DISCLAIMER: Sigh..... me still no own. Wait, maybe me own some parts... nah, keep it easy, me own nothing!
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I suffered writer's block. BIG TIME. I couldn't think of what I wanted to happen in the chapter for so long. Or rather, I could think of it but I couldn't write it. Has that happened to anyone else?
Well, writer's block or not, this chapter took a damn long time to finish, as you can probably tell ~_~ I don't think it helped that I decided to work on three other things at the same time, but that's a different story.
OK, OK, what else? ~scans mental notes~ Oh yeah. Explanation chapter. Meaning not much actually happens, but it has explanations that are somewhat vital to the plot. They pop up every once in awhile in my writing ~_~ I can't seem to get rid of 'em, and they serve a prupose, so I let them live.
The writing quality on this one isn't up to par. I had to write this on the run a lot, between snatches of homework and the like. So sorry about that -_-()
Warnings: The rate-o-meter is slowly creeping up to PG-13. Not many bad words in here, but the content is getting more... prolific, I guess.
Spoilers: Umm.... don't think any, other than the fact that some people might not know anything about the Byakko...
And thank Mouse-chan! She does so much to help me!
Random Fact of the Day: Wheelchairs do not go very fast, and certainly not in Krogers.
"SUZUNO! Suzuno! Damn, where is that girl when you need her?" I was left gawking at the shrine as Tokaki began running down the veranda to the left, apparently knowing exactly where he was going and also apparently not realizing that I didn't.
I blinked myself away from the largest collection of silver I'd seen in one place in my life and watched after him, a clearly unamused expression on my face. He got about twenty feet before coming to a sudden stop, as if I had him on a leash. He turned slowly and grinned sheepishly. "Umm… let's go?"
I squashed an urge to grin at him and instead walked forward, stopping about a foot behind him and looking up expectantly. "Where are we going?"
He held up his right hand and ticked things off on his fingers. "Well, first we've got to find Suzuno, 'cause you two have to meet. You'll like her a lot. Let's see, Tatara should be wherever she is. Then we have to go to the Emperor. He'll give you a room, and I have to give him the scroll. Then the four of us go off to find the other seishi." He lowered his hand and gave me a smug look. "Just because you're in a palace now doesn't mean it'll be the easy life. And soon I'm taking you to the practice courts."
My jaw dropped, and my basket almost did, too. "NANI?!"
"You heard me." He leaned against a column, smirking. "You're a Byakko no shichiseishi, girl. You've gotta have some way to defend yourself. You're pretty strong-" he rubbed the side of his head "-but if you get in a fight you won't be able to defend yourself. So I'm gonna teach you." He grinned widely at my wordlessness and stood up straight, absently adjusting the lie of his shirt to sit comfortably on his shoulders. "You can't rely on your powers all the time. And if you think you can, you'll find out soon enough what happens. Let's get going." He strode down the walkway again, leaving me gaping after him and scrambling to catch up.
He followed the veranda for a few minutes, then turned down a hallway that looked no different from the others we'd passed, painted a pale creamy color and decorated with molding carved of dark, fine wood, doors interspersed at uneven intervals in the walls. The palace was absolutely beautiful, though I knew I was seeing only the slightest bit of it. The real splendor of the palace would be the Emperor's throne room and audience chamber.
Tokaki stopped suddenly at the next intersection. I slammed into him from behind, the half-running keeping me too off-guard to use my senses fully. He stumbled forward a step or two as I fell back, trying desperately to keep on my feet, hearing smothered laughter in the background. I braced myself against the wall with my free hand and looked up to see a small group of soldiers, the people Tokaki had stopped for to avoid running into, watching the scene with amused expressions. I felt myself flush a deep scarlet and quickly lowered my head again, pushing myself up to stand firmly on my own two feet. My first five minutes in the palace and already I'd acted stupid…
"So, Tokaki, you brought back a girl, eh?" one of the men said, obviously only teasing, but I blushed even more. "Certainly… pretty enough, but you don't usually go for the shy type."
"Better watch what you say about her, she's a Byakko no shichiseishi." Tokaki's reply was almost lazy, filled with an idle humor. He was enjoying this.
Most of the men gasped. "A seishi?! Hontou ni?! Which one is she?" I glanced up, finally feeling the blush receding. The soldiers were closer than they had been, unconsciously forming a ring around me to stare at me all the better. I pushed down a fresh blush that threatened to rise. Was another seishi really that much of a novelty for them? "Where's her mark?"
