I did decide to update this after enough people complained about me discontinuing this. There will probably be three or four chapters more. That's it.

Notes are on the bottom of this page regarding names.

Disclaimer: Still don't own this nor am I making a profit for writing this.

If Only For Tonight

Seven Months Later Somewhere in The Lost Grounds:

"Kazuma! Dinner is ready." A woman called from a brightly lit home.

He split one last cord of wood before responding. "I'm coming."

Kazuma knew he had become a somewhat different kind of man than who he had been before. He was still impulsive and rude but now he was coming to think before he acted. At least a few thoughts before he acted, Noriko and Kanami liked to tease him.

Kazuma washed his hands and face before patting them dry with the towel that had been laying beside the bucket of water.

"What's that smell?" He came into the kitchen and sniffed appreciatively.

"A bunch of leftovers." Kanami shrugged. "Noriko and I haven't given it a name yet."

Noriko paused in the act of setting the table. "It's stone soup."

The other two stopped to stare at her with confused expressions. "Huh?" Kazuma finally managed.

"It's an old story from Europe." Noriko explained. "A group of villagers were complaining that none of them had enough food for themselves let alone the stranger that had asked for food and shelter. But the stranger asked if each family had a little to contribute to the pot of stone soup he wanted to make. Each family gave a little of what they had to the man and he made a huge pot of soup that everyone in the village was free to eat. It's a story showing that if everyone works together they can sometimes achieve what one person can't."

Kanami scrunched up her face. "Okay. But I still don't know why he called it stone soup,"

Noriko laughed. "Because he was so poor the only thing the stranger had to contribute was the stone the story was named for."

"That's gross. Putting a rock in a pot of soup." Kanami was clearly disgusted. "But I get the point behind the story."

"Can we eat before it gets cold?" Kazuma whined. He was hungry and didn't care about some old story.

"You're going to get a rock in your soup if you don't start behaving towards Kanami-chan." Noriko scolded him.

Noriko and Kanami shared a look that clearly said, Men, and brought out the food.

Kazuma began eating as Noriko maneuvered her pregnant body into her chair and sat with a sigh of relief. It was getting harder and harder for her to get around with being so close to term but she had responsibilities she needed to fill.

Noriko woke early each day to do household chores while Kanami cooked breakfast. Then it was off to the farm for the young girl and sometimes her rascally male housemate. Then it was time for Noriko to open the clinic and spend her day treating patients with herbal remedies and sometimes antibiotics depending on the case. She took payment in chickens, produce, eggs or a variety of everyday items such as wood or rice. Often if they were poor she refused to take payment from them at all.

Since she was one of the only people with any sort of medical experience at all, she quickly became known as one of the people to come to when someone needed help. She and the few others got together and held workshops for everyone where they handed out handwritten booklets on homemade rice paper on how to treat basic illness and how to diagnose serious ones. Such workshops were small since they were trying to stay in Holy's good graces (or under their radar in Noriko's case) and didn't want to be hauled away to Holy's underground prison.

Holy and Hold were aware of their activities. They wanted minimum interference from the bunch of outsiders and had drawn straws to determine who would go into the City and give their letter of introduction to Commander Zigmar. Akihito lost and went to the City. He was held for three days for questioning but was let go when an Alter User probed his thoughts and declared him free of harmful intentions towards Holy. Those who were trained medically were given permission (Noriko fumed at this) to treat the Outers in matters of accident and disease.

But none of Noriko's small group kidded themselves that Holy wasn't watching them. So they conducted small seminars, cared for those who came to them and did nothing avertly against Holy or Hold. Their clinics were declared neutral places and those that didn't respect the rules of neutrality were asked to leave and told to never come back. Eventually, the clinics became places of peace where the normal rules of war didn't apply. Inners and outers mingled here without the threat of retaliation.

She shook herself out of her musings and concentrating on eating the dinner she and Kanami had made.

Kanami seemed to guess where some of her thoughts had gone. "Are you ever going to take back your name?"

'No." Noriko said firmly. "I've chosen my path and with it my new name. Kiryu Mimori the dreamer is gone. In her place is Kunihiko Noriko the activist."

