Nothing seemed to matter much anymore. She was so very surprised to notice that she was still standing very stiffly, almost imperiously, at the centre of the train aisle. To the passer-by she would appear very proud and infallible. She took a distant pride in this.

Kanjou, after all, had made her this way. It would only be right if she would spend the rest of her life with him. He was the reason why she was still able to live until now. If not for Kanjou, she would never have lived in the first place.

It was only right, she chanted mentally, it was only right. From the very beginning, her life had belonged to him.

*Kami-sama* she cried in her mind, in silent entreaty. A hot wetness began to sting her eyes and she angrily wiped away a tear. No crying. No pain. No turning back.

She would soon be the wife of the most powerful wizard in Japan and weakness was no longer allowed.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and smoothed out her robes, looping the red and gold Kossawa belt, Kanjou's colours, around her waist. The symbol that would tell the world she was now his.

Shinrei smiled at the people gathered around her. "My friends," she said in a cheerful yet painfully hollow voice, "would any of you be kind enough to allow me into their compartment? I am afraid I have managed to curse mine into uselessness."

"Shinrei, do come and share with us - there is plenty of room." said Nimue with a smile.

Like Marvo she well understood how shocking it could be to suddenly discover that your life had been planned out by outside forces and even if she didn't wish to talk about it - she needed to be with others not further isolated.

"Thank you," Shinrei replied. She walked very carefully to the edge of the decimated train compartment to retrieve her fallen backpack and parcels. Everything seemed intact, though littered with bits of debris here and there.

She bent down and manually dusted off her things, having no more will to do magic. She winced as she shouldered the backpack. When she tried to lift up her other packages, she let out a cry of pain as her knees gave way under the strain.

Shinrei crashed down to the floor, breathing heavily. Her things fell once more to the floor as they had moments before she had spotted Saito earlier that day.

"Kami-sama," she gasped out painfully, sweat profusely breaking out on her forehead. She braced her hands against the debris-littered floor and made yet another unsuccessful attempt to get to her feet.

It wasn't as if he had waited for one particular moment to step into the scene, but Jian Hupi had nevertheless dropped all his inhibitions when he saw Shinrei Hikari slumped over on the floor, half-covered with her things.

Jian had been peacefully half-sleeping in a tiny compartment at the farthest end of the train when the explosion occurred. He had then changed into his new black Hogwarts robes and joined the curious crowd gathered at the scene, unnoticed by others. However, one particular thing had seemed to single him out--a black owl. It had refused to leave its perch on Jian's shoulder.

The owl hooted rather encouragingly as Jian took quick strides towards Shinrei, too quickly to be stopped by anyone else present. At the moment, he did not care that she was female and betrothed to some Japanese High Lord. She was ill and she needed help. And he would extend it.

"Enough," he said firmly, kneeling right down to face Shinrei. He took hold of both her upper arms so that her weight was shifted to his own grip, not to her already shaky-looking hands. "Miss, do not attempt to get up on your own. You will break either your knees or your wrists."

*********

Raphael nodded to the girl, who seemed a little unsteady still, said his goodbyes to both Kat and Nimue (his missing Marvo a little pointed) and walked down the corridor.

"Well," he said to no one in particular outside the carriage door. "Um."

He opened to the door, grinned at Sarah, and sat down by the window again. "Well, that was... confusing," he commented.

The train juddered a little and then set off again.

Nathaniel looked up from watching Ruth make sparks with her wand, and pocketed his own wand again. Only careful observers would note that he hadn't even attempted to make sparks with it.

"I don't suppose you know what happened then." he asked Raphael.

To Ruth he said, "Good work. You'll do just fine at Hogwarts. Now I bet you've got better things to do than hang around with stuffy fourth years, but you'd better wait until David gets back otherwise he'll think we've done something terrible with you."

The kitten pushed its face against his neck, purring a little, and he automatically leant back in his seat so the kitten could lie sprawling across his collarbone.

Sarah gave a little 'whoop' that the train was starting to move again.

After Nathaniel had leaned back to allow his kitten to sprawl, she took up the thread with Raphael. "So confusing like how?" asked Sarah with curiosity. "What did you see?"

