Chapter 4 - Deep Contemplation

Hey, yo guys! Wazzup!? xD Thanks very much for the reviews of Maidens of Konan (KittyLynne) and Kuchiki Jeanne! I love the constructive criticism. Any mistakes you spot, (and I'm sure there will be many because I literally rushed this chapter) please tell me and I'll fix it as soon as I'm able.

Right now though, we'll take a break from Chichiri and Kagami and find out what our two priestesses has been doing this entire time.

Now on to it already! :P


Tetsuya didn't really know how it happened. One minute, he was innocently catching Z's on the couch after a long day of work while Keisuke ransacks his fridge, and the next they were both running frantically to get to the library, as per Yui's orders. For some reason, they had to go get the Universe of the Four Gods again.

"Think something came up?" Keisuke panted slightly as he ran beside him. The library was thankfully walking distance from Tetsuya's apartment, so they'd be able to get it immediately.

"Probably. Why else would they tell us to get it?" Tetsuya rolled his eyes, though he doubted Keisuke could see it behind his dark sunglasses. In truth, he was worried. If something came up, then it had to be about one of the remaining warriors of Suzaku, the four gods, or even a new enemy. And Tetsuya has had enough of new enemies.

"So… sneak in the old way?" Keisuke grinned at him.

"Have you got any better ideas?" Tetsuya smiled sarcastically and Keisuke laughed.

He sure hoped it was one of the warriors of Suzaku and not another quest, then maybe he can still catch on some sleep.

~oOo~

Yui carefully led Miaka back to her house, whispering soothing words every now and then. Her friend was positively distressed and terrified, and Yui wasn't making any progress on calming her down. Finally, she decided to call Miaka's boyfriend Taka, who's still at his work (actually part-time job). If anyone can calm Miaka, it's him.

"Hello… Taka? It's Yui."

-"Oh hey Yui! What's going on? How's Miaka?"- Is it just her, or is Taka actually sounding happy right now?

"Taka, something's wrong. Please come back to your house as soon as possible."

There was a moment of silence. Yui can almost see Taka staring hard into his phone, probably thinking about the millions of things that could go wrong. Yui almost thought he would hung up on her until Taka's serious voice filled the line again.

-"Did something happen to Miaka?"-

Yui sighed wearily and almost smiled at Taka's predictability. Of course, with Taka it's usually about Miaka this and Miaka that. It was quite repetitive really. "Technically, something happened to one of the Suzaku seven, and Miaka felt it and is currently panicking."

Yui had to hold the phone away from her ear as Taka yelled, -"WHAT?! What happened to Tasuki and Chichiri?!"-

"No time to explain. Just come down here already!"

Taka wasted no time, and immediately hung up. He's probably gonna feign sickness to his boss and come running here right now.

Yui finally allowed herself to sigh in relief now that the deed's done. She knew it fell on her to do things like this, especially since Miaka's still frozen in the living room. Not that she didn't mind. In truth, she's worried too. Chichiri and Tasuki seemed like nice guys. Well, she didn't really know about Tasuki. The monk's definitely nice.

Yui tried to remember what she knew of Miaka's last remaining warriors. She hadn't exactly spent time with them or got to know them. They always seemed to meet whenever there's a problem.

According to Miaka, Chichiri is a monk. And also a very powerful sorcerer. She knew this because she'd seen his magic first-hand. And it was incredible. He'd even managed to fight Nakago on his own and lasted for a long time. That in itself was amazing. In some of their conversations, she'd also discovered that Chichiri was very wise. Everything he tells you, even the seemingly stupid ones, always had a ring of truth in them. And more of it shows when he's serious. It was a quality she admired about him. She bets if she had Chichiri's wisdom from the start, she would've found out about Nakago's plans ahead of time and put a stop to them. That would've been easier for both groups and no one had to die.

Another thing she admired about the monk was that he always wears a cheerful smile on his face, even if times are dire. It's amazing that he can do it so easily, always smiling like everything's alright, until she learned about the mask.

