He nodded. "People said the oyabun oyabun was a woman, but I didn't believe it. My own stupidity, I suppose." was a woman, but I didn't believe it. My own stupidity, I suppose."

"Would it have changed anything?" Shuko asked.

"No. The vajra vajra belongs to the Yumegakure-ryu and no one else." belongs to the Yumegakure-ryu and no one else."

Shuko frowned. "Pity. I thought we might make an alliance. I could use someone to train my men in the ways of the ninja."

Nezuma groaned. "Kill me now, Shuko. I want to hear no more of this dishonorable talk."

Shuko shook her head. "Such hypocrisy. You claim to hold the traditions of j.a.pan sacred. That you wish for the old-world Bushido ways, and yet you would use the vajra vajra to further your own criminal agenda." She sighed. "But have it your way." to further your own criminal agenda." She sighed. "But have it your way."

Her gun barked twice and the rounds caught Nezuma in his chest. He dropped to the floor dead.

Shuko turned her attention back to the monks. "Go. I have no quarrel with you. You're free to leave."

The monks filed out of the room, leaving Annja and Ken behind. Ken shifted slightly, palming the vajra vajra.

Shuko looked at her watch.

"Waiting for something?" Annja asked.

Shuko smiled as the sound of gunfire broke out. Sustained bursts of automatic fire caromed around the monastery along with screams and moans of the dying.

Ken frowned. "You sent them to their deaths."

Shuko shrugged. "My men were anxious to kill after the harsh beating you two put on them the other night. To say they're anxious to meet you and avenge their comrades is a bit of an understatement."

"Just what do you think the vajra vajra will do for you?" Ken asked. "Do you know anything about it?" will do for you?" Ken asked. "Do you know anything about it?"

"Do you?"

Ken smiled. "Not a d.a.m.ned thing. I was looking forward to seeing what it could do."

Shuko shook her head. "Well, unfortunately for you, I'll be taking that now."

The gunfire had stopped elsewhere. Annja felt sick thinking about all the monks who had just been slaughtered. She felt waves of rage wash over her and she closed her eyes.

The sword rested in front of her.

All she had to do was grab it.

"I don't think so," Shuko said.

She opened her eyes and saw Ken holding the vajra vajra aloft. He looked different somehow. aloft. He looked different somehow.

Shuko brought her gun up to bear, but as she did so, Ken started chanting in some weird monotone that Annja had never heard before.

Shuko froze.

Annja snapped her eyes shut and grabbed the sword. She opened her eyes and threw the sword across the room.

The blade hissed through the air as beams of light shot out of the vajra vajra and into Shuko at the same time the sword slammed into her midsection, shoving her back into the wall. and into Shuko at the same time the sword slammed into her midsection, shoving her back into the wall.

Bright red blood shot out of her mouth, and her eyes went wide and white almost immediately. The beams of light cut into her body like lasers.

Shuko threw her head back and screamed.

Annja brought her hand up to shield herself from the intense light exploding across the room.

Ken kept chanting.

The light vanished and Ken stopped his mantra.

Shuko stood transfixed at the rear wall. Her gun lay on the floor.

She looked down at Annja's sword jutting out of her chest. She slumped over.

Dead.

Annja breathed out. "Wow."

Ken brought his hand down with the vajra vajra in it and turned it over in his hand. "That was certainly something." in it and turned it over in his hand. "That was certainly something."

"How did you do that?"

He shook his head. "I have no idea. I just...I don't know...made it happen, I guess."

"Well, whatever you did, it certainly worked. It distracted her and I was able to reach for the sword."

"Look," Ken said.

Annja turned and saw one of the monks standing in the door frame. He bowed low and smiled. "You are all right?"

Ken nodded. "It's good to see you and your brothers intact."

"When she let us go, it seemed fairly obvious what would be waiting for us out there. Her men stood no chance. And staging the ma.s.sacre seemed like a good idea."

"She certainly fell for it," Ken said.

"What will you do now?" the monk asked.

Ken smiled. "Honestly, I'd like to go home. Is there an easier way out of here than how we came in?"

He glanced at Annja. "Are you ready to get going?"

"Just one second." She walked over to Shuko and slid her sword out of Shuko's corpse. Holding it in both hands, she closed her eyes and returned the sword to its resting place.

When she opened her eyes again, both Ken and the monk were staring.

"Some day," Ken said, "you'll have to teach me how you do that."

Annja laughed. "Just as soon as I figure the whole thing out myself."

38.

