When Miaka Yuuki's best friend Yui Hongo asks her to tag along while she returns a library book before cram school, Miaka doesn't think twice about going
The Tale of Suzaku & Seiryuu
When Miaka Yuuki's best friend Yui Hongo asks her to tag along while she returns a library book before cram school, Miaka doesn't think twice about going. If only she knew what (mis)adventures awaited her and her best friend...
While at the library, the two 15-year olds stumble across an ancient Chinese manuscript, cryptically titled, "The Universe of the Four Gods." Out of curiosity Yui begins to read it out loud for them both.
"This is the story of a girl who gathered the seven Senshi of Suzaku and gained omnipotent powers. The book itself is an incantation. Whoever finishes reading it will also receive these powers. When the page is turned, the story will become the truth and begin."
Suddenly, the girls are engulfed by a red light and transported into the book. When they come to they find themselves in some desolate spot in the middle of nowhere.
While the two are trying to figure out what just happened and where they are, they are attacked by thugs who peddle in girls and figure that these two foreign beauties will bring in pretty coin.
Fortunately are rescued by a young man who has the character of "Oni" (Ogre) glowing red on his forehead. After he makes short order of disposing of the crooks, he asks the girls for a fee for his services, and when they can't pay, he prepares to leave. While Miaka is rooting around in her pockets for some token to offer the man, Yui rushes after him and is mysteriously returned to the present world, where she picks up the book and is astonished to find that the events she and Miaka just experienced are described in the book.
Miaka remains in the book world, which she comes to recognize as a land resembling ancient China, though according to the people there it is called Konan. Since Miaka doesn't know where Yui has gone, she hunts down her mysterious savior from earlier, and, after he has rescued her from another attack, she asks him to help her find Yui. He introduces himself as Kishuku Sou, asking her to call him Tamahome, and agrees to help her locate her friend.
While they search, they encounter the emperor of Konan while he is out in a procession. Miaka gets herself into trouble with the emperor's guards and the two are arrested.
At the emperor's palace Miaka meets up with a pretty and mysterious ... person ... named Hotohori, who later is revealed to be the emperor himself. Hotohori explains to Miaka the story of the "Universe of the Four Gods": When the land of Konan is in trouble, a girl from a strange world will appear and become their land's savior, The Priestess of Suzaku. She will gather seven star-honored warriors whose duty it is to protect her, then summon the animal god Suzaku and be granted the power to make wishes come true. Miaka excitedly accepts the position, and finds that of the seven senshi it is now her duty to gather, Hotohori and Tamahome are two.
Hotohori, as emperor, holds in his possession a sacred scroll with the legend written upon it. This scroll holds valuable clues specifically meant for The Priestess of Suzaku to find her senshi.
Now that Miaka has accepted her mission, Miaka, Tamahome, and Hotohori set out to find the remaining 5 senshi. First Hotohori summons the strongest, smartest, etc. men in the kingdom to the palace where Miaka tests their honor by insulting them and Tamahome tests their skills by beating them all up. In the ensuing battle, a structure is toppled to the ground and a very unfortunate Miaka is caught in the rubble. Tamahome manages to make it in time to shield her body, but no one present is able to move the stone fragments to save their lives.
Enter a beautiful court princess with super-human strength who introduces herself as Kourin. Kourin quickly tosses the offending rubble aside, reveals herself as the third senshi, Nuriko, and promptly makes a pass at Tamahome, all in the space of about 5 minutes.
The reason for this is that Nuriko has a huge crush on Hotohori, but her love is unrequited as Hotohori doesn't seem to have a clue as to her feelings. When she sees Miaka as a barrier to winning Hotohori's affections, Nuriko gets jealous and tries to return the favor by monopolizing Tamahome. This brings up feelings that Miaka didn't know she had. After Hotohori confesses his love for Miaka, she instead realizes that she doesn't love Hotohori, but has fallen for Tamahome.
Nuriko comes to realize that Miaka is not out to get Hotohori, so she gives up on trying to dominate Tamahome and, in fact, she begins to try to set him and Miaka up. Tamahome, unfortunately, rebuffs Miaka's confession of love.
Miaka soon falls ill with a fever, and she begins to long for home, concerned about Yui, worrying about her high school entrance exams, etc. Meanwhile, Yui has had the strangest 2 hours, experiencing every detail that happens to Miaka:
When the stone structure fell on Miaka and her leg was injured, Yui felt the pain and bled as well.
When Miaka fell into a lake on the palace grounds, Yui found herself drenched with water.
When Miaka contracted her fever, Yui suffered from the same symptoms.
Yui also realizes that while only 2 hours have passed in her world, it has been several days in the book.
Looking out for Miaka's happiness, Hotohori takes the gang to Mt. Taikyoku, the abode of Taiitsu-kun, Creator and Lord of their world.
While on this journey, Miaka discovers Nuriko's attempts to get her and Tamahome together. She's thrilled about this and as she shakes Nuriko enthusiastically with gratitude, Nuriko's shirt slips off her shoulders to reveal... that she's not built like a woman should be. Much to Miaka's shock and horror, Nuriko reveals that she is in fact a he, pointing out that he can put his manhood aside for love.
