The wind's chilly fingers gripped at her throat, taking her voice away. She didn't mind. She had already said everything that needed to be said. Tsuko looked up, her eyes on Toturi's face, contorted by the shadows; but she knew better than to trust shadows.

Across the dark, Toturi looked down at the kneeling samurai-ko, glad that the night hid the tears swelling his eyes. He was her second and she needed to see his strength. He could not fail her. Not now.

Slowly, almost silently, he moved behind her, the toes of his feet just touching the tatami mat she knelt upon, resting his hand on his katana. Tsuko bowed her head and placed a piece of rice paper in her right hand. Then, she lifted the wakizashi and withdrew the blade from its saya.

"It is my duty to protect the Emperor," she whispered as the blade glistened in the dim light. "I cannot perform that duty. I cannot serve the thing that sits on the Emerald Throne. I have failed my family and my Clan."

Toturi said nothing. He had heard these words from his own lips many years ago. He felt his tears rolling down his eyes and licked his lips as he pulled his katana into the night air.

"I do this now to save my family's honor, not my own."

Toturi only mouthed the words: "I know."

"With my death, there will be none to lead the Lion. They will be lost in the darkness." She paused, and for a moment, Toturi feared she would falter.

But she straightened her back, her shoulders wide and powerful. She was a Lion, even at the moment of her death.

"They need you, Toturi," she said, her words filled with sorrow. "I cannot help them ... but you can."

Toturi almost spoke, but then he heard the first cut and his tongue turned as cold as snow.

"They need you ..." she said again, her voice forcing its way through the pain. "... more than they need me."

Toturi heard the second cut and then the third, but Tsuko made no sound. Her body twitched once, her neck snapped up and Toturi did not hesitate. His sword struck, singing its death song through the night air - the last song she would ever hear.

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