Once they are a little away from Tasuki, Samantha realizes Nuriko is still pushing her. She starts to say something but she trips from being pushed too hard by Nuriko. Nuriko is so caught up in getting away from Tasuki that he doesn't notice and falls on top of Samantha.
"Ah crap!" Samantha says when Nuriko lands heavily on her back, "Can't breathe!"
Nuriko lifts himself up enough so he's not crushing Samantha. She turns over onto her back and looks up at him. They blush as they look at each other. Nuriko slowly starts to lean down to her face, but he is interrupted.
"You know you shouldn't be doing that in public you guys!" Jessica's voice comes from above them.
Nuriko jumps back and scoots away quickly saying, "You scared me!"
He points accusingly at Jessica with a scared look on his face.
Jessica laughs and says, "That's what you get for making out in public! Naughty, naughty Sammy-whammy..!"
Samantha's face turns red as she sits up and says, "Jessica, shut up! We're not alone here!"
Jessica grins and says, "Yeah, well, it rhymed. You're lucky I didn't say 'pooh'! Hey, when I say pooh I think of crap, and when I say crap I think of shit, and when I say shit I think of poop, and when I say poop I think of pooh, and when I say pooh I think of crap, and when I say crap I think of shit, and when I say..."
"Alright, you said it already!" Samantha yells as Jessica starts repeating herself.
Jessica laughs hysterically and as she does, Tasuki starts walking up to them.
"Oh, no, he caught up to us!" Nuriko says as he stands up.
Samantha just lies on the ground lazily and says, "For some reason that doesn't surprise me."
Jessica looks up to see who exactly had caught up to them and sees Tasuki.
"Ah, it's him! RUN!" Jessica yells as she throws her hands in the air and runs toward the palace gates.
"YOU..!" Tasuki yells as he points at her retreating form, "Get back here!"
Tasuki chases after Jessica with the need to annoy her.
Samantha laughs and says, "Don't they make such a cute, diabolical, evil couple?"
Nuriko laughs as he helps her stand and says, "Yeah, but they're both going to annoy each other to death at this rate."
"I bet money on it that Jessica's going to kill Tasuki first!" Samantha says as she stands up with Nuriko's help.
Nuriko keeps holding on to her arms as he laughs and says, "How much money?"
"All that I have, which is probably none..." Samantha says as she thinks about it.
They sweat drop as they walk back to the palace, Nuriko forgetting that he was still holding one of Samantha's arms.
As they walk, Nuriko slowly lets his hand slip down Samantha's arm and to her hand. As he does he begins to blush and slowly intertwines their fingers together. Samantha smiles as she looks down at their hands through the corner of her eyes. Then after a few minutes, she slowly and silently leans into Nuriko as she wraps her arm around his.
….
Nuriko and Samantha make it back to the palace. "Do you want to search for Jessica? She might have seen Miaka and Tamahome today," Nuriko asks as he looks down at Samantha with caring eyes.
Samantha looks up at him with a smile as she replies," No, I know she'll inform me later on what happened. Plus I really want to get out of these wet clothes. I don't need to get sick. It will take a while for me to get better."
Nuriko scratches his cheek and says, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. We Suzaku Warriors don't normally get sick because of our body's strength, but it would be normal for a priestess to get sick. Miaka's been sick before too, and she pushed herself so hard she had passed out. Promise me you won't do that though, Samantha." The intensity of his stare is strong as he gently squeezes her hand tighter.
Samantha squeezes his hand as she replies," Don't worry I take pretty good care of myself. I'm not able to push myself far anyway because of Jessica. She can tell when I do and she ends up bringing it to my attention. I guess I don't realize that I do it. I'm just so use to it. Hey Nuriko, do me a favor. If you think I'm taking on too much or something let me know, ok?" Nuriko nods in agreement before escorting her to her room.
Nuriko stands in the hallway as he waits for Samantha to change. He looks at the hand he had held Samantha's hand in and whispers to himself, "Why did that feel so... right?" He sighs as he leans on the railing, waiting for Samantha.
…
Jessica stops running when she reaches the palace gates. She had taken the long way back to palace so she could try to ditch Tasuki, but he was way too fast and she barely managed to get herself out of his sight. Now, the only problem of escaping him is the guards standing in her way of entering the palace. "State your name and why you've come," one of the guard's says.
"Priestess Jessica and I want entrance into my temporary home, please," Jessica says as she stands up straight.
They look at her not amused and one says, "Yeah right. The Priestesses all know they must have a Suzaku Warrior or one of the guards with them to enter the palace again. You are an imposter. Leave at once."
Jessica glares at them and says, "Do NOT make me prove my identity to you."
They hold their spears up and one says, "Leave the premises or we'll have to force you, ma'am."
A pissed off look covers her face and she says, "Oh I know you did NOT just call me ma'am! Get the hell out of my way!"