"What did I see?" repeated Raphael, looking curiously at Ruth. "Er... I saw... er... very little. Just Nimue and a few others... a guy called... er.. Luis...? And then Nimue asked something from these guys in black. They had like, wands. I think. And then there was another girl... er... can't remember if I know her name... er... then they told us all to keep away. Then when they went Nimue helped the girl into a carriage. I came back here. It was fun. If a little confusing. As I said," Raphael finished with a grin. "Interesting."

"So," he said to Ruth and Nathaniel, giving Sarah a wink on the sly, "what's going on with all the sparks? Is this girl trying to burn your nose, old man?"

"Teaching me to turn this wretch into something nicer and more innocent... like a rabid ferret..." Nathaniel said teasingly, and the kitten batted at his nose with a paw playfully.

"Sounds like someone's term is starting with a bang then." he said in response to the comments about why the train had stopped briefly. "At least we're on our way again, shouldn't be too late. I hope no one got hurt. Did you see David? I wonder where he's got to..."

David? Who on earth was David? Was it a trick question? What on earth was Nathaniel talking about? Raphael sat down in his usual place, and looked at Nathaniel talking to Ruth. Perhaps it was someone Ruth knew? David? All the people...

He looked up, and across to Sarah, and back to Nathaniel, and bit his lip so hard that he almost started to draw blood, thousands of conflicting thoughts twisting him about in his head. There had been a reason that he wanted to talk to Nathaniel and Sarah.

Perhaps he'd been too harsh earlier... perhaps he'd not bent enough... perhaps he'd been a dictator... he didn't know. That was the problem: he simply didn't know. Raphael acknowledged to himself that he could be right in his desire to talk to Nathaniel and Sarah about... about... about his unique status. But... he'd been so against it, Raphael thought... how could I...?

He sighed, and went back to one of the more easy mysteries of life. "Who's David?"

"ah.. you'd left, of course..." Nathaniel struck his forehead with the palm of his hand and rolled his eyes dramatically. "Sorry. Packed my brain in the trunk, I think. David is Ruth's uncle. Went to look for a friend of his I think."

"Ruth's uncle?" Raphael's brain worked feverishly for a second. Perhaps it was because of his uncle, but Raphael knew that there were two types of men: those who got you to do what they wanted, and those who made fools of themselves along the way. Both were dangerous, Raphael thought, both were scary, but the one's who made fools of themselves were the worst... they did physical damage, sometimes.

He shuddered. "Nathaniel... shouldn't we be calling a teacher by his second name?"

"He's a Fourth Year, kid." Nathaniel grinned at Raphael. "Never had a big family, huh? I knew a girl once who was an aunt six times by the time she was twelve."

"he's a... a fourth year? What, Nathaniel? How strange. My family had a thing for only ever really having two similar age kids..." Raphael trailed off, his words losing themselves in face of greyness. Just greyness.

His left hand was aching. Like, a burning itch. A burning, tickling itch. On his arm. God, it hurt. Like someone had sliced off the entire hand with a red-hot shard of glass. Like someone was burning his raw flesh. God... he had to stop it... what was happening... he had to stop the burning... it was too much... burning... pain... his hand dropped towards his pocket. His neck, too... rope rubbing into the flesh... paper slicing into his face... pain... pain on pain... pain on pain on pain...

He knew how to stop the burning! His hand slipped into his left pocket, for just a second, and then the greyness receded, and he could focus again, and without thinking he removed his hand from his pocket hurriedly. What had happened? The memory started to fade.

"What were we talking about?" he asked Ruth and Nathaniel.

"Families." Nathaniel replied bitterly. "But let's not spoil such a lovely trip with such nasty words, eh? You decided your options yet, kid?"

The look of fear was etched on the youngster’s face. "Op-op-what?"

Options? What, was this like some kind of... test? Did they expect him to be able to choose between something? Raphael couldn't help it... in many ways the idea of school filled him with fear... dreadful, terrible fear... fear that pervaded his soul... choices... options... choosing...

"Told you about them in the taxi, Raph, don't you remember?"

Nathaniel leant forward to look the boy in the eye, concerned. "You feel dizzy? Head hurt? Black specks in front of your vision? Anything like that?" His left cheek was aching. He didn't know why.

"Options... Options..." Raphael thought for a second. "Options... I remember... you said... oh yeah... sorry, old man, don't have the ability to keep a conversation in my head for more then a second at a time. So, what did I decide?" he asked, grinning at the other student. "And which teaches fireball throwing, Sarah?" he asked.

