T_T It's terribly cruel, I know, and yet it insisted on being written. There's so much angst underneath the beauty of Gaiden, the whole not-going-to-be-a-happy-ending looming on the horizon. My brain likes to assume that the GouTen relationship has a large element of tragedy to it, all things considered, and in this case it ran away with the idea. But in the end, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Thanks for taking the time to read, and thanks also for your lovely comments. ^_^