The younger looking guard steps toward her and says, "Alright, you asked for it." They start to walk toward her and she gets even more pissed off.
Jessica uses the power of air to run quickly behind them and hit them both in the back off the neck to knock them out.
The two guards slump to the ground with a groan.
"I warned you," she says angrily as she waltzes into the palace grounds.
She quickly gets over the scene she had caused and hums a tune to herself while walking to her room.
Tasuki runs up to the palace gates and sees the guards are knocked out. He rolls his eyes and says, "Jessica's work I presume. Hey lazy heads get off your butts and do your job!"
His loud voice causes the knocked out guards to rise and they look confused. They look at Tasuki and then at each other and their bodies stiffen.
"She got into the palace!" they say to each other.
Tasuki asks them, "Who got into the palace?"
The younger one says, "Some girl pretending to be Priestess Jessica."
He rolls his eyes and says, "Was she pissed off and running toward you when you saw her?"
They nod and Tasuki laughs saying, "That was Priestess Jessica. She was running away from me because I'm annoying her. Now, stop worrying and do your jobs." He walks off searching for Jessica.
…..
Once Samantha is finally done getting dressed, she comes out of her room with a smile on her face.
She is in her pajamas and Nuriko looks at her curiously. "You plan on going to bed already?" he asks as he looks at her clothes.
"Well actually I plan to go to Jessica's room and talk... THEN go to bed." Samantha patted him on the shoulder playfully before she turned to go to Jessica's room.
"Okay, I'll see you in the morning. Good night," Nuriko says as he waves and walks to his room.
…
Before getting to her room, Jessica sees Chichiri and Hotohori walking and talking together. They were leaving the dining room, obviously just getting done having an evening snack. She walks up to them and they greet her with smiles.
"Hello, Jessica. What brings you to this part of the palace?" Hotohori asks her.
Jessica grins and says, "I was about to go to my room but I saw you and decided to stop and tell you what just happened. When I got back to the palace, I didn't have one of you with me so the guards wouldn't let me in. So I kind of knocked them out because I got mad so I thought I'd warn you. You should really give the guards a picture of Samantha and me so they stop bothering us when we're alone."
Hotohori gives her a worried look and says, "You are not supposed to be walking around alone outside the palace anyway, Jessica. You know of the danger you could be in if you were found by the enemy."
Jessica sighs and says, "Forgive me when I say this, but Samantha and I don't need the protection as much as you think we do. We may not seem like it, but we're strong and possess more powers than you think we do. Please, just give them a picture of us so we don't have to worry about it anymore. It's nice to get away from everyone else every once in a while."
Hotohori sighs and says, "Yes, I guess you're right. I'll have an artist do it right away."
Chichiri says, "Nuriko mentioned to me that you draw, Jessica. Why don't you draw Samantha and yourself?"
Jessica laughs and says, "Trust me when I say I'm horrible at drawing people. I'm better at drawing objects and scenery. Oh, I know what! I'll give you a picture that Samantha and I took together. I have an extra copy of it in my wallet so you can have this one."
She pulls a picture out of her pocket and hands it to Hotohori.
Hotohori studies the picture and says, "You mean you keep a picture of Samantha and yourself in your pocket?"
Jessica smiles warmly and says, "You never know when you'll be separated, so I keep a picture of us in my pocket just in case. This way if I'm searching for her I can show the picture to people that might have seen her. One can never be too paranoid."
They look at her with raised eyebrows and she waves at them as she walks away. "Good night!" she yells.
Jessica gets to her room and changes into pajamas. Just as she starts brushing her hair, Samantha knocks once and enters her room.
"Hey, Sam, what's up?" Jessica asks as she finishes brushing her hair and sits on her bed.
"Oh nothing, just wanted to know if you found Miaka?"
Jessica replies," Yeah I did. Why?"
Samantha rubs the back of her neck as she replies," Oh you know me, just curious."
Samantha then sneezes before she tries to reply only to have Jessica says, "Oh it sounds like you're coming down with a cold. You always sneeze and cough when you're getting sick."
Samantha stands up as she heads for the door saying, "No I'm not. It was a sneeze not a sneeze and a cough. Just a sneeze... Well I'm going to bed. I can't stop yawning, night."
Jessica says her good nights as Samantha exits her room, closing the door behind her. She turns away from the door and stops to cough.
When she does, Jessica opens the door and glares at her as she replies, "Just a sneeze huh? You are sick."
Samantha puts her hands up defensive as she replies, "What, sick? No, well ok, but don't tell anyone. Especially Nuriko, he would be so worried!"
Jessica sighs and says, "Okay, but you better go straight to bed missy! We're supposed to leave in three days to look for the Shinzaho which will help Miaka and we summon Suzaku. Good night."
Samantha walks away as she waves good bye to Jessica. Samantha walks back to her room and gets in under the covers, pulling them tightly to her. She sighs as she slowly falls asleep.