Hotohori sat on his throne, his elbows on his knees as he contemplated the
floor. Miaka and the other seishi had left several days ago and he was
bored, tired, and worried. Especially about Miaka. Miaka. He thought,
sighing. A guard entered the throne room, bowing.
"Heika-sama. There is a person at the gates asking to see you. Will you admit them?" The guard asked.
"Yes. Show them in immediately. Do you know anything about them?" Hotohori asked, brightening slightly at the thought of a change from his boring everyday cycle.
"Nothing but that they say that their name is Minamikaze. Or something along those lines, Heika-sama." The guard bowed again and turned to leave.
"Are they male or female?" Hotohori asked quickly, wondering at how the guard continued to not specify a gender.
"I am sorry, sire. We do not know. They wear a cloak that covers all of their face and body, loosely. And I would not like to offend the person, as whoever it is seems to be most powerful, Heika-sama." The guard bowed for the last time and left.
A person who seems to be neither male nor female, and has a name that specifies neither. Most intriguing. Hotohori thought, a wry half-smile spreading across his beautiful face. The guard returned a few moments later, with a small figure trailing after him.
"Minamikaze, Heika-sama." The guard said, pushing the figure before himself. The figure bowed and walked forward to stand at the bottom of Hotohori's dais.
"You wished to see me, Minamikaze-san?" He asked the person standing before him.
"Hai, sir. I wished to know if the Suzaku no Miko and the rest of Suzaku Shichi Seishi has left to retrieve the Shinzaho yet. I have something that they would need on their journey." It was obvious from the high voice that reminded him of a breeze that the figure was a female. Imbecile guards. He thought.
"I'm sorry, Minamikaze-san. They have left. Perhaps I can figure out a way to send it to them." He replied.
"Iie, Hotohori-sama. I must give it to them in person. Unfortunately, without it, I fear many of them may die. Including the Miko herself." The girl replied. She bit her lip and frowned. "I should have left sooner. Oh, Suzaku!" She used the Beast God of the South's name like a curse.
"Miaka. might. die?" Hotohori looked very worried. "Please, Minamikaze-san, if you could speak with them and give to them, but not in person, would it be okay?"
"I. don't know. He told me that I had to give it to them myself. and teach them how to use it. Maybe." She drew a large silver sword from the sheath at her side. It had a red hilt, and the blade had the seishi's symbols carved into it. A red flash came from one of the symbols. She dropped it and backed away, covering her eyes. The hood tumbled to her shoulders and her long, softly curling hair cascaded down her shoulders and back in blood red waves. "I am too late! Nuriko. he has departed us!" She wailed.
Hotohori looked at the blade and saw that where Nuriko's symbol, willow, had once been, was empty silver. The girl drew her hood back up, shrouding the brilliant red of her hair in darkness once more. A tear trickled down one of her pale cheeks. "Minamikaze-san, please come with me. I wish to know how you obtained that sword. And how Nuriko's symbol disappeared when he died."
"Hai, Hotohori-sama." She followed him out of the throne room and into his private chambers.
"So, how did you get the sword?" He asked, sitting on his bed. He gestured to a chair that rested near it, which she sat in.
"As you may have noticed, my name is South Wind. I, like Miaka, am a girl from another world. Suzaku, or the respective god summons us when we are needed to help protect the Miko and Seishi. He gave me that sword, and I watched as Seiryuu gave my sister a similar one to give the Seiryuu no Miko. Once we accepted the mission the Beast Gods asked of us, our appearances changed." She pulled back her hood, revealing her red hair, and wide red eyes. She motioned to the mirror nearby her. He looked at it and saw a girl with emerald green eyes and dark auburn hair sitting in the chair. "Mirrors never lie." She said quietly. "As for Nuriko. The marks on the swords disappear when that seishi dies, as that seishi no longer exists."
"You are from another world as well? Like Miaka?"
"Is that the Suzaku no Miko? Hai. I am from the Miko's world. My real name is just Minami. As my one of my sisters is Higashi. My other sisters are Nishi and Kito. Our parents. were a bit on the eccentric side." She smiled wryly.
"A bit is not the phrase, imouto." A new voice came from the doorway.