He knew the response would probably be nothing. She hadn't been too forthcoming on the fireballs before. "So, what's this hidden talents gonna be about, I wonder? What hidden talents do students normally have? And I wonder what our hidden talents are? I'm quite good at picking locks," Raphael told all of them, giving Ruth a quick wink.

********

Nimue was glad that Jian had moved so quickly.

"Jian, can you carry her into our compartment? It is just in the next carriage. She will be more comfortable there and then we can make sure she is all right.

Jon Sinclair had assisted in making sure that students returned to their carriages and answered questions - assuring them that all was well. Then the train gave a lurch and then was moving again, picking up speed rapidly.

Jon had returned to ask if there was anything that he could do yet realised immediately that something was wrong with Shinrei. He could see Jian was holding on to her and that Nimue speaking to the Chinese boy.

There was no need for him to stay but he had to at least make sure she was not injured. Therefore, he continued to hover near the doorway.

"Jian." The first name stumbled from her lips with sudden familiarity as Shinrei felt the Chinese boy's strong grip on her arms.

She raised her eyes to his face and was very, very surprised to see Makura, her black owl, perched on his shoulder. "So my owl found you, did he not? I am guessing he knows a healer when he sees one."

"No, Nimue-san. No carrying. I can walk perfectly well." She started to get to her feet, lost her balance once more and slumped back down.

"That cursed shuriken spell," Shinrei muttered darkly, her vision swimming. "That was *my* spell. They had no right to go around throwing it at me."

"I said that is enough, Miss," Jian said, sighing, as Shinrei crashed back down. The thing with this female was that she was very proud, just as proud as any of the brothers in Mian-Ju-Tao. They never showed weakness or pain if they could help it.

"Your owl came to me, yes," he explained gently. "But I must confess I am not a fully-trained healer."

Jian turned to Nimue and nodded. "I can carry her without trouble." With this, he swept Shinrei into his arms and stood up. For someone who had showed so much power--enough to destroy a train compartment with a single spell--she was very light, almost childlike.

"Where is this compartment, Miss Hawkwood?" Jian asked.

Nimue had been about to protest that Shinrei was in no condition to walk on her own when she had crashed back down and Jian had taken her in his arms.

"This way." she said leading him out of the door.

Passing Jon Sinclair she stopped for a quick word. "She'll be all right Jon. Do you want to come with us?"

Jon who had almost leapt forward himself when Shinrei had fallen looked as though he wanted to but instead shook his head. "No. I'm sure you are right. Let me know if there is anything you or she needs OK?"

It was almost like floating, Shinrei decided. Jian was carrying her with such ease that it was remarkable for a boy who wasn't so tall like the others.

As they passed Jon Sinclair, Shinrei turned her head away from his direction. She did not feel like talking to him at this time. She felt too raw, too exhausted, to figure out how to talk to people coherently.

Nimue nodded that she would and proceeded to move towards the carriage where she, Kat and Marvo had based themselves. Arriving there she moved the flowers onto one seat and made room so that Shinrei could lie down.

She then sent a quick summoning to Kat Black. "I have summoned Kathryn Black." she explained to Jian. "She also has healing skills. Between the two of you I am sure a great deal can be done. Plus, a little rest will do Shinrei wonders."

Privately she thought that the news of her betrothal had hit Shinrei as much as any aftershock of the spells. She wondered whether Shinrei's pride and sense of duty would even allow her to admit such.

She waited while Jian settled Shinrei.

She smiled at Jian as he settled her down. "Thank you," Shinrei said. "You are very quick on your feet, Hupi-san. No wonder your Order deemed you so special."

Shinrei turned to look at Makura, still perched pompously on Jian's shoulder, and back at Jian. "Would it be too much if I asked you to stay here for a little while?"

"It would be my honour," said Jian, "to stay here and make sure you recover, Miss."

It was a surprise to him how easily his inhibitions and restrictions all fell away when it came to Shinrei Hikari. Perhaps he had never before been presented with a chance to build friendships with people his age, and this girl seemed to be the first one to try to reach out to him--the teenaged boy who lived beneath the facade of the stony-faced monk.

