Matsu'o Tsurayaba ran through the streets of Tokyo.

His injuries were severe enough to slow him down but not to stop him. A master who did not know the meaning of pain had trained him, and it had been a lesson Matsu'o had learnt well. He may have been dying but he knew where he had to get to, the only people who would be able to help him. He smiled at the irony of it knowing it was more than likely they would throw him to their mutual enemy. It was exactly what he would do if their roles were reversed. However, he was gambling on the current danger being more important than their personal vendettas. Of course, some grievances went deeper than that and there was bound to be conflict over what happened to him.

He thought back to what had happened, how he had been removed from his position as Master of the Hand in disgrace.* Kuroyama had sent the dogs after him, vicious cross-bred killers all of them and he had only just escaped them, but with the blood he was leaking, even with his makeshift tourniquet, they could pick up his scent sooner or later. He was hoping that the body of the peasant he had run across would feed the dogs, especially as it was covered in his blood. If he were very lucky, then the Hand would think him dead and call them off all together.

(* Last issue--Dino)

"You've made a grave error, Kuroyama," said Matsu'o as he stopped to catch his breath. Nina's strike had gone through him cleanly, and he was fairly certain she had speared his kidney as she had struck. They had turned away from him, believing him to be mortally wounded and he had escaped, slowly and as stealthily as he had been allowed. Kuroyama had a presence, he could not deny it, but that presence had distracted the Hand and allowed him to flee.

His sensei would have been pleased with his actions and his skill at eluding the Hand. He was not so pleased at it himself, for he had thought them better trained than that. It would be one of the things he rectified when he returned to power, but first he had to get the Yashida compound - before Kuroyama had the chance to strike.

The only person who could help him now was Wolverine, and Matsu'o had an ace to play in that respect. He just hoped he had enough time to play it.

"It is good to see you again, Logan," says Elektra as we stand on a balcony in the guest wing of the Yashida compound. From here you can see across the city, and there aren't too many cities as beautiful as Tokyo.

"You too, darlin'," I answer. Elektra brought me back to my sanity after Genesis and his Dark Riders tried to make me a Horseman of Apocalypse. They failed and we all paid the price - they with their lives, me with my very being. When I rejected their adamantium bondin' process, my body was forced to devolve in order for the healin' factor to do its work without killin me.*

(* Back in Marvel's now-classic Wolverine #100--Dino)

I became a mindless beast, guided only by instinct and the vaguest traces of memory, until Elektra healed my mind and soul, while my healin' factor pulled my body back together again. For a while, I had to use an image inducer but eventually my body was human again, less of an animal and I had all my faculties back in place. It took a long time though, but I'm exactly who I was before again - without the adamantium.

"I was sorry to hear about what went down in New York," I say, puttin' my arm around her waist and pull her close, and her head rests on mine. "I was in Egypt with the X-Men and I heard when I got back. Then the whole thing with Viper went down and by the time I got back from Madripoor, Mac had died and you'd vanished from the city."

"There was nothing you could have done," she answers, the sorrow in her voice tellin' me that she still ain't over Mac even though it was a good while back now. "There was nothing anyone could have done."

"There's always somethin' we can do," I answer. "So how d'you end up here?"

"I came here to see if I could hide away with Yukio, plus there were questions raised about Amiko. Yukio said she told you about what happened after the last time you and I met."

"Yeah, when you went after Kuroyama and the Hand and someone betrayed you to them. The only person it could have been was Amiko, but she didn't want to believe it, and neither did I. 'Cept Kenuichio sad we ought to check her out anyway."

"Between Yukio and myself we were able to break her of the Hand's conditioning," Elektra says, her hand restin' on mine, lightly grippin' it as she speaks and I smile, knowin' I owe her for that. The Hand tried to get to me via one of my kids and I ain't gonna stand for that, be it Kitty, Jubilee or anyone.

"Someone's gonna pay for that," I answer, softly, my words almost a growl in the night air.

"They have much to answer for," she says, her tone almost echoing my own, remindin' me how close we are to each other, not just a bond between sensei and student, not a bond between friends, but as equals. We know each other inside and out and we both know how alike we are, as if we're two sides of the same coin. She's a lot like Jean, except she's like Jean without the restraint. If we didn't have other people in our hearts, we could almost be lovers.

"However," she continues, "Amiko is recovering, the Hand influence has been exorcised and Yukio and Amiko now reside in the compound. The Samurai is trying to fulfil his promise to you."

"I let him keep the Honour Sword here, but I can take it whenever I need."

"I know," she says, and I remember she's been here a while now. "After I helped free Amiko of the Hand's influence, he offered me a job, protection, sanctuary. I didn't have anywhere else to go."

