O.K. Some pretty major tweaking and some new stuff!

(Windlily puts on Alegra's purple helmet and pats it)

O.K. Fire away! ...please? ^_^

***********************************************************************


	The delicate scent let him know she was coming even as he heard the 
screen open farther down the house. He took a few deep breaths to get 
his nervousness under control as she came up next to him and copied his 
stance. He noticed that she had unbraided her hair and had it tied down 
toward the bottom with a red ribbon in a very Japanese fashion. He 
wondered where her scarf was as they stood in silence for a few minutes 
as the final glow faded and left the jagged mountains in silhouette. She 
took a deep breath and stepped back as she turned to him and bowed 
formally.

	"Ryudo Tsuzuku, I humbly apologize for the actions of my sister. She is 
an embarrassment to my family and myself. I hope you won't let her 
actions taint your feelings towards myself or the other members of my 
family." Jasmine winced internally. She had been working on this apology 
all day and it still had come out stilted and awkward.

	"Jasmine," he put his hands on her shoulders and brought her upright, 
then took her hands, "you have nothing to apologize for. But if it will 
please you, I accept it without reservation. And it is I who should be 
apologizing. What I did was unforgivable and I would understand if 
you..." he swallowed hard, "chose not to be alone with me any more. I 
want to tell you what happened, if you will hear me out?"

	She studied his face and then nodded. "But not here." She let go of his 
hands and headed for the stairs.

	They walked side-by-side down the path toward the swing in silence. He 
wanted to put his arm around her waist and support her limp. He 
suspected that she had been on her feet too long again today from the 
way she favored her bad leg but he didn't think she would allow it yet. 
Hopefully once she had heard his explanation that would change.

	He sat in the swing first and steadied it for her. She turned towards 
him and tilted her head, her expression expectant.

	His whole body tensed even though he willed it to relax. "Tamanji came 
to me as a dream. At least I thought it was a dream. A dream of you. It 
wasn't until...after that I realized it wasn't you." He felt his cheeks 
burn with his blush.

	She closed her eyes and took a deep breath then let it out slowly. She 
had figured it was something along those lines. She tested her feelings, 
probed them like she would a sore tooth. She still found no anger at 
Tsuzuku, nor hurt. Just sympathy and understanding.

	"O.K.," she smiled as she opened her eyes. "At least you thought it was 
me!" She offered with a mischievous grin. "How can a girl be offended by 
that?"

	He couldn't believe it! He had expected tears or hurt words and 
accusations. Well, those still might be coming. There was still 
something else they needed to speak of. He took a deep breath and 
steeled himself.

	"Tamanji told you she is pregnant and that there is a high probability 
that the child is mine."

	The humor fled from her face. "Yes. She is." She sighed heavily and 
stared at the river.

	She had avoided the question of his possible parentage. Gods! She did 
believe it!

	"Jasmine, how can she be so certain it is mine? She seemed 
very...experienced. And it has not been that long since..." he 
floundered for a moment, "well, I understand that it would be a month 
before she would know. Unless the ways of female dragons is very 
different from that of normal women? I hate to admit it, but my 
knowledge about the ladies of my own kind is very scanty." He offered it 
with a small smile and the hope that Jasmine might be able to disprove 
her own belief.

	She slumped down further in the swing and crossed her arms and he could 
see the puzzled frown on her face. "No. We're not that different. I 
thought about that too. Most of the morning I was on the phone with our 
dragon 'experts'. I found out quite a few interesting things. Now, this 
doesn't have any 'hard' scientific evidence behind it but it is backed 
up through generations of observation. Males by nature cannot pass on 
their genetic material except with one particular female. You know that 
the scent is what makes that possible," she turned her head and looked 
at him.

	He nodded. Gods. He knew that all too well!

	"Well, I found out that conception with human women has occurred, it's 
very ecchi and I don't want to go into it. But without fail the human 
female and the fetus died before the sixth month of pregnancy. And a 
dragon-blooded female cannot get pregnant with out the sperm from her 
specific male. There has been only one exception to that fact in the 
whole time the Order has been Observing Dragon families and it was Toba 
Matsuri."

	"Matsuri-chan?" Tsuzuku broke in, startled.

	"Hai. A very interesting fact. I just don't know what to make of it." 
She shrugged then picked back up her train of thought.

	"Tamanji shouldn't be able to get pregnant without her male, which she 
has yet to find. Yes, I know that for a fact." She told him before he 
could ask. "Yet she is. The explanation that our experts have come up 
with is that when she took your blood and power she somehow became able 
to conceive. I'll probably have to send Elenora after her to get her 
into one of the Chapter Houses on the West coast and under a doctors 
care."

	Tsuzuku's mind raced out onto many different tracks at once as he 
considered possibilities. None of them pleased him greatly. The best was 
that if this truly was his child that Jasmine would consent to take it 
and raise it as their own. The worst was the wish that Tamanji and this 
child would just die and free him from their burden.

	"Tamanji is unwell?" He was appalled at the hope that question brought 
with it.

	Jasmine nodded. "Very. It was a stupid thing for her to attempt!"

	"You think she tried to become pregnant on purpose?" He asked in shock.

	"Oh, yes. To have you first and then carry your firstborn would be a 
major coupe in her mind." Fury crackled in her voice.

