn’t fooling himself. He didn’t like to dwell on it much, but he knew 
there was a good chance he might not survive much longer. Cancer was a tough enemy to 
beat, and he wasn’t sure if he had the strength left to fight it. He would fight, for 
Rei’s sake, but he knew the battle would not be easy for either one of them. 

	“Ojii-san, it is time to go,” Rei said, sliding open the door. “Are you ready 
yet?”

	“As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose,” Saburo replied, grabbing his suitcase, 
which Rei immediately took from him.

	“I’ll carry that. You just worry about getting on the bus. Now, come, the bus 
will be arriving at any minute.”	

	The two of them left the shrine and walked to the nearby bus stop, where a bus 
pulled up a couple minutes behind schedule. Saburo resisted the urge to tease Rei 
about how she had worried about them being late when she should have been worrying 
about the bus, thinking she probably wouldn’t find that very amusing, and got on 
board. A short time later, they were checking into the hospital, and a nurse rolled 
him to his room in a wheelchair as Rei finished filling out the necessary paperwork at 
the nurse‘s station.

	When they got there, Saburo discovered he would be sharing his room with 
another leukemia patient. His roommate wasn’t there when he arrived, but the nurse, a 
cutely perky redhead, said the other man would be back after he finished his chemo 
treatment. She helped Saburo get settled into his bed, then left to check on some of 
the other patients, leaving him to watch some television until Rei found him about 
fifteen minutes later.

	“Iron Chef?” his granddaughter asked, an eyebrow raised as she entered the 
room and saw what was on the TV hooked up in the corner of the room. “Don’t tell me 
you’re actually watching that, ojii-san.”

	Saburo chuckled. Rei’s distaste for television was legendary. She always said 
it was nothing more but mindless entertainment intended to keep people from their 
work. “Why not? I’m actually kind of enjoying it. Maybe when I get out of here, we 
should buy a TV for Hikawa…”

	“I don’t think so.” Rei grabbed the remote and clicked off the show before 
turning back to him. “So, how are things so far, ojii-san?” she asked, briefly 
glancing over at the empty bed on the other side of the room. “I’m sorry we couldn’t 
get you a private room…” 

	“It’s fine, Rei-chan. I don’t mind,” he assured her. Honestly, Saburo was 
almost glad he had a roommate. It would be nice to have somebody to talk to who was 
going through the same thing. As long as he was friendly, Saburo didn’t mind at all.

	“Still, I’m sure you’d prefer a single,” Rei said with a frown as she took a 
seat on the edge of the bed. “I wish…”

	“Wish what?

	The teen shrugged. “Oh, nothing.”

	She might have tried to brush her thoughts as nothing, but from the look in 
her eyes, Saburo had a pretty good idea what she was thinking about. “You’re worrying 
about the money again, aren’t you?” he asked.

	Violet eyes widened, but she didn’t deny it. “Well, what if I am?” Rei 
replied. “It’s better than worrying about other things, like the things I can’t 
control. At least there’s something I can do about this.”

	“Like what, Rei-chan? You’re barely sixteen years old. I told you not to 
concern yourself with our financial problems. That‘s my job.”

	“But you have enough to worry about, ojii-san. You don’t need to worry about 
money, too. Besides, I already have a plan that might temporarily solve the problem.”

	A plan? Saburo was almost afraid to ask what it was. How in the world did a 
teenage girl expect to her hands on that kind of cash? He was aware of the fact that 
Rei had already pawned some of her jewelry to pay for Dr. Mizuno’s visits, but she 
couldn’t keep doing that forever. That only left a few other possible options, and he 
didn’t like a single one of them.

	“Would this plan involve anything immoral or illegal?” he asked, staring his 
granddaughter straight in the eye. “Listen to me, Rei-chan, I don’t want you to do 
anything you will regret doing later. I would rather die than have you pushing drugs 
or selling your body in one of those clubs. I raised you better than that.”

	“No, I’m not going to do anything like that, although I admit it might have 
crossed my mind at one time,” she answered, much to his relief. “It’s perfectly 
legitimate, if somewhat humiliating, but I’m willing to swallow my pride if it means 
affording you the best medical care possible.”

