[Meanwhile, on a small island between China and Japan]"Hey! You, girl! Stop making so much noise!" Otomi glared at the guard. He slammed his spear against the bars of her cell hard enough to make her hands sting. She withdrew them with a gasp of pain."I thought my keepers told you to keep us safe!" Otomi groweled."They told us to keep you from getting away and not let you die," the guard corrected as he pushed a tray of rice, pickles and miso toward the cell with his toe. The other women behind Otomi clamored to get at the food."Shut up!" Otomi barked as she picked up the first bowl and handed it to the nearest person, a girl no more than ten. "Eat the rice and pickles first, then I’ll fill your rice bowl with the miso."

"Aren’t we the little mediator!" The snide remark came from the man that had just stepped into the row of cells. His naked sword shone in the torchlight as he stolled lesurely down the tunnel. "You would make a good secritary, pretty thing!" The captain of the guard leered at Otomi as she handed a bowl of rice and pickles to another girl. When she reached for another bowl the captain slid the tray away from her with his sword point."Give us back our food," Otomi said dangerously. The captain laughed to his comrades."Isn’t she a fiesty one, boys! I’m sure she’s got a lot of energy!" He swiftly reached between the bars of the cell and took Otomi’s chin between his thumb and forefinger. "I just might convince your owner to loan you out for a few hours," he hinted at Otomi. The younger girls covered their ears and closed their eyes in fear.

"Do you know who my husband is?" Otomi snarled."You aren’t married," the captain shot back. "You still wear long sleeves. But I can change that" he hinted lewedly. He reached his other hand through the bars and fingered her collar."I’m engaged," Otomi spat out angrily, twitching her clothes out of his hands."So who’s the big shot fiance?" One of the guards snickered. "The retainer’s boy from down the road?""Yukishiro Enishi, the only man to take on the Battousai""And win," finished a light and husky voice from further back in the hall. "I’ve heard the stories about him."

"Oh! Captain!" The head guard said in surprise as he released Otomi. "I didn’t know you were down here!" The men backed away nervously."I thought that he loved only his sister." The ‘Captain’ approached the cell that held Otomi and her fellow captives but stayed out of the light. "The girl is lying, but you can’t ‘borrow’ any of my cargo, no matter what you pay me," ‘Captain’ snapped fiercely. "I’m not a pimp, I’m a sailor. Get back to your post, you pig!" The guards saluted smartly and practically ran off.

Otomi sank to the floor as tears began to leak out of her eyes. ‘Is it true? Enishi never spoke about his sister to me. Is the reason because he loves only her? No. I can’t let that Captain trick me like that! I love Enishi, and that’s enough to lead him to me!’ She picked up the last bowl of rice and stared at the neat white grains as her tears began to fall in ernest."But when will you come?" She whispered mournfully.