Chapter One
Taikyoku-zan
Suzaku no Miko had really gone.
Nuriko settled himself in one of Taikyoku-zan's overly engulfing seats, letting out a sigh of contemplation as he rearranged his skirts more effectively over his knees. Despite the fact he had used the bulk of his life force to help send the girl home to her family, he felt a curl of regret stirring inside the depths of his heart. He had sworn to hate her, even best her as competition for the Emperor's affections. And yet, somehow, he was sad that she'd gone.
"If Miaka's not here, then Hotohori-sama can't spend all his time chasing after her." He reasoned ruefully to himself, his fingers straying absently to brush against his collarbone. Beneath the thick, muslin fabrics he knew that the sign of the willow was blazing at his thoughts, and he found himself glad that noone else could see this blatant proof of his flourishing affection for his Suzaku team-mate. "Yet even so, I'm going to miss her. Whether she comes right back or she doesn't come back at all – there's something unique about that girl. Something I never saw in anyone before. Maybe it's because she's not from this world…but somehow I'm starting to believe in her."
He sat back, folding his hands in his lap as he reflected on this thought for a moment.
"She eats too much, and doesn't think before acting. She trusts in everyone, even to the point of idiocy." He murmured softly. "So what is it, then, about Miaka-no-baka? What did Suzaku see in her? And what am I beginning to see in her? Another younger sister? Probably. That seems to be the cycle my life follows, after all. Who knows? Maybe she'll be the little sister I can protect, after all."
"So…you really are a...a man?"
At the sound of his companion's voice, Nuriko glanced up from his seat, casting Tamahome a coquettish smile. He shuffled up, gesturing to his fellow Seishi to sit down beside him. Tamahome hesitated for a moment, then dropped down into the empty place, still eying his new ally with an air of wary confusion.
Nuriko smirked, humour glittering in his expressive dark eyes as he absorbed the discomfort in his friend's demeanour.
"What's the matter, Tama-chan? Don't you think it's possible for me to be quite so pretty as this, if I'm built a little differently from Miaka?" He asked lightly, amusement in his eyes. Tamahome tensed at this, turning to send him an accusatory glare.
"Nuriko, you kissed me, dammit!" He responded indignantly. "Full on, in public, like the most brazen hussy in the whole of Kounan! And now..what? You're just going to brush it off like it was the most normal thing in the world to do? Hell, don't you stop and think of the effect something like that might have on someone, confusing them like that?!"
Nuriko chuckled, his wicked sense of humour overtaking his earlier pensiveness as he sent Tamahome a coy smile.
"I'm sorry, Tama, but I only have eyes for his Highness." He said softly. "I only kissed you to make Miaka jealous - sorry about that."
He winked at his companion playfully.
"Don't say I broke your heart in the process, because I definitely won't believe it."
He smiled, remembering the event in question. Tamahome's shocked look, Miaka's stricken expression…Hotohori's utter confusion. It had been an impulsive act, he knew, designed to try and widen a rift between the Emperor and his chosen Miko, but despite himself he could see the funny side to it as well. He giggled, shaking his head.
"Your face was priceless." He added. "I never saw someone look so pussy-struck as that. You must have scant little experience with women, Tama-chan, if you can let a delicate thing like me take advantage of you so easily."
He tut-tutted, shaking his head.
"Perhaps you need some pointers." He reflected. "Maybe, as your oneesan, I was just giving you a little guidance. Surely the practice can't be bad for you? One day you'll find a girl stupid enough to want to marry you, after all. Then you'll thank ol' Nuriko for breaking you in gently."
"Nuriko, will you quit it already?" Tamahome clenched his fists. "Stop messing around and come clean, will you? You're a guy. You're a guy and you've been a guy all the time, right? But you lived in his Highness's harem, and you...you kissed me and...and what the hell is wrong with your head? What kind of man dresses up like a woman and struts his stuff in make-up and silk for the world to see, huh?"
"His highness has been known to do it, on occasion." Nuriko seemed unperturbed by his companion's reaction. "He's beautiful enough to beat most of the women in that harem, anyway."
He shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
"You really are naive, Tamahome." He added reprovingly. "Love has nothing to do with someone's gender. It's how their heart works that matters - surely someone must've taught you that once upon a time? I love his Highness, and so, this seems natural to me. Doesn't it make sense to you at all? Are you really that much of a child still?"