Taiitsu-kun has been watching Miaka with interest ever since she first arrived in this world, and after giving her a gruelling test to prove her worthiness as The Priestess of Suzaku, decides that Miaka is good, pure of intention, and worthy of assistance. Taiitsu-kun explains to Miaka that it would be possible to go back to her world because of the link that bonded her to Yui. This link was their identical school uniforms. It was because of this link that Yui's experiences were the same as Miaka's. And so, with the senshi rooting her on in the Universe of the Four Gods, and Yui begging for her return in the library, Miaka returns home.
When she arrives back in the library, Yui has disappeared, and the library is closing. Miaka tries to call Yui at home to no avail, and can't figure out where she might be. Upon returning to her house, Miaka tells her brother Keisuke what has happened to her, and then spends the evening at home trying to convince Keisuke and her mother that she's not crazy for believing that she actually was sucked into a book -- her poor sibling and mother think that she's been studying too hard and is going off the deep end. Eventually Miaka realizes that Yui must have taken her place in the book, and travels back to the library (closely followed by her concerned brother), where she then wills herself back into the book right before Keisuke's eyes. Astonished, Keisuke picks up the book and begins to read.
Once she arrives back at the palace in Konan, Miaka discovers that three months have passed in the book world during the evening that she has been gone. Not knowing exactly what happened to Yui or where she is, Miaka appeals to Nuriko and Hotohori to help her find her best friend yet again. Tamahome has left the palace on some mission, and is unable to help, rumor has it that he's depressed over Miaka's departure. Nuriko accompanies Miaka in her search for Yui as well as Tamahome, and they find him guarding a group of civilians for money. Curious as to just why Tamahome is so fixated on acquiring money, Miaka and Nuriko follow Tamahome while he's out early one morning, and find out that he has this kawaii little family in a nearby village that he's supporting. They learn that his mother died when he was twelve, and his father is sickly, so Tamahome does whatever jobs he can in order to raise the money to make ends meet.
Before long, the Priestess and senshi are attacked by devious assassins, and shortly after, similar assassins threaten Tamahome's family as well as the senshi. Each time, they are helped and rescued by a mysterious magician who warns them that the assassins are from the southern country of Kutou, and that Miaka, as The Priestess of Suzaku, is the target. Before the second assassin is killed, however, he admits that Kutou country is looking for its own Priestess, the Priestess of Seiryuu.
The magician who saved Miaka and all of the senshi's lives turns out to be the 4th senshi, the wandering monk Chichiri. Chichiri warns Miaka to be careful and to take note that her actions may endanger others in ways she does not expect.
At this time, it occurs to Miaka that Yui might have been recruited to be Kutou's Priestess of Seiryuu, and that they would be in warring camps if this happened. Therefore, after hearing Chichiri's warning, Miaka attempts travels solo to Kutou country in an attempt to prevent danger from reaching the others and to locate Yui. However, Tamahome follows her and Chichiri tracks them both. Miaka arrives at Kutou's palace and tells the guards that she is The Priestess of Seiryuu so that she may gain access indoors. When Tamahome tries to barge his way in he encounters the Shogun of Kutou's army, Nakago.
Miaka and Yui are finally reunited within the palace walls, and Yui reassures Miaka that although she was asked, she did not take up the position of The Priestess of Seiryuu. Tamahome locates the girls, and then Yui leaves Miaka to go and retrieve the scroll of the Universe of the Four Gods that Miaka brought with her. While they wait for Yui to return, Tamahome finally admits his love for Miaka and they kiss. At this point Yui returns but she overhears Miaka tell Tamahome that she only returned to this world to see him.
Now, unbeknownst to Miaka, Yui has had a hard time of it these past three months, and, just as Tamahome had saved Miaka, Nakago essentially saved Yui's life. For all three months, day after day, he's been telling Yui that Miaka didn't care about her and wouldn't come to help her. Overhearing this part of Miaka and Tamahome's conversation does not help Yui's confidence in her best friend. It also doesn't help that Yui harbors a crush on Tamahome... It is with this past in mind that at this point, Yui decides to take up the position of the Priestess of Seiryuu, knowing that it will place her directly opposed to Miaka.
Yui lures Miaka to the Seiryuu mosoleum in order to solemnise her decision and reveal her feelings to Miaka. There she is met by Nakago, who becomes her first senshi. When Chichiri and Tamahome try to enter the mosoleum, they realize that it is warded to exclude Suzaku senshi.
Infuriated at the possible danger that Miaka is in, Tamahome charges the doors and, remarkably, succeeds in breaking into the mosoleum. Chaos ensues as Nakago attempts to destroy all of his opponents with his chi. All three visitors from Konan are injured as they try to persuade Yui to leave with them. However, Yui's mind is made up.
Defeated and weary, Chichiri transports himself, Miaka, and Tamahome to Mt. Taikyoko to be healed by Taiitsu-kun. There Taiitsu-kun reveals to the three what has happened to Yui in Miaka's absence: Yui was attacked and raped by thugs upon arriving in Kutou country before being rescued by Nakago. Emotionally traumatized, she attempted to kill herself by slitting her wrist. She clung to the hope that Miaka would return for her for three months. Now she sees Miaka as her betrayer and will get revenge at any cost.
Since Miaka's Universe of the Four Gods scroll was left behind in Kutou, Taiitsu-kun gives her a special mirror in its place, to provide her with the clues she will need for finding the senshi.