"Ah-ah-ah, come now, you're scaring the poor girl out of her mind." Tokaki's voice still contained that humor. I mentally vowed to hurt him severely later. "Now let us through, we have to find Suzuno."
"Oh, the miko?" replied the one who'd spoken first. He had more decoration on his armor than the others. I assumed he was their leader. But the look he was still giving me made me want to punch him - hard. "Last I saw, she was with Heika-sama in the throne room."
"Great! Two birds with one stone. Come on, Subaru, let's go find them." Tokaki grabbed my wrist and tugged me unprotesting though the crowd of soldiers, taking the left turn around the soldiers, beginning to run again and still dragging me with him. I was very, very grateful for his tactlessness at that point: the sooner we were away from the soldiers the sooner I could yell at him.
He paused at the next crossways we came to, apparently trying to remember which way the throne room was - left, right-ish left, straight, or right, the five hallways coming together to form a sort of atrium. "Now if I was a throne, where would I live?" I took the opportunity to pull something out of my basket with the hand I yanked from his grasp. "Oh yeah, this way! Come on, Suba-"
CRACK.
My weapon was still intact. Tokaki bounced off the wall to my right and fell on the floor, slightly stunned from the hit I'd given him with my plank. I was coming to love that thing very, very much. He glared up at me, slightly cross-eyed. "You brought that thing with you?"
I smiled sweetly, not lowering the wood for a second. "How else am I going to keep you in line?"
"Why would I want you to?" He groaned and rolled to his knees, then slowly stood up, extending his arms to keep his balance. "Maybe that should be your weapon, you seem lethal enough with it already."
I stuck the plank back in the basket; he couldn't go anywhere for a minute with the hit I'd given him. "While I have you subdued, we are having a talk."
"Why am I suddenly not liking the sound of this?"
"Look." I grabbed his chin and turned it rather violently to face me, my patience gone. The day had started bad and gotten worse, first with my family, then the soldiers, then Tokaki's superior attitude. I was fed up, and he would know it. "I am NOT here for your personal amusement. I have basically earned the eternal damnation of my father, broken my mother's heart, and abandoned my sister, all so I could come here - with you, someone my female relatives at least seemed to trust - and fulfill this centuries-old destiny that everyone's been talking about for a good five years or so. And if that's not enough, we run into those soldier friends of yours, and they start looking at me like they're going to decide who gets me one night and who gets me the next. And then you have to go and laugh about it. So I'm not very pleased with you at the moment. Understand?"
Tokaki's eyes were wide. Very wide. About the size of saucers. "Uhhh…" He also seemed incapable of an intelligent response. Maybe I'd hit him harder than I thought. "Uhh… uhh… h-hai, whatever you say."
"Good." I let go of him, again rather violently, and began walking down the hallway he'd indicated earlier. I counted under my breath - one, two, three, four, five, six, seven - before I heard his feet begin to work again, running after me with heavy footfalls.
"Subaru, I'm sorry, look at me will you?" I refused to, kept going. "If you won't look at me will you at least tell me what the hell you want me to do?!"
That did it. I stopped suddenly, my temper about to burst, and turned to face him. He was giving me a half-defiant, half-cocky look that nearly made me want to kill him. "What I want you to do?" I'd never heard my voice that controlled before. It sounded dangerous, that controlled, every word an effort and only getting out the necessary ones. "I thought it would be obvious."
"Well it's NOT."
I looked at him for a second more, then threw my head back and began… began to laugh. Loud, nearly hysterical laughter spilled out of me, filling up the hall and more, the atrium we had just left and the rooms to the sides. Tokaki clearly did not know what to make of this sudden mood swing, and watched me with growing confusion evident on his features. "What's… what's so funny?"
"Byakko, you have to be the most IDIOTIC and INSANE person I know! How could it not be obvious?!"
"Umm… I don't know?"
"Ever since we got here you've been treating me like chattel! Or like some tavern girl who's just looking for a bed partner! I'm sick of it! I'm a seishi! And if I have to hit you to make you remember that, then I WILL! And you will NEVER treat me like that again!" I wheeled and stalked away from him. This time he didn't follow, at least not that I heard.
