DISCLAIMER: Can someone think up a new way to say one doesn't own Fushigi Yugi? I'm stuck on that problem myself.

AUTHOR'S NOTES II: This story is different from most of my other writings. This one's a lot more serious, a lot less of a comedy, although I couldn't resist a touch of it here and there. I'm trying different styles and seeing what I come up with, and this one's proved interesting.

This story takes place immediately (read: only a few hours) after Miaka and Tamahome are taken back to the real world by Yui's second wish to Seiryu and events that happen in the following days/weeks. Spoilers for basically the entire series in effect here.

This fic features male relationships, but they are not romantic. They're companions, friends, sometimes even surrogate brothers, but there's no shounen ai. Nothing in this fic should be taken for shounen ai, because that certainly wasn't my intention. I just wanted to show the seishis' relationships at a point where the series shifts views to Miaka and Tamahome, and add a small idea of my own in.

And I know this fic can negate some of the main series and a chunk of the OVA, but I'll take care of that, don't worry ^_~

Caution: the viewpoint changes several times, and always remains in the first person, but I think it's fairly easy to tell who takes up the narrative. At least, I think I made it easy to tell… if I didn't, let me know, and I'll try to fix it! (By the way, for some reason I seem to work best with Chichiri and Mitsukake on this one, so I'm sorry if the Tasuki and Hotohori parts are a bit lackluster.)

Rated for violence, language, and death.

And, as usual, please review. I want to know how this new style of mine is taken in.



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I dismissed the messenger with a wave of my hand, waiting until he'd left the room to slump in my throne, mussing my heavy formal robes and knocking my crown askew, a heavy lock of dark brown hair escaping and falling in my eyes. Even before the man had come, I had known something was wrong: their life forces had vanished, not in death as Nuriko's and Chiriko's had, but simply disappeared. There was nothing. Not even an emptiness really, more like nothing had ever been there. In a way it was worse than the death pain. I had felt this once before, though not nearly so strongly, near the very beginning, when Tamahome, Nuriko, and I had sent Miaka back to her world. I could only pray that the same thing had happened this time…

I heard the door give a muted squeak of protest as it swung open. I glanced up, making a note to have somebody fix the door, and smiled as I saw my wife's lovely face appearing in the room. "Heika? Are you all right?" She pushed the door open the rest of the way and moved inside, regarding me with her large, warm, concerned eyes. "One of the guards came to tell me a message had come through."

I stood up and stepped off the dais, letting the crown fall to the floor like unwanted garbage, walking forward to embrace her tightly. "Miaka and Tamahome have vanished."

Houki blinked in surprise, her eyes wide. "What? Did Miaka return to her world again? Did Tamahome go with her? Was anyone hurt? Morale will be low-"

I silenced her flood of questions with a quick kiss and a smile. She certainly wasn't an idiot, my empress. "Don't worry, love. Yes, I think they went back to Miaka's world, although I don't know for sure. But... I think they're fine. Tamahome will protect her."

Houki smiled briefly. "Then I'll go have the scribes begin on a message to the commanders in the field. No reason to let the population at large know, they have enough to worry about for the time being." She gently kissed my cheek and left the room as quietly as she had come.

I let myself drop the façade. I hated to act with her like I did with my most boring courtiers, hiding my feelings and my self, but she had enough to worry about with the early stages of pregnancy. I couldn't let her know how sad and alone I suddenly felt, as if a part of me had been ripped away. And part of me had, the connection I'd had with my miko and fellow seishi.

And why in the world did I suddenly feel like there was something I should be doing?



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~



The three of us – Chichiri, Mitsukake, and myself – managed to get back to the palace that night, rather than sleep on the battlefield. The day had taken its toll on us, and even the stoic healer was showing signs of cracking under the strain. I felt it, and I knew they did too, as if part of our beings had vanished in that blaze of blue light that had suddenly claimed Tama and Miaka.

We dismounted in the stables, giving the tired animals to the hostlers. I was envious of the creatures; they would sleep infinitely better than we would.

"Fuck it all," I muttered under my breath, lacking even the will to curse. Chichiri placed a sympathetic hand on my shoulder and the three of us made our way over to the throne room.

Hotohori was there alone, looking as worn as we felt. I wondered how he'd managed to hold up under all his "important" meetings and was glad I didn't have his job. When bandits felt things, then screamed and yelled and cursed and maybe tore down a wall, but there was a release. Hotohori had to be calm at all times. I knew I could never do it.

