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The night was not a dark one. Truthfully, nights in the city were very rarely dark, so to speak. Even though the sun continued to set as it always had, the artificial lights of the city and its surroundings lit up the sky continually.

When I think about it now, I realise that it was the stars that I missed the most. They were impossible to see due to the blinding lights of the city, and I missed being able to stand outside on the balcony, being able turn my face to the sky, being able to feel the starlight streaming down from the heavens to gently touch my face.

Smiling at the melodrama of my own thoughts, I turned away from gazing over the quiet city. I still wondered when the silence was going to occur. For the first few months of my life here, I lived in the constant fear that the silence was going to happen in the next few days, weeks, months...

But as the years passed, I realised that there was something peculiar about the whole situation. Usagi and Mamoru have married, yet she has borne no children. Still, she remains young, beautiful... and even as the years march by, she grows no older. Years have passed, and the silence has not fallen.

As I looked over the city, it was difficult for me to believe that the silence would ever come this way. I knew it would, but it seemed so far away.

Sixteen years had passed since a fateful day when my own world had been silenced. Yet, the pain had subdued to a dull ache that, even though it never really went away, it had lessened enough for me to bear.

Stepping inside, I moved down into the large, spacious apartment. Such spacious accommodations are rare in Tokyo in these times, but it was necessary. There were the four of us, plus my son, so we needed plenty of room to co-exist, given that my sisters and I need our own personal space, even though we love each other dearly.

Just to think of her was enough to bring Calaveras from her room. She was wearing a light summer robe, a long gauzy night-gown beneath it. Brunette waves of silken hair fell loosely about her shoulders as she yawned, giving me a concerned look. "Can't sleep?"

I smiled softly. "You do realise what day this is, don't you?"

Her wide brown eyes searched mine for a long moment, her worry written there for all to read. Then she sighed. "I hadn't realised. Gomen nasai, oneesan."

"It's all right, imoutochan," I replied quietly, taking my own hair out of its customary chignon. Shaking the long, dark verdant hair out completely, I ran my fingers through it tiredly. I caught Calaveras still staring at me, leaning against the doorframe of her bedroom door. "You go back to bed, I'll be all right," I prompted, feeling slightly uneasy. The truth was, even though it was a painful night for me for various reasons, I didn't need her company. I would have been perfectly happy on my own.

Calaveras finally sighed, and stepped closer to me, indicating that I should follow her into the living room. Filled with misgiving, I did so. Once there, I found her seated on the couch, and she patted the cushion next to her, her delicate face pensive and shadowed by the lights outside. It was dark in the apartment, and neither of us bothered to turn on the lights. It seemed irrelevant to even think about it.

"It's been sixteen years," said Calaveras finally, reaching over one of her hands to take mine. She squeezed it gently, and I squeezed it back, suddenly filled with the warmth of the love I felt for my younger sister. She was an annoying little weasel sometimes, but she was my sister, and I loved her. Of all my sisters, I loved her the best, she was my trusted confidant.

"And your point would be?" I asked finally, pulling my hand back from hers. My hand instantly wandered up to my throat, to play absently with the necklace there. I didn't even notice I was doing it until I noticed Calaveras staring at my unruly fingers. "What?"

Calaveras looked to me with pained eyes, and then looked towards the doorway down the end of the hall. "I don't suppose you're ever going to tell him, are you."

It was a statement, not a question. It was something that Calaveras mentioned without fail every year this date came about. At first, she had just asked, when my son was only a baby. As time passed, she became more and more insistent that I tell him. Now, she barely mentioned it, except as a confirmation that I wasnât ever going to tell him the truth behind his lineage.

My hands now wound about each other, my fingers playing over the ring I wore on my wedding finger. It had never been a gift, except in the respect that I gave it to myself. Like the necklace, it served as a reminder of what I had already lost -- and what I still stood to lose.