When everyone returns to Konan's palace, Tamahome gets a message from Kutou country promising that the assassination attempts directed at Miaka will stop if he goes to Kutou alone. So he leaves, promising Miaka that he will return when the remaining senshi have been gathered. Hotohori, Miaka and Nuriko set out once more to search for the remaining senshi, while Chichiri remains at the palace masquerading as Hotohori.
As the travellers near Mt. Leikoku, Miaka's mirror indicates something about a bandit. Before they can puzzle it out, Hotohori, Miaka and Nuriko are kidnapped by bandits and taken to the Mt. Leikoku stronghold. From there Miaka is swept away by a bandit named Genrou, who takes her to meet his friend Koji. Miaka is certain that Tasuki, the 5th senshi, is somewhere nearby, but Genrou informs her that Tasuki is dead.
In despair, Miaka wonders what she will do if one of her senshi is not living, and the two rogue bandits mention a village nearby where a young woman has been, well, raising the dead. Miaka, Hotohori, and Nuriko then take off for the village to locate this woman.
In route to the village, Miaka and her senshi are confronted with dozens of zombies eager to feed on their flesh. They are only saved when Genrou makes an appearance and fries the zombies with his tessen (iron fan). He then apologizes for misleading them and reveals himself as Tasuki, their next senshi.
At this moment Miaka falls ill with a deadly disease, which has no cure. It turns out that this is the disease that the faith healer of the famous village, named Shoka, has been curing. The only downfall is that the patient must die before Shoka can heal the patient.
Unable to allow Miaka to die, or kill her, the three senshi appeal to a local doctor-turned-hermit named Myou Juan for help. At first he refuses to have anything to do with them, but at mention of the lady Shoka, his interest is suddenly piqued. Myou Juan accompanies the senshi to the ailing Miaka and Shoka, and it is soon discovered that Myou Juan is the 6th senshi, Mitsukake.
After the 5 assembled senshi and their Priestess have been travelling wearily for some time, looking for the 7th senshi, they are awakened one night by the sound of hundreds of bats. When they go to investigate, the bats attack them. A Kutou assassin proudly declares that he has control over the bats and will kill them, when suddenly a young boy with a flute appears and begins to play. The notes of his tune rise higher and higher and the bats seem to go insane, crashing into trees and killing themselves. The Kutou assassin also dies from the potency of the boy's tune.
The boy is revealed to be the 7th senshi, Chiriko, and with this joyous news, a plan is hatched to rescue Tamahome from Kutou.
However, in Kutou, Yui overhears Tamahome's plans to leave. In desperation she appeals to Nakago, who has already tried keeping Tamahome in Kutou by force. Nakago gives Yui a pill to put in Tamahome's food, promising that it will make Tamahome hers forever. She gives this pill to Tamahome and it alters his personality, making him hate The Priestess of Suzaku and her senshi.
When Tasuki, Chichiri and Miaka arrive in Kotou to pick up Tamahome, they are captured by Nakago and his men. Evil-Tamahome tries to kill Miaka, and badly injures Tasuki in a fight when Tasuki attempts to protect her. The two senshi and their Priestess have to return home without Tamahome.
Miaka is horribly depressed by this turn of events, and, hallucinating visions of Tamahome, attempts to seek him in the river. She is pulled under by the current and falls unconscious. Hotohori rescues Miaka from the river... then, letting his emotion get the better of him, he proposes marriage to her. Miaka considers, as she recognizes that Tamahome is lost to her forever.
The next day, Tamahome returns to Konan country on his own, intending to kill Miaka and the others. Hotohori, in a rage at the earlier attempt on Miaka's life, challenges Tamahome to a fight to the death. Hotohori wins when he impales Tamahome on his sword.
Near death, Tamahome's chi is so weak that the effects of the spell controlling him are weakened. Miaka confesses her love for him once again and his memories and former personality return.
Now that all seven senshi have finally been assembled, preparations for the Suzaku summoning ceremony can now begin.
Yui, in Kutou, is depressed at having failed to "win" over Miaka. Nakago reassures her that he has a plan and everything is under control. He introduces her to another Seiryuu senshi named Suboshi, and while Yui can't see the significance, Suboshi looks eerily identical to Chiriko...
We find out that the boy everyone thought was Suzaku senshi Chiriko, is in fact a Seiryuu senshi, Amiboshi, sent by Nakago to infiltrate the Suzaku senshi, disrupt their summoning ceremony, and kill them all. Amiboshi has an identical twin brother, also a Seiryuu senshi (that would be Suboshi), and he keeps the Seiryuu side up to speed as to the goings on in Konan country via the twins' special physical and spiritual link.
At the ceremony to summon Suzaku, Amiboshi whips out his flute and begins to play, focusing his chi into the notes and creating a head-splitting tune. As he plays, though, another tune begins as well, breaking the pattern of his notes. He flees, and the Suzaku senshi take the chase. But he slips on the riverbank and falls into the river, and that's the end of that. Suboshi feels that his brother's chi is no longer with him, and everyone assumes the worst.
Finally we get to meet the real Chiriko, whose masterful playing of the leaf whistle disrupted Amiboshi's tune and saved all of the senshi's lives. Meanwhile, the Suzaku summoning ceremony has already failed. Taiitsu-kun appears to tell Miaka and the others that there is another way to call Suzaku. They have to obtain the shinzaho, an item left behind by a previous visitor to their world, Priestess of Genbu. The shinzaho is located in Hokkan country, to the north. Yui and her senshi will also be trying to get this item so it's once again a race against time to retrieve it.