I continued on by myself for awhile, noting a couple of things: one, that the palace was enormous, and two, that the guards and gaudy decoration seemed to multiply as I kept along the corridor. I thought I must be getting closer to the throne room, and the emperor with it, but since I didn't want to be lost forever in the maze of corridor I decided to ask one of the guards, just to be sure. I kept my eyes open until I found one that looked more decent than the others, hoped I wouldn't receive any lewd looks, and quietly stepped up to him. "Excuse me, sir, can you tell me where the throne room is?"
He gave me a cursory once-over, apparently sizing me up, as if wondering why this respectably dressed young woman would be walking around the palace, with its mountain of royal guards, without an escort and obviously without ever having been there before. "I can, but I don't think you'd get in to see anyone. Heika-sama is meeting with the miko and seishi now and asked not to be disturbed."
"Oh, it'll be all right, can you just tell me how to get there?" I tried to give him a winning, innocent smile, doing my damndest to not be a hypocrite and "seduce" him into telling me after I'd just told off Tokaki.
It seemed to work, because he smiled paternally at me and pointed down the corridor I'd just passed. "Down there, pass two halls, turn right, and it's the second door. Good luck, and if they throw you out, come back here, I can show you outside."
"Arigato!" I took off at a light run down the hallway, waving back at him briefly, my basket banging against my leg.
Two halls, one turn, and one door later I stopped outside the gaudiest door I'd yet seen in the palace, certain this was where the emperor was. I cast a glance at my clothing, tweaked it to lie as it should, and pulled my sleeves down my arms again. I took a deep breath as I surveyed the door, gathering my courage to step in. The elegant, dark mahogany that had appeared everywhere else as molding now provided the frame itself, still beautifully carved, but now trimmed in silver and gold. The carvings were miniature works of art; one, right by my eyes, was a tiger, every hair defined, stalking through a patch of trees. Similar scenes surrounded the rest of the door, which was painted bright white with a silver-and-gold inlay of Byakko, and even the dark handles had been carved. It was very beautiful, but perhaps a bit too much all at once. However, inside waited my destiny. I steeled my nerves, grasped one of the handles, and pulled with all my strength on the heavy door.
Two spears greeted me on the other side. "Halt. You are not authorized to enter this room. Why are you here?" a metallic-sounding voice coming from the body on the end of the spear questioned me. I could only stare at the guard blankly; he and his partner were so wrapped in armor it was impossible to see their faces. Were they supposed to be comfortable in those outfits? "I said tell us what you're doing here." The metallic voice was getting impatient, and he gestured quickly with his spear.
I had no wish to end up skewered. "I'm here to see the emperor, it's very important."
"The emperor is in a meeting right now, and anyway, you have to make an appointment. He's a busy man."
"I know, but this is important."
"Oh yeah?" The other spoke up, sounding as cocky as Tokaki, which did not bode well for him. Stiff and businesslike I could take for now, but not someone with an attitude. "Well I'm important too, why don't you come see me instead?"
I gritted my teeth, my hand moving to slide the plank out of the basket. "I'm a seishi, you nitwit, now let me through!"
"A seishi, eh? Heard that one a lot nowadays. Why don't you prove it? Show me your mark." The cocky one retracted his spear and leaned on it, I knew giving me a Tokaki-type look behind his armor. He knew that, since I was almost fully covered, me showing him would have required me to take off clothing - exactly what he wanted.
I was fed up. Again. "No, but I'll give you a mark."
"Oh yeah? How?"
Overconfidence is not a good thing when being faced with a pissed-off seishi. I quickly sized him up, then struck out with the plank, too fast for him to bring his spear up to guard against it. He reeled into the room, falling flat on his back, while I ducked a slash from his companion's spear and ran into the room, through the maze of white curtains that ranged behind the guards' post.
"STOP!" The voice rang out through the room, somewhere close by. I stumbled out from behind the last curtain, not halting until I could see the guard who was chasing me. Then I glanced to my side and obeyed the command, nearly falling on my face.
I was on the dais. The entrance the kind guard had directed me to was the back entrance, used by the emperor's advisors and heika-sama himself, not one of common birth such as me. Before the dais was a girl of no more than sixteen, a man perhaps Tokaki's age, and a few other scattered people. But right in front of me was the emperor.
