"Yes, take me away from here!"

"Yes, take me away from here!" Machiko cried, a lifetime of formality, ceremony, ritual and loneliness torn asunder in a single instant of passion.

Nanoko responded with just as much passion, seizing Machiko's head between in her hands and kissing her passionately on the lips. Machiko staggered under the **** of the stranger's passion, but she wrapped her arms around the ninja and began to caress her smooth, silk-clad back.

Reluctantly, Nanoko broke off the kiss. "We must leave at once," she said. "Your betrothal is at hand." The ninja reached into the bushes and pulled out two outfits worn by the nuns of the Blessed Smile abbey. "Put this on," Nanoko said, dressing herself as well. Beneath the great looping hood and billowing robes, the ninja was unrecognizable.

"Well?" asked Nanoko, looking nervously around the garden. Voices were calling out the name of the Silver Princess as her servants searched for her, they called out all of her titles and addressed her in the royal 'we.'