In addition to this information, Taiitsu-kun gives each of the senshi, minus Tamahome, a "power-up", a powerful item that will increase their particular ability: to Hotohori, a powerful Deity's sword; to Nuriko, iron bracelets; to Chichiri, a beaded necklace; to Tasuki, a diamond tassen; to Mitsukake, a jar of healing powder; and to Chiriko, a scroll.
Oh, and one more thing. Taiitsu-kun tells Miaka that she must not touch any male with love, since the priestess must remain a virgin until the god is called.
Back in the real world, Keisuke runs into his buddy Tetsuya. After Keisuke relates the goings-on of the book to his friend, Tetsuya agrees to help Keisuke get to the bottom of this book and why it's so ... "engaging"...
Nuriko, Miaka and Tamahome set off for Tamahome's village to pick up his family so that they can stay at Hotohori's palace where it is safer. But they arrive too late. Suboshi, presumably out of revenge for his brother's death, which he believes is the fault of the Suzaku senshi, has viciously killed Tamahome's entire family.
Tamahome's increased power then becomes apparent; he becomes the "revenging ogre," almost uncontrollable and unstoppable in his rage. Nuriko tries to restrain him, but he still would have killed Suboshi, were it not for a Seiryuu senshi making her grand appearance, Soi. Soi rescues Suboshi from Tamahome and takes off.
Miaka is spurred on by the act of violence against innocent and helpless victims and she makes a decision to go head to head with Yui for the shinzaho, if that's what it will take. Yui, not knowing the full story, hears that Miaka has made this decision, and returns the vow in kind.
The Suzaku trio now return to Hotohori's palace, and the gang sets off for Hokkan; minus Hotohori, who must remain behind and do his emperor duties. In the real world, Keisuke finds one of Miaka's hairs in the book, and realizes that he can communicate with her through the hair. He and Tetsuya, through their probing, have found that the miko of the legend is supposed to be consumed by her respective god after the summoning ceremony, and he tries to warn Miaka of this. However, Miaka ignores these warnings, out of loyalty to her senshi. Further, she gets Tasuki to burn a couple of her hairs, to destroy this, her only link to her brother and to the real world.
Soon after they set sail, the Suzaku people encounter a tremendous lightning storm, provided courtesy of Soi. The ship is badly damaged, and Tamahome, Nuriko and Miaka are swept overboard. The three fallen senshi find their way to a fisherman's cave where they dry off and recover from the incident. Here Nuriko reveals some very interesting tidbits; first, that he's decided to quit being gay and cross-dressing; and second, his reasoning for doing so in the first place.
At the age of ten, Nuriko lost the most precious thing to him in the world: his nine-year old sister Kourin. In despair and very poor handling of grief, Nuriko decided that Kourin would never die as long as he were there to live her life out for her. So he took her name, wore her clothes, and basically developed a female mentality in order to "become" Kourin. This explains his behavior in the past. But having finally been able to come to terms with Kourin's death, Nuriko is ready to move on and become his own person.
Upon finally arriving in Hokkan, Miaka and the senshi decide to split up to increase their chances of finding the shinzaho. Each group takes a flare with them with which to signal the others. When Nuriko offers to accompany Miaka and Tamahome, his offer is refused for fear of two pretty ladies attracting too many of the wrong kind of attention. This irks Nuriko, and he hacks his butt-length braid completely off so as to better resemble a male.
The group consisting of Nuriko, Tamahome, and Miaka are the first to find the shinzaho's whereabouts. While Tamahome is off getting the information however, Nakago sets another Seiryuu senshi, Ashitare, after Miaka. Nuriko injures him and scares him away by lighting their flare in his face.
Tamahome stumbles upon Yui while he is off alone, and again tries to get her to give up and come with him. She seems to realize that this cannot end well for either side but feels that she's in too far and cannot stop now. To get Tamahome off her case, she tries to hurt him, cruelly informing him that he's only a character in a book. Tamahome is confused by this but doesn't have the opportunity to ask her what that means.
Later that night, Nuriko confides to Tamahome that he has fallen in love with Miaka in a totally heterosexual way, having given up the gay cross-dressing life for good. However, being the totally considerate sweetheart that he is, he promises not to interfere with Miaka and Tamahome's love. As long as Miaka's happy, he'll be happy for her.
The next day, Nuriko volunteers to go and get the shinzaho, located at the top of Mount Black, while Miaka and Tamahome locate and inform the others. But once there, Nuriko encounters Ashitare once again. Having been beaten by Nakago for failing to kill Miaka once, and ticked off at Nuriko for hurting him, Ashitare does some serious damage to Nuriko, causing fatal wounds. Before he goes down, though, Nuriko manages to take out Ashitare as well. The other Suzaku senshi and Miaka are forced to say goodbye to Nuriko and they bury him on the top of Mount Black.
After having a moment to grieve, Miaka and the remaining senshi enter Mount Black to get the shinzaho. There they encounter two long-dead Genbu senshi, who have remained in spirit form for the sole purpose of guarding the shinzaho from unworthy people. After testing Miaka, the Genbu senshi realize that Miaka is worth her salt and give her the shinzaho.