	“You don’t mean to go to your fa--”

	Unfortunately, before Saburo could finish his question, the door to his room 
opened and Dr. Mizuno stepped in, followed by another doctor. He was an older 
gentleman, with a thick mane of black hair generously streaked with gray and 
intelligent brown eyes. 

	“Gomen nasai,” Dr. Mizuno apologized. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything 
important. There’s someone I would like you to meet. Kondo-sama, Rei-chan, I’d like to 
introduce you to my good friend, Asada Yasuo-sensei. He is the best oncologist we have 
on staff here at the hospital.”

	“Mizuno-sensei, you flatter me too much,” Dr. Asada said with the typical 
Japanese modesty. “It is a pleasure to meet you both.” 

	Rei slid off the bed and returned the bow the doctor gave them. “It’s nice to 
meet you, too, Asada-sensei,” she said. “Will you be ojii-san’s doctor?”

	“Yes, one of his doctors. I‘ll be heading the team working on Kondo-sama‘s 
case.”

	“I suppose that means it’s time for the tests to begin, since you are here,” 
Saburo commented with a slight frown. Dr. Mizuno had filled him in on the battery of 
tests that would have to be performed, and he wasn’t exactly looking forward to them.

	“That would be correct, Kondo-sama,” the doctor replied, stepping out of the 
way so the perky redhead nurse could roll the wheelchair back in the room. “We’ll be 
taking you down to the labs for the first round of tests right now. It shouldn’t take 
very long -- an hour or two at the most. You should be back in here by lunchtime.”

	“Will I need to go too?” Rei asked while she helped the nurse get Saburo into 
the chair. “Mizuno-sensei said she wanted me to be tested as a possible bone marrow 
donor.”

	Dr. Mizuno answered that one. “Your appointment isn’t until around two, 
Rei-chan, so if you would like, you may go down to the cafeteria and get something to 
eat or take a walk outside. Whatever you would like to do. You won’t be needed for a 
while yet.”

	“Good, there was something I needed to take care of anyway,” Rei said, causing 
Saburo to raise a questioning eyebrow in her direction. She ignored it though, 
squeezing his hand in comfort. “Ojii-san, I’ll be back when you’re finished, okay?”

	“Rei-chan, where are you going?” he demanded to know. “Are you going to 
Hino-sama’s office?”

	She averted her eyes from his, a sure sign she wasn’t going to tell him the 
whole truth. “I‘m just going out for a while,” she insisted. “Everything will be fine. 
Don’t worry about me. You be a good patient and don’t give the doctors any trouble. 
They’re only trying to help you.”

	“Rei-chan…”

	“I’ll be back later. Ja ne!”

	Sighing, Saburo watched his granddaughter leave the room and hoped she wasn’t 
setting herself up for heartache.

					*****

	Rei glanced down at the piece of paper in her hands as she waited for the 
elevator to open in the lobby. It was her first visit inside the building since her 
mother’s death. Takara had taken her a few times when she was a little girl, but after 
that, obviously, Rei hadn’t had any desire to visit her father at his Tokyo office. 
However, looking at the map she had picked up from the information booth, it didn’t 
seem too hard to find. She folded the piece of paper back up as the doors to the 
elevator slid open and stepped inside, pressing the button on the control panel that 
would take her to the twentieth floor. 

	A few seconds later, much too quickly for Rei’s taste, the doors opened, 
revealing a mad house of sorts. People were walking back and forth, carrying large 
cardboard boxes, and phones were ringing off the hook, all but ignored by their 
owners. Rei almost didn’t get off, thinking she must have pushed the wrong button by 
accident. This was not what she had been expecting. Then she remembered that the 
elections had been a couple of weeks ago, and her father had been elected to the Diet. 
Today must have been set aside for the staff to pack their things for the big move. 