He sat down beside her and saw the edges of the red-gold silk belt, which was looped around her waist, cascading to the floor next to his feet. He knew very little about marriage rituals but enough to confirm in his mind that this belt was a tag of possession.

Jian removed Shinrei's black owl from his shoulder and made it face her.

"Look, Miss. He says it would do you well to rest. And smile more."

When he realised what he had just said, he blushed furiously and looked away from her.

"I think it would be a good idea for you to stay as well, Jian. We have plenty of room and Makura will also be good company for my new owl - whose name is yet to be chosen."

Nimue uncovered her owl's cage so that the two owls were able to regard each other.

Nimue then settled in her seat opposite Shinrei. "Shinrei, Jian is right you should rest and you should smile more." she said gently. "I am not that familiar with the customs of your Clan or the Order of Izanagi though I understand these matters of succession possibly more than most of our age in the West."

She turned to explain to Jian, "My father, Lord Hawkwood, is the Head of the Order of Merlin. It is a hereditary position as my ancestor was the founder of the Order and a member of his lineage has lead the Order since its inception. However, in the West a woman is not prohibited from holding such a position and therefore upon my father's death I shall assume his mantle and attendant duties."

Marvo had returned with them. He was concerned.

Shinrei had muttered something about 'cursed shuriken'. If that meant the spell she had cast she would be in trouble.

He knew he would have to talk with her later, but she did not seem very well at all at the moment, and he didn't want to talk while Jian Hupi was around.

For the moment he stood silently watching. nodding in agreement to Nimue's words. He mind on other things.

Shinrei nodded at Nimue's advice and offered the girl a smile for good measure, though she was certain her smile appeared very weak.

"For a while, I believed that they were testing and training me to assume a position in the Order of Izanagi's Innermost Circle--composed of the most elite warriors, more so when Kanjou-sama sent me this," she explained softly, gesturing to the Izanagi badge on her kimono's lapel.

"Kanjou-sama used to be a Sohei--a warrior monk--and he had never married or had a child. Since he raised me since infancy, I seemed the most likely choice to become his heir. Everyone in the Clan believed it as well."

"It would seem that all of us thought wrong, did we not?" Shinrei shook her own head in disbelief. "They were testing me if I was strong enough to bear the child of the High Lord. And that High Lord being Kanjou-sama...Gods, he is about forty-five years in the Western calendar now. I cannot believe he chose me to be his wife. There are so many women in our country who would accept such an honour."

*Why me?* she wanted to ask. But Shinrei believed none of them really knew the answer to such a question. She herself had no inkling what was going on in Kanjou's mind when he made the decision of marrying her.

*********

Kat had followed the crowd of sightseers as they returned to their own compartments. She had looked through the windows to make sure that everyone inside was ok. She had found one or two that had banged arms or heads. She had healed them where necessary, but there seemed to be no serious injuries.

She had not stopped in on Nathaniel, Raphael, Sarah, Ruthie and Breana. They had all looked ok through the small window in the door. So she never looked at Raphael's new injury. She also didn't disturb Tish and Niki who seemed to have thrown Nathan outside. She smiled at him as she passed him in the corridor but didn't say anything.

As she was reaching the far end of the train she heard the summons. Nimue's voice called her... "Kat come quickly, we need a healer, our compartment."

She turned round and ran up the train towards the compartment they had found been sitting in earlier.

She opened the door. "You called me." She said, concern in her voice. She noticed that Shinrei was not looking too good after her encounter, and she did seem to be the focus of everyone's attention.

She saw from Marvo's countenance that he too was concerned for Shinrei.

"Shinrei, I can give you healing if you need it. You are not looking too bright after that attack. Can I help?"

When Kathryn Black peered into the compartment, she smiled weakly at the girl. "Ohayo, Kathryn-san. Thank you for your concern...but I do not really know what is wrong, save I cannot walk straight. Perhaps this is an after-effect of their spell. I ran into it twice, headlong."

Her voice was sheepish and self-deprecating, but Shinrei's voice lightened at the idea of being strong enough to remain conscious through two Shuriken-ha attacks.

Andy returned to sit in his seat reading his book, when he saw Kat escorting everyone to their seats. When she rushed off he followed her into the compartment where Shinrei, Nimue and Marvo were with another boy.

Marvo glared at Andy as he entered, but said nothing. Now was not the time.

He Smiled at Kat as she entered though.