In her first meeting with him (and also the first time she'd been impressed by him), back in Seiryuu's temple, she thought his face was dreadfully injured because of one of Nakago's ki blasts. Even for a fleeting moment, she saw a part of his face fall away. But he looked fine when they confronted him the second time. She'd always thought it was because of Mitsukake's healing powers that made it look like nothing happened to his face, but she was wrong. It was only when Miaka told her that she found out about the smiling mask that hides away the monk's true face. It was the reason he's always smiling about everything, when in truth, he's the one hurting all along. Miaka hadn't elaborated, said that it wasn't her secret to tell, and Yui understood. His past must've been dreadful if he received such a scar on his face.

She knew it was wrong to hide your feelings, but nevertheless, she still admired him for pretending he was okay and happy all that time. His resolve and determination is strong.

Miaka's other warrior is Tasuki, a mountain bandit. For Yui, he has the loudest mouth ever. He always seemed to complain about everything and anyone. He also hated Yui down to her guts, which would explain why he's so awful to her. But she understands. She knew it was all her fault such misfortunes happened to the Suzaku seven in the first place. It was her fault almost everyone died. It was her fault, and she didn't blame him for always bringing it up to her face.

But even though she's annoyed at him, she still admired him. If she admired Chichiri for his strong resolve, wisdom, and ability to hide his feelings, she admired Tasuki for his fierce loyalty. He's probably the most loyal person she knew. Like that particular incident when he's willing to die rather than live with the knowledge that he betrayed Miaka and Taka. He's willing to die for his friends, something she knew people always say but never had the guts to do. She knew if it comes to that he wouldn't even hesitate. She wants to be like that, loyal to her friends. She couldn't bear the thought of betraying Miaka again. Miaka has been the kindest person she knew. She's willing to forgive her even after all the things Yui did. And she'd be damned if she ever broke Miaka's trust again. She'd rather get tortured by Nakago and killed by Ashitare himself.

Tasuki's hotheaded and rash attitude also suited his power. His flames are among the things she's very afraid of encountering. Imagine facing someone who can control fire that he wouldn't hesitate to use it on you. It was probably all because of Miaka that she hadn't been toasted yet. She'd seen his power so many times, and knew the intensity of it. Anyone would get killed in a matter of seconds if Tasuki so wished it. Good thing that seishi doesn't like to kill people (most of the time anyway).

No wonder they're the last remaining seishi. All of them have amazing powers, but these two are probably the most powerful of them all. And the thought of something happening to one of them is very horrifying. Anyone who can kill a seishi is very dangerous. If Nakago's back somehow…

No! She refused to think about him!

"Y-Yui-chan?"

Yui jumped, and glanced at Miaka, who's looking at her uneasily. Her best friend looked lost and scared, much like a little child. "What is it Miaka?"

"I don't believe one of them is dead. I don't believe it at all…"

Yui immediately approached her distressed friend and took her in her arms. It was the only thing she could offer her at the moment while they waited for Taka and the book. "You know what? I don't believe it too."

She could almost sense Miaka's questioning gaze behind her back. She released her from the hug and squeezed her shoulders reassuringly, smiling sadly at her. "I don't believe anyone can kill them. Tasuki and Chichiri are strong. We should have more faith."

"B-But… Nuriko's strong too! As well as Chiriko, Mitsukake, and Hotohori! I had faith in them! Why did they die?"

At this, Yui felt slightly hurt. She knew it was her fault those people died, and even though Miaka wasn't accusing her outright, she still heard the unspoken words.

It was all because of her. Because of her foolishness. Because she was gullible. Because she was a stupid little girl who easily believed the words of a manipulative, cold-blooded bastard.

Miaka suddenly gasped, and Yui glanced to see her staring like she just stabbed Yui accidentally.

"Oh… I-I'm.. I'm so sorry Yui! I didn't know what came over me! I'm so sorry!"

It was then Yui realized that she must've looked pretty hurt and Miaka was feeling guilty.

"No! You're right, it's all my fault they died. I should be the one apologizing. It's all my fault-"

"No."

Yui flinched at the harsh tone Miaka just used. She glanced to see her eyes burning with hatred.

"It's not your fault Yui. It's his fault. It's all Nakago's fault!" Miaka spat Nakago's name like it was poison and Yui winced. It's the first time she heard her best friend like that. And it was very scary. "He's the one who planned everything, manipulated everyone, even you! I can never forgive him, if ever I meet him in this life, he'll pay for everything. He'll pay for letting us suffer so much!"