The sapphire and diamond ring was genuine, and highly expensive, at that. I hadn't minded paying for the jewellery at all, however. My sisters and I had carved out for ourselves quite a name in the lucrative beauty industry over the years. From humble beginnings we had progressed at an alarming rate, finally forming a company composed of the different facets of that magical world of illusions. I myself had become the head fashion designer, Calaveras had taken control of the cosmetics line, Cooan had discovered a niche for herself with hair trends, and Beruche, our token "genius," had taken control of the business side, which I credited for our rise to success. She had an uncanny knack for business, did our Beruche.

Calaveras was staring at the ring, almost if bemused. Finally, she said haltingly, "Can I ask you a question?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

She hesitated, as if not entirely sure how to word the question. "Why... why did you buy a ring with both sapphire and diamond in it?"

I knew what she was asking, even though she didn't come right out and say it. "Because Demando was Saffir-sama's brother, and Saffir loved him."

At the mention of our former sovereign, Calaveras stiffened. I didn't blame her. Even though we hadn't seen Demando face-to-face ever since he had taken Saffir's body away, I knew that he must know that I had a son. We were well-known to the general Tokyo public as the four glamorous Ayakashi Sisters who controlled one of the biggest name beauty companies in the world. As a joke, Beruche had told us to call it Nemesis. To all our surprise, we had kept the name. There was not a chance in Hell Demando would not see the four Ayakashi Sisters and Nemesis Beauty Inc. and not make a connection, even if he had never seen a publicity photo of the four managing directors.

"I haven't heard much about him lately, have you?" she finally asked, looking at me. I shrugged my shoulders. Demando had become relatively well-known as a politician over the years, using the more mundane name of Hirosada Mankichi. He had never taken on a true position of power, though we had little doubt that it was because he desired to stay out of the spotlight, rather than it being because he didn't have the ability. He was a superlative politician, and he had once been a demagogue of the most powerful kind. Demando simply played second fiddle to the Prime Minister, even though he was practically in that position himself. Usagi had never said anything about it to me or my sisters, but I had the feeling that it unnerved her, to know that the former Crown Prince of Nemesis was now awfully high up in the Japanese government.

"I can't say I ever think much about him," I replied after pausing. It wasn't quite true, but the truth of the matter was that I didn't like remembering Demando, and every time I saw 'Hirosada-san' on the evening news, it sent a chill down my spine.

The shiro no ouji had retained his inhuman handsomeness, that went without saying. Certainly, he still looked awfully young for his age, given he had to be in his early forties by now. He barely looked any different from the last time I had seen him in person, actually. He still wore his hair in an unconventionally long manner, at least by a normal politician's standards. His violet eyes were as piercing and peculiar as ever, and he hadn't even relinquished his royal colours. He still wore white as a politician, though I noted with some appreciation the way he wore deep sapphire blue at his most serious occasions. The colour of the ao no ouji. His brother.

"I wonder why he never contacted us," she mused quietly, pulling her long fingers through the mildly tangled strands of her hair. Then she looked up. "Why did we never contact him?"

"We're two different types of people," I replied shortly, not willing to be drawn into a discussion about the man who had once reigned over us. "He may have been healed by the ginzuishou, but I think the taint of the jakozuishou is still with him. He was only cleansed as well as we were; he had a deeper connection to the jakozuishou, and I think it's still there."

Calaveras shook her head, and I sighed. She still felt that my son was missing out on something, given that he had never had a chance to meet Demando. "I think he has some kind of right, Petz."

"Possibly," I muttered, before standing up again. The gems at my throat and shoulders flashed in the light as I did so, and it made me wonder.

The tears came easily as Calaveras wrapped her arms about me, allowing me to cry. I still felt the loss of the man I had loved even now, sixteen years later. Sixteen years to the very day.

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The next morning dawned crisp and clear, but I was almost unaware of the beauty of the day. The night before, I had already decided what I was going to do today. Calaveras was well aware of my plans, and when I slipped out early that morning, I was confident that she would do what I had set to her. I left the house before everyone else (barring Calaveras herself) awoke, determined to get to the parliamentary buildings as early as possible. Calaveras had said she would look out for my son in the morning, and I knew she would. She was also going to attend to various duties of mine that were inescapable, yet able to be handled by my younger sister.