"Wish you'd told me, darlin'."

"Oh, Logan, I wanted to, but I didn't want to risk the Clan anymore than necessary. Imagine if the forces of the Hand joined together in a joint strike at us both, too many innocent people would get hurt. I don't want that to happen because of me anymore. Plus while I've been here, I've been training for the next time I face Kuroyama and Nina."

"I know the name Kuroyama from somewhere. It escapes me now though. Hello Yukio."

"Nobody seems to know who he is or was," says Yukio as she comes on the balcony, knowin' I had her scent as soon as she was in range. There are no records of him in the files of Shingen."

"Might have been after his time," I answer, as I light a cigar.

"Or before," says Elektra and I nod. Kuroyama was another member of the Hand raised from the dead by the Hand rituals.

"Wouldn't mind a crack at him myself."

"Are you good enough?" asks Elektra, as my sensei. She taught me all she knew, but I knew more before that. I used to the best at what I did, then circumstance altered things. Now after meetings with others who've forced the old memories to return, I'm as good as I ever was.

Least that's what I've been tellin' myself, and so far I ain't been proved too far wrong. You don't have to be the fastest or the strongest, or the most skilled to be the best, you gotta be the last one standin'.

"Don't know until I try," and she nods. She knows she can't defeat Kuroyama. She's tried twice and lost both times with an ease that weighs heavily on her. "Anyway, I don't know where he is, so it's a moot point. Plus it's late, an' I'm tired. Ladies, I'll see you in the morning."

I kiss them both on the cheek and make my way to bed, lookin' in at Amiko as I pass. Nobody messes with my family.

"Report!" said Kuroyama as the dogs returned to the Hand's base of operations.

"My Lord, the dogs were found feasting on a body near the river, not far from here. The blood traces match those of Matsu'o Tsurayaba."

"Could the body be identified?"

"No, there was very little that could be identified from the body."

"Perhaps, just maybe, he is finally dead," said Nina as she stepped from the shadows. Her failure to kill him properly in the first place had lessened her in the eyes of the others. "However, I suspect otherwise."

"As do I, my love," said Kuroyama. "However your wound should have harmed him most grievously. If he is not dead, he is most definitely dying."

"Let us recap on what we have so far decided," said Nina as she took, Kuroyama by the hand and led him to the war room.

"The attack begins at dawn," said Kuroyama. "Logan and Sunfire must be kept busy from the main events, while you attack the Samurai and I shall take on Elektra and Yukio."

"The girl Amiko will be taken alive and conditioned to be one of our assassins," said Nina. "However as the adopted daughter of Wolverine, we must chastise the child first."

"Agreed," said Kuroyama. "I believe the best way will be to remove her eyes and make her eat them."

"One of the old ways of binding," said Nina, remembering the ritual from the old texts she had been studying as she strove to be mistress of the Hand. It was a way of forcing her spirit to accept the pain inflicted on her, to take the punishment of old and to act as an example to others.

"Yes," said Kuroyama. "Once the Yashida compound has been raised to the ground, we will perform the ritual of resurrection on the Lady Mariko, unleashing the spirit of her father that lay dormant within her and create the ultimate weapon against the world."

"What of Sunfire?" asked Nina. "I know that he is of no use to us in the scheme of things, however I suspect he may have a purpose of some kind."

"My plan for Shiro is to condition him in the same way we have conditioned others, and make him a weapon, and use him to destroy all his former allies - Big Hero 6 and the X-Men, who will seek revenge for what we do with Wolverine."

"The baths have been prepared for him. The acid will strip him to the bone as his healing factor kicks in and keeps him in agony until it is over, the corpses of Yukio and Elektra floating next to him."

"Their hearts and eyes will be removed and placed in to preservatives so that they are a reminder and tribute to what it means to betray the Hand," said Kuroyama. "As your dagger slits open her chest she will know first hand the agony you endured as I cut out your heart."

Nina smiled as he placed his hand on her chest, knowing full well that he would not feel a heart beat, or a pulse on any part of her body, fro she no longer had an internal organ capable of pumping blood.

"It will be a pleasure not long denied," she said, as she tugged at the laces of her bodice and the tight leather top opened.

They had an hour until they needed to depart.

I only get an hour or so of sleep, before I awake refreshed and I think it may just be the break I'm havin' away from the usual hustle and bustle of survival as an X-Man, mutant outlaw and everythin' else that seems to go with that these days. I get up and go for a walk in the gardens of the compound.

"Logan," says the Samurai, as I approach a group of trees, which have a small summerhouse here that didn't used to be there. It's new and I suspect it's a retreat for Kenuichio to escape the trials and tribulations of being one of Japan's 'Avengers'.