No sooner have the senshi rejoiced at finally being able to call Suzaku, do they find out that they have to get the OTHER shinzaho, left by Priestess of byakko in Xi-Lang country to the west. Much to their dismay.
The Genbu shinzaho is literally snatched out of Miaka's hands by none other than Ashitare, who, although his human half was killed by Nuriko, remains alive in his wolf form. A distraught Miaka is approached by Taiitsu-kun, who tells her that she does not in fact have to remain a virgin in order to call Suzaku, and that in order to retrieve the shinzaho from Nakago she will have to seduce him and take it when he is weakened. Miaka leaves to do this quietly, not informing the others of her whereabouts.
In the Seiryuu camp, we find that the vision Miaka saw of Taiitsu-kun was only an illusion, spun by magician and Seiryuu senshi, Tomo.
When Miaka arrives to attempt to seduce Nakago, she finds him waiting for her. He reveals to her that Yui wasn't raped by those thugs when she first arrived, but that he let her believe it to turn her against Miaka. Miaka then spurns his advances and Nakago knocks her out, intending to rape her and thus render her unable to ever call Suzaku.
Tamahome leaves the other senshi, promising to meet them in Xi-Lang. He goes to the Seiryuu camp to find Miaka, sensing that she might be there but not knowing what she intended to do. Tamahome figures out what Nakago has done to Miaka, and, furious, he sends a chi blast that actually manages to injure the Kutou shogun. After this, he tells Miaka that whatever happened doesn't matter to him, and that he still wants to be with her. Miaka breaks up with him anyway, because she feels unworthy and soiled. She then runs off, leaving him very confused.
Chichiri, Tasuki, Chiriko, and Mitsukake arrive in Xi-Lang country. Or do they? It turns out that Tomo has spun an elaborate illusion, tricking the senshi into believing that they are in Xi-Lang...when in fact they are in the middle of the desert. While they think they are safe in an inn, eating, drinking, and generally being merry, they are just running down on energy without even being aware. At night, when the temperature drops drastically, they will surely die.
Meanwhile, off in the middle of nowhere, Miaka is nearly killed by a wild animal, but she's saved by a boy named Kaika, who looks astonishingly like Amiboshi! He was taken in by a kind couple after nearly drowning in the river, and has apparently forgotten about his past after drinking a forgetfulness potion his 'parents' gave him. Kaika begins to fall for Miaka and begs her to drink the forgetfulness potion so that she can stay with him. She considers...but declines.
Nakago realizes that Amiboshi is still alive and sends his troops to Kaika's village to trash it and find him. Kaika's surrogate parents are injured but not seriously so. He dispatches easily of the soldiers Nakago sent. Then, realizing that Miaka and Tamahome belong together, he tells Miaka to stay put while he goes to find Tamahome. Miaka takes this to mean, "Run away from here and put yourself into danger!" So off she goes, in the other direction.
Back on the evil side... Tomo finds out that Nakago failed to rape Miaka; he was repelled by a red barrier around her body as soon as she lost consciousness. Intending to do some damage of his own to the Suzaku crew, Tomo creates the illusion of making Soi look like Miaka. Soi then approaches Tamahome, who is relieved to be united with Miaka again, with the intention of seducing him and weakening his chi, then killing him. Tamahome, ever the gentleman, refuses her, saying that there's still a chance that she (Miaka) is still a virgin.
At this, Tomo ends the illusion and attacks Tamahome. Miaka runs into Soi, who tells her what's going on, and she arrives just in time to see Tamahome fall off a cliff, speared in the chest by Tomo.
Tomo then sends Miaka into an illusion, making her believe she's back home. She forgets about the events of the Universe of the Four Gods; Yui and all her friends are there and acting normally, and she's getting good grades for once! Tomo puts a clone of himself into the illusion, as a fellow classmate of Miaka's, and he asks Miaka out. His intent, of course, is to seduce her and have her willingly lose her virginity to him so that she cannot call Suzaku.
Kaika/Amiboshi, who is witnessing all of this and is unable to reach Miaka through the illusion, begins to play his flute and manages to break through the magic a little. Miaka realizes what's going on and destroys Tomo's illusion before he has a chance to "do the deed." So a ticked off Tomo attacks Amiboshi...which is a bad move, because as soon as he senses his brother's trouble, Suboshi arrives and kills Tomo on the spot.
Amiboshi desperately wants to work on the side of good and put this life of war behind him with his brother. He begs Suboshi to drink the forgetfulness broth and come to live with him and his new family. But Suboshi is hopelessly in love with Yui and feels he can't leave her, so he gives the potion to Amiboshi instead, causing him to forget everything.
Suboshi then turns on Miaka, furious at what Yui has told him is all her fault. He threatens to "mess her up" the same way Yui was. When all seems hopeless, Miaka is rescued by Tamahome. Seems he did not die from his injuries, but was nursed back to health by an elderly couple, Tokaki and Subaru, former Byakko senshi. Tokaki used to tutor Tamahome when he was a child, and trained him a little in the martial arts. Also, we find that with Tomo's death, the illusion that trapped the other senshi was broken and they are all fine and dandy.
Anyhow, Suboshi runs off, taking Amiboshi with him, and returns his brother to his adoptive parents.