It was at this point I was grateful for small miracles. Calaveras had already spoken to an old "acquaintance" of hers, by the name of Okinawa Taiji. A sweet man, he was also a politician who knew Hirosada very well. It was through Okinawa-san that I managed to wangle an "audience" of sorts with the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I asked him to introduce me as Ayakashi Pera, though I knew that the slightly altered state of my first name would throw Demando off for perhaps two seconds.

He made me wait for half an hour before allowing me in, and it made me smile slightly, albeit it also annoyed me. It seemed like such a Demando thing to do -- it never once occurred to me that he could be trying to put off our inevitable encounter.

As his secretary showed me in, a tiny well-formed redhead, I drew in a breath. His office was bright and airy with large windows and greenery everywhere. It was so unlike his former audience chambers on Nemesis that for a second, I was convinced that I had been wrong, and Hirosada Mankichi was not Demando at all.

However, the figure standing with his back to me on the western side of the room made me stiffen with recognition. The hair, the stature of the man had not changed in the least. When he turned, I saw that those violet eyes had lost none of their inner strength, and for a second I wondered if he still held the power of his third eye.

He motioned I should join him, I did so numbly. I saw that he was gently attending to a bonsai tree with tiny clippers, and beside this was a vase of flowers. Putting down the scissors, he took a flower from the short, squat vase and presented it to me solemnly, bowing his head. "Ayakashi Pera," he said, finally breaking the uneasy silence. "It's been a while."

"That it has," I agreed haltingly, taking the flower from his hand. Unable to meet his gaze, I looked down at it. Belatedly, I recognised it. I turned my gaze upward, finally meeting that of the former shiro no ouji. "This flower is from Nemesis," I stated, confused and suspicious. "Where did you get this?"

He shrugged. "I grew it -- I breed them. I'm not entirely sure how well it is known to the public, but within the government, it's a well known fact that I am into breeding rare flowers." He indicated the one I held in my hand. "When I came from Nemesis to here for the last time, I brought a collection of those flowers. Most of them suffered under earthen conditions, but I managed to breed them, after a lot of mistakes. A lot of them died." He seemed to trip over that last word, and I winced. Death was not really a subject either of us was comfortable with, but it would have to be brought up sooner or later.

"Did you leave Saffir's... Saffir's... did you leave Saffir in the thirtieth century?" It took a lot of effort to get those words out. For some reason, I could not bring myself to say Saffir's body. It seemed so impersonal, so terrible to say it like that.

Demando -- or was it Hirosada? -- nodded his head, not looking to me. "I thought it was better that way -- at least on Nemesis, he could be buried under his real name. Here, I would have had to have him buried under the name of Hirosada, and I didn't really want that... besides, I wanted him interred in the family tomb, with our mother and father."

I noticed the way that his hands were trembling ever so slightly as he smoothed the branches of the tree, but there was no time to continue admiring the scenery. He lead me over to his cluttered desk, and offered me a seat before it before taking his own behind it.

He leaned forward slightly, clasping his hands before him as if in prayer. He leant his chin on the same, giving me an intense look. "Ayakashi-san, why are you here?"

"Hirosada-san," -- I stumbled over the name, unsure of whether to call him Demando, Hirosada or Mankichi -- "I simply wanted to speak with you. It's been sixteen years," I added lamely on the end, and I think he understood.

A far away look entered his eyes, and I noticed another vase of the Nemesian flowers on his desk. Upon looking about the room, I noted that the flowers were subtly everywhere, all housed in the short vases. I wasn't entirely sure, but I suspected that those delicate blue vases were in fact made of genuine sapphire, which made me wonder. Was Hirosada Mankichi more wealthy than I had imagined, or had he brought those back from the thirtieth century? "Sixteen years," he mused quietly, staring out over the blue sky. "Sixteen years..."

I noticed the way his eyes glittered in the sunlight -- and I knew that it was the light reflecting off his lens of tears. It comforted me to see that he had not forgotten his brother, despite the passing of all these years.

"I came here because Calaveras thought it might be a good idea," I said suddenly, causing Demando's head to snap around. "Are you aware of my son?"