"Are you really that perverted?" Tamahome retorted, and Nuriko frowned, stretching out a hand and tapping his fellow Seishi gently on the cheek. There was no force behind the gesture at all, but it was enough to send Tamahome sprawling backwards onto the floor.
"You shouldn't be so offensive towards a pretty young girl, Tama-chan." Nuriko said warningly, peering over the back of his own seat as he watched his friend pick himself up. "I don't need comments like that from an idiot like you, all right? After all, it's your fault that Miaka got a fever, and I'll bet it was your fault she wound up getting hurt this time, too. You're just thick in the head and you can't understand how a girl feels when she loves a man. That's all. If you did, you'd know that what I feel for his Highness isn't the least bit perverted. Just as what Miaka feels for you isn't, either. Now learn to speak to your elders with some respect, else I'll give you matching bruises on all your cheeks."
"You are one weird guy, you know that?" Tamahome stood, brushing himself down as he rubbed his jaw ruefully. "And it hurts when you do that."
"Well, you offended me." Nuriko folded his arms across his chest. "And will you stop looking at me like I'm a circus exhibit, please? I have my reasons for doing the things I do, just as I'm sure you have your reasons for being such a block-headed moron when it comes to Miaka and women in general. You have a fixation with money. I have a genuine affection for the Emperor. You're just as twisted as me, if you look at it that way. At least the thing I'm in love with has a soul."
Tamahome started, a flicker of anger in his eyes at this, but he quelled it, shaking his head as he sat back down.
"All right. I'm sorry." He said slowly. "But you did kiss me, and I'm not all that happy about it, now I know who you really are. Can you blame a guy for feeling that way? Just because you have...well, those kinds of attractions - don't you think it was a bit unfair to shove me in the middle of your love games when you're obviously pretty clear that I'm in no doubt about my gender?!"
"You do think I'm pretty though, right Tama-chan?" Nuriko asked playfully, and Tamahome grimaced, rubbing his temples.
"I did, before I knew what you were hiding beneath your robes." He said flatly. "Give it up already, will you?"
"I'm only teasing you." Nuriko dimpled. "But it's really just like I said before. I have a woman's heart, deep down inside of me. I might be a man - biologically I can't escape the body that nature gave me. But what you look like and how you feel aren't the same thing, you know. When you grow up a bit, you'll learn that, Tamahome."
"Stop coming over me like you're so much more experienced." Tamahome bristled. "You're not that much older than me, you know, if you even are older than me at all."
Nuriko tut-tutted.
"So we're going to argue about this for the rest of our time fighting together, are we?" He asked softly. "Such a shame. I thought we'd be such good friends, too...you really are a handsome catch, too handsome for little Miaka, when it comes to the crunch."
"You're doing it again!"
"All right, all right. I'm done." Nuriko flashed him an apologetic smile. "But you have to laugh at things sometimes, you know. If you don't, you can only cry - isn't that how the saying goes? And I don't much like crying if I can do the opposite. You get the cards life deals you, after all - and this is just the way I am. If it's going to be an issue..."
He trailed off, and Tamahome sighed, shaking his head.
"I guess it's your business. Just don't kiss me again." He said wearily. "All right? I want your word that you won't...the whole thing, it's just too weird otherwise."
"Don't worry. I'm not really attracted to you, anyway." Nuriko dismissed this with a flick of his hand. "I'm not in love with his Highness because he's a man. It's because of how gentle and lonely he is - and how beautiful a person he is, beneath the Imperial title. It has nothing to do with his gender, or mine. I'm attracted to him on a much higher level than you can understand, Tama. That's all it is. On a level only girls can really understand. And to all intents and purposes, well, I really am a girl. In all the things that count at least."
"Well, you sure look like one, and I guess you act like one." Tamahome admitted. "To be honest, if you hadn't reacted how you did in the forest, I'd still think Miaka's double was putting us on. I look at you and I can't see it. It's too weird - it doesn't make sense. I mean, cross-dressers aren't meant to look as convincing as you do...are they?"
"I had some help and some valuable advice from a good, loyal friend." Nuriko smiled mischievously, slipping his hand down to the tie of his gown as he loosened the knot of the sash. "But it's all right, Tama-chan. I'll set your mind at rest once and for all. After all, as my fellow Seishi, I shouldn't be shy of sharing my body with you, now should I?"
