He hadn’t stayed in Osaka long after that, once he had given up hope that his Tsukiko would return to him. He decided to go to America, specifically to Houston, since it was far enough away that he wouldn’t feel the need to look over his shoulder anytime he left the house for groceries, and because Tsukiko had always wanted to go there, to visit the Space Center. She had had a fascination for human methods of space travel. “But why?” He had asked her once, after she had told him this for the first time. “How can it be so interesting to you when your people were able to travel distances that we humans can’t even imagine?”

Thinking on his question for a moment, face set in contemplation, she finally answered “I suppose it’s always fascinated me how humans manage to find ways to do things that we could never hope to accomplish if we didn’t have magic.” Then, the answer had made him smile, perhaps he would take the children there one day.

He had brought the children with him, of course. Though at times they were a painful reminder of what he had lost, Tsukiko had died for them. Abandoning them to the care of the human foster system would be no way to honor her memory.

Once he had made this decision however, then came the issue of what to tell them about their abilities, who and what they are, where they came from. He checked them for Marks, but they had none. He remembered looking through the window of the nursery, seeing all the different children sleeping in cradles, how Tsukiko had said they were staying here for now until they were adopted by Luminescents from other covens; and they would be adopted, Luminescents were vicious when it came to protecting their young. It was likely their Marking had been postponed until they were permanently settled.

That had made the decision easier in the end. It would be safer to be a human and have to hide a part of yourself from the world, rather than a Luminescent who was vulnerable to attack from creatures that looked like they had come out of a nightmare. At least, that’s what he had believed.

Now, Gorou stood in his dojo, anticipating tomorrow’s visit, and the end of his efforts to hide the truth from his family. Wondering if it was worth it, or if he had simply been delaying the inevitable.