As if on cue, Taka burst into the apartment like he ran all the way there, his eyes wide and frantic. Both Miaka and Yui jumped, tense moment disrupted by Taka's dramatic entrance. Taka immediately ran towards Miaka and knelt by her side, face worried and anxious. "Miaka, what happened? What happened to the others?"

Yui scooted away from the couple just as Miaka burst into tears yet again. Her anger gone, she threw herself at Taka's arms, her distressed sobs filling the room. Yui's heart clenched at the sight, and she wondered what it really felt to be that close to your warriors. No one really liked her in the book, they just served her because she was the priestess. The only one who even bothered getting close to her was Suboshi, and you saw where that led him. But Miaka and her warriors' relationship is something else. To be honest, Yui envies her best friend. But she knew Miaka deserves her happiness after all she went through.

"Taka!" Miaka sobbed. "I-I felt it! Something happened to one of them!"

"Are you sure?" Taka's terribly worried now. "Wouldn't I feel anything too? I mean, I'm one of your warriors as well."

That made both Yui and Miaka pause. Come to think of it, Taka's right! Everyone feels it when something happens to one of them. It should still work even if Taka's technically a reincarnation now right?

Yui gazed at Miaka determinedly, knowing that her answer will affect everyone, good or bad. "Miaka… what you felt… was it really the same thing you feel whenever one of your warriors… die?"

Miaka was shocked to silence. Yui and Taka waited while she contemplated Yui's question silently. Finally, she looked up.

"No. I think it's not the same thing." Miaka's tone was startled, like she couldn't believe she just thought of one of her warriors dying so quickly. "The feeling we get when one of us die is this intense shock going through our body, and the feeling of something close to you suddenly disappearing, leaving this hole that we couldn't fill no matter how much we try. It's really terrible, and the shock and the intensity of it just makes you want to curl up and cry. It's the worst when Nuriko died and we still don't know the meaning of it. You feel really lost and alone." Miaka gulped and tried to stop a few tears from the reminder, but Taka just held her and silently waited for her to continue. "But this feeling's different. It's like I am experiencing intense shock, fear, and panic of some kind. The weird thing is, I'm pretty sure it's not my own feelings. Someone else was feeling it and projecting it to me, and who else can do that but Tasuki and Chichiri?"

Miaka's words really struck a chord in Yui. It's not every day you get told about the feeling you get when one of your friends die. Yui's pretty sure she never experienced it because none of her warriors are particularly close to her. Not even Suboshi. It makes her feel that there's a lot in the book world that she missed, though she wouldn't mind not experiencing that. It must've felt really terrible.

There's also the other thing Miaka said. Who could have projected those feelings to Miaka?

"You think it's Tasuki?" Taka asked her, his own face scrunched up in concentration and worry. "I mean, I've definitely seen him scared and panicked. Despite that tough guy persona, Tasuki's still really soft. You think something happened to him?"

"Why are we ruling out Chichiri?" Yui can't help but ask. "Is the guy not able to feel scared and panicked too?"

At her comment, the couple turned to her, their faces deep in thought. "Of course he can. But he usually hides it better than Tasuki."

"But what if Miaka is feeling what Chichiri is feeling deep inside right now? You can't always think of the guy as invincible and incapable of feeling anything other than happiness!" Yui cried in exasperation. They can't rule out Chichiri just because they've never seen him look scared. Everyone gets scared! If they rule him out, Yui got the feeling that they might make a terrible mistake.

The two looked at her strangely, and Yui realized that she may have been defending him too much. She didn't even know the guy that well.

Thankfully, the two didn't seem to contemplate it too much. They suddenly looked guilty. "You're right Yui-chan. No matter what he looks and acts, Chichiri is still human. It's not fair to think of him as invincible when he might be needing help at the very moment!" Miaka suddenly looked up in realization. "Wait! The book! We need to get it and find out what really happened!"

"Already sent word." Yui smiled proudly. "I got Keisuke and Tetsuya running there right now. They'll probably be here any moment."

"Oh thank Suzaku!" Miaka smiled for the first time in hours and hugged her best friend in gratitude. Yui laughed and hugged her back, while Taka watched the two with a grin tugging at his face.