	Assured then she had the right floor, Rei exited the elevator and headed in 
the direction toward Keitaro’s office. She was grateful that she was almost unnoticed 
in the chaos. A few of the younger men let out low whistles as she passed them by, and 
one poor fool almost dropped the box he was carrying on his foot, but they were easy 
to ignore. Rei simply tossed her hair over her shoulder and muttered an annoyed “Men!” 
under her breath as she continued on by, pulling the map back out to find her way.

	Keitaro’s office, as it turned out, was at the very end of the main hall. 
Spotting the gold nameplate bearing his name on the door, Rei stopped, but hesitated 
in entering, her hand resting on the matching gold knob. She didn’t know if she could 
go through with this. 

	What if he refused to give her the money? It was no secret that Saburo and 
Keitaro didn’t have the best relationship in the world. Her father could very well 
decide it was Saburo’s problem if he couldn’t afford medical care. Rei didn’t think 
Keitaro would be that cruel, but there was always the possibility. 

	“Well, I guess I won’t know until I try,” she said to herself, taking a deep 
breath before opening the door.

	Inside, she found the secretary, possibly the only person on the floor working 
that day, talking on the phone. The dowdy woman -- Miss Katsuki, she believed her name 
was -- briefly glanced up from writing a note on a calendar and motioned that she 
would be with her in a moment. Rei nodded and stood quietly off to the side until Miss 
Katsuki was finished with her call.

	“Sorry about that, miss,” Miss Katsuki said, placing the receiver back in the 
cradle. “What may I do for you today?”

	“I-I’m here to see otou-sama,” Rei said, stuttering at first.

	“Your father?” the secretary repeated. She looked confused at first, but then 
recognition flickered in her dull brown eyes. “Oh, Rei-san, it’s you. Forgive me. It’s 
been quite a long time since I saw you last.”

	“Yes, it has. Is otou-sama busy?”

	“I’m afraid Hino-sama isn’t here at the moment, Rei-san,” she answered. “He’s 
attending a funeral today.”

	Rei was so shocked that her father wasn’t at work that she didn’t comprehend 
the rest of the sentence at first. “A funeral? Whose?” 

	“You haven’t heard? Negishi Shinji-san died last Saturday.”

	“Negishi-san? No, I didn‘t know…”

	Rei barely knew the man, but she was sorry to hear of his passing. From what 
she remembered about him, he had been a kind and charismatic man, even if he had been 
a politician. Kaidou had admired him a lot, as well, almost as much as her father. His 
grandfather’s death had probably devastated him. Maybe I’ll send him a letter, she 
thought, not for the first time regretting how things had ended between them. She had 
long gotten over her bitterness toward him, feeling only a twinge of sadness about the 
way things had turned out, but she never could seem to find the courage to contact 
him.

	“If you would like, you may wait for Hino-sama inside his private office,” 
Miss Katsuki said, breaking Rei from her thoughts. “He should be arriving back here in 
another ten or fifteen minutes or so, and he doesn’t have anything else scheduled 
until three. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. Let me show you inside.”

	“Oh, thank you.”

	Following Miss Katsuki to the door, Rei entered the room and took a seat on 
the leather couch in the corner, looking around the bare office. From the looks of 
things, Keitaro had obviously already finished his packing. Most everything personal 
was gone and sealed away inside the small stack of boxes sitting on the floor. For a 
moment, she allowed herself to wonder if any of those boxes contained a picture of 
her, but Rei pushed the thought away, already knowing the answer to that question 
without looking. Why would her father keep a picture of her in his office when he 
could barely stand to look at her live in the flesh?

	Once again, Rei wondered if it was a mistake to come see Keitaro. He would 
probably be too busy to see her anyway, despite what Miss Katsuki had claimed. That 
was the story of his life, after all -- always too busy to take an interest in 
anything but his own career. How many times had he brushed her off on account of some 
big, important meeting or press conference he simply couldn’t get out of attending? 
Too many times to count. So, why did she think this time would be any different?

	But no matter how much she wanted to leave, Rei couldn’t. Her grandfather’s 
face haunted her, and she knew she had to stay. Even if Saburo didn’t like to admit 
it, they needed her father’s help. She was willing to do anything if it meant saving 
her grandfather’s life.

