DISCLAIMER: Je ne possede pas Fushigi Yugi. C'est Watase Yu. Je n'ai pas l'argent. Je veux l'argent, est-ce que vous me donnerez quelques?
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Market 7! Whoever thought I'd write the second chapter, let alone the seventh when I lay down on the floor of my den that one Sunday night a few months back?
Well, a couple people've been asking me about this (at least Waku-chan, at any rate). The Byakko don't show up 'til almost the end of the series. Their first real appearance is in episode 41 and the last in 44 (of a 52 episode series). I think that would put it somewhere around the tenth graphic novel. The only seishi you see during that time are Subaru, Tokaki, and Tatara, as it's been 90 years and all the others are dead. Hope that clears things up ~_~
I wasn't real enthused about this chapter. It's crucial to the plot, but a lot of stuff ended up in there that I hadn't planned on. ~shrugs~ Ahh well, it fits, had to come in at some point.
In good news, I finally got over writer's block on my other stories! Wai! Which meaaaaaans... the next Plots will be out soon! Hmm, wonder if anyone even REMEMBERS that story...
And Chiri-kun ~grins~ You don't need to threaten me, I WANT to write this!
Despite being forced to keep to a moderate walk, I was greatly enjoying the "little outing to the market," as Toroki had jokingly put it. It was only myself and Inoue, no miko, no other seishi, and I was taking the opportunity to behave like a normal girl once again. I was wearing my own clothing, not the slightly tight travel things Tomomi had given me, and was infinitely more comfortable than I had been. Inoue was next to me, nearly unrecognizable without her normal servant's garb of pure white, but still pretty with her long hair down and a pale pink skirt sweeping around her feet. There was a flush of pale color of nearly the same shade in her cheeks, making her look more alive and healthy. She frequently ran ahead of me to curiously examine something, calling for me to hurry up, hurry up and see what she'd found. I was happy to see her behaving exactly like a normal teenager; she seemed more like a characterless doll when she was in the palace than most of the dolls did.
The market spread farther than any I'd seen before, and I'd seen most of the ones in my province. The wide dirt streets were lined end-to-end with stalls, and the people were packed in the space left over. Inoue was small enough that she could wriggle through with little trouble, but since I was one of the tallest women I knew it was a bit harder for me. My feet also wouldn't respond to my directions as quickly as I wanted them to, so more often than not I just let the crowd push me in the direction Inoue had run.
"Su- Doulin-san! Doulin-san, come here!" I saw Inoue's arm waving above the crowd at one stand across the street, something glinting in the sun. I'd convinced her to call me Doulin for the outing, certain that the name "Subaru" would potentially cause a minor stampede. The names of the seishi - Tatara, Tokaki, Subaru, Toroki, Kokie, Karasuke, and Amefuri - were all well known with the legend, as were the circumstances behind their appearance. If one of them suddenly showed up, even on an innocent shopping trip, then people would know that something bad was coming. Something they couldn't stop. I pushed the morbid thoughts from my mind and stepped into the traffic, the current carrying me a few feet past Inoue before I could escape, breathing a little hard. I still wasn't fully recovered, although everyone agreed that by the next day I'd be myself again.
The proprietor's eye stayed lazily on Inoue as she ran to me from his stand, arms in front of her, hands together, and fingers splayed. "Isn't it pretty, Sub- Doulin-san?" Draped over her fingers was a thin necklace made of a dull gold-colored metal. Five small dark pendants, one larger one in the middle and two on either side, hung off the chain. It was simple yet elegant. And neither one of us could afford it.
I smiled. "Yes, it's very pretty. But I think that man would like it back if you aren't going to buy it." I pointed in the direction of the merchant, who was now giving us the death glare. Inoue took one look over her shoulder and blinked rapidly, then winked at me and ran back to the man.
"Here! Thank you!" She quickly deposited the necklace in his hands and trotted off, leaving behind a very confused merchant - and me.
I pressed myself against the wall and inched down the street to avoid being squashed, watching carefully for Inoue. I saw her a few stands up, buying what looked like food. A heavy-set woman blocked my view for a second, and when she managed to get past, Inoue popped up in the place she vacated before me, smiling and holding out an orange. "Here! This will help you get your strength back, Doulin-san."
I smiled gratefully at her. "Arigato. You must be able to work magic to get through these crowds!" I dug into the rind with my fingernails, managing to gouge a little hole and begin peeling the rest of it back. "You leave me behind every time!"
She should her head, smiling. "No magic, just long practice." Her smile flipped over and her eyebrows narrowed, and she stood on tiptoe to look me straight in the eye. "You look pale."
"I-It's okay, I've been looking pale for the past two days, I'm fine really!" I leaned back a little, slightly unnerved by the small girl pretending to be my mother. Never mind the fact that I was a little tired and probably looked it. It was strange to see her so controlling.
She put her feet flat on the ground again, grabbed my hand, and dragged me into a small courtyard just up the road. No stalls were set up, and there were only a few people in there, taking a rest like she insisted I do. I was sat down on the top step of a small store and given her orange as well, and she kept a hawk's eye on me as I ate, despite my protests that I felt fine.
I quickly got off the topic of my health when I was finished eating, knowing she wouldn't give in and I didn't have the strength to fight her. "Sit down yourself." I patted the step next to me. She glanced down, a worried, would-it-be-right sort of look passing over her face, then appeared to shrug it off and plopped down eagerly. "You're so much different outside the palace, it's slightly strange," I confessed. "Why the big change?"
She didn't answer me right away. Instead she looked down, her face becoming vulnerable and innocent once again, drawing her foot back a little along the ground.
I'd hit a nerve.