We knelt respectfully, then began to stand, but he waved at us to keep sitting. I fell back to the floor gratefully, closing my eyes, exhausted beyond words. There was a rustle of heavy cloth next to me, and I glanced over to see the grand emperor of Konan, in full imperial dress, collapsing to the floor as part of our little circle. Somehow it seemed right. At that moment he was not a ruler, and I was not a bandit. We were all just seishi trying to cope with a loss.

Chichiri took off his mask and sighed. "If only we had our powers…"

"Damn that Seiryu no Miko. Damn you, Nakago…" I trailed off. There didn't seem to be words to express what I wanted to say, and they all knew what I meant anyway. "So what do we do now?"

No one answered. None of us had any idea.

"Well…" Hotohori said after a minute, "there is still a war. We have to be strong and keep fighting."

"Easy for you to say," I muttered. No one heard me though.

"We… You have to go back. My ministers have forbidden me from going out… I wish I could join you. You're seen as symbols of the country now… of Konan courage…" For once, the emperor didn't seem to have anything to say. He was fumbling for words like I did at times, acting more like a normal human being than I'd seen him act for awhile.

Maybe that's why I felt all right touching him. I placed one hand on his shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I'll go back."

"I will too no da."

"So will I." Mitsukake had an unusual fervor in his voice, and we all glanced at him. There was something on his face… "I'm a doctor. If I have to fight to prevent suffering, I will." That was it. He was more determined than I'd ever seen him. I was silently grateful. He was a giant of a man and no puny fighter. I'd gained much respect for him that day, watching him drive back the enemy, wounding only when necessary.

"Thank you, everyone." I let go of the emperor's shoulder and watched him stand, almost smiling as he tried to uncrease his robe and dust it off. Almost. "I must go, apparently there are more pressing matters to my counsel than the disappearance of the miko and a seishi." He nodded in the direction of the door, and I noticed an attendant of one of his councilors was loitering nearby. "Oyasumi."

We returned his farewell as he walked out the door. The three of us stood up as well, brushing off our clothing. Chichiri fixed the mask on his face again, hiding the jagged scar. I ran a hand through my hair. I needed to go somewhere. Anywhere. Anywhere peaceful, where the war couldn't reach.

"I'm going to tend to the wounded, I'll be in the infirmary if you need me." Mitsukake's deep voice cut through my thoughts but barely registered. I was aware of him leaving the room, but it didn't seem to matter. Abruptly I turned on my heels and walked out the other door in the direction of the gardens, leaving Chichiri alone in the solemn room.



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I watched them both go, the young one, the one with the temper to match his hair, and the elder, the stolid, stoic, gentle giant, and couldn't decide which to follow. Both of them were hurting severely, as I was, as Hotohori-sama was. However, both heika and I had developed masks, not in the same way, but we could check our emotions until it was safe to release them. Tasuki definitely couldn't. I wasn't sure if Mitsukake could; the man had been through so much, but he hadn't seemed to really recover from it. The brief smiles, the occasional laughs, all had hinted at a much happier nature… yet he was still so separated, so hidden. Much like myself.

I shook my head. "No da, Hou Jun, just pick one and follow him." I needed to talk to someone. No, I needed someone to talk to me. I had to be reassured of my role as the anchor when I felt the ground beneath my feet crumbling away ever quicker and quicker. If I lost that purchase, I didn't know what would happen.

I blindly made a choice and stepped out into the night, thinking I would talk with whomever I met first. I wandered aimlessly for a few minutes, through courtyards, around the verandas of buildings… somehow ending up outside the shrine to Suzaku. I laughed bitterly. All our troubles, it seemed, had begun there, where Amiboshi had been revealed… if we had been more careful, we would have known... and Nuriko and Chiriko would not be dead, and Konan would be safe, and Miaka and Tamahome would be here. But nothing in our lives had ever been that simple, and I doubted they ever would be.

I glanced around and saw the entrance to what had become known as the "seishi garden." It had once been one of Hotohori-sama's private gardens, but he had opened it to the seishi and their guests when we had all been assembled, back when we thought Amiboshi was Chiriko. I knew what I would find there. I turned down the path, the only noises being the soft falls of my feet and the quiet jingling of the rings of my staff. It seemed an assuring, familiar noise at the moment, one of few.

The flowers in this garden were beautiful, as they were everywhere in the palace. There were one or two small ponds, teeming with carp, which I glanced into. My reflection glanced back at me, and for a minute I studied it. Miaka hadn't been far off when she'd called me "kitsune-san", all that time ago. The mask resembled one of the natural tricksters more than I'd originally thought. And what was I if I wasn't mysterious as a fox?