	So, Rei remained seated where she was and waited.

					*****

	Keitaro arrived back at his office a short time later, glad to finally find 
refuge from the reporters that had hounded him ever since he left the cemetery. 
Somehow, Negishi’s funeral had turned into a media circus, and as the current governor 
of Tokyo (albeit for only a couple more days), every newspaper, magazine, and 
television station in town seemed to want a quote on how he felt about the passing 
away of his predecessor, as if the brief statement he released the day before wasn’t 
enough. Normally, Keitaro didn’t mind dealing with the media, but if *one* more 
reporter stuck a microphone in front of his face, asking him yet another inane 
question about Negishi’s death, he would not be responsible for what he did.

	“Katsuki-kun, did I get any calls while I was gone?” Keitaro asked as he 
stepped inside, slipping off the light overcoat he wore to reveal the black suit he 
wore underneath.

	The woman nodded and handed him a small stack of Post-It notes. “Mostly 
requests for interviews with the media concerning Negishi-san‘s death, but 
Uchizawa-san did call to pass on his condolences,” she said. “Oh, and your daughter is 
here to see you as well.”

	Keitaro had been flipping though his messages but immediately stopped when he 
heard Rei was there. His eyes widened in surprise. “Rei-san?” he blurted. “Are you 
sure it was her?”

	“Yes, sir.  I told her she could wait for you in your office. I hope you don’t 
mind.”

	“No, that’s fine,” he said, distractedly setting the messages back down on her 
desk. “Um…call these people back and inform them I will not be granting interviews at 
this time.”

	“Yes, sir.”

	Keitaro headed toward his office, still stunned by the announcement that Rei 
had come to visit him. In the sixteen years he had been in office, his daughter never 
once came to see him on her own accord. He wondered what she wanted. Certainly, it 
wasn’t a friendly social call.

	Inhaling deeply, Keitaro turned the doorknob and stepped inside. “Rei-san?” he 
said hesitantly, looking around the office for his daughter.

	Over in the corner, the pretty teen immediately jumped up from her seat on 
the brown leather sofa and bowed. “K-Konnichiwa, otou-sama,” she said, her eyes never 
once looking up at him. “I’m sorry I came over uninvited. I hope you don’t mind.”

	“N-No, it’s fine,” he assured her, closing the door behind him as his brow 
furrowed in confusion. Keitaro noticed she wasn’t dressed in her school uniform as she 
should have been on a Tuesday, but in a red sleeveless turtleneck and black slacks 
instead. “But aren’t you supposed to be at school today?” he asked. “I don’t remember 
it being a holiday.”

	“It’s not. I called in sick,” she admitted. “There were some… things I needed 
to do today.”

	“Oh.” 

	Sighing, Keitaro took a seat in his chair behind his desk and motioned for Rei 
to join him. The teen did, sitting down in the seat reserved for visitors, but she 
didn’t seem inclined to talk. Rei still refused to look at him, her head bowed as she 
pretended to pick at some imaginary lint on her shirt. 	

	Her behavior puzzled him. Why had she come when she obviously didn’t want to 
speak to him? Keitaro wished she would say something, even if the only reason why she 
had come was to yell at him. He wouldn’t blame her if she did. At least that he could 
understand, but he couldn’t understand the frosty silence that had come over them like 
a fog.

	Finally, however, the fog lifted, and Rei looked up, revealing a face so 
familiar, Keitaro almost wished she hadn’t. Unbearable pain washed over him, and he 
instinctively turned away.

	“I’m sorry about Negishi-san’s death,” she said softly. “I know how much you 
admired him.”

	“Thank you, Rei-san,” he replied. “Is that why you came? To give me your 
condolences?”

	Rei shook her head. “No, it wasn’t. I actually didn’t know he had died until 
Katsuki-san told me you had gone to his funeral. If I had known, I wouldn’t have come 
here today to bother you with my problems. In fact, I think maybe I should go…”

	She rose from her chair to leave, but Keitaro motioned for her to sit back 
down. No matter how strained their relationship had become over the years, if Rei’s 
problems were dire enough for her to skip school in order to come see him, then he 
couldn’t very well turn her away in good faith. He did owe her that much.  