"I think Shinrei-San it would be prudent to allow Kat to have a look at you anyway..... And I would also suggest that you refrain from using ANY magic... at least until we have a chance to have a... chat"

Strange as the request of using no magic sounded, Shinrei nodded at Marvo's words.

"Of course, Ward-san. I likewise have no objection to Kathryn-san's help. And if you wish to have a word with me, I see no reason why we cannot speak now. Unless it is, of course, very confidential."

She wondered what Marvo wanted to have "a chat" with her about. She surmised it was most likely something about Saito and his minions and their unnecessary pompous posturing that drew the attention of Western magical law-enforcers.

Marvo's eyes glanced over to Andy, then back to Shinrei. "No. Later will be fine."

Nimue gave an encouraging smile to Andy and offered him some sweets.

No matter how Marvo felt about Andy, she had every intention of trying to help him and she was certain that Kat and other would as well. How could Marvo forget all the fun they had had? Well, maybe 'fun' wasn't quite the right word.

How could he forget the 'Scooby Gang'? Still with new students here it was no time to drag up the past or address the problem of Andy's missing body.

Jian looked at the girl, called Kat or something like so, who had entered the compartment moments ago. His gaze then shifted to the boy, whom Shinrei called "Ward-san," who seemed to have some authority over the strange black-garbed Western wizards.

He got to his feet and bowed towards the pair to whom he had not been formally introduced to yet. "My name is Hupi Jian. I am the new student from the Mian-Ju-Tao Northern Order of China. I will be joining the Fourth Years of Hogwarts this term."

Marvo smiled slightly and bowed back. "Greetings Hupi-San. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm Marvo Ward, also a fourth Year and in Gryffindor House. Have you been sorted yet?"

Since Marvo had decided not to talk with Shinrei - Nimue's took up the previous conversation she'd been having on the subject of the betrothal.

"Forty-five years isn't that old - not for a wizard. My ancestoress was very young when she met Merlin and became his student and then his companion. He is known to have already been of a great age and yet they were deeply devoted to each other."

However, Shinrei had said a couple of times that she couldn't believe that Kanjou had chosen her.

"Shinrei, would you have chosen him? I heard you accept but it sounded as though you were informed rather than asked. Could you have said no? Was there a choice for you in this?"

Would Shinrei be comfortable with such discussions in front of Marvo Andy and Jian? She lowered her voice,

"If you'd prefer not to talk about this, I would understand. However, I do appreciate what such news can be like. Malcolm...Marvo and I were briefly betrothed last year - a decision made for us by our families. It was a huge shock when we were told it had been planned since we were very young. However, we both objected and eventually it was dissolved - with honour."

She looked up at Kat and Marvo at this point and smiled at them.

Kat watched and waited. Shinrei had suggested that there was no point in healing, yet both Nimue and Marvo had suggested she look.

If Shinrei really didn't want this betrothal then Kat could understand why she felt so low and seemed to look ill. It was probably worth doing something, but the question was what. She waited quietly to see if there was actually a desire from Shinrei to marry Kanjou.

She smiled at Andy, wishing that Marvo was not such a blunt stubborn person when it came to situations like this.

Nimue wondered if this was not all too soon for Shinrei to talk about. She seemed in shock and with the boys there as well it was far too delicate a subject.

Therefore, she didn't press her for an answer. Instead, she reached over an took Shinrei's hand briefly seeking to convey to her that she had friends with whom she could talk about these matters if and when she wanted to.

After greeting Andy, the angelic-looking boy she had met around the end of the previous term, Shinrei

decided it was time to put the minds of her classmates at ease.

"Kathryn-san, I believe I have been in the middle of one too many spells for a single day, so I guess you can say I am not that well. This will subside in a little while--this is quite a normal occurrence, especially with the likes of Saito."

She turned to Marvo and gave a little smile. "You are right in saying, Ward-san, that Saito is a show-off."

Feeling Nimue's reassuring grip on her hand, Shinrei gave an understanding nod and smile. Jian had been right. It was better when she smiled more.

"About this betrothal...let us just say that my life belonged to Kanjou-sama from the very start." Her eyes took on a distant sheen. "I owe him everything."

"I understand." said Nimue quietly to Shinrei and she did as well. Rest seemed to be the best medicine that Shinrei could have.