"Taka!" Miaka called her husband. He looked up from the book he was reading. "Yes?" he asked. "I was just thinking," she said," maybe everyone could get together tomorrow." By everyone, the Suzaku no Miko meant the rest of the Celestial Warriors, minus Tasuki and Chichiri, who'd been reborn in this world. "After all, it is the anniversary of when Yui and I first found the book," Miaka continued.
"I think that's a great idea!" Taka exclaimed. "I can try out the new barbeque grill I got!" His eyes sparkled with excitement. Frowning, Miaka whacked him over the head with the wooden spoon she held. "You are so materialistic!" she scolded. "Remind me again why I put up with you?" "Because you love me and I love you," Taka said, smiling softly at his wife. She smiled back, leaning down to place a soft peck on his lips.
I gotta call Keisuke, Yui, and Tetsuya. They'll definitely want to come to this." The chipper young woman went to go call her brother, his friend, and her best friend. 'They'll definitely want to come to this,' Miaka thought as she dialed a familiar number.
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The doorbell rang. "Hey, Mitsukake, how are you doing?" Taka greeted the healer. "Just fine, Taka," the tall man replied. "Mee-yaow," the small white cat perched on his shoulder mewled. "Hey, Tama!" Miaka greeted the feline. It seemed even the cat had been reborn into this world. "Is anyone else here yet?" Mitsukake asked as he entered the house. "Nope, not yet," Taka replied. Just then, a purple sedan came speeding down the street, screeching to a halt in their driveway.
"Correction; Nuriko is here now," Taka said dryly. The purple haired cross dresser, a woman in this world, exited the car. "Whoo! I think that was a new record!" she exclaimed. "C'mon, Hotohori, we're here!" The dignified former emperor stepped out, trembling all over. "Nuriko, would it pain you too much to slow down once in a while?" he asked in a none-too steady voice.
"What would be the fun in that?" Nuriko asked. Hotohori muttered something that sounded like "It won't be fun when I'm splattered all over the windshield," but if Nuriko heard, she took no notice of it. "Hey, Taka, Miaka, Mitsukake!" she waved at the trio. Hotohori gave a nod to them, some old habits never fading.
"Hey, you guys!" Miaka greeted. "Nuriko, looking good in not-drag as usual!" she teased as she hugged her. "Hey, Miaka, looking not-stupid, as usual!" Nuriko joked back. The two laughed, reminiscing over old times already as they headed into the house.
"I am never carpooling with Nuriko again," Hotohori declared to the other two men. "Be kinda hard since you two share an apartment," Taka teased. "We are pretending not to have heard that," Hotohori replied, turning to Mitsukake as the two entered the house. Taka pouted. How come he got stuck as the odd man out? As he turned to head inside as well, a voice called out to him.
"Taka!" Chiriko was heading up the sidewalk, waving at the older seishi. "Sorry I'm a little late. I almost missed the bus," the younger boy panted, a little out of breath. Though only 15, he was enrolled in the local college, being a child genius. Except he was a genius full-time, not part-time as he had been in his previous life. "Ah, it's OK, Chiriko," Taka assured him. "We haven't really started anything yet."
They went inside where the youngest seishi was greeted with a bone-crushing hug from Nuriko. "Chiriko-chaaaan!" the willow seishi squealed, glomping Chiriko. "Ah…Nuriko…c-can't breathe!" the boy gasped out. He was released abruptly, gasping for breath. "Sorry Chiriko," Nuriko apologized sheepishly. "You okay?" "H-hai, I think so," Chiriko replied.
"Hey, everyone!" Keisuke walked in, Yui and Tetsuya close behind him. "Keisuke!" Miaka hugged her older brother. "Hey, Miaka. I see Taka hasn't died of food poisoning yet." Miaka drew out of the hug, whacking him.
"Hey, hey, Miaka's actually quite the cook," Taka said, hugging his wife close to him from behind. "Indeed, this food is very good," Hotohori called from the kitchen, where he was snacking on some snacks Miaka had made.
"Yui!" "Miaka!" The two friends hugged. "How've you been lately?" Miaka asked, slightly concerned. "Oh, I'm fine," Yui smiled. She and Tetsuya had drifted apart lately, eventually breaking up. They still remained good friends, though it was a little awkward at times. "I'm going to go start the grill!" Taka told the group, heading out onto the back porch. "You guys coming?" The girls stayed inside while the boys went outside with Taka.
"So, how are things?" Nuriko asked Yui. "School's all right. I had to field a lot of questions when you dropped out to marry Taka, Miaka," the blonde told her friend. "I was as vague as I could be without ignoring people." Miaka giggled as she imagined Yui treating everyone to an icy glare. It was a skill she'd picked up from Nakago, apparently. Well, at least the blonde general had been good for something.
"Actually, there is something that might interest you guys. We have some exchange students from America at our school," Yui told Nuriko and Miaka. "Really? That's so cool!" Nuriko gushed. "How many are there? Boys or girls? Are any of them in your classes?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down!" Yui held up her hands in a semblance of defense. "There are 2 boys and 5 girls," she answered Nuriko's first two questions. "One of the guys speaks Japanese fairly well, while the other, not so much. The girls are all pretty good at speaking and understanding Japanese. One of them actually knows Russian, too."
"Really? So she's trilingual! Wow!" Miaka wondered what it'd be like to be able to speak 3 different languages. 'And they all have different alphabets, too! Wow.' She tuned back in to what Yui was saying. "…all anime and manga otakus." "Who are?" Miaka asked. Both Yui and Nuriko pinned her with a Look. "Were you even listening to me at all?" Yui deadpanned. "Mostly," Miaka admitted. "I just got a little off track is all!"
"Ahhhh! Keisuke, hand me that fire extinguisher!" they heard Taka cry from the backyard. The girls sweat dropped. "We should probably go see how the guys are faring," Nuriko said. "Yeah," Yui agreed. "Probably," Miaka added. None of the three moved, though, until Tetsuya poked his head in through the door. "Hey, are you girls gonna come outside anytime soon?" The three exchanged glances and shrugged. Eh, why not?
"Hey, you want some hamburgers?" Taka asked cheerfully, holding up a platter with some very well-done patties. The girls turned a light shade of green. "Um, sure we'll, uh, have some," Nuriko nervously said. 'Geez, this looks nearly as bad as Miaka's first attempts at cooking!' Nevertheless, they each bravely sampled Taka's first trial at barbecuing.
'Buck up, Keisuke, you've had worse,' the young man thought, biting into a charred hamburger smothered in ketchup and mustard. "Hey, Miaka-" he turned to his sister and gasped as a red light started to emanate her. All of the Suzaku seishi, and Yui, were glowing as well. "What the-" Taka exclaimed, his expression mirroring the surprise on everyone else's faces. Then, they were gone in a flash. Both Keisuke and Tetsuya dropped their plates. What had just happened??