"Aneki?" Minami turned around. A tall girl with bright blue hair in a braid thrown over her shoulder and eyes that were narrower that her younger sisters' with a teensy bit of a green tint to them(A.N. If you have the pic with Miaka and Tamahome holding each other, wearing all red, and the seishi's profiles in the back ground, all with blue hair and blue eyes, think that blue hair and eye color(especially with Nuriko's pic). Email me if you have no clue of what pic I talking about) was standing in the doorway. "Aneki?!? What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be with the Seiryuu seishi, aren't you?"
"Hai. But I've already given them the sword, and showed them what to do with it. And I wanted to see how my imouto was doing with the big bad Suzaku seishi." She smiled, and walked over to the shorter girl.
"Is this that reishi you were telling me about? The one that helps the Seiryuu seishi?" Hotohori spat the words 'Seiryuu seishi' out as if they were vile in his mouth. He stood and drew his sword, pointing it at Minami's elder sister. The Suzaku's protector's eyes widened in horror, as she realized that the man she was supposed to help was going to kill her big sister.
"Iie! Hotohori-sama! Onegai!! Sashitomeru!!! " She shrieked, grabbing his arm, panicked that he might hurt her older sister, but unable to hurt him, either.
"Minami-san. Get off. She is helping the Seiryuu, and Kutou. For that, I must kill her." Hotohori responded, shaking the small young woman of his arm.
"Onegai. Hotohori-sama. She's my aneki. Onegai. She's the one that always helps me and protects me from Nishi-san and Kito-san. Onegai. Have mercy on her, Hotohori-sama." She pleaded, her large, red eyes overflowing with tears.
"Imouto. Sayanora. I'll see you soon. Domo. Domo arigato. You saved my life this time!" Higashi disappeared, leaving behind a surprised and angry Emperor and her younger sister.
"Baka! I could have killed off one of the Seiryuu's allies! But no! You stopped me!" Hotohori turned his wrath onto the girl beside him. She glared back at him, her temper flaring once her sister left. *~SMACK~* Hotohori stumbled from the force of the blow.
"And you almost killed the person I consider more of a parent than my own parents! My aneki has saved me from being killed by my other two older sisters several times! I am sworn to never hurt one of the Suzaku Shichi Seishi, but I don't care if you are one of them and an Emperor as well, I would have sliced you to shreds--"
"I know. if I had hurt her. Gomen nasai, Minami-san, but Kutou has been trying to take over my country, and has been killing my people! If they summon Seiryuu. I'm afraid to think of what would happen to Konan!" He cut her off, and rubbed his face where she had hit him. " You have quite a slap. I think I'm going to have a bruise on my beautiful face for a while." He smiled down at the girl staring angrily at him. She kind of reminded him of Miaka, but with a fiercer temper. She closed her eyes, and rubbed at the bridge of her nose, counting to ten under her breath.
"Gomen, Hotohori-sama. My aneki. is one of the most important people in my life. Gomen. I tend to get a little edgy where she and my best friend, Arashi, are concerned." Her cheeks turned red. "I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to hit you."
"It's okay. Let me show you to your room, as I assume you will be staying here until the Seishi come back?"
"Hai. I guess I am. Is there any possible way to contact the seishi now, Hotohori-sama?"
"Yes, but only if Chichiri contacts us first, really." He replied, and got up, about to leave his room. She followed, putting her cloak back on.
"Why do you wear that?" he asked, looking at the girl, with her features completely masked.
"My eyes and hair frightened some who saw me when I first turned to look like this. I wear it to cover them, so others don't call me a demon and run away." She responded, stopping to adjust it slightly.
"Kind of like why Chichiri wears his mask, ne?" Hotohori commented.
"And why do I wear my mask no da?" The monk's voice said from a bubble type thing floating in his room.
"Chichiri! How is everyone?" Hotohori queried the fox faced monk.
"Nuriko's dead no da." Chichiri responded, his face falling. "We just got the Shinzaho due to his courage no da, but Mitsukake couldn't get there in time to save him, unfortunately no da."
"Hotohori!" Miaka's face appeared beside Chichiri's.
"Hello, Miaka! How are you doing?"
"I'm great! I got the Shinzaho! Only one more to get, and then I can come back and summon Suzaku. But without Nuriko." She said, her normally cheerful spirit dampened.