"Nuriko, what are you going to do?" Tamahome eyed his companion warily, and Nuriko chuckled, slipping down the shoulders of his gown until his chest was exposed. In the strange light of the Taikyoku-zan mountain palace, the symbol of the willow glittered and glowed warmly above his breast, marking him out as Suzaku's warrior, and Tamahome cursed, shaking his head.
"Too, too weird." He said frankly. "Cover up, Nuriko. I can't get my head round this...you're freaking me out."
"I guess you grew up in a sheltered village, huh?" Nuriko did so, eying him speculatively. "No people experimenting with gender and dress there, huh?"
"Definitely not!"
"Well, I guess in the capital, things aren't quite so clear cut and simple." Nuriko shrugged his shoulders. "My family own a very successful textile business, so it wasn't hard to style and choose the way I look, not with so much to choose from. I made a decision, that's all, and I don't regret that decision. This is better for me - and besides, how would I have gotten into the harem if I hadn't looked this much like a girl? When you think about it, it's common sense."
"I can think of a lot of reasons a man would want to get into the Imperial harem, but strangely enough seducing the Emperor isn't one of them." Tamahome said dryly. Nuriko eyed him for a moment, then burst out into infectious laughter, slapping Tamahome on the back and causing him to gasp with pain at the force of the blow.
"Will you quit doing that without thinking about it?" He protested hoarsely, his hand going to his chest as he dragged air into his lungs. "Please God, Nuriko, you might look like a girl but you hit like a ten ton elephant!"
"Whoops...sorry about that." Nuriko shrugged apologetically. "Guess sometimes I don't know my own strength."
"Well, I'd really appreciate it if you'd learn about it a bit quicker, before one of us winds up getting killed." Tamahome said frankly. "We're looking to find our comrades. Not kill them."
"Providing Miaka-no-baka comes back to Kounan, of course." Nuriko rested his chin in his hands, eying Tamahome playfully and absorbing the faint discomfort that flecked in his companion's eyes. "She might not, now she's managed to go home. She's a flake, that's for sure...she might forget all about us, now that we've found a way to send her back."
"Miaka isn't like that! She'll come back - she knows we need her!" Tamahome objected. "You know it as well as I do, Nuriko! Who put her life on the line to save Hotohori-sama and I from the shadow, huh? She's not going to forget - she's not that fickle a person, you know!"
"Well, and I thought you were only interested in money." Nuriko shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "I guess we all live and learn."
"Leave it out, will you? I just said she'd come back - stop sticking innuendo into everything." Tamahome snapped. "You know, you might be a dude under all that silk. But you really are a girl, aren't you? Your mind works in all kinds of weird, twisted, female ways and it's making me really uncomfortable. Stop building six hundred scenarios out of one innocent sentence, all right? Miaka will come back. That's all I'm saying. She'll come back to Kounan and help us raise Suzaku."
"Then we'd probably better think about returning there ourselves, so we're ready to greet her." Nuriko said benignly, stretching his arms as he got to his feet. "Well, Tama-chan? We should find his Highness and get back to the capital. It's nice and all, up here on the mountain, but those Nyan-Nyan keep giving me funny looks, and if I let my guard down for a minute they might cut my hair and force me into something as dowdy as what you're wearing."
"It wouldn't hurt you to dress more like a man, now that you're a warrior of Suzaku." Tamahome said cuttingly. Nuriko smirked.
"I can be a woman and fight for Suzaku. Miaka's a woman, after all. Or at least, in training." He said frankly. "She needs a lot of polishing, but she has the right equipment."
"Which is more than you do, remember?"
"Oh, Tama-chan, you are getting catty." Nuriko reproached him. "Better be careful or you'll be sounding like a woman too!"
Tamahome sighed.
"I'm just tired, and I guess we should head back." He admitted. "We've been away long enough, and if Miaka did return, she probably wouldn't come back here, would she?"
Nuriko shrugged.
"That's my reasoning." He admitted. "So that's what I suggest we do."
"Nuriko? Tamahome?" At that moment the Emperor entered the chamber, and Nuriko glanced at him, a frown touching his lips as he absorbed the pallor and tiredness on the man's face.
"You look all in, your Highness." He said softly. "Tamahome and I were talking about going back to Eiyou and the palace, but maybe we should rest here a while longer. You were both hurt, after all, and even though I'm all right, we shouldn't put either of your lives in danger, considering how much strength you gave Miaka to help her get home."