	His thoughts echoed it as that bit clicked into place. "I do not envy 
you your sister," he bit out.

	Jasmine took a deep shuddering breath and let the anger flow out of her 
as she heard Catherine's chiding words in her head. 'What is done is 
done and can not be undone. Temper-tantrums will not make it better or 
any easier to deal with.' It was a truth that she still had trouble 
accepting. She looked over at the tight closed knot Tsuzuku had made out 
of himself. What could she say to ease his hurt?

	"Tsuzuku-san, listen to me. If we let this come between us, then 
Tamanji gets exactly what she wants. I will never forgive my sister for 
what she's done to you, but the baby was her choice. Her choice, not 
yours. I understand that. She will probably loose it anyway. If she does 
not, then we will deal with it. But for now, let Tamanji be nothing but 
a nightmare that is over." She reached over and touched his arm. 
"Please?"

	Her soft 'please' touched the withdrawn tangle of his thoughts. How 
could he refuse her? She had forgiven him without reservation and it 
made it possible for him to look at those events in a clearer light. He 
sighed and let as much of it go as possible.

	"Hai. A nightmare that is over. It was a very terrible nightmare, 
though." He gave her a small smile.

	She smiled back. "I want to show you something. Come on."

	She held out her hand as she scooted carefully off the swing.

	He took it as he rose and she led him down and around the curve of the 
river bank.

	"Where are we going?" 

	"Here." She let go of his hand and ducked under a low hanging limb. 
"Careful, there's a step down."

	He followed her through the curtain of vines and leaves and found 
himself standing on a wide sandy area screened behind and to the left 
and right by trees and shrubs. He smiled as he the reason she had 
brought him here. Fireflies. There were fireflies everywhere! It was 
like standing in a miniature swirling cosmos!

	"I love fireflies!" She whispered as if she was afraid her voice might 
disturb the glowing dance.

	"They are very beautiful," he whispered back.

	He tentatively put his arm around her shoulders and was pleased when 
she leaned against him slightly. Then she was moving and pulling her 
belt through the loops of her cutoffs. He realized it was her scarf as 
she shook it out to settle on the ground. She sat on it with one 
graceful motion then patted the fabric beside her.

	"Come on."

	He did.

	"Turn." She guided him around by his shoulder with her hands so he had 
his back to her. Then she started to knead.

	"So, what did you do today?" She asked.

	He told her as her hands soothed the tension out of his back. It felt 
wonderful and for some reason not at all erotic, just relaxing. She 
laughed as he mimicked Hajime's high pitched responses to Mizuchi's 
faltering flattery attempts and offered small comments to let him know 
she was paying attention as he outlined the events of the day.

	Suddenly her touch turned light and electric. He shuddered as it sent 
an erotic jolt through his whole frame. He leaned forwards and away 
from her hands. Her hands followed after a moment and the caress made 
him gasp.

	"Jasmine...I..." What was he trying to say? Stop? He didn't want her 
to! But he wasn't sure if he could contain what those touches were 
stirring.

	Her hands stilled but remained against his back. "Do you want me to 
stop, Tsuzuku-kun?" She asked quietly.

	"No. But if you don't, this might go somewhere you aren't ready for it 
to go to yet." *Oh, that sounded very intelligent!* He groaned to 
himself.

	The caress resumed. She leaned forwards and her breath tickled his neck 
as she whispered, "I'm ready to go there, my Dragon-sama, if you are 
ready to take me."

						*****

	Matsuri watched Jasmine go out onto the porch and wished her luck. 
Elenora caught her eye from across the table and grinned as she put 
another small wood piece onto the Jenga tower she, Matsuri, Owaru and 
Amaru were creating.

	"Hope we don't have any forest fires tonight." She said sweetly as she 
watched the tower sway then steady.

	"Elenora!" Matsuri scolded with a fierce hiss.

	She also earned a sideways look and a raised eyebrow from Hajime who 
was sitting and watching the news.

	"Forest fires? Is this area under a fire watch?" Amaru asked as he 
watched his brother squint one eye and stick his tongue into the corner 
of his mouth as he tried to put the next piece in place.

	"Never mind, Amaru. Elenora-chan is just being..." she didn't get a 
chance to finish as the tower collapsed and they all worked on keeping 
the pieces on the table top.

	"Ecchi." Owaru whispered for Elenora's hearing alone as he leaned down 
by her chair to pick up a piece that managed to escape.

	"Feh," Elenora whispered back then smiled into Amaru's puzzled stare. 
He was really sweet and so innocent. She kinda liked it and saw in him 
something she had never been. Catherine always said she had been born 
'old'. She played the 'little' girl to the hilt when it suited her 
purposes, which was most of the time, but that's all it was. An act.

	"You go first this time, Amaru-kun." She told him and then told herself 
to rein in. She didn't want to be the one to shatter his innocence in 
any way. She glanced sideways at Owaru and sighed to herself. She liked 
him a lot. A whole lot! But if things kept going like they were, and she 
suspected they would, then Owaru was not going to be her Dragon. Her 
eyes went back to Amaru's face. She had a secret she hadn't shared with 
anyone yet. Not even Jasmine. In her dream on the plane it had been the 
Black Dragon she had screamed for, not the White.