"Don't worry about it Miaka. Everything will be fine. Perhaps we can wish Nuriko back!" Hotohori responded, trying to comfort his Miko. He suddenly remembered Minami. "Minami-san?" He said, looking around for the girl. She appeared out of the corner she had been standing in.
"Hai, Hotohori-sama?" She asked, pulling her cloak tighter around herself.
"You wanted to speak to the Seishi and the Miko, ne?" He raised an eyebrow at her. She nodded, and once again unsheathed the sword.
"Chichiri-sama, is there anyway that you could bring this sword to you guys?" She questioned.
"Hai, na no da! Hang on a second." The monk concentrated for a few seconds, and the sword appeared in front of him.
"If any of the Seishi or the Miko dies, or is mortally wounded, say the words: South Wind Revival, and hold the sword out. My powers will resuscitate them. Please, try it on Nuriko-sama. Now." She told them.
"Who are you, anyway?" Miaka asked.
"I am Minamikaze, Guardian of the Suzaku Shichi Seishi and Suzaku no Miko." She said, pulling down her hood. Miaka gasped, shocked at seeing someone with red eyes. Minami simply pointed at the Heika's mirror, and looking at it, Miaka saw that the girl actually looked like any other normal person. "Do not let appearances fool you, Suzaku no Miko. It will be your downfall if you do." She said, quietly. "Always look through the illusion."
Hotohori looked over at the girl who suddenly seemed much older than her years. Her brilliant red eyes were serious, and seemed like they seen had hundreds of centuries of history. She bit her lip, and he realized that she had fangs. Exactly like Tasuki's. Long, sharp, and gleaming white in the light of his room. "Minami-san? Minami-san? Daijoubu ka? Minami?" He asked, repeating her name several times before she snapped out of the trance-like state she had been in.
"Dai... Daijoubu. Gomen nasai, Hotohori-sama." She said, her voice still quiet. She seemed in a deep state of inner contemplation.
"Come on. The others have gone to bring Nuriko back. It's about time for dinner. Let's go eat." He said, taking the girls hand. He led her to the dining room. She sat down at his right and sat there throughout dinner, barely touching her food. "Minami, daijoubu ka?" He finally asked her, wondering why she had gotten so quiet.
"Heika-sama. There is a person at the gates asking to see you. Will you admit them?" The guard asked.
"Yes. Show them in immediately. Do you know anything about them?" Hotohori asked, brightening slightly at the thought of a change from his boring everyday cycle.
"Nothing but that they say that their name is Minamikaze. Or something along those lines, Heika-sama." The guard bowed again and turned to leave.
"Are they male or female?" Hotohori asked quickly, wondering at how the guard continued to not specify a gender.
"I am sorry, sire. We do not know. They wear a cloak that covers all of their face and body, loosely. And I would not like to offend the person, as whoever it is seems to be most powerful, Heika-sama." The guard bowed for the last time and left.
A person who seems to be neither male nor female, and has a name that specifies neither. Most intriguing. Hotohori thought, a wry half-smile spreading across his beautiful face. The guard returned a few moments later, with a small figure trailing after him.
"Minamikaze, Heika-sama." The guard said, pushing the figure before himself. The figure bowed and walked forward to stand at the bottom of Hotohori's dais.
"You wished to see me, Minamikaze-san?" He asked the person standing before him.
"Hai, sir. I wished to know if the Suzaku no Miko and the rest of Suzaku Shichi Seishi has left to retrieve the Shinzaho yet. I have something that they would need on their journey." It was obvious from the high voice that reminded him of a breeze that the figure was a female. Imbecile guards. He thought.
"I'm sorry, Minamikaze-san. They have left. Perhaps I can figure out a way to send it to them." He replied.
"Iie, Hotohori-sama. I must give it to them in person. Unfortunately, without it, I fear many of them may die. Including the Miko herself." The girl replied. She bit her lip and frowned. "I should have left sooner. Oh, Suzaku!" She used the Beast God of the South's name like a curse.
"Miaka. might. die?" Hotohori looked very worried. "Please, Minamikaze-san, if you could speak with them and give to them, but not in person, would it be okay?"
