Kae picked at her dinner listlessly. Against her better judgment, she missed Nakimura's presence. Patches was in and out with her meds, a cheery smile and encouragement but it wasn't the same. Kae marveled how accustomed she'd grown to Nakimura's presence; his questions and conversation, the way his black-brown eyes crinkled when he was pleased, the beginnings of a tattoo around his eyes that the mask couldn't entirely hide.

She thought it odd that of all the mercs she'd been arrested with, she couldn't think of one person she'd want to be spending time with, even if she'd had a choice. Kae realized that she' made a choice and betrayed the mercs after all and that realization excited her more than it scared her. After one final, restless bite of her dinner, Kae raised her mask back in place and picked up the book Nakimura had given her to read for the first time since he'd left.

In her mind, the cannon-fire and rifles echoed, accompanied by the screams of wounded, dying men. As she read about the Battle of Gettysburg, Kae wondered about the tenacity of the Confederate soldiers, fighting for the right to secede and form their own country. In the end they would fail though, despite superior leaders. The southern states were simply outnumbered and had far too few resources to win.

Still, despite the overwhelming odds, Kae had to admire the soldiers who fought, for they won many more battles than would be expected of them. She also marveled at the deep faith exhibited by both sides. Why were Christians fighting against Christians? she wondered, but could find no answer.

She thought of her own faith, learned at the knee of her mother when Kae'd been little more than a toddler. Mother hadn't believed in conventional churches. 'Too much infighting,' she'd explain when asked. 'My faith is my own; it's a relationship, not a religion, and I'm not interested in joining the bickering.'

Why had so many people of the time 'joined in the bickering' of the Civil War? Patches had given her a book about the social life of the Victorian Era as companion reading, so Kae opened it, hoping for answers. In reading it, Kae learned about manners, about a gentleman's honor and a lady's honor.

She never did find the answers to her questions, but felt ashamed of herself when she read that book, feeling as if she'd had no honor in the life she'd been living. It took a week for her to finish her Civil War readings. In all that time, she did not see Nakimura once. Patches was friendly but as busy as the doctor was, she didn't have time to visit with Kae above what was necessary for her care.

"Am I supposed to go back to the cells?" Kae asked Patches a few days after she'd finished the last book.

She'd adjusted to the antibiotics well and her concussion was healing nicely. The nausea had settled to a manageable ache, thanks in part to Patches firm control on Kae's diet. That diet was also helping Kae to regain some of her old energy and verve. Accustomed to an active lifestyle, Kae was chafing at being confined and bored out of her mind. Even the TV failed to entertain her after a few days. Patches had lent Kae a New Testament, but there was only so much Kae could take in before she had to set the little Bible aside.

Patches looked surprised. "No, certainly not; you're still contagious and the air filters down in Detention are on a different system than here. Down there, you could easily infect many people if you cough outside your mask. Here, I have a closed system capable of dealing with infectious disease. Why do you ask?"

"After Nakimura told me about the base, he left and hasn't returned. I assumed it was because I'm just a prisoner. I am going to jail, aren't I? After all, I was the one setting the charges to blow those bridges."

Patches brought a chair and sat down. "Kae, no charges are being brought against you. Not only that, but the Major thinks you're dead." She waited for that to sink in before continuing. "Even if you were to be brought up on charges, your attorney would argue that you were forced to place those charges by the Major, that you did it under duress because he controlled your food and living environment and because you had no other option."

"How do you know all that?" Kae asked her in confusion.

With a grin, Patches answered. "Because if you were brought up on charges, Black Hawk and I would be paying your lawyer- and because Nakimura, Black Hawk and I have been very careful in our records. According to my infirmary records, you are a civilian casualty being treated for side effects of the operation as well as a major health concern. You were never awake long enough for them to process you in Detention, which means they don't have your name down anywhere. When Nakimura questioned the Major, he led the Major to believe you'd been killed during the course of the interrogation."

"But why did you do this for me?" Kae was grateful of course, but she didn't understand why they would help her this way. As far as she knew, none of the other detainees had been given any such consideration, nor had any asked.

Patches took Kae's hand in her own. "Kae, let me ask you a question. Have you ever had real choices? I mean, did you go to school, learn about other career options or try your hand at new things?"

Kae didn't bother to answer since Patches already knew the answer to her questions. "We want you to have a life, Kae, a real life. We want you to be able to go to school and get your GED, get a job, maybe go to college; be a productive member of society.

"As soon as your treatments are finished, we plan to help you do that. You're not even twenty yet, according to the x-rays I took. You should have a choice. Isn't that what America is all about- freedom to make choices? And aren't you an American? Even if it weren't part of our creed to protect and defend the American way of life, believe it or not, we are all growing very fond of you."