Tokaki and Subaru take everyone back to their place to recuperate. Tokaki takes Tamahome aside and tells him that after Miaka calls Suzaku she will have to return to her world without him, so he'd better end this relationship while he still can since he knows this from experience; a fellow senshi had the misfortune of falling in love with his miko and this is what happened. So Tamahome breaks up with Miaka, without telling her why.
The old couple have this adopted daughter named Xifang, and she begins to make the moves on Tamahome, at Tokaki's suggestion, to make him forget about Miaka. Meantime, she tells Miaka of an abandoned temple nearby, where if lovers meet before sunset and kiss, they will never be parted. The catch? Said temple is overrun by monsters at the moment.
After walking in on Tamahome-nearly-kissing-Xifang, Miaka begs him to meet her at this temple, promising that if he doesn't show, she'll accept that it's over between them and she won't bother him any more.
Tamahome fights the desire to go for as long as he can, but at the last minute he tells Tokaki that it's too late, he's already too much in love with Miaka to end it now...and with that he races off to the temple. But he's too late; Miaka is gone.
Miaka, for what it's worth, spots Yui and Nakago travelling while she's waiting at the temple. Nakago spots her there, too, but doesn't say anything about it. Miaka thinks to herself that if she can just reach Yui and tell her the truth about Nakago, everything will be okay. So she leaves the temple since the sun's just set anyway and follows them.
We hear news that Tatara, the third Byakko senshi -- the one who loved the Priestess of Byakko and is guarding her shinzaho -- has been kidnapped by the Seiryuu side and held against his will.
In the real world, Tetsuya and Keisuke are running around trying to locate the former Priestess of Byakko; who is still alive' although she's something like 105 years old now. They eventually do find her, old and ailing, while she's watched over by her adopted grandson.
Miaka has found the Seiryuus' hideout and is sneaking around when she's discovered by Nakago. She tells him off and lets him know that she plans to tell Yui the truth about what happened. Nakago doesn't care much; he just has his newest senshi in tow, Miboshi, perform some magic and take Miaka's voice away. Nakago lets Miaka see Yui, only of course, now she can't explain squat.
Yui suddenly seems to warm up to Miaka, apologizing for all she's done and promising that she'll help Miaka and Tatara escape. Miaka asks Tatara, who's been chained up to the wall, for the shinzaho, and he grudgingly gives it to her. But it's a trap. Yui tricks Miaka into giving her the shinzaho, then locks Tatara and Miaka up while she runs off to the roof of the building to set up the Seiryuu summoning ceremony.
Tatara frees them both with his senshi powers over plants, and while they are out and about Miboshi appears and attacks them. The other senshi arrive on the scene and Tatara succeeds in killing Miboshi. But Tatara is over 100 years old and weakening rapidly. The strain of his efforts proves too much and he passes away.
In the real world, at this same moment, Oosugi Suzuno, former Priestess of Byakko, breathes her last as well. Keisuke, Tetsuya, and her adopted grandson see the spirit of a 15-year old girl run outside to join a 20-year old Tatara, and the two are finally reunited in death.
Miboshi is not too worried; with his dying breath, he possesses Chiriko's body and begins to wreak havoc from there. Chiriko/Miboshi is summoning up huge monsters to kill the senshi, etc, and all looks hopeless. But Chiriko takes Miboshi's prayer wheel and stabs himself with it. Repeatedly. He realizes that if he dies, Miboshi won't have a vessel to inhabit and thus Miboshi will cease to exist. So, long story short, Chiriko dies a painful but heroic and brave death.
Nakago and Soi show up and start attacking everyone as well, but they don't do any real damage; it's more to stall than anything else. As Nakago and Soi depart, all the remaining senshi rush up to the roof to stop Yui. But it turns out that they were tricked...Yui's summoning Seiryuu from another rooftop nearby! They're too late. Yui finishes the summoning incantation and Seiryuu, the blue dragon, appears in the sky.
Once Yui has chanted the summoning incantation, Seiryuu appears to her and informs her that she has three wishes, after which she is to merge with the god.
The entire building begins to collapse. The Suzaku people are freaking out. Miaka's in disbelief. Chichiri spreads out his cloak and shouts to everybody to get on. They do, with the exception of Subaru and Tokaki, who remain to make sure all danger is gone and to bury Tatara.
Miaka wakes up safe and sound at Konan country's palace. It looks as though everyone will just have to wait things out and see what happens...
Meanwhile, back in Kutou, Yui awakens as well and after promising one of her wishes to Nakago, she makes her first wish: to seal the powers of Suzaku.
Tamahome and the other senshi immediately feel this effect. Tamahome can't even perform a simple martial artist attack anymore. Hotohori reveals that Kutou has attacked Konan country's border towns and that soon they will have to go to war. The senshi agree to participate, and Miaka too.
Right around here we find out that Hotohori hasn't been too lonely during the time that the others were looking for the shinzaho. He's gotten married to a beautiful woman who hauntingly resembles Nuriko named Houki. Good for him!
The next day everyone minus Hotohori takes to the battlefield. The Seiryuu senshi also show up and test their powers, verifying with glee that the Suzaku senshi are indeed powerless with their god sealed up. Nakago lets loose a terrific ki blast that hits Mitsukake, wounding him pretty badly. Yui, seeing all of this, says her first wish ought to be enough for Konan's emperor. Then she makes her second wish: to send her and Miaka back to their world while preventing Miaka from ever returning to the book world again. A blue light envelops them both and they disappear.