A few more minutes brought me to the loveliest spot in the garden, the very center. The pond there was filled by a small artificial waterfall that I'd never been able to figure out, and ringed by pungent blossoms. We'd all liked spending time there, liked having a quiet place to relax every once in awhile.

And there, right next to the pond, he lay. We'd brought him back to the palace from the monastery in Sairou. Mitsukake had used his marvelous water to rejuvenate him, making him look as if he was only sleeping peacefully. He had been too young. Only thirteen. He hadn't understood yet the ways of the world, hadn't felt the despair and loss the rest of us had. Yet he had been willing to die to protect his friends. His small grave was always kept neat, and there was a simple headstone with his name marked in it. Someone had set up a small shrine, including a bowl filled with sand to hold incense, and a candle in a tall jar that was never allowed to go out. I removed my mask, gently leaning it against the base of the shrine. I lit a stick of incense and put it in the sand, then knelt next to the flame-haired bandit and bowed my head, quietly chanting the prayer for the dead.

"Ne, Chichiri…" he said quietly as I finished, "what are you going to do?"

I blinked at him, surprised. "I… don't know. I won't give up. They wouldn't want me to." I looked up at the sky, finding our constellations. "I know Tamahome and Miaka are alive, just… unreachable."

"Doesn't make it hurt any less, does it?"

I laughed once, mirthlessly. "Iya. No one likes having part of you just go like that."

"No, they don't." Tasuki gently pressed down the earth of a disturbed place on Chiriko's grave, giving it back its uniform look.

"Tasuki, why did you come out here?" I asked softly.

The thief sighed and sat back on his heels, not looking at me, only at the mound in front of him. Long moments passed before he spoke. "I guess… I thought he'd know what to do." His mobile mouth twisted into a humorless smirk. "Stupid, right? He can't tell us what to do anymore. He's gone."

"Tasuki…"

"Sometimes I wonder. Why did I wait so long? Why'd it have to be when he was dying that I realized how important he was? The little brother I never had, and so smart. He could've really been something, unlike me." He choked back a sob, but kept going. "He was too young for this. He was just a kid! Why'd Suzaku have to pick him?" The tears spilled from his eyes, and he didn't try to stop them. "Damn destiny…"

I put a comforting arm around his shoulders, at that moment feeling like a brother myself. I waited a few moments, giving him time, before speaking gently. "But he was happy. And he was proud of his destiny. He fought that monster inside him on his own. He wanted to protect us." I pulled a square of cloth out of a pocket and handed it to him. "He was brave. Braver than we'd ever thought. I'm glad I met him. He taught us so much."

Tasuki used the cloth to dry his tears, then lifted my arm off his shoulder and sat up straight, in control of himself again. "Yeah, I am too… thanks, Chichiri."

I smiled slightly. "That's my job, right? Keep your hot head in line."

He laughed a little, and I knew he'd be all right. "Yeah, someone has too… hey."

"Hai?"

"Do you think he's lonely?"

I looked around, seeing the moon reflected in the rippling water, tiny birds fluttering from flower to flower, gathering the nectar. The entire atmosphere abounded with peace, something in short supply just outside the walls of the palace. "I don't know. I don't think I could ask for a nicer place to be buried, though." An image flashed through my mind as Tasuki nodded in agreement with my thought. Snow, rocks, blood, and a single staff of wood… "I would think," I began quietly, "the one who would be lonely would be Nuriko."

Tasuki's eyes widened in surprise, but almost immediately went back to normal. "Hai… he didn't deserve to be left up there, where no one knew him."

"It was where he performed his greatest deed," I replied quietly.

"But not where he'd lived his life, damnit." He rocked back to balance on the balls of his feet, crouching to the ground and playing with some pebbles from the path. "That was here. I know if I die tomorrow-" he said this with a remarkably straight face, in calm acceptance of the fact that with his powers gone, he was much more likely to die "-I'd want to be buried here or at Mt. Reikaku. It's not right for him to be away from everything, even if it was his 'greatest deed.'"

I nodded. "Maybe…"

"What?"

"We can ask Hotohori-sama if we can go back, after all this is over, and bring him back here."

"Do you think he'd say yes?"

"He'd probably lead the party himself."

Tasuki chuckled. "Yeah. Probably. Shit, if only your powers still worked, we could go up now."