Overwhelmed, Kae threw her arms around Patches. "You did that for me? Thank you!"

Patches hugged her back. "I also made you a birth certificate and filed it with the state of Nevada. Your official name is Kae-de Doe and your birthday is May 3. Now ask me how we picked that day!"

"How did you pick that day?"

Patches laughed. "It was the day Nakimura knocked you cold and rescued you from the camps! I filed you as a foundling, mother and father's names unknown. Someday, if you want to and have the money, you can hire a private investigator to go and 'find' your parents."

Kae laughed. "Thank you, thank you, and thank you!" A new thought possessed her and she drew back to look at Patches. "Patches, is Nakimura angry with me?"

"No, why would you think so?"

"He was supposed to be my sensei, but I haven't seen him in almost two weeks." Kae didn't want to admit how much she missed the mysterious Nakimura; his voice, his wisdom and approbation, the gentle way he scolded if she got off-track.

Patches scowled. "I kicked him out and told him not to return. He almost killed you, Kae, three times. I decided it would be safer for him not to return."

"Three times?"

"He hit you at the bridge, starved you in detention and almost sent you into full blown cardiac arrest when he told you about the strike." Patches explained as she ticked the infractions off on her fingers.

"Is he banned if I want to see him?" Kae begged. "I still want him to teach me." Patches' expression remained unyielding. "Please? I have a lot to learn if I want to take the GED test and you're so busy."

At last, Patches nodded. "Okay, Kae-de Doe. Against my better judgment, he can come." She flipped open her communicator. "Nakimura from Patches."

"Nakimura."

"Your student is asking for you." There was a short pause and Kae held her breath. Did he still want to teach her?

<><

Nakimura had just finished a fairly intense bout of randori with Pacu and was taking a few minutes to shower and change before leaving the dojo. Just outside the shower door, his comm hung on a wall. The communication devices maintained a half-hour charge once removed, giving an operative time for personal hygiene or to be tracked in the event of his death in battle.

Nakimura had just rubbed shampoo into his hair when the comm beeped a warning, followed by Patches' voice. Nakimura reached out just long enough to flip open the screen. Guessing strongly that Kae was listening; he addressed his student rather than the owner of the comm. "Give me ten minutes, Kae-de."

Suddenly, Nakimura was in more of a hurry than he had intended. Seven minutes later, Nakimura was hurrying from the door of the dojo toward the infirmary, his hair still wet under his mask. As soon as he entered the steel doors, a masked force of nature slammed into him with an exuberant hug.

After a brief, startled hesitation, Nakimura returned her hug, not wanting to let go. She felt good in his arms, better than she should as his student.

"I cannot believe how much I missed you these last two weeks!" Kae told him, her arms locked around his rib cage.

Nakimura didn't care to reply as he worked to stifle his longings and to ignore how she smelled of jasmine. Memories of his mother and sister surfaced from the scent, of being loved and held. Nakimura's breath caught in his throat as a powerful wave of longing shot from his heart clear down to his toes.

His arms tightened around her slender frame until he realized what he was doing and released her. She was still as beautiful as he remembered. Her hair was beginning to grow again, white-blond fuzz against her white scalp. Those amazing eyes were filled with life and laughter and she'd started putting on weight against all odds.

<><

Kae stared at Nakimura after he released her, studying his dark eyes, noticing the faint shadow of tattoo where the mask didn't fully hide, the shadow of regret and longing in his eyes. "Kae-de, I was wrong . . ." he started to apologize, but she clapped her hand over where she guessed his mouth to be.

"Don't you dare apologize, Sensei," Kae dared to order him. "You rescued me, saved me three times. I guess taking a little time off can be understood." She winked at him to tell him she understood exactly what he was apologizing for.

"You rescued me from the Major," Kae went on to explain, leaving no room for him to argue, "you found out I was sick and brought me to Patches, who rescued me from tuberculosis, and you made sure I would never return to where I was living, so you rescued me from the camps. And now you are here to rescue me yet again- this time from my own ignorance."

Kae paused for breath and to calm herself. Her nervous chatter was a fault that the Major had found most annoying and she didn't wish to annoy her sensei with it now.

The mask on either side of his face moved and Kae realized he was smiling. "We must begin right away then," Nakimura agreed. "You finished the Civil War book?"

"Over a week ago; and then Patches let me read a book about daily life and I finished that, too."

"And what did you learn?"

Kae paused thoughtfully, knowing he wanted to know what she'd learned about herself. She couldn't resist teasing him a little first, though. "I learned that we aren't in Montana at all. Patches said something about Arizona; and what honor is- courage, honesty, morality, manners, commitment and pride; and that it is honor that keeps us a civilized people."

Kae bit her lip. "I also learned that until the day you stopped me from blowing up that French bridge, I had no honor."