He definitely wasn't my idea of an emperor. Usually when I heard that word it brought to mind an older man who had clearly been very handsome in his younger days, now a distinguished elder-statesmen type. But this man could not have been more than his early thirties, and while he certainly wasn't ugly he wasn't the handsomest man in the room either. The man Tokaki's age, for example, had him beaten by a ways, as did a few others. But his face was set in the lines that implied royalty, and there could be no doubt as to who he was. And yet… there seemed to be a spark in his eyes, one of… mischief? I didn't ponder it for long. I quickly dropped to my knees, nearly falling on my basket, and bowed correctly to the ruler of my country. Behind me I heard the soldier stumble out of the curtains, breathing a bit hard. "Heika-sama, gomen nasai! We were trying to question her, and she forced her way through! I'll take her out now. Forgive us for this disturbance." He bent down and grabbed my arm, hauling me to my feet hard enough to make me cry out a little in pain, then began tugging me back towards the door I'd come in through. I fought him, there was no way I'd be thrown out now!
"Matte." It was the same voice who'd yelled for us to stop. The tone, casual yet firm, the confidence, could only belong to the emperor, which it did. "Bring her here." The guard glanced at me uncertainly, then pulled me in the other direction, down the steps of the dais, and pushed me down to my knees again on the ground a few feet from the first step. I glared defiantly at him but didn't try to stand; no use risking bodily harm. I turned my defiant gaze to the emperor, daring him to turn me out after he'd heard my story. He looked back at me, not sternly as I expected, but interestedly, almost amusedly. "What bring you here, daughter?"
"Important business." I glared at the guard once more, then pushed myself to my feet. "You need me, and you know it." The guard growled lowly, arm darting out once again to grab me, but I swatted it aside impatiently.
"Calm down Nijo, let us hear her story. It might, if I may suggest, be a good idea to be straight-forward about all this." The emperor smiled slightly at me, nodding at me to begin speaking. Tokaki was right, he did seem to be a decent sort.
Instead of speaking, I closed my eyes and drew a deep breath. The guards hadn't believed me when I'd said I was a seishi, so there was only one way to unquestionably prove I was.
It wasn't hard at all now. I simply brought my mind to bear on that point inside me where the radiating white came together and nudged it somewhat, and my symbol began to glow, filling me with the white heat once again. I kept nudging it until it grew bright enough to shine through the heavier clothing I was wearing today, and kept at it still, bringing it to almost the proportions of a star, not wanting to leave them any doubt. There was a flurry of jingling and clattering next to me as the symbol appeared, and when I opened my eyes the guard, Nijo, was a good thirty feet away from me on the other side of the room. I couldn't see the others behind me, but in front of me the emperor was watching me blankly. There wasn't emotion on his face, but he seemed to be concentrating rather hard. Then abruptly he broke into a wide smile, making his face look very nice indeed, the face of a man you could trust and be friends with. "Welcome!" He jumped off his dais and ran to me, bowing hastily at the waist and grabbing my hand, holding it tightly in joy. "It's wonderful to have another seishi here at last! What is your name?"
"Tamure Doulin. Subaru," I quickly added, still getting used to being known by another name.
"Subaru! This is wonderful! Suzuno, we have another one!" I turned around, not very surprised to hear that name. The girl I had seen earlier was standing behind me, smiling widely, eyes sparkling with joy. "Subaru, this is Byakko no Miko, Ohsugi Suzuno." The emperor chuckled. "She's very happy to see you."
I smiled at Suzuno. She looked like a nice girl, not counting the strange clothes, with long braided pigtails and an open face, more mature for her age than she should be. "It's nice to meet you, I've heard something about you already."
"From Tokaki, I bet. I'm much nicer than he makes me out to be." She grinned mischievously, and after a minute I grinned back. It looked like she'd had the same problems with him I had. "Come on, you have to meet Tatara!" She reached out and tugged me out of the emperor's grasp and pulled me over to the handsome man I'd seen before, with long, dark brown hair and clear gray eyes. "He's a seishi also. By the way, where's Tokaki?"
I clenched my teeth; I neither knew nor cared. "He'll be coming soon. Hello Tatara, it's nice to meet you as well." I managed to smile warmly at him. He looked to be a friendly man, if a bit quiet.
He smiled back. "The pleasure is mine."
"Suzuno, would you please give me back the seishi now?" The emperor said in a plaintive tone. I looked at him and he was grinning, looking so much like an ordinary person it spooked me. Then his face abruptly grew serious. "She needs to hear things."