Demando nodded slightly, his expression neutral. "Yes, I am aware."

I swallowed. "Are you also aware that you are his uncle?"

A sigh escaped his throat then, a long, melancholy sigh. "I was never sure... so. Your child is my brother's son?"

I nodded my head, and smiled tightly. "Yes. He is."

Demando leaned back in his chair, giving me a sadly speculative look as he did so. "For sixteen years, I have had a nephew, and never met him... what is his name?"

I cleared my throat slightly. "Ayakashi Koutaishi."

The name invoked a peculiar response in Demando; he closed his eyes tightly and took several deep breaths before opening them again. He did not look at me, instead he looked to the ceiling. "I take it you named him that purposely."

I nodded. "It's a brief reminder to us of who he is -- and what he would be if we were still on Nemesis. Unless, of course... you have had any children, Hirosada-san."

Demando shook his pale head, and I noted that he actually did look somewhat older. From a distance, it was next to impossible to tell that he had aged. Up close, I could see the fine lines about his eyes, the way those eyes were tired and weary. Sixteen years of carrying the burden of his brother's death couldn't have been any easier on him than it had been on me. "Calling him the Crown Prince is not really that far wrong at all, Ayakashi-san. I'm sure Saffir-otootochan would have liked it."

The conversation died right there, with the actual mention of an almost taboo name. The name seemed to have a degenerative effect on the former prince, and it only served to fill me with a deep melancholy. Over the years, I had come to regard Saffir's memory as something to cherish, rather than something to upset myself with. However, at certain times and in certain situations, it hurt to remember what he had been. Now was one of those times. Here was one of those situations.

When I could finally bring myself to speak, I remarked softly "So, how do you like it here?"

Demando stood up, moving over to a cabinet set into the wall. Opening it, he removed a bottle of something thick and blood red. He cast me a look, his purple eyes shadowed and dulled. "Would you like something to drink, Ayakashi-san?"

"No, thank you," I declined politely, observing the genteel gracefulness of his movements. It was no wonder Demando had remained in politics. He was far too aristocratic and refined to ever pull completely away from the world of the governing class. "You still drink, Hirosada-san?"

Demando brought his glass over to the desk, resuming his former seat. "You say that as if it is a bad thing."

I was slightly taken aback by the pain resounding in his eyes. "No... I just... I just thought that since his... death, you might have stopped..."

He laughed hollowly. "Do you mean because of the way Saffir hated the manner in which I used to drink?"

"He told me several times that he was worried about the amount you drank," I replied haltingly, not really wanting to bring up what had obviously been a source of dissension between the two brothers.

Demando stared at the glass, and I wondered what liquor it actually held. Certainly, it was nothing like I had ever seen before. "Saffir was paranoid," he said finally. "I didn't drink enough for it to be a problem."

"I think it was just because he believed the alcohol simply clouded your better judgement," I said softly, not wanting to come out and say that what I had said was actually a direct quote from what Saffir had once told me. I didn't think Demando could handle that. Therefore, I changed the topic. "Do you enjoy your position here?"

He didn't really react to the change of topic, but I think he was glad for it. "Incidentally, yes, I do enjoy it here. Of course, it took me a while to adjust to the ways of the government -- certainly, it is nothing at all like the oligarchy of Nemesis."

I smiled wryly. "At least you haven't instigated some kind of fascist uprising."

"If I cared, I would be insulted by that remark," Demando replied, with a surprising degree of nonchalance. He sipped from the crystalline glass again, before sighing. "Ayakashi-san, it's getting late. I hate to break up our little catch-up session, but I have things I should do."

I stood, brushing off my skirt for want of something to do with my hands. I couldn't look up at my former Prince as I thanked him for his time.

He didn't even ask me about Koutaishi, nor did he even question why I was here. He simply commented on the success of our company, and asked me several questions.

I excused myself soon after that -- I didnât even know what I had hoped to achieve here. However, I had a feeling that it would not be the last time I saw the former shiro no ouji.

Not by a long shot.

To Chapter Two

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