"I. don't know. He told me that I had to give it to them myself. and teach them how to use it. Maybe." She drew a large silver sword from the sheath at her side. It had a red hilt, and the blade had the seishi's symbols carved into it. A red flash came from one of the symbols. She dropped it and backed away, covering her eyes. The hood tumbled to her shoulders and her long, softly curling hair cascaded down her shoulders and back in blood red waves. "I am too late! Nuriko. he has departed us!" She wailed.
Hotohori looked at the blade and saw that where Nuriko's symbol, willow, had once been, was empty silver. The girl drew her hood back up, shrouding the brilliant red of her hair in darkness once more. A tear trickled down one of her pale cheeks. "Minamikaze-san, please come with me. I wish to know how you obtained that sword. And how Nuriko's symbol disappeared when he died."
"Hai, Hotohori-sama." She followed him out of the throne room and into his private chambers.
"So, how did you get the sword?" He asked, sitting on his bed. He gestured to a chair that rested near it, which she sat in.
"As you may have noticed, my name is South Wind. I, like Miaka, am a girl from another world. Suzaku, or the respective god summons us when we are needed to help protect the Miko and Seishi. He gave me that sword, and I watched as Seiryuu gave my sister a similar one to give the Seiryuu no Miko. Once we accepted the mission the Beast Gods asked of us, our appearances changed." She pulled back her hood, revealing her red hair, and wide red eyes. She motioned to the mirror nearby her. He looked at it and saw a girl with emerald green eyes and dark auburn hair sitting in the chair. "Mirrors never lie." She said quietly. "As for Nuriko. The marks on the swords disappear when that seishi dies, as that seishi no longer exists."
"You are from another world as well? Like Miaka?"
"Is that the Suzaku no Miko? Hai. I am from the Miko's world. My real name is just Minami. As my one of my sisters is Higashi. My other sisters are Nishi and Kito. Our parents. were a bit on the eccentric side." She smiled wryly.
"A bit is not the phrase, imouto." A new voice came from the doorway.
"Aneki?" Minami turned around. A tall girl with bright blue hair in a braid thrown over her shoulder and eyes that were narrower that her younger sisters' with a teensy bit of a green tint to them(A.N. If you have the pic with Miaka and Tamahome holding each other, wearing all red, and the seishi's profiles in the back ground, all with blue hair and blue eyes, think that blue hair and eye color(especially with Nuriko's pic). Email me if you have no clue of what pic I talking about) was standing in the doorway. "Aneki?!? What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be with the Seiryuu seishi, aren't you?"
"Hai. But I've already given them the sword, and showed them what to do with it. And I wanted to see how my imouto was doing with the big bad Suzaku seishi." She smiled, and walked over to the shorter girl.
"Is this that reishi you were telling me about? The one that helps the Seiryuu seishi?" Hotohori spat the words 'Seiryuu seishi' out as if they were vile in his mouth. He stood and drew his sword, pointing it at Minami's elder sister. The Suzaku's protector's eyes widened in horror, as she realized that the man she was supposed to help was going to kill her big sister.
"Iie! Hotohori-sama! Onegai!! Sashitomeru!!! " She shrieked, grabbing his arm, panicked that he might hurt her older sister, but unable to hurt him, either.
"Minami-san. Get off. She is helping the Seiryuu, and Kutou. For that, I must kill her." Hotohori responded, shaking the small young woman of his arm.
"Onegai. Hotohori-sama. She's my aneki. Onegai. She's the one that always helps me and protects me from Nishi-san and Kito-san. Onegai. Have mercy on her, Hotohori-sama." She pleaded, her large, red eyes overflowing with tears.
"Imouto. Sayanora. I'll see you soon. Domo. Domo arigato. You saved my life this time!" Higashi disappeared, leaving behind a surprised and angry Emperor and her younger sister.
"Baka! I could have killed off one of the Seiryuu's allies! But no! You stopped me!" Hotohori turned his wrath onto the girl beside him. She glared back at him, her temper flaring once her sister left. *~SMACK~* Hotohori stumbled from the force of the blow.