	“What is it, Rei-san?” he asked once his daughter had resumed her seat. “Do 
you need something from me?”

	There was a moment of hesitation before Rei loudly exhaled and said, in a 
voice so low Keitaro could barely understand her, “I need money.”

	“Money?”

	Her request surprised him. Keitaro knew for a fact that neither his daughter 
or his father-in-law liked to receive charity.  He had offered several times to raise 
the monthly allowance he sent to Saburo for Rei’s care, yet each time the priest 
refused it. He had insisted he didn’t need more and the amount he received was 
sufficient.

	“Ojii-san has been sick for the last few months,” Rei explained, her violet 
eyes lowering to stare at the folded hands on her lap. “At first, we didn’t think it 
was anything serious, but yesterday, he was diagnosed with leukemia. That’s why I 
didn’t go to school today. He’s been admitted to the hospital for more testing, and 
the doctors will probably start treatment soon.”

	“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, Rei-san,” Keitaro said honestly. It was true that 
he and Saburo had never been on the best of terms, but he had always held the deepest 
respect for his father-in-law.

	“Yes, well, the treatments will be very expensive,” she continued, barely 
acknowledging his condolences. Keitaro doubted Rei had even heard him. She seemed to 
be concentrating solely on her words, as if she was trying to recall the lines of a 
pre-written script. “Ojii-san doesn’t have insurance, meaning we’ll have to pay the 
hospital bills ourselves. I thought we would be able to take care of it without any 
help, but it has become obvious that we can’t. The shrine isn’t as busy as it used to 
be, and even if I were to quit school, I doubt I would be able to find a job with a 
paycheck large enough to cover anything. So, I’d like to ask you for a loan.”

	“A loan?” he repeated once Rei had finished her speech.

	Blushing, Rei lifted her chin back up and nodded. “We’d pay every yen back, I 
swear,” she promised. “I’ll transfer to a public high school so the tuition isn’t as 
high, and I can find a part-time job to work on the weekends. It might take a while, 
but I promise you that we will pay you back -- with interest, too. You can even take 
Hikawa as collateral.”

	As he raised his hand to massage his temple, Keitaro struggled to wrap his 
mind around what she said. Rei had apparently put quite a bit of thought into her plan 
before she came, but asking him for a loan? Was he really nothing but a bank to her? 
All she needed to do was ask and he would have been perfectly happy to give her the 
money. There was no need for words like "interest" and "collateral".

	“That won’t be necessary, Rei-san,” he finally responded.

	Purple eyes darkened. “I see. Is that your way of telling me you refuse to 
give me the loan?” she asked coolly, rising again from her seat. “I should have known. 
I don’t even know why I came to you in the first place, otou-sama. You never cared 
about me and ojii-san before, so why should you start now?”

	“That’s not what I said,” he refuted.

	“Well, it’s pretty obvious that you have no interest in helping us,” Rei 
bitterly continued. “You don’t want to give us the loan, so if you don‘t mind, I‘ll be 
leaving now. I’m sorry I wasted your time.” 

	His daughter began heading toward the door to leave, but Keitaro pushed his 
chair away from his desk and stood, both desperate and irritated by her behavior.

	“Rei-san, wait.”  

	The raven-haired girl paused and reluctantly turned back around. “Yes, 
otou-sama?”

	“I won’t give you the loan,” he said, ignoring the sullen look on her face, 
“but I will give you the money.”

	The shocked look on Rei’s face soon melted into suspicion. Her eyes narrowed 
into slits as she tried to decide whether or not the offer was sincere, yet she did 
let go of the doorknob and took a couple of steps back toward the desk.

	“What do you mean by that?” she cautiously asked.