The monks showed them how to best exit the mountain, but kept Annja and Ken blindfolded the entire time, telling them that secrecy of the monastery was paramount and this way they'd never be able to reveal its actual location.

On the walk back down the mountain, Annja kept looking at Ken. She could see the happiness in his gait and spirit. Throughout the hike, he stayed fairly quiet, seemingly preferring to stay inside his own head.

Annja had a great deal to think about, as well. A lot had happened on this trip, and she had to process it all. She'd been concerned about how she was unable to bring the sword out to protect herself when she and Ken had been in the midst of the fog. But she guessed that it wouldn't come out because the monks hadn't meant her harm, despite giving the appearance of that. Had she been able to draw the sword, she definitely would have killed some of them.

So did the sword know when the danger was real as opposed to imagined? And if there was no true danger, would she be able to pull it out anymore and examine it? Or had that time pa.s.sed?

There was little doubt that things were evolving. Annja just wasn't sure where she fit into the whole picture. In some ways she felt like a tool to be used by the sword. And other times it seemed that the sword was the tool.

She still didn't feel that they were unified in body and spirit.

That, she supposed, would take many years.

"Are you all right?" Ken asked.

She smiled. "I think so, yes."

Ken stepped over a thick tree root and grinned. "Some trip we've had ourselves, Annja Creed."

"It certainly has been something."

"What will you do now?"

Annja shrugged. "The same thing I always do-go home, get myself stuck in the middle of something new, exciting and potentially dangerous."

Ken laughed. "You enjoy that, don't you?"

Annja thought about it. "I suppose I do. Remember when you spoke about the moon's reflection on the water? And how we have a tendency as humans to see what we desperately want to see, not how things actually are?"

"I remember," Ken said. "It took me years to learn that lesson. Years to become comfortable with who I was-the man I'd become. It is not an easy thing to do, stare into the mirror of pure truth and be comfortable with what is reflected back at you."

"I can see how it wouldn't be." Annja shrugged. "But I guess I'm starting to feel a bit more comfortable with who I am now. And I do enjoy taking risks. I have to accept that part of myself if I am to understand fully what it means to have this sword that I've got."

Ken's eyes danced. "I thought we weren't going to talk about that."

Annja laughed. "Is this going to be our special phrase from now on?"

Ken stopped. "I didn't know there was going to be a from now on from now on."

"Well, there's not," Annja replied, momentarily taken aback. "I mean, I just thought that, you know, if we ever run into each other again. It's a small world and all. And you know, you had been following me all over the place prior to this."

Ken smiled. "Then it will be our phrase. And maybe when we've both had some time to figure out our own personal destinies, maybe we'll see each other again."

"I'd like that," Annja admitted.

"As would I."

They pa.s.sed the remainder of the trip in silence. Part of Annja hated the idea of leaving Ken. She'd had a lot of fun being with him. But she also knew that while it might be fun to hang out for a while, she'd grow restless. She had adventures to undertake. She had places to visit.

And evil to stop.

She frowned. Now where had that thought come from?

Ken reached the trailhead first and waited for Annja to come through the bush. "You think our car is still there?" he asked.

Annja stopped. "You don't think someone stole it?"

Ken shrugged. "Hey, we're not immune to car theft over here, you know."

"I am not walking back to Ueno," Annja said. "If the car is missing, you'll have to carry me back."

"Deal."

But the car was right where they'd left it. Annja was a bit surprised that none of Shuko's Yakuza thugs had demolished it on the way in.

"So, the Onigawa-gumi is all destroyed, right?" Annja asked.

Ken nodded. "I'd certainly think so. The monks took care of them. Despite Shuko's insistence that they were going global, I don't think they were. One reason I chose to approach the Onigawa-gumi in the first place was they were smaller than other clans. I felt I could deal with them reasonably." He laughed. "Well, as reasonably as you can with Yakuza."

"What if there are some left?" Annja asked.

Ken shrugged. "I'll take care of them."

Annja raised her eyebrows. "You'll kill them?"

Ken fished the car keys out of his backpack. "Annja, I don't ever look for a reason to kill. Neither would you. But if there's one thing I've learned it's that the universe has a scheme of totality to it. And places and events and people all fall into that scheme. Our destinies are designed so that we all intersect how we're supposed to intersect. It may be that I'm not supposed to kill them or it may be that I am."

"But how will you know what the universe or G.o.d or whatever wants you to do?"

Ken pointed back toward the mountain. "The same way we figured out what we were supposed to do in the labyrinth."

"Instinct?"

"Sure."

"I guess I'm not all that comfortable yet with the idea of using my instinct to guide me entirely through life," Annja said.