"Now, you have the opportunity to learn differently." His tone was sad, though his eyes crinkled as if he were smiling.

Kae tilted her head as she thought about it. "But how am I to learn things like courage, commitment or pride? Surely things like that can't be learned from books."

"By practicing them; you wish to earn your GED. Therefore, you may practice commitment by studying hard and learning that which you need to know in order to take the test." He led the way to Patches' computer.

"Do you mind?" he asked the doctor. Of course, she didn't. Soon, Nakimura and Kae were busy researching what she would need to learn in order to take her test.

With Kae up and about, Patches couldn't see the sense of making her stay in bed except at night and mealtimes- when she would be forced to remove her mask. At a prayer meeting with the general, Black Hawk, Patches and Nakimura, it was decided that it would be good for Kae to experience a normal family as much as possible, so after studying with Nakimura in the morning and lunching in the infirmary, Kae joined Patches and Black Hawk in their quarters in the afternoons.

Kae loved playing with two-year-old Maemi. She spent hours at dolls and coloring books, toy cars and building blocks. Used to her father's masks, Maemi wasn't bothered at all by her new companion's surgical mask, nor did she reach up for it.

When dinner time came, Kae returned to eat in the infirmary, spent some time online and went to bed when Doc chased her out of the office. That time was a time of bliss for Kae; observing Patches' family habits and relationships, joining in prayer with the few Believers on base and generally experiencing as close to a normal life as possible.

At the end of three months, when Patches pronounced her no longer contagious, Kae was also ready to take her GED exam. Arrangements were made to set Kae on course in her new life as Kae-de Doe. On the night before she was to leave, a celebration was held in the infirmary.

General Graves, Doc, Nakimura, Black Hawk, Mariko, Pacu, Patches and even little Maemi came to congratulate Kae on her recovery and to wish her well in her new life. The party ended at Maemi's bedtime.

"Sensei?" Kae said softly as her teacher made to leave. Aside from Doc, everyone else had gone back to their own quarters. Nakimura stopped and waited for her to join him beside the door. "May I walk with you?"

"Of course, Kae-de," Nakimura agreed immediately, wanting to say goodbye more privately than he'd been able to up until then. "But since I am no longer your teacher, you must call me 'Nakimura'." The pair started walking, heading toward his quarters at the rear of the dojo. "Are you ready for this next chapter in your life?" Nakimura asked after a moment's silence.

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess," Kae answered. "Patches gave me a plan of treatment to give a city hospital doctor in order to finish my tuberculosis treatment and the military gave me some money since they destroyed my old home, so I'll have something to get started with. I have to establish an address before I take the GED so I can get my scores in the mail, and maybe I can find a small church to worship at."

"What do you plan to do after that?" Nakimura asked, knowing that her answer might be the only end he'd ever hear to her story.

He found her leaving to be bittersweet; good that she was going on to an honest life but bitter because Nakimura didn't want her to leave at all. These thoughts and feelings he kept hidden, however, since telling anyone would serve no purpose and allowing his emotions to show would change nothing.

"I plan to go to the unemployment office at first and get a job so I can support myself while I go to college, unless I find something better that I want to do. Maybe I'll go to art school." She grinned at him. "I have my whole life ahead of me, so many possibilities it's hard to say."

Nakimura nodded, swallowing the lump of longing that seemed to choke off his words. "I'm glad to hear that. May your life forward be an honorable one. We will all be praying for you, of course." They'd reached the door of the dojo by this time, so he opened it. "Do you want to come in?" he asked, hoping she did.

Kae stepped through the door immediately. "I will miss randori with you here," she commented after a polite bow to the 'school', then went to sit down in her customary spot on the mat.

Nakimura joined her, kneeling so he could face her. When they were both kneeling, Kae continued. "You once told me that you wear your mask so that people wouldn't notice you, that your face is unforgettable."

"That is true." Nakimura didn't like where this was headed.

"Sensei . . . Nakimura, you have saved my life in so many ways. I don't want to forget you, ever. Please, can I see your face?"

It had taken her three months but the question had finally arisen. Nakimura sighed quietly. "Not even Pacu or Mariko has seen my face," he told her, rising. "Do you want some tea?"

Nakimura was hoping to distract her with a tea ceremony. Kae loved the tea ceremony. It was something they practiced together in the dojo, Nakimura, and his squad. Not that Nakimura ever drank it of course, since that would require he raise his mask, but he'd taught Kae the ceremony in the infirmary, where she could be free to remove her mask and drink of the tea, herself.

Kae rose as quickly as he did and placed one hand on his arm. "Nakimura," she said quietly. "If you bring tea, you have to drink it."

He understood it to mean don't try to distract me from this and not just take responsibility for your actions. Thinking that Patches or his sister would have done similarly, Nakimura grinned under his mask. "I will not take it off," he decided stubbornly.