	Without answering, Keitaro sat back down and opened one of the drawers to his 
desk. He pulled out a pocketbook, one of the few things he had left unpacked, and 
began filling out the blanks. “I mean exactly what I said, Rei-san,” he said, not 
looking up. “I don’t care about the money. If you want the funds to pay for 
Kondo-sama’s treatment, then I will be happy to give it to you, but not as a loan. I 
don‘t want you to pay this back.”

	“Then it would be a gift?”

	“Yes, if that is what you want to call it, then it is a gift.”

	Rei shook her head, again backing toward the door. “I don’t want your money, 
otou-sama,” she declared softly. “I can’t accept it.”

	Hearing that, Keitaro paused in his writing and set the pen down on the desk, 
confused. She needed the money, didn’t she? Silly question. That much was evident by 
her very presence in his office. Rei never would have come to him unless she was truly 
desperate. So why wouldn’t she accept a check? Money was the one thing he could always 
provide for her.

	“Rei-san, don’t be silly,” he said, picking up the pen again to finish filling 
out the check. “Now, how much do you need? 50,000,000 yen?”

	“I said I don’t *want* your money,” Rei repeated, this time in a stronger, 
firmer voice. “You think you can make up for all the mistakes you’ve made just by 
writing out a fat check and not asking for anything in return? Well, my love is *not* 
for sale, otou-sama. I don’t care how much money you give me, it won’t change anything 
between us.”

	Surprised by the accusation, Keitaro‘s head shot back up. “That’s not what I 
was trying to do…”

	“No?” she asked doubtfully. “So you expect me to believe you are being 
generous out of the goodness of your heart? That you honestly want to help the man who 
never approved of you as a husband for his daughter and wanted the marriage annulled?”

	“Kondo-sama had good reason for that,” Keitaro said, sighing as he remembered 
the argument the two of them had at the hospital the night of his elopement with 
Takara. “I don’t hold it against him.”

	“Still…”

	Tearing the slip out of his checkbook, Keitaro walked over to where his 
daughter stood and placed the folded piece of paper in her hand. “Rei-san, take it,” 
he ordered. “If you don’t want to think of it as a gift, then consider it back payment 
for all the times I wanted to raise the allowance I send you but Kondo-sama refused. 
No strings attached. Like I said before, I don‘t care about the money, and if you need 
anymore, all you have to do is ask.”

	With that said, he went back to his desk and began reading over some papers 
Miss Katsuki had left for him to look over. As far as Keitaro was concerned, their 
visit was over.

	Rei, for her part, didn’t do much of anything at first. She simply stood there 
like a statue, her amethyst eyes staring at him with a mixture of anger and confusion. 
Slowly, though, she allowed her gaze to drop to the check in her hand.  She unfolded 
it and a small gasp escaped her lips. 

	“What is this, otou-sama?” she demanded to know, holding up the check with 
both hands so Keitaro, had he been looking up, could clearly see the elegant gray 
template filled with his neat, precise handwriting. Two spaces were conspicuously left 
blank. “Is this some kind of joke? If it is, I don‘t find it very funny at all!”

	Keitaro shook his head, his eyes never leaving the document he was reading. 
“It’s a blank check, Rei-san,” he explained in a dull monotone. “You didn’t tell me 
how much you needed, so I’ll leave you to fill out the rest. Take as little or as much 
as you need.”

	“Oh.” Reluctantly, Rei folded the check back up and placed it in her pocket. 
“Thank you, then, otou-sama. You are very generous.”

	After that, there really was nothing more to say. Rei left the room without as 
much as a goodbye, and as soon as he heard the door close behind her, Keitaro stopped 
reading the document and leaned his forehead on his hands. He felt even more miserable 
than before. He knew that he had handled that badly, but the accusation of him trying 
to buy her love… That had come completely out of the blue. It was the kind of insult 
he would expect someone to throw at Tanaka, not him. Did Rei really think him 
capabable of such a thing? 

	Keitaro leaned back and closed his eyes. He hadn’t thought it possible, but it 
seemed his relationship with his daughter had deteriorated even further. Despite the 
fact that it was a sunny day outside, he felt as if he was sitting in the dark. 	