"Harada," I answer as I look at him and he stands. He's not wearin' his traditional armour but an elegant kimono in Yashida colours.

"Please sit," he says. "I often come here to sit and think how things have changed since Mariko has died. We used to play here as children, before our father separated us and began to instil in us the sense of duty and what it meant to be the children of the great Shingen."

"Got past the Yakuza phase then?" I ask.

"I have, as the American's say 'gone respectable.' The Clan is divested of Underworld connections, I am working to restore my own personal honour and I am becoming a big noise in political circles due to Big Hero 6 and the Clan. I am not certain how Mariko did it when she was in charge of the Clan."

"Neither do I, but she did it anyway."

"I know."

There's a silence between us for a while until I taste the air and I stand.

"What is it?" asks the Samuraui, as my claws come out.

"Your security is slackin'," I say as I prepare for the coming of the man. He's walkin' slow and his breathin' is ragged. "You got an intruder."

"Who?" he says, standin' up, alert and ready for action.

"Matsu'o Tsurayaba."

"He would not dare!" glowers the Samurai, knowin' full well that it was he who had Mariko killed.

"I have no choice," answers Matsu'o as he appears before us. He's wounded and bleedin' bad. Can't say I really care, an' I leap forward and pin him to the ground, two claws around his head, the middle one, pushin' up in to the hollow of his jaw, not piercin' the skin.

"Wrong day to pay a visit," I say and Matsu'o does not struggle. I vowed once to keep comin' back and take a piece at a time. Been slackin' on that, and he doesn't seem to have too much time left. "Give my regards to Mephisto."

"Wait!" he says. "I claim sanctuary!"

"You dare claim that here?!" cries the Samurai.

"There are events going on that you we need each other for." There's no indication that he's lyin' to us from my senses. If anything, he's afraid of somethin' other than us, as if killin' him would be a compromise.

"You got 60 seconds. Talk, before I pin yer tongue to the roof of yer mouth."

"Kuroyama has taken total control of the Hand ad is coming to finish what was started years ago with the death of Mariko - the destruction of the Clan Yashida. I have been relieved of my position, and am marked for death."

"Kenuichio," I say. "Get your people. We're in trouble."

"You believe him?"

"Yeah, but I don't trust him. Besides in the state he's in, he ain't gonna be doin' much."

"On my way," he says and goes to alert the household.

"What else do you know?" I ask. "Who is Kuroyama?"

"He was you not so long ago," says Matsu'o, my claws still cradling his head. "He was trained by the same man who trained me."

"Who?"

"The mark on the top of my left shoulder," he says and I tear the cloth from his body to reveal a symbol, a tattoo I recognise as one I have on my shoulder, covered by hair and so not visible to anyone. It is the symbol of the house of Ogun, a symbol he magically implants on all his students. Kitty has one as well, but she doesn't talk about it. I don't know if any of the other X-Men even know it's there.

"You were trained by Ogun."

"I was. I was part of his household until Katherine Pryde defeated me when Ogun attempted to take over her body and bind his soul with hers. Kuroyama has the mark as well. Ogun was one of the first masters of the Hand, he trained most of the superior assassins in the martial arts, it was even rumoured he trained the Shingen himself."

"Small world. That's probably why Kuroyama seems so familiar to me."

"He was with Ogun at the same time you were. You know how Ogun wanted you to be his host but you had other ideas. You vanished and Kuroyama took your place in Ogun's house until he found you again. However, Kuroyama was not as honourable as you or Ogun. He didn't want to be the host of the master; he wanted to be the master alone. He served with the Hand and it was just before the Pryde business when Kuroyama confronted him in single combat. It was a close battle and Ogun killed Kuroyama, but Ogun was grievously wounded."

"Which was why he needed Kitty."

"Yes. Then after you had killed Ogun, the Hand decided to resurrect Kuroyama and thusly did so. Now he is in charge of the Hand, and is on his way to becoming the master he always desired to be."

"And now you need us to bail you out."

"We need each other. Like it or not, we are allies now against a common foe."

"It ain't over between us," I say, as I retract my claws. He's right. We do need each other, and if he hadn't warned us, we'd have been over run with ease. The sun's just comin' up and the wind shifts and I taste the air. "Damn."

"They are here?"

"They're here."

"People of the house of the Clan Yashida!" booms a voice and I know it has to be Kuroyama. "The day of reckoning is at hand, and your time has past. Now you shall walk in to the eternal grip of darkness from which you will have no escape. Prepare yourself to meet whatever Gods you believe in."

Then, the Hand seemed to descend from the sky...

NEXT ISSUE: The battle begins!