"Miaka." Hotohori's eyes clouded for a moment, then he nodded his head.
"I think we'll be all right to travel, Nuriko." He said frankly. "Or perhaps we can ask Taiitsukun for help getting back to the palace. Since she seems disposed to be kind to us, it couldn't hurt to ask."
"No, I suppose not." Nuriko admitted.
"Then I'll go find her." Tamahome volunteered. "And ask her if there's any way she can send us back. Nuriko, if you're so afraid Nyan-Nyan will fix your, erm, unusual dressing standards, you stay here with his Highness. I'm sure you'd rather do that, in any case."
Nuriko's eyes flashed with surprise, then they softened and he offered Tamahome a warm, playful smile.
"Well, maybe I underestimate your ability to understand after all." He said teasingly. "All right, then. Go. We'll be waiting, so don't take too long, Tama-chan!"
Tamahome saluted his companion playfully, then was gone, and Hotohori leant up against the wall, his expression thoughtful. For a while there was silence, then Nuriko moved across the room, dropping down before the Emperor on the floor. Hotohori gazed down at his fellow Seishi in surprise, and Nuriko raised troubled eyes to his travel companion.
"Your Highness, I'm sorry that I deceived you." He said frankly. "About a lot of things. I didn't want you to know about my true self, but now you do - I hope you'll understand and forgive me."
"I find it hard to believe." Hotohori's expression cleared, and he gestured to his companion to get to his feet. "Don't grovel before me like that, Nuriko, not when we're here, and away from the palace. I am Hotohori here, not the Emperor of Kounan, and I'm enjoying that fact, so don't ruin it by pandering to my status. You only put divides between me and my fellow Seishi, when you do things like that. We're not at the palace, so please, meet my gaze and regard me as an equal."
"I don't know if I can do that." Nuriko admitted. "But all right, I'll try."
"You are truly a man, then?"
"I am, sire. In body, if not in soul."
"And you entered my harem...why would you do a thing like that?"
"To be closer to you, of course. Why else?"
"To think that there's another man who's almost as beautiful as I, and so close at hand, too." Hotohori tut-tutted. "You make me quite concerned, when I think about those things. It must be Suzaku's influence - I can't think of any other reason for such an uncanny coincidence."
Despite himself, Nuriko smiled.
"I have always prided myself on my appearance, heika." He said with a shrug. "But it's true that all the members of my family are attractive, so it would've been more uncanny if I had not been beautiful. And I've always resembled a girl far more than I have a boy, in a lot of ways, you know. That's why I go by the name 'Kourin'. It seems more appropriate to me than my true name, so that is how I prefer to be called."
"But now you are Nuriko, so it carries no importance to me what you called yourself before we became comrades in arms." Hotohori said lightly. "If you wish to dress as a woman, Nuriko, I will not judge your decision. It is, after all, your choice."
"Your Highness." Nuriko bit his lip, slowly shaking his head. "No… I'm just glad you aren't angry with me. You'd have a good reason to be, I know - a man among all those women. But I never...I'm a faithful kind of girl, that's the truth of it. And since I first saw you, I was in love with only you. If I hadn't have been, I never would have stayed in the harem - but at the end of the day, I couldn't leave. Not when I saw how kind and gentle a man the Emperor truly was."
He laughed ruefully as colour rose in Hotohori's cheeks, shaking his head.
"You see, in all ways, I really am a woman." He added ruefully. "My heart and soul are bound to that path now, I'm afraid."
"It is not unnatural for a man to love his Emperor." Hotohori managed at last, and Nuriko shook his head.
"I'm sure that many would not understand what I feel as that kind of love." He admitted.
"So you came to this life simply to join my harem and be among my chosen women? It seems absurd - do you not think it was the stars of Suzaku that truly drew you to this path?"
"No...it was a little girl and a keepsake ball that drew me to your harem." Nuriko said reflectively. "It was only once I was there that I knew I had to stay. It wasn't my intention to stick around - I planned to disappear as soon as I'd passed on Byakuren's message. But you...you made me change my mind, I suppose. So it went from there."
"Byakuren?" Hotohori looked confused.
"A little girl you saved from a carriage when you were both just young children." Nuriko said evenly. "She wanted so much to thank you, but she couldn't, so I came to do it in her place."
"I see." Understanding flickered in the Emperor's gentle eyes. "I remember. I wondered where that ball came from, and why you gazed at me so intently. It was you, I remember now, who struck me with a certain feeling - a certain sense of friendship and camaraderie that I had not perceived in any of the others. But that you had brought the ball...I understand, now."