	And it was a cold darkness.

					*****

	When Rei returned to Saburo’s room after the visit to her father’s office, she 
found he had already finished with his tests and was engaged in a fierce game of chess 
with another man around his age, presumably his roommate. The two appeared to have hit 
it off quite well, laughing and playfully bickering with each other as she quietly 
entered the room. In fact, Saburo, who sat with his back turned away from the door, 
didn’t seem to notice she was there until his new friend commented about “the pretty 
young thing” who was standing near the door.

	“Oh, Rei-chan, there you are,” Saburo said, glancing over his shoulder after 
moving one of his pawns. Immediately, his jovial countenance disappeared. “I was 
starting to wonder where you were.”

	Rei walked over to the table where the two were playing and bowed in apology. 
“Gomen nasai,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to be so long.”

	“Did you take care of your errand?”

	“Hai.”

	“Did you have any trouble?”

	“No,” she answered, her hand unconsciously moving to the pocket holding the 
blank check Keitaro had given her. “Everything is taken care of, ojii-san.”

	“I see…” Saburo didn’t seem happy by the news, but then again, Rei never 
expected him to be. He hadn’t wanted her to ask Keitaro for the money in the first 
place. 

	“Ojii-san, it’s okay, really,” she assured him. 

	Saburo frowned and turned his attention to his game. “Rei-chan, have you met 
Miyazaki Akira-san?” he asked, promptly changing the subject. “He’s going to be my 
roommate for the next few days.”

	Across the table, Miyazaki acknowledged her presence with a slight nod and a 
friendly smile on his pale, worn face, and Rei noticed for the first time that he was 
wearing a rather bad toupee. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rei-chan,” he said. 

	“Hai, nice to meet you, too, Miyazaki-san,” Rei replied, returning the bow. 
Admittedly, though, it was more to hide the fact that she had been blatantly staring 
at the top of his head than anything else.

	Rei was too late, however. Much to her embarrassment, Miyazaki chuckled and 
reached for his toupee, revealing his almost completely bald head. “Yes, it is a rug,” 
he admitted as he examined the hairpiece in his hands. “Honestly, I don’t know why I 
insist on wearing this silly thing anymore. It makes me look ridiculous.”

	“I-I wouldn’t say that, sir,” Rei stuttered, blushing. 

	Privately, though, she did think Miyazaki looked much better without the 
toupee. Without it, she could see he once must have been a very handsome man, and even 
now, he wasn’t without his distinguished looks. He reminded her of a painting she once 
saw of a former emperor, whose noble bearing and good character had practically erased 
the lines and wrinkles on his face.

	Setting aside the rug, Miyazaki sighed. “You’re very kind to say so, miss, but 
I know I am only being vain. I think it is high time for me to realize I have more 
important things to worry about than how I look. As I was telling your grandfather 
before, a head full of hair is only a minor price to pay for the chance to live.”

	“And then he proceeded to give me the name and address of the store where he 
buys his toupees,” Saburo added wryly, causing both men to laugh and Rei to crack a 
brief smile until she realized that in a few months, Saburo might have a reason to use 
that address.

	It was hard to imagine what her grandfather would look like without his thick 
mane of snow white. According to some of the articles she had read in health class, it 
was not uncommon for chemotherapy patients to lose most of their hair during 
treatment. Rei hadn’t paid much attention to it at the time, but now she wished she 
had. What other changes laid in store for him? For the both of them?

	“Rei-chan, is something wrong?” Saburo asked, his laughter dying away when he 
saw Rei biting down on her lip and examining a strand of her own luxurious hair. 

	Rei quickly released the strand and shook her head. “Nothing, nothing,” she 
lied.

	“Rei-chan…”

	“You know, I think I’ll go for a walk,” Miyazaki abruptly said, standing from 
his seat and placing the toupee back on his head. “A little birdie told me the vending 
machine down the hall was just refilled. Would either of you like anything?” 

	They both refused the kind offer, knowing the man was just making an excuse 
for them to talk alone, and once Miyazaki left, Rei took the seat he had vacated, 
taking some time to sort her thoughts. “Miyazaki-san seems nice,” she commented after 
a short silence.  