When Miaka comes to, she is back in her classroom as her school is closing. She looks around and is absolutely floored to see that Tamahome has somehow arrived with her! She calls her brother and arranges for him to bring the two back to their place. There, Miaka and Keisuke try to sort out what's happened without letting Tamahome know...and without letting their mother know who they're keeping under wraps.
That night, as Tamahome and Miaka embrace, Yui takes a stroll by Miaka's apartment and catches a glimpse of this from Miaka's window. She's horrified that her plan to separate Miaka and Tamahome has failed, and runs off.
The next morning, Keisuke and Miaka give Tamahome a makeover and take him out on the town. Keisuke calls Tetsuya and find out just what Yui's second wish means for Miaka and Tamahome. He also notices that Tamahome hasn't got a shadow; a very bad sign indeed. The line between the book and real worlds is becoming blurred; the events in Miaka's world are now being written into the book, as they occur. Keisuke tells Miaka that Tamahome has got to return to the book, without her. Tamahome overhears this and finally understands what's going on; that he's a character in a book, created for the purpose of the Miko. He runs off, more than a little bit upset.
Back on the battlefield, things aren't going great for the Suzaku senshi. At one point Tasuki attempts to kill Nakago with a sword, but Soi stands in front of him and takes the blow for him, becoming fatally wounded in the process. Her last words to him are "I love you".
Tasuki's buddy Koji and the rest of the Mt. Leikoku bandits arrive on the scene to lend Tasuki and the others a hand, and they are a lot of help. Nakago and Suboshi, the only remaining Seiryuu senshi, leave.
Before she left Kotou for her own world, Nakago gave Yui one of his stud earrings so that she could communicate to him through it. Yui, distressed that Tamahome has made it into their world, now takes this opportunity to beg Nakago to come to her and help her. Nakago's presently occupied on the battlefield, so he sends a very happy Suboshi to help her instead.
While Miaka, Keisuke and Tetsuya have split up looking for Tamahome, Miaka runs into Yui and Suboshi. Suboshi then tries to kill Miaka, and chases after her when she runs off.
Meanwhile, Tamahome is moping about being a two-dimensional character and basically having an identity crisis. But he overhears two actors shooting a romantic scene for a film, and the lines strike a chord with him: something along the lines of 'it doesn't matter who I am or where I am, all I can do is love you...' Well, he's energized by this and goes to try and find Miaka. And not a moment too soon, as Suboshi pretty much has her cornered (in a crowd, anyway).
Tamahome yells for Suboshi to stay away from her, and Suboshi takes aim at him instead. It's all Tamahome can do to dodge Suboshi's attacks, since he doesn't have his powers; still, he's pretty fast for an average guy. Tamahome places himself in between Suboshi and Suboshi's weapon, throwing himself out of the way at the last moment. Suboshi says that he saw that trick coming, but as he prepares to dodge, the spirits of Tamahome's four younger siblings hold on to Suboshi and he can't get out of the way. He's speared by his own weapon, and dies clutching Yui's uniform ribbon, his link to her world.
Somewhere around this time, Mitsukake is on the battlefield, tending to the wounded as best he can with his own injuries. Chichiri stands by to assist him. Mitsukake is terribly frustrated since he doesn't really have the resources to help anyone, and both his senshi powers and the healing jar's powers are nil. Chichiri warns him that he's pushing himself too far, but he's a doctor. Anyways, suddenly he hears someone cry, "Shoka! Shoka! Hang on!" And that gets his attention. Apparently this baby girl named Shoka was somehow injured, and she might not make it without his help. Thinking that the child is his Shoka's reincarnation, and feeling pretty crappy already about not being able to be more help, Mitsukake uses all of his life energy to heal as many people in the vicinity as possible. Chichiri begs him to stop, but to no avail, and Mitsukake breathes his last.
Everyone nearby, good and bad, is healed of their injuries, and it's not long before the Konan and Kotou people begin to fight again. This is too much for Chichiri, and, crying, he screams at everyone to stop wasting their lives like this.
Okay, moving along, Hotohori gets a report from Tasuki and Kouji that things are looking grim on the battlefield, what with Kotou's army being three times the size of Konan's and all. Hotohori decides to take to the battlefield himself. While there, he encounters Nakago. The two square off and exchange words, all polite battlefield honor and all that. Finally, Nakago reveals that this war is basically about depleting Kotou's resources so that he can go back and destroy what's left; that it's not really about conquering or destroying Konan. Hotohori is pretty pissed that Nakago would do so much damage to both their nations for such a petty purpose. Then Nakago says that his lack of interest in this world stems from having seen a better, bigger world for him to conquer elsewhere. Hotohori realizes that he means Miaka's world, and when Nakago says, "I'll say 'hi' to your miko for you" that's the last straw. Hotohori loses it and charges Nakago, praying to Suzaku for strength. Nakago gets a flesh wound from Hotohori's sword, but shoots out a ki blast that sends Hotohori far, far away.
Tetsuya informs Miaka that Mitsukake has died and Hotohori is dying. She speaks to Hotohori-sama through the book and begs him to live. It's here that we discover that Houki is pregnant, and Hotohori promises that he'll live long enough to see his son's birth. But he dies anyway, with fond memories of his time with Miaka and the other senshi.