"You will not take it off?" she questioned. He shook his head. She was silent for a few seconds before her determination returned. "May I?"

Nakimura sighed again; unable to resist her earnest expression. "You may, if you wish." He stood still while she gingerly lifted it over her head. Nakimura waited for her expression of disgust as she stared at the tattoo, letting her gaze travel over the gruesome artwork that disappeared under the deep V-neck line of his gi.

Kae stared in awe at the fine detail of Nakimura's face. A dragon's face peeped out from the V-neckline of his gi. Flames shot from the dragon's mouth, parting at his throat to curl up either side of his face. Near his eye sockets and around his mouth, the tattoo was detailed in such a way so as to make his face resemble exposed skull, as if the dragon were incinerating his face.

Kae touched the dry-looking teeth on his chin as if expecting to feel only bone. Of course, warm skin was there, thin lips pursed together as if in agony while he awaited her opinion of his ink. She took in every detail; the set of his cheeks, his nose and eyebrows, his ebony hair gathered at the base of his neck in a short, traditional queue.

"This is what you hide from the world?" she asked in wonder.

"It tends to make children cry," he explained regretfully. "Such tattoos are tradition among the Yakuza, though perhaps not quite as grisly as mine. I was young at the time, and rebellious. I thought only of making my enemies cringe and lose courage in battle. It was only later that I discovered that even the prostitutes of Osaka would not look at my face."

"You could have the skull parts removed by laser, if it bothers you that much" Kae suggested. "I think it would be a shame though. Your ink is beautiful." She eyed his expression. "But you won't." He shook his head. "Because you'd have to expose your face to the doctor who would do it?" she guessed.

"Partly," he admitted. "And partly because no doctor will remove what is so near my eyes because of the risk the laser presents." Nakimura couldn't hide the bitterness he felt.

It showed in his voice as he added, "I have come to despise the sight of my own face. I hate the way it makes people stare, hate the fear it causes. Patches and Black Hawk are the only two ECHOs who know my face. Maemi has seen it from birth and knows no different because Patches will not have me hide from my family."

"Does it end at your waist?" she asked curiously.

He nodded, knowing that she was really asking to see the rest of it, and dared to remove the shirt that covered the remainder of his grotesque tattoo. The dragon circled his waist as if to constrict him, the neck draping over his left shoulder, head facing upward. Kae ran her fingers over his back, over the amazing details of the dragon's scales, around his side and chest where blood-red claws of the dragon's feet seemed to dig into his flesh.

Nakimura caught her fingers with his hand and held them gently, trying in vain to control his body's reaction to her touch. "That tickles," he admonished in a whisper, not liking the amount of control he was forced to exert on his mind, will and emotions.

"This is the most amazing ink I've ever seen," she whispered back, staring into the bottomless depth of his dark eyes. "It must have taken days under the needle."

"You must research the traditional Japanese tattoo methods one day," he said, not caring to remember the pain he'd endured in order to explain; and also, selfishly wanting her to think of him once she'd begun her new life.

In answer, she pulled her hands free and slid them up around his neck, pulling his head down for a kiss. Nakimura obliged her, letting her take the lead. She tasted incredible.

As if of their own free will, his hands slid around her slender waist when Kae deepened their kiss and Nakimura lost the thread of control he'd managed to exert over his emotions. He loved her and couldn't deny it to himself any longer.

"I love you too," she whispered, making Nakimura realize he'd voiced his thoughts. She pulled away regretfully but there was the same desire in her lavender eyes that he felt. "This is not the path of honor," she decided quietly, her gaze locked on his, "no matter how much we both want it. I have to leave tomorrow. That can't be changed. But you can find me one day." Her words came out in a staccato, breathless whisper.

Nakimura didn't know what to say. He reached out to touch her cheek, feeling the soft skin, smelling the jasmine soap Patches had given her as a gift. "What if . . ." he started, but she interrupted.

"I'll wait for you to come and find me, Nakimura. I may be young but I haven't been innocent for a long time. One of the first things I learned in the camp was the nature of men- and I know for sure that you are the only man I want."

Nakimura wanted to argue with her. "Kae-de," he began but she smothered his protest with another kiss. When they were both breathless again, he pulled back, needing control.

Kae touched his cheek once, touching the place where the flames were just beginning to incinerate flesh. "I have to leave early tomorrow. Just find me, okay? If anyone can, it will be you."

With that, she turned and fled the dojo. Nakimura stared after her for long moments, trying to control his racing heart and thinking about what had just happened. He didn't know when he would see her again, if ever, but one thing Nakimura was certain of was this; that he was irreparably in love with a woman who loved him in return, who was entirely nonplused by the sight of his repulsive face. To his wonder, she seemed to enjoy it.