With Kazuma's help she had invented a plausible background for herself. She was Kimishima's widow and pregnant with his child. His best friend, Kazuma, had invited her to live with them because he didn't want her to be alone.

If Kimishima had any living relatives or any friends other than Kazuma this wouldn't have worked. But because Kimishima was the last of his line and he never talked about anything other than business to his customers, there was surprise and a few questions. But since Noriko claimed to be living in the City receiving medical training, most went away satisfied thinking that no wonder Kimishima always seemed to have what you needed. He clearly had connections to the City. But Noriko made it clear that the City held nothing but bad memories for her since that was where she was when her dear husband died.

Suddenly a rush of wetness drenched her legs. Did it have to be now of all times, little one? Noriko thought with exasperation and affection.

"Are you okay?" Kazuma asked gruffly. "You have a weird look on your face."

"Not really." Noriko said calmly as she struggled out of the chair. "My water just broke."

"Oh shit." Kazuma dropped his fork.

"Kazu-kun!" Kanami admonished. Having assisted Noriko many times with other medical procedures, Noriko prepared her for this as well. "I'll put the hot water on to boil. It's a good thing we made more lye two days ago."

"Who knew I'd be happy about that." Noriko made a face. "I can still smell it in my nose. Good thing I passed the puking stage before that."

Labor was hard and long for Noriko. Kanami kept Kazuma busy with little tasks so he wouldn't have time to worry. But at the end, Noriko and Kazuma sent Kanami out of the room so she wouldn't be overwhelmed by Noriko's mental anguish, the screams or the blood. In the end, Kanami had to come back in anyway because Kazuma had fainted from the sight of a bloody baby slipping from her mother's body. Neither girl ever let him forget about it and he never got over being embarrassed that he did such a thing.

Seven months to the day that she left Holy and Ryuho behind, Kunihiko Noriko once known as Kiryu Mimori gave birth to a seven pound ten ounce girl she christened Masako. For Masako and all the other children born in The Lost Ground would be their legacy to the world.

Holy Headquarters:

Rough fingertips caressed a piece of paper encased in a glass frame. It was the last tie to his past. The last tie to his mother, father and the valley of childhood that he had left behind so long ago. All he had now where memories that he tried to suppress during his waking hours. But they always came back in his dreams.

Memories of a young girl's smile, his parents laughing, the acceptance of his alter power outside of his family, his father's death, a chaste kiss, his mother laying in her own blood, the sound of his name called in passion, a dog barking, flames licking the sky as a jet exploded.

He turned away as the images threatened to overwhelm him again. He thought of her all the time now and very little but fighting new alter users could keep him focused. The others who had thought him frozen before watched him retreat even more. The man who was a shell of his former self became even more of a shell after news of the accident.

He needed what sleep he could get before the dreams came again and he watched them all die over and over again, pleading for him to save them, knowing that he couldn't. He was too young, too weak, too stubborn and always too late.

He clicked off the lights in the living room as he headed towards the bedroom. The last beam of light caught and reflected the glass frame and what lay inside.

Two photos sat side by side. One of a young boy and girl laughing together, hands entwined sat next to a family photo of a couple, a young boy and his dog. Next to the photos was a newspaper clipping and an obituary notice.

Kiryu Mimori

Born on October 3, Died tragically on January 10 when the jet carrying her and her staff crashed on the way home from Hong Kong.

She had a bright and happy childhood. She graduated Kyoto University at age 18 after much hard work and dedication. Her intelligence was only exceeded by her willingness to help the plight of the less fortunate. Her kindness will be sorely missed by all that knew her. She is survived by her loving parents, her uncle and grandfather.

The funeral will be held on January 20. It will be closed to all but friends and family.

Notes:

Masako means Justice.

Noriko means doctrine; law and order, ceremony

I decided that Noriko should take Kimishima's last name for two reasons: He is a casualty of the war between Holy and the native alters. Two: Because Kimishima had status in the community, Noriko is less suspicious to everyone else because Kimishima had a reputation.

Will Ryuho ever find out Mimori is alive? What will happen to Scheris? Will Kazuma topple Holy? Or will he need some help? Keep reading to find out the answers to these questions.

Samanda