I considered carefully. Was I right to raise his hopes like this? But I pushed aside my inhibitions and spoke. He deserved to know. "We might be able to in a day or so."

"What?!"

"Don't say anything, I want to try something first." I stood up, bowing to the shrine, then picked up my mask and fixed it on my face again. "Are you coming with me?"

He glanced at me, then back at the grave, and shook his head. "Iya. I don't want him to be lonely."

I smiled. The boy really did have a good heart. "All right. Good night, Tasuki."

"Night." He settled back into a sitting position again as I headed off in the direction of the infirmary.



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There were too many wounded. Countless too many. The limited number of doctors and helpers were doing their best, working their hardest to help every person they could, and I willingly joined into the fray with the batch of medicines I had brought from my room. I soon became too absorbed in my patients to even remember why I'd hurt before. Doctoring had that effect on me. Despite my relatively young age I was a better doctor than the wizened old man who was tending to a broken leg; maybe my seishi powers had had something to do with it. But those were gone now. I dared not even use the holy water I'd been given, in fear of finding its powers gone and having given false hope. Instead I set sprains, sewed stitches, and slipped small sedatives in my patients' water, just as I had before I found my power, and even oftentimes after. It seemed I doctored myself as well; most people didn't know just how therapeutic helping others could be.

"Need any more help, Mitsukake no da?" His staff jingled as the masked monk knelt next to me as I tended my next patient. "It looks like I'm free for a bit. I can be your assistant no da, I know something about healing."

I nodded, not looking away from the difficult stitching, glad of any helper, especially one who wouldn't waste precious time asking questions. "Hai, thank you Chichiri." I glanced up at the young woman, Emiko, who was kneeling next to the hurt man, holding together the flaps of skin on either side of the wound to his torso. "Would you please go find more clean cloths? We're running low."

"Yes, doctor." She stood and bowed quickly, then took off at an almost-run for the storerooms. Without being asked, Chichiri leaned his staff against the wall and knelt where she had been, holding shut the wound so I could stitch it. Good. My little test was working.

"Ne, Mitsukake…" he began when I was almost finished.

"Yes?" I put in the last stitch and tied a quick, firm knot in my thread.

"I was talking with Tasuki earlier, and we had an idea." His hands free for the moment, he took off his mask and set it next to his staff, stretching a little. "What would you say to bringing Nuriko here and… giving him a proper burial?"

I blinked, my face blank, taking it in and considering it. "It… seems right, somehow." I glanced up at him again. "With Chiriko?"

He nodded. "Hai. At least he'd be here, not alone in the snow…"

I nodded as well, looking down again, feeling tears come unbidden to my eyes. There they were, two of my three great failures. Four. Shoka had been the first and the second, when I had arrived too late and when I had killed her – no, freed her – with my own power. Then Nuriko… again, I had been too late, far too late to save my fallen comrade. Only moments had passed between the time his ki had slipped away and when our little group had arrived, but it was still an eternity… if I had only walked faster, ran, then I would have…

And Chiriko. The most recent scar, and the most painful because he had died willingly. While my power had freed Shoka from the demon, there was nothing I could do about the monster possessing the little boy. He had been so brave, taking his own life to save ours, but I could not forget the feeling of absolute helplessness that had come over me as I knelt next to him, trying to be brave and smile for his sake, as he lay dying, dying a death he did not deserve, dying too early, and too selflessly. He had refused my help, saying I would only heal the monster inside him as well, and I suppose he was right, but it still hurt. All of those times I had forced myself to be strong, help the others, just as my training dictated, but when I was alone those wounds were opened, and I cried the tears I couldn't let the world see.

"Mitsukake, are you all right?"

I felt Chichiri's eye on me and quickly blinked away the unspilled tears, reaching for a roll of bandages before looking up. "Yes. Give me a hand here."

Chichiri nodded and helped the mercifully unconscious man to sit up, giving me room to roll the bandages tightly around him, putting slight pressure on the wound. He would be fine, given time to rest.

I didn't know if I would be.

I forced myself to turn away from those thoughts as Chichiri gently set the man down again and the two of us moved on to our next patient, a woman with a severely broken leg. A civilian. There were innocent people being hurt and killed in this senseless war, brought on only by the Kutou emperor's lust for power and land and- I made myself stop again. Being raging mad at a man in another country would not help this woman.

Chichiri and I knelt next to her. Her slow, shallow breathing indicated that one of the aides had given her a sleeping powder. Good, she wouldn't feel much pain then. We began the grim task of resetting the leg.