He smiled.
"It was a kind thing to do." He added.
"Well, Byakuren was like a sister to me." Nuriko said quietly. "Your Highness, she would have been the one chosen to join your harem, but she was slain by a demon before the messengers came to take her to Eiyou. Because of that, I came in her place. It was what she would have wanted me to do - so I did."
"I see." Hotohori's expression became grave. "Then that explains why I did not see that girl's face among the gathered women that day, either. It is...it seems a shame. She must have been young still - I feel for her family."
"Me too." Nuriko admitted. Then he smiled, as if to break the solemn mood.
"But you see, I knew you had a kind heart, Your Highness." He added more lightly, the playfulness back in his eyes. "That's why I love you, after all."
"Nuriko..."
"Oh, relax and don't be so tense." Nuriko shrugged his shoulders. "You weren't afraid to declare your feelings to Miaka, so at least let me have the same right with you, all right? You never know - being as beautiful as I am, I may yet sway your mind."
Hotohori opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again, bewildered. At his expression, Nuriko burst out laughing.
"I never knew you could make such a strange face, sire." He said between giggles. "You really look a sight, staring at me like a dying fish caught up on the land!"
"Nuriko, we may be travelling companions, but that is no way to speak to your Emperor!" Hotohori recovered himself, glaring at the still giggling Nuriko sternly. "Insulting the beauty of your country's leader is not a perk of a Suzaku warrior, so put the idea out of your mind right now!"
"You seem merry in here."
Taiitsukun's creaking tones prevented Nuriko from forming a witty response, as both Seishi turned to face the odd hermit woman, Tamahome in tow. "You want my help to return to Eiyou, I understand?"
"Yes, please." Nuriko nodded his head, seeing that his Emperor was lost for words at the renewed sight of Taiitsukun's wizened, wrinkled face. "We're all tired, and with Miaka gone – can you help us get there, Taiitsukun? We'd all be grateful, if you could – and Hotohori-sama shouldn't be away from the palace for too long."
"You children."
Taiitsukun tut-tutted under her breath. "Expecting everyone to do things for you."
She sighed, spreading her hands.
"Very well." She conceded. "I will help you, this time, to return to your home. Miaka will return there, after all, not here."
"She will come back, then?" Hotohori asked eagerly, and slowly Taiitsukun nodded.
"She is Suzaku no Miko." She said sagely. "It's her destiny to do so."
"Then we will need to find the other Suzaku warriors, after all." Nuriko pursed his lips thoughtfully, trying to pretend he had not seen the sudden light that flickered in Hotohori's golden gaze. Taiitsukun smiled.
"Without her, it will be a difficult task." She warned. "But if you believe you can do it, I won't try and stop you searching. After all, Seishi may turn up in the oddest of places. Hotohori, you have the ShijinTenchishou scroll, don't you? There will be clues in that to where the other warriors can be found and you should study it well. When Miaka returns, after all, you may find time is of the essence."
"I understand." Hotohori nodded his head. "I'll do exactly that. Thank you for your help, Taiitsukun."
"Well, you've all proven to me that your hearts and souls are now connected with the heart and soul of that silly young glutton we sent back today." Taiitsukun said simply. "Keep faith in her, all of you. Foolish as she seems, Suzaku has blessed her. She has passed my test, and I will also support her. And you. If you need my help, I will try to help you. But I cannot do your tasks for you. So keep in mind and do not stray – Kounan's fate lies in your hands, after all."
She smiled, bringing her hands together as she closed her eyes.
"Now I'll return you to Eiyou, with that thought still strongest in your minds." She added. "Go safely, and keep faith in your Miko. There is much to do, after all, before Suzaku can soar over Kounan's skies."
As she spoke these words, Nuriko felt a strange swirling sensation overtake his body. Momentarily thrown off guard, he tried to glance around him for any sign of his fellows, but they too seemed to be caught up in the whirl of Taiitsukun's magic and in the end he closed his eyes, struggling against the dizzy nausea that threatened to overwhelm him as the spinning got faster and faster.
Then, as suddenly as it had come, it was gone, and with a thud Nuriko found himself once more on solid ground.
Tentatively he opened one eye, hearing Tamahome's groan from not far away, and realising that wherever they had landed, they had landed as a group. Finding the world was once more still, he opened the other eye, putting out his hands to steady himself as he gazed around him.
