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hours.”
    “I’m sorry,” Keno whispered.
    “Tan’yu-san warned me that you would be sleeping a lot,” I said.
    “He mentioned that, Samojirou-sama.”
    “Tan’yu-san scolded me for letting you spar with Okita-san,” I said.

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    He didn’t think he was important enough to tell me that Tan’yu had wanted him to rest since I wanted him to spar. If I had ordered him on a forced march, he would have done so even if he were half dead. I felt him blush at my comment. I thought he had trouble considering anyone scolding me.
    “All he talked about was… ah… sex,” Keno murmured. “And that I needed to heal and sleep.”
    “He is not angry with you,” I assured him, since he sounded frightened. I was going have to remember to treat him very gently.
    “And he had agreed to tutor you on the etiquette of my lady’s court.”
    “Thank you, Samojirou-sama,” Keno murmured.
    I smiled and kissed the back of his head. “You are not stupid. It is just that the real world does not prize manners the way that we do here.
    I fear that we are a bit old-fashioned here. And you do not have to address me as lord when we are alone.”
    “Thank you,” he repeated.
    “Let us eat, and I will tell you more about the lessons that I have arranged for you,” I said. I liked the way he smelled, and I wanted more than a chaste kiss. I pressed lightly into him, letting him feel my desire for a moment before I rolled away from him, and Keno shivered, but I knew it wasn’t from desire. “I just wanted to show you that I have some self control.”
    “You….”
    I sat up. “I think that the worst that I will do now will be to make you eat naked.”
    Keno blushed as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. He knew I was wearing only a fundoshi ―a traditional cotton loincloth. I stood up and put out a hand to help him up. Keno stared at it for a second before accepting it; I tried not to feel pleased at this small victory. I led him into the other room, where the food was.

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    “Keno, I have arranged for more than Tan’yu-san to tutor you,” I said. “There are any number of my lady’s people who are willing to teach you. But….”
    Keno’s face turned up to mine. He didn’t say anything, and I noticed how he kept his eyes on the floor, not meeting my gaze. “Due to a whim of mine, you are to be called Sakura when you are with them or when we are in public.”
    He didn’t say anything, only nodding.
    “Keno?”
    He shivered. I had frightened him, but I wanted an answer. He looked up, eyes dull, as he remembered something unpleasant.
    “When… when they took me, later… I was told that my papers had the name Watanabe Shiro on them. Not that I ever saw them.” I bit back my anger at the fact that those people had stolen his life and his name. “Names have power,” I explained. “That is why you will be Sakura.”
    Keno frowned and nodded. “But like now, you’re going to call me Keno? Just when―”
    I laughed. “When I escort you as my companion to any number of entertainments or with any of my lady’s people, you will be called Sakura-chan. And it is then that you will address me as Samojirou-sama. Right now, you don’t have to be that formal.”
    “Oh.”
    Keno seemed overwhelmed by that thought, and I motioned for him to sit down. “Eat. I assure you that the pickles are delicious.”
    “Thank you,” he whispered.
    I didn’t understand why; it was but a simple meal of fruits and vegetables. Not all of them were available in the real world, not that I knew of. Or they simply had not been in Japan when I was alive. I studied him while we ate; Keno seemed unaware of my scrutiny, eating slowly. I realized his slenderness was more like starvation, because he 35

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    was too thin. That made me furious, but I tried to control my anger because I didn’t want to frighten him.
    “Did they not feed you?” I demanded.
    He winced at my tone of voice and shook his head. “There were