Yui phones Miaka and tells her to meet her at school. When Miaka does, she confronts Yui about her actions. She tells Yui that Nakago did not rape her but was only manipulating her for his own gains. She shows Yui a letter written by Okuda Einusuke revealing how his daughter, the former Priestess of Genbu, was in the process of being consumed by Genbu. Yui is a little shocked by this and insists it's a lie, running off. But after she leaves she notices that her arm has begun to grow blue scales...kind of like a dragon, perhaps...
Tamahome writes Miaka a goodbye note as he prepares to return to the book world. Fortunately she gets back home just as he's about to leave and they have a sweet goodbye. She shows him two rings she bought earlier that day and Tamahome says that he wants to marry her, the way they do things in her world. So they exchange rings and vow their eternal love for one another; and from that point forward, as far as they're concerned, they're married.
Nakago returns to Kotou and confronts the emperor there. Even though the emperor begs for his life, offering Nakago power, riches, anything he'd like, Nakago makes short work of disposing of him. Finally he goes and buries Soi, he's been carrying around this whole time; laying her down while he fights, then picking her back up again when he's finished. Then he travels to Yui and Miaka's world.
Keisuke, reading the Universe of the Four Gods outside of Miaka's room, realizes that Big Trouble is afoot, so he informs the two lovebirds and basically they hold their breath and wait.
Nakago approaches Yui, who by now has realized to her dismay that Miaka was right all along. She confronts Nakago about this, blaming him for setting her against her best friend, but Nakago says that all he did was encourage emotions she was already feeling. After all, she did become Priestess of Seiryuu of her own free will. Nakago asks for the wish Yui promised him, Yui runs off, and Nakago begins to trash the place.
Here Tamahome confronts Nakago, and Nakago begins to beat up on him. It's not looking good, and Tamahome is pretty much prepared to die. Tokyo is not holding up well under Nakago's attacks; fires have started to blaze and it's difficult for Miaka, Keisuke, and Tetsuya to get to where the action is due to police barricades. Nakago is kicking Tamahome's behind, and finally he sends him flying through a building and...Tamahome doesn't get up.
Miaka and Yui reunite and Nakago tells Miaka of Tamahome's fate. Again, he asks Yui for his wish to be granted; to become a god with eternal life. Otherwise, he'll kill Miaka and destroy their world. Yui says farewell to Miaka, makes her wish, and is consumed by Seiryuu.
Keisuke's crying to see the hero of the book die, and in desperation he calls on their last hope; Tasuki and Chichiri. They are standing over Hotohori's body in his palace paying their last respects when this voice calls to them from the sky. "Hold on to Miaka's backpack and concentrate!" So they do, and they are transported to Miaka and Yui's world.
It's still a lopsided battle; Tasuki and Chichiri haven't got their senshi powers and Nakago's convinced he's a god. So he's still tearing into them pretty badly. Suddenly a red glow emanates from Miaka and the three senshi hear the Suzaku summoning spell being chanted. Apparently Yui's wish was for Miaka to be able to call Suzaku! When she's finished, Tasuki's and Chichiri's powers are restored and they fight Nakago back. But he's still way more powerful.
Miaka's first wish: To bring her Yui-chan back. Yui appears from the sky, floating in a bubble, and Tetsuya catches her as she lands.
Nakago starts hurling debris at Miaka but they are intercepted before they land...by Nuriko! Other debris is deflected by Hotohori, and Chiriko and Mitsukake also appear to help!
Meanwhile, Tamahome is off in never-never land, having a near-death experience when he's eventually jolted out of it. So he gets up and starts fighting Nakago again, with all the senshi offering their chi to help give him power. And still Nakago is more powerful.
Chiriko comes up with the idea to seal Seiryuu into the scroll that Taiitsu-kun gave him, and so Miaka's second wish is to seal Seiryuu (note that at this point she is not consumed by Suzaku, nor does it appear that she will be). Immediately Nakago's senshi symbol disappears, presumably along with his powers. Tamahome races up to punch Nakago and now with his own added strength, he punches straight through Nakago's chest.
This invasion of Nakago causes Tamahome to see glimmers of Nakago's past: the attempted extermination of his race by the Kotou empire; his mother's rape by Kotou's soldiers when he was 11; her death caused by the violent awakening of his senshi powers; his abuse at the Kotou's emperor's hands; and his vow to gain revenge on the heaven that caused his hell. Nakago is mortified by his defeat and Tamahome knowing his past, and Tamahome sheds tears of both joy and sorrow for his fallen enemy, as Nakago fades from existence.
The dead senshi, who had possessed the bodies of the Nyan-Nyans in order to fight, leave their hosts and Miaka makes her final wish; to restore the world to normal. At this, everyone begins to fade and Miaka is left alone, with the book lying on the ground in front of her.
Later, Miaka and Yui write their high school entrance exams and both get into Yatsubadsi school. Yui still has Nakago's stud earring; for some reason it has not disappeared. She keeps it to remind her of past faults.
Keisuke meets up with the high school students and tells Miaka that there is a new student at his university, one who remembers being one of seven destined to protect a girl. One who promised to be reunited with her at any cost. A young man looking eerily like Tamahome comes into view, and he is wearing Tamahome's wedding ring. Miaka begins to cry as he says, "Finally, finally I've found you."
OWARI THE END