Walking on and on
Even though I fall down sick
In fields of clover.
--Basho

"There is no place for me."

He had to hear himself say those words. So many thoughts and troubles he kept silent that none seemed real, spinning about in his mind, caught up in the inner turmoil that he had learned to hide so well.

"Of course there is, Hiryu." His companion, Ton-Pooh. Nestled in a nook beneath the parapet of the high-rise building, she was eager to follow up on anything that Hiryu said, simply to hear him speak.

Hiryu closed his eyes and sighed. Ton-Pooh could read volumes from his eyes, the only part of his face truly visible behind his red scarf and long hair. Dressed as a ninja with only his arms bared, his two-handled sword Cypher tucked into a scabbard tied to his back within easy reach, Hiryu was a living weapon, trained in martial arts and swordplay, his skill rivaled perhaps only by the ninja and samurai of old. Hanging upside-down from ledge overlooking New Tokyo, he found this position the most relaxing and conducive to meditation. The hardest part was controlling his chi so that the blood would not all flow to his head. That was uncomfortable.

"The other Striders are gone, I know." Ton-Pooh took up the conversation by herself, speaking Hiryu's thoughts aloud, even if he would not. "But since you were thinking about retiring anyway, the organization was never a home to you."

The Strider rocked back and forth a little and cocked his head.

"Mongolia? You would not have been happy living in the barbarous wastelands of the Old Empire to which you retired," she answered. "My home is where I stand. If I am not welcome here, I will find another place to stand," she quoted. "Is that not a saying of the ancient tribes who lived there, the Mongols?"

Hiryu opened his eyes and looked out at the decadence of the city below him. How well she knew him! He could but blink his eyes or sneeze and Ton-Pooh would be able to understand what he was thinking. He had traveled across the world many times in pursuit of Matic and Kain, in thwarting the plans of Grandmaster Meio, but had never found a place to settle down. The nature of a Strider, he figured. How much of his training involved destroying any sense of peace he might find in a home?

Even ninja had clans. Hiryu guessed that he was a nukenin, cast-out, but there was no one who hunted him--he had destroyed all of his enemies, or had out-lasted them.

No, he realized what haunted him. For the first time in his life…

"For the first time in your life, you see what your future holds, and you are afraid," Ton-Pooh finished Hiryu's thought in a quiet voice.

They both felt a sense of vertigo as the world shimmered around them. They were suspended in nothingness. The building reappeared, however, and Hiryu tried to reassert his balance on the parapet.

Ton-Pooh was busy wiping soot-stains off of her shirt when she saw the lights below.

Automobiles! Streetlamps! Things she had read of in the histories! Here!

Hiryu was similarly confused.

The sound of cackling, mad laughter heralded the arrival of a classic purple car, roaring around a curve, a white-faced, green-haired clown at the wheel.

Hiryu heard footsteps from above the ledge as two caped and masked figures appeared.

"There he is, Batman!" a young, not-quite-pubescent voice called out. "Joker's robbed the First National again! Bat--" the voice stopped as did the footsteps.

Hiryu saw the two figures looking down at him--in astonishment apparently, from what he could see of their eyes behind their masks.

"Holy--, wow, Batman, can you do that? Hang upside-down on a ledge like that? Like a bat?"

The long-underwear hero Batman had nothing but envy for the Strider's unmatched ninjitsu skills and remained silent.

Hiryu and Ton-Pooh, who had been huddling back in the nook away from view, felt the world slip away again, and a resonating voice mutter, "Whoops, wrong universe. Gotham City, New York City, what's the big difference?"

Robin watched the mysterious man disappear in awe. "Did you see how he just vanished like that? Into thin air!"

Batman's jaw clenched. Finally he turned around. "Let's go, Tim."

"Wha--? But aren't we going to chase after the Joker?" The boy hurried to catch up.

"Not tonight." Batman felt positively sick. Perhaps Bruce Wayne should buy out a corporation or something tomorrow.