	Nodding, Saburo made his next move. “He is,” he agreed. “He’s been telling me 
what I have to look forward to.”

	“You make it sound like an adventure.”

	“In a way, I guess it is, Rei-chan. Not one I particularly wanted to have, but 
an adventure nonetheless.”

	“So, what did Miyazaki-san tell you?” she questioned, leaning back in her 
chair. Neither were concentrating on the game anymore. “Other than giving you tips on 
buying toupees, I mean.”

	Saburo sighed. “Mostly he was preparing me for the common side effects of 
chemotherapy -- hair loss, vomiting, anemia…”

	Hearing that, Rei frowned, confused. It didn‘t sound like chemotherapy helped 
much at all. In fact, it seemed as if it would make him even sicker than before. “But 
isn’t chemo supposed to make you feel better, ojii-san?” she asked. 

	“It is supposed to make *me* better, not make me *feel* better,” Saburo 
explained. “Asada-sensei was telling me that while chemo is meant to kill the 
cancerous cells, it can also destroy healthy ones as well. That’s why most patients 
lose their hair.”

	“Oh,” Rei said, feeling woefully inadequate in the knowledge of her 
grandfather’s disease. She made a mental note to ask Ami to lend her one of those 
thick medical textbooks the blue-haired genius was always reading the next time she 
spoke to the future doctor so she could learn more. “I’m sorry.”

	“It’s not so bad. I was thinking of going bald anyway,” Saburo remarked with a 
forced chuckle as he ran a hand through his still thick head of hair. “It worked for 
Buddha, didn’t it?”

	Rei didn‘t find the joke particularly funny. “You don’t have to do that, 
ojii-san.”

	“Do what?”

	“Pretend you’re not scared.”

	“Is that what you think I’m doing?” he asked. Rei nodded, and Saburo looked 
both sad and sympathetic. “Oh, Rei-chan, I am scared. More scared than you can ever 
imagine.”

	“Then why are you laughing and making jokes?” she demanded to know, rising 
from her seat to kneel down beside him on the floor.

	“Because it makes me feel better,” he answered. “Pessimism doesn’t cure 
diseases, Rei-chan. That’s another thing Miyazaki-san taught me. You saw him, right? 
He’s not moping around, feeling sorry for himself, like a lot of people would. He’s 
making the best of things, and he’s winning because of that.”

	“But it’s so hard to be optimist,” Rei whispered, resting her head on his knee 
so he wouldn’t be able to see the tears she knew were threatening to fall. “I don’t 
want to see you lose your hair or be sick all the time, ojii-san. It isn’t fair! This 
shouldn’t be happening to you, not you…”

	A gentle hand patted her head. “It’ll be okay, little one. It’ll be okay.” 

	“But how do you know that?”

	“I don’t,” he admitted. “But I do know one thing.”

	Rei lifted her head, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. “What’s 
that?”

	Saburo smiled and brushed back a strand of her hair behind her ear. “That no 
matter what happens, you will be able to make it through. You are so strong, my 
Rei-chan, and that gives me the strength to fight as well.”

	“Oh, ojii-san…”

	Rei felt the incredible urge to jump up and hug the brave man, her beloved 
grandfather, but at the moment, the door to the room opened, and Miyazaki stepped 
inside, followed by Dr. Mizuno. A quick glance at a nearby clock revealed it was 
almost two o’clock. It was time for her appointment to be tested as a possible bone 
marrow donor.

	“Rei-chan, are you ready?” the blue-haired woman asked.

	Rei nodded and stood. She was as ready as she would ever be. “Whenever you 
are, Mizuno-sensei.”

	“Okay, then if you will, please follow me.”


AUTHOR'S NOTES: Happy Easter! If you have any comments, feel free to email me at 
ElysionDream@aol.com.

Yen Conversion (rough estimates)

100,000 = $1,000
500,000 = $5,000
50,000,000= $500,000

DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon is the property of Takeuchi Naoko.