"Have you told Hotohori about your idea?" My question startled him. Chichiri blinked and shook his head, concentrating on the woman. "We probably should tonight… it will take a long time to prepare for the trip."

"We won't be going the slow way if I can help it." Chichiri picked up a sturdy wooden rod lying on the women's pallet and held it against her leg, as I did the same on the other side, and we passed the bandage back and forth, binding the splint in place. It would do until we had better supplies.

"We can't go any other way. You no longer have your powers." I checked the bandaging again, making sure the rods wouldn't slip out on accident.

He chuckled softly, a sound that somehow made me feel better despite the multitude of injury around us. "You forget, I'm still a monk. And a disciple of one very hard-headed lady."

"Ahh… planning on asking Taiitsu-kun, aren't you?"

"Why not?" His lone eye twinkled with some private joke. "The worst she can do is set the nyan nyans on me."

"And here I was left thinking that was a punishment worse than death sometimes."

Chichiri chuckled again and we continued with our rounds.



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I knelt in my room before the mirror, hands folded together in an intricate prayer sign, chanting so quietly I could barely hear myself. My powers were gone, yes, but the link with my teacher should still be there. This was the only spell I could work as a normal man, and it wasn't even much of a spell at that. I simply focused all my thoughts on Taiitsu-kun and said a special chant, and hoped she'd happen upon it over the link sooner or later. If or when she did, she would be able to contact me through the mirror. The trick was having her receive my message in the first place. If she were asleep, or occupied with something else, there was a million to one chance against my contacting her.

But luck, which hadn't been with us all day, finally appeared, in the form of something it took me well over a year to get accustomed to: Taiitsu-kun's face. And it was not happy.

"Chichiri! What in the name of the gods do you think you're doing contacting me NOW?! Do you realize just how I woke up?!"

I winced. "No, sensei. Gomen nasai."

"You better be. And expect to be woken up the same way one of these days!"

I didn't want to know. And I'd find out soon enough, anyway, Taiitsu-kun always kept her promises. "Gomen nasai, sensei, but I have an important request. It couldn't wait."

She sighed and settled back, seeming to calm down somewhat. "Somehow I knew you'd say that. What do you four want?"

I didn't question the fact that she knew it was for all us seishi; she was Taiitsu-kun, after all. "We… We'd like to go to Hokkan. To Mt. Black." She remained silent, looking at me directly. "To retrieve Nuriko's body," I finished softly, looking down at the floor.

"Do all of you want this?"

I didn't look up. "Mitsukake, Tasuki, and I do. Hotohori-sama doesn't know about it yet, but I'm sure he would as well."

"Why do you want to do this?" Her voice, normally harsh and ragged, seemed to become gentler. Softer, somehow.

My face twisted in a wry smile at the floor. "We're being selfish, I guess. With Miaka and Tamahome… gone like that, we're all feeling empty. I think we'd feel more complete if we had all the seishi at least nearby, even if they aren't living. And…"

"And?" she gently prompted after a moment of silence.

"We think Nuriko might be lonely." I sighed. "He's up there where no one knows him, without his friends or family or anything familiar."

"It was where he died valiantly."

"I said something like that, too. Do you know what Tasuki said to that? 'But not where he lived his life, damnit.' He's right. Nuriko was here in life. He should be in death." I ran out of words, still not looking up, staring instead at the grain of the wood floor and my hands, still clasped in the prayer sign, keeping the link between us open. They were starting to quiver slightly with the effort, and with the emotions I was trying to repress ineffectively. I could feel the tears start to gather, even in my scar-closed eye.

"Ri Hou Jun, look at me." The surprise of hearing my real name, the name none of the other seishi had ever heard or could guess at, drew my gaze back to my teacher quickly. My surprise grew when I saw her watching me with a sad, comprehending smile. "You all miss him very much, and Chiriko as well, don't you?"

I nodded, for some reason unable to speak.

"Except that Chiriko is there with you. You feel better having him near." It wasn't a question, but I nodded again. "It's only to be expected that you'd feel the same about Nuriko… All right. The day after tomorrow I will open a small portal for you four to go through, and bring Nuriko to Konan. You must prepare yourselves for the weather and ice, there have been some storms in Hokkan since you were there. You'll only have a limited time, so you must work quickly."

I bowed to her, still kneeling and holding the prayer sign, my pale blue bangs touching the floor gently. "Arigato gozaimasu sensei, we won't waste the chance."