"The palace." He whispered, taking in the towering red-stone columns and the gold gilt patterns that rose up to the sky. "She really did send us home, that canny old woman…but what a way to do it."
He glanced at his sleeves.
"It's a wonder I didn't throw up." He added. "And that would have been adding insult to injury where this poor gown was concerned."
"Nuriko? Tamahome? Are you all right?" Hotohori's voice brought him back to the present and he turned, nodding his head as he observed the tall figure of the Emperor standing over him.
"I'm fine, Heika. And Tama-chan's too thick skinned to notice the fall – he probably bounced." He said playfully, a little of his usual mischief back in his tones as he observed a rueful Tamahome rubbing his behind not far away. "We made it back in one piece, just about."
"I heard that." Tamahome paused in his action to send Nuriko an indignant glare. "What do you think that old bag was playing at, anyhow? First testing us, and almost killing Miaka – and now throwing us out of Taikyoku-zan like stones from a slingshot. Do you think she enjoys torturing celestial warriors or is this all part of our 'training'?"
"I have severe reservations in trusting a woman who has such a repulsive appearance." Hotohori admitted. "But it seems that for the time being we have no choice. She is disposed to help us, after all, even if her methods are odd."
He sighed, brushing down his clothing.
"Back to reality – back to work." He murmured, and Nuriko caught the wistful note in his voice. "We'll begin to gather intelligence on the remaining Suzaku Seishi in the morning. I must go meet with my Council and discover what has happened in my absence. With any luck Miaka will return soon – and then we can continue with doing the God's work!"
"Well, they will do, I suppose. They will do."
Alone in her lofty hideout, Taiitsukun cast a languid hand across the immense glass of the mirror through which she had watched the three Seishi land, a rueful smile touching her seamed face as she remembered Hotohori's disparaging words. "I suppose that children such as that still have things to learn – but learn them they will, I'm sure of that. Yes, Suzaku's plans seem to be progressing smoothly. Suzaku no Miko will soon return, doubtless – in that time, they will no doubt gain in strength and in resolve as a team prepared to sacrifice everything for their country and their faith. Which brings me to another matter…"
She pursed her lips, spreading her fingers once more across the glass as the image faded and hazed into another. Instead of the three Suzaku warriors, the mirror now reflected a devastated, flood-torn landscape, trees torn from their roots and tossed willy-nilly into a rising current. Yet, in the midst of this, one area had escaped the cruel touch of the violent river tempest.
In the midst of this protected land was a young man robed in the tattered clothing of an itinerant monk, his scarred face resolute and determined as he protected the huddled, shivering forms of a peasant man and woman that cowered behind him. The water was receding now, Taiitsukun could see that, and as she took in the determined glitter in the young man's ruby gaze, a flicker of relief stirred in her heart.
"Well, Hou Jun. So you have faced your fear after all." She murmured, reaching out to touch the glass as the scarred monk thoughtfully. "My Chichiri is on the verge of being born, isn't he? It's been a long road, but maybe you are ready to make that transition. Despite your past, and despite the pain that lurks inside of you, I really believe you've found that strength, now. These people who you came to care for, in Seisen-mura, are now in your debt. But I – and Suzaku – are more in theirs than they will ever know. To save you, and to inspire you to save them – this is the true awakening of the Seishi inside of you. That pitiful young man who sought only the darkness has gone now, I think. It's almost time for you to meet the Miko. Almost…"
She frowned, her lips thinning as she remembered Miaka's departure.
"It is a gamble, to let her go, and to hope she will find her own way back." She acknowledged. "An unwilling Miko is of no use to Kounan. But things are moving swiftly. Seiryuu's Shougun has dark magic and darker plans up his sleeve, and as yet, only you are truly aware of their depth, Hou Jun. It's time you returned to the mountain. Time I told you fully about your fellows – time you found Suzaku no Miko and used those powers of yours to protect her. You hold Suzaku's core in your heart, my boy – they will rely on you more than you realise, as time goes on."
She stood, clasping her hands together as the mirror images faded.
"It's time to bring Hou Jun home, Nyan-Nyan." She said softly, as a small girl materialised at her side, pigtails bobbing in an imaginary breeze. "His training is complete. The only test now is the real one…whether, as Chichiri, he can truly be a Guardian of Suzaku no Miko."