This was something big, or at least important to her, that I'd stumbled upon accidentally. But what did I upon stumble? All right, my fatigue was showing, I was starting to think funny.
"Inoue-chan?" I said softly. Her head snapped up at the new term. "What is it?"
"What's what?" She was clearly trying to buy herself some time.
I felt terrible for pushing it this far, but I had to continue. The dual-personality thing was not good for a person unless they naturally had it, like Toroki, and this definitely wasn't one of those times. "What makes you so shy at the palace?"
She looked down again, her hand drifting down to trace invisible patterns on the stone steps. "N-Nothing, Su- Doulin-san."
"You really think I'm going to believe that?" Despite my words, I spoke gently. "Today you've been so lively and happy and energetic. When I first met you, you seemed more like a mouse than a girl. You've gotten better, but still…" I put a finger under her chin, being reminded strongly again of Masame, and tilted her head up so she couldn't help but face me. "What makes you so shy?" Still she didn't answer. "C'mon, you can tell me."
Her entire body shuddered as she sighed heavily. "I know… but still…" She cast her eyes away for a second, then focused them back on me. "Promise you won't tell?"
I nodded. "My word as a…" I dropped my voice to a conspiratorial whisper and glanced around suspiciously. "Seishi."
She giggled slightly before turning serious again. At least she could laugh. "I want to say, first off, that heika-sama has nothing to do with this. He wouldn't cause anyone pain and would punish those that caused it, he's been nothing but good to me-"
"Shh, I understand." I smiled. "I'd probably say the same thing, as a matter of fact. But he must not know about this then, right?" I folded my hands in my lap.
She nodded. "No one does. Everyone just assumes I'm small and quiet and ladylike, what a servant's supposed to be. And I am! But…" My lips stayed shut. Now she had to come out with this on her own. She had to be strong enough to talk about it. "Some of the ladies…… and a few of the men…" I noticed she didn't say "nobles" and made a mental note to find the guards or other servants she was referring to. "Some of them… they're… not as nice as you and heika-sama and the other seishi and the miko are."
"How?" I scooted over next to her, my older sister instincts taking over, putting a comforting arm around her shoulder.
"They… say things to me, and… do things." Her face flushed brilliant scarlet, as red as the god of Konan, Suzaku. "That's all."
My eyes narrowed dangerously at whoever did that to her. That was not all, and they would get a little payback. "Inoue-chan, what did they do?"
"Some… hit me. Mostly the women. Or pinch me hard, so I get bruises. A few of the… men have tried to… kiss me or touch me places. It never really happens, but…" She refused to look at me, the flush deepening, wrapping her arms around her knees.
I couldn't believe it. Going after me, a woman who could defend herself, was one thing, but a girl just trying to do her work? Inexcusable. I pulled her into a tight hug, ignoring her small yelp of surprise. "Inoue-chan, promise me you'll go straight to the emperor about this when we get back, this needs to be stopped. PROMISE me," I stressed when she began to protest.
"But… Subaru-sama, it will be my word against the nobles! And the guards! There's no way in all of Byakko's kingdom he'll believe me over them! I-I haven't even been there that long!"
"Oh, he'll believe." My eyes narrowed again, and hers widened in shock at my fierce expression. "Tell him to ask me if he needs proof. Seishi are more powerful than even nobles - literally."
She stared at me for a second, then another, as my gaze softened back to normal. Then happily I was rewarded with her grin and a quick hug. "Arigato, Subaru-sama." She hopped to her feet, surprising me with her quick recovery, and held out a hand to help me up. "Let's go, I want to show you something."
"Oh? What?" I accepted the hand gratefully and pulled myself to my feet, briefly closing my eyes to abate the minor dizzy spell that came over me. My emotions had been too intense to keep my recovery going, it seemed.
"Someone I know. I think you'll like him." She grinned teasingly and took off before I could gasp out a what the hell does that mean?!
The streets got narrower as we went further and further from the center of town, where the market was, down a gentle slope away from the high point of the city, where the palace was, and farther towards the outskirts. The buildings became less gaudy, less imposing, more friendly.
I rubbed my eyes, making sure not to let Inoue see. Maybe she was right to worry about me, even the buildings were getting personalities in my tired eyes.
The people had thinned out a lot when she made a sharp right and led me down a somewhat narrow alley in what looked like a quiet residential section. It reminded me a lot of the place in my town where my own house was located; even the people seemed to be of the same variety - a lot of families, children, a calm atmosphere over them all. It was almost like there was a completely different city in the capital. I loved the outskirts.
"Inoue? What are we doing here?" I dodged a stray barrel someone had left in the alley, somewhat puzzled as to why we were so far from the palace. She'd said she wanted me to meet someone, but what someone…?
"Silly, I want you to meet my friend. It's not much farther…" she jumped an old crate like a mountain goat and looked back at me, her eyebrows coming together in a crease. "Hmm… might want to have you rest before that, you don't look good."
"If you make me rest one more time I'll freeze you in it." I grinned. "I can rest when we get there, as long as it isn't far."
She giggled. "Nope, not much. Two or three more streets."
"Then I can hold out, let's get going." She nodded and we continued, although a bit slower than before.
Two turns and a few minutes of walking later, Inoue stopped before a low building with a wide door and a large yard, especially for the city where land was scarce. There was a horse running across the grass, kept in by a wooden fence that separated the yard from the street and the buildings next to it. The building itself looked to be mostly house, but the east wing was definitely something else. A strange, rhythmic clanging was coming from within, something I'd never heard before and couldn't identify. The sound didn't seem to bother the horse or Inoue, who pushed open the gate set in the fence and walked right inside, pausing briefly to rub the horse's nose and whisper to it. I followed, a bit slowly, closing the gate behind me and trying to look around and see everything in