"I know you too well to know you won't." Her reflection began to fade.

"Sensei, wait!" I cried, having just realized the fact that I didn't know one fairly important thing. Her image flickered back into focus and remained that way, looking slightly perturbed, which I ignored. "How will we know when you've opened the portal for us?"

She grinned wolfishly. "You'll know. Believe me, you'll know."

"Should I flee the country now or later?"



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~



The day began much too early, as usual. All I wanted was to spend a few more quiet moments lying next to my wife, studying her face, re-memorizing her features, trying to figure out how I could have been so lucky to be married to her. But advisors seem to multiply like flies around honey, and only moments after I'd awoken I was pulled from my bed by one of them, a new one whose name I didn't remember. I sent him out of the room while I donned the imperial robes, making light work of the heavy task with the ease of practice. Houki let out a small groan as I fixed my hair under the crown, turning over onto her stomach and pulling the blankets over her head. "It's too early to be up…" I heard her mumble.

I hid a laugh and walked back over to the bed, the heavy velvet swishing around me quietly, and sat down carefully next to her. "Go back to sleep, you need your rest. At least one member of the Imperial family should be able to sit through a court session without hiding yawns."

"Good, 'cause I'm going to," came the muffled reply.

"Whatever you want." I pulled back the blankets just long enough to kiss her cheek, then re-tucked them around her head, making her giggle. So sweet, so loving… I sighed again and left our chambers, preparing myself for a long day.

The new advisor jumped on me outside with his papers, demanding my attention before I'd gotten all the way through the door. I schooled my face into a polite Yes-I'm-really-paying-attention-to-your-fascinating-jabber expression and walked to the main council room, next to the throne room, the jabbering man following. I nodded politely to him at the door to the room and he grinned – obviously he had not been at court long – and left. I could picture him skipping for joy, maybe bursting out into song, and hid another laugh at the ridiculous scene playing in my mind, opening the door and entering the chamber.

"Hotohori-sama, we need to talk to you." When my eyes adjusted to the light I could see Tasuki, Chichiri, and Mitsukake standing or sitting in the room, all watching the door with solemn looks.

I dropped the false expression I had been wearing. There was no need for it with, aside from Houki, the only friends I had left. "Why?"

Tasuki and Mitsukake both looked at Chichiri, who glanced at the two of them before stepping forward. "Tomorrow we're going to Hokkan. To get Nuriko. Would you like to come?"

I blinked, startled momentarily into silence, then sat carefully in a chair, debating. There was no question on if I wanted to go, but could I? Could I escape the court and the emperor's duties long enough? It would be many weeks before we returned, and I couldn't be sure the country would survive. The emperor wasn't simply the most prominent figure of a great government, he was the one who prevented internal power struggles simply with his presence. If he were to go… and during a time of war…

Startling me once again, the monk seemed to read my thoughts. "We wouldn't be gone long, Hotohori-sama. We'd return before lunch. Taiitsu-kun has agreed to open a portal for us since I don't have my powers any more." His unmasked face looked at me seriously. "And truthfully, we could use another pair of hands. And your sword."

I suppressed a shudder that threatened to run up my spine. Hokkan… Nuriko's resting place… Sometimes I wondered what would have happened had I been there. But it was too painful, thinking he might be alive if my advisors had been wise enough to see that the combined power of the seishi might be needed. I couldn't think that way for long…

"Yes," I heard myself say, almost without knowing it was my own voice. "I'm coming, too." I didn't know when, or how, or what would happen, but I knew I would see.

With my friends.



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AUTHOR'S NOTES II: Well? How's it going? I know that was long, I just couldn't seem to stop it until that part. There are about three or four more chapters to go, although I don't know if they'll be as long as this one. They might be, I think I want to play around with imaging some more in them.

Eh heh… Sorry about the slight Hotohori/Houki fluff-sap, but I kind of wanted to make the point that he DID love her, and she loved him. There are so many stories out there where he just marries her because she looks like Nuriko that I couldn't help myself. Houki is her own separate wonderful character. Maybe if I get a good idea for her I'll write a fic for her (notice how I pull out the characters people don't seem to think about at times? Am I weird or what? But I have FUUUUN!)

GAH! Sorry for being not-so-perky, I'm running on severe lack of sleep and nerves on plus ten… Eeeeeeeee! Anyway, let me know how I did, and watch for chapter 2 soon! I am basking in the glow of reviews! Bask bask bask… waaaarm……