Suzuno nodded and turned me loose. I glanced at her and Tatara, then stepped back to the emperor. "What is it, heika-sama?"
As he opened his mouth to speak there was a rush of air and Tokaki popped into view behind Tatara, not at all pleased and nearly red as wine. "Come on Tatara, I need your help, that damn fool Subaru went and ran away-"
"From you? You deserved it!" I called.
He squawked and fell over. I relished in my triumph of making him look ridiculous in front of the emperor himself by grinning evilly at him. The emperor put a hand to his forehead and sighed, shaking his head. "Tokaki, please learn NOT to make assumptions before you know the facts. Now come on, all of you, we have much to talk about."
Tatara, Suzuno, Tokaki, a man I didn't know, and I were seated at a low table, in a small room off Heika-sama's throne room. The new man was consulting many different maps he had spread over the table, which I couldn't understand. Tatara and Suzuno shared frequent serious glances, knowing what was coming and not sure how I would take it. Tokaki, still sullen, lounged next to me and grumbled under his breath about stubborn females.
Heika-sama spoke briefly with the guards, leaving them strict instructions to only disturb them if a dire emergency happened, or in the unlikely event that another seishi showed up at the door. The guards nodded and he closed the door, taking his seat regally, smiling at me. "I'm sorry about the treatment you received out there. I'll have a word with my men to make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Oh no no, it's okay, I can take care of myself!" I protested hurriedly, stunned. The emperor was apologizing to me! Little, nothing me! It couldn't be.
"Still, I would wish to avoid further scenes like the one we just had. As would other women, I assume." I blushed and looked down. How had he known about that? "But right now we have serious matters to discuss." His tone hardened and he looked solemnly around the table. "Because of the appearance of the miko and the legendary warriors it is obvious that our country is now in great danger. As you know, Sairou has for the past four and a half years been involved in a war on the outer edges of our country. Many honorable men have died in what has been until now a seemingly pointless war." I squeezed my eyes shut, determined not to be seen crying in front of these awe-inspiring people. "But now we face complete destruction. Ebizo, if you would?"
The new man nodded and stood, unrolling one of his maps on the table. He wasn't very tall, but he had an easy, confident air about him that made him seem bigger than he was. "Arigato, heika-sama. Now, this map shows the country of Sairou and the surrounding empires. The white section is ourselves, the red Konan, the blue Kutou, and the green Hokkan." Ebizo pointed at each place as he explained the map. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tokaki slump even further, bored out of his mind. "Kutou has for a decade, since the last ruler died without leaving a successor, been involved in a civil war, waging between five different factions in their country, each headed by a powerful noble who claims to be emperor. Four of those nobles have kept their thoughts focused on Kutou, but five years ago one, Taheiji-sama, realized the fighting would go on too long for him to be made emperor as he wished. But he was still ambitious, and he had an army. So he decided to invade our country and take the throne for himself."
"Nani?! That's why all our men died?! Because of some baka Kutou noble who thinks too highly of himself?!" I nearly sprang to my feet. Bokkai's life had been ended because of some trumped-up lord who wasn't even from this country and who wanted to be royal. There was no way he'd get away with it. Murderer…
A hand tightened around my arm and pulled me gently back down. I glared at the hand and saw Tokaki, watching me seriously. "Subaru," he said quietly, "keep listening. You'll get revenge if you want it, but learn what you need to know to get it."
I glared at him for a moment more before settling down again, ignoring the concerned looks of the other four around the table. I didn't want to tell them - not then. I folded my hands in my lap and forced myself to behave. "Gomen nasai. Keep going, please."
Ebizo gave me one last look before rolling up the country map and bringing out a new one. "We've been able to hold him off until now, but our numbers are getting thin. And we've recently learned that one of the other warring nobles has had the same idea, except this time they've joined forces." He spread out the new map, one that showed only Sairou and its physical features - the desert, the line of arable land bordering it, the rivers and rock outcroppings. "The new army will be here soon, though the scouts report that they're having a hard time going through Konan and Kutou. They'll range themselves along the border and chip away at us little by little, until they've taken everything. Then the two nobles will split the country in two, each becoming emperor over his half." The small man's face was grim as he reported the facts. "To be blunt, we don't have the time to train soldiers to replace the ones we've lost. By the time we have new ones, the army will have taken everything but the capital, which we can't let happen. I'm not even sure we'd have enough men if we had enough time."
