Hearn, Lian

Takeo and Kaede combine their powers in order to do battleagainst Arai Daiichi, the warlord who controls most of the Three Countries.

The orphan Takeo has been claimed by the Tribe and held against his will, forced to work as an assassin and leave behind his beloved Shirakawa, leading him to fight for his freedom, even if it may cost him his life.

In ancient Japan, Takeo, a sixteen-year-old saved from a massacre by the mysterious Lord Otori, struggles to reconcile his dual nature--the one given him by the Hidden, the pacifist people among whom he was born and raised, and the one inherited from his father, a celebrated assassin.