"And you almost killed the person I consider more of a parent than my own parents! My aneki has saved me from being killed by my other two older sisters several times! I am sworn to never hurt one of the Suzaku Shichi Seishi, but I don't care if you are one of them and an Emperor as well, I would have sliced you to shreds--"
"I know. if I had hurt her. Gomen nasai, Minami-san, but Kutou has been trying to take over my country, and has been killing my people! If they summon Seiryuu. I'm afraid to think of what would happen to Konan!" He cut her off, and rubbed his face where she had hit him. " You have quite a slap. I think I'm going to have a bruise on my beautiful face for a while." He smiled down at the girl staring angrily at him. She kind of reminded him of Miaka, but with a fiercer temper. She closed her eyes, and rubbed at the bridge of her nose, counting to ten under her breath.
"Gomen, Hotohori-sama. My aneki. is one of the most important people in my life. Gomen. I tend to get a little edgy where she and my best friend, Arashi, are concerned." Her cheeks turned red. "I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to hit you."
"It's okay. Let me show you to your room, as I assume you will be staying here until the Seishi come back?"
"Hai. I guess I am. Is there any possible way to contact the seishi now, Hotohori-sama?"
"Yes, but only if Chichiri contacts us first, really." He replied, and got up, about to leave his room. She followed, putting her cloak back on.
"Why do you wear that?" he asked, looking at the girl, with her features completely masked.
"My eyes and hair frightened some who saw me when I first turned to look like this. I wear it to cover them, so others don't call me a demon and run away." She responded, stopping to adjust it slightly.
"Kind of like why Chichiri wears his mask, ne?" Hotohori commented.
"And why do I wear my mask no da?" The monk's voice said from a bubble type thing floating in his room.
"Chichiri! How is everyone?" Hotohori queried the fox faced monk.
"Nuriko's dead no da." Chichiri responded, his face falling. "We just got the Shinzaho due to his courage no da, but Mitsukake couldn't get there in time to save him, unfortunately no da."
"Hotohori!" Miaka's face appeared beside Chichiri's.
"Hello, Miaka! How are you doing?"
"I'm great! I got the Shinzaho! Only one more to get, and then I can come back and summon Suzaku. But without Nuriko." She said, her normally cheerful spirit dampened.
"Don't worry about it Miaka. Everything will be fine. Perhaps we can wish Nuriko back!" Hotohori responded, trying to comfort his Miko. He suddenly remembered Minami. "Minami-san?" He said, looking around for the girl. She appeared out of the corner she had been standing in.
"Hai, Hotohori-sama?" She asked, pulling her cloak tighter around herself.
"You wanted to speak to the Seishi and the Miko, ne?" He raised an eyebrow at her. She nodded, and once again unsheathed the sword.
"Chichiri-sama, is there anyway that you could bring this sword to you guys?" She questioned.
"Hai, na no da! Hang on a second." The monk concentrated for a few seconds, and the sword appeared in front of him.
"If any of the Seishi or the Miko dies, or is mortally wounded, say the words: South Wind Revival, and hold the sword out. My powers will resuscitate them. Please, try it on Nuriko-sama. Now." She told them.
"Who are you, anyway?" Miaka asked.
"I am Minamikaze, Guardian of the Suzaku Shichi Seishi and Suzaku no Miko." She said, pulling down her hood. Miaka gasped, shocked at seeing someone with red eyes. Minami simply pointed at the Heika's mirror, and looking at it, Miaka saw that the girl actually looked like any other normal person. "Do not let appearances fool you, Suzaku no Miko. It will be your downfall if you do." She said, quietly. "Always look through the illusion."
Hotohori looked over at the girl who suddenly seemed much older than her years. Her brilliant red eyes were serious, and seemed like they seen had hundreds of centuries of history. She bit her lip, and he realized that she had fangs. Exactly like Tasuki's. Long, sharp, and gleaming white in the light of his room. "Minami-san? Minami-san? Daijoubu ka? Minami?" He asked, repeating her name several times before she snapped out of the trance-like state she had been in.
"Dai... Daijoubu. Gomen nasai, Hotohori-sama." She said, her voice still quiet. She seemed in a deep state of inner contemplation.
"Come on. The others have gone to bring Nuriko back. It's about time for dinner. Let's go eat." He said, taking the girls hand. He led her to the dining room. She sat down at his right and sat there throughout dinner, barely touching her food. "Minami, daijoubu ka?" He finally asked her, wondering why she had gotten so quiet.