"That's where we come in." Tatara's voice startled me briefly, and I looked at him. "We need to find the rest of the seishi quickly, and call Byakko. He can protect the empire."
"That's why we sent out Tokaki to find you. We need you." Suzuno joined Tatara. I nodded; I knew they needed me. "Tatara also went, to look for Kokie, but he didn't find him - or her," she quickly amended. "We need to find the last four - Kokie, Toroki, Karasuki, and Amefuri. We have clues, but-" she smiled slightly "-as you probably know, they're not very specific."
"Oh yeah, heika-sama, here." Tokaki produced the scroll from somewhere and handed it to the emperor, who accepted it with a relieved sigh. "Nothing happened to it, I promise." Tokaki grinned impishly. "I told you you could trust me."
"In some things I can, certainly not all. Very well. Tomorrow we shall start again. Ebizo, have you explained everything?" The emperor glanced at him expectantly.
Ebizo shrugged. "All that we know at the moment."
"Good. I must leave, I still have affairs of state to settle." He sighed. "Suzuno, Subaru can have the room next to yours, will you please show her?" The girl nodded and smiled quickly at me. "I shall see you all at some later time, then." He nodded and disappeared through the door. Ebizo rolled up his maps and followed him.
The room suddenly seemed much quieter. The four of us looked at each other, then away, somewhat unsure of how to proceed. "Well…" Suzuno ventured after a moment, "do you want to see your room, Subaru?"
"Hai," I replied, not all that certain what I was getting into.
"The let's go!" Suzuno stood and pulled me to my feet so quickly I could barely remember to breathe, then led me out the door to the small room. "It's not far, we're all in the guest wing. It's this way!" We emerged out the front entrance of the throne room and she began walking, almost bouncing, down the very wide corridor. "It's so nice to have another girl. Tokaki's nice, but he's… you know, and Tatara-" she colored faintly, and I hid a smile as I remembered what Tokaki had said about her and Tatara. It looked like that was true after all "-he's really nice, but he's quiet. And the emperor is wonderful, but he's married, with two children, and he's so busy that he almost never gets to spend time with us." Suzuno smiled and waved at one of the guards, who smiled back and nodded before returning to attention. "To tell the truth… do you mind if I tell you something?"
I blinked, but shook my head. "I don't mind, go right ahead." She sure made friends fast, this girl.
"Well… you probably know I come from another world." I nodded. "And I want to go back."
"Do you miss your home?" I asked gently.
"Hai, but… somehow I want to stay here also. It kind of feels right for me to be here. And I know it's insane and makes no sense, but… I'm so confused." She smiled shyly at me. "Sorry, I just feel comfortable talking to you."
I smiled. She might talk slightly strangely, she might be wearing abnormal clothes, but this girl had something about her… something that just made you want to trust and protect her. "It's all right. I kind of like it in fact. Let's make a deal, any time you want to talk, you look for me first, okay?"
A slow grin broke over her face like the sun. "Deal! Come on Subaru, it's right up here!" She took off with a child's enthusiasm and turned down the next left, leading us back into the sun. I blinked at the sudden brightness, then ran to catch up with her, picking up my skirts in one hand and using the other one to smooth my running style. I'd have to get used to a lot more physical activity if Tokaki carried through on his threat. "Here it is!" Suzuno stopped outside one of the doors exposed to the sun, next to a large window that thankfully had a type of screen over it. "I'm right next door, and the boys are a little further down. Wait 'til you see it, these rooms are wonderful. Big beds and tables and thick carpeting…"
I grinned and pushed open the rather plain but heavy door, and stepped into the room. She was right; these were excellent rooms, a thick cream-colored carpeting covering the floor and a large, comfortable looking bed with little curtains tucked in one corner. Then I turned around and saw… definitely not what I expected.
AUTHOR'S NOTES II: No, she's NOT going to hit him every chapter! ~grins~ I had Gen-chan ask me that, and while it is highly amusing and quite fun to write, sometimes it just doesn't fit. But we can cherish every time it does ~_~
Hee hee hee... cliffhanger-type-thing! ~smirks~ Couldn't resist. Stay tuned to find out what it was. And also stay turned to meet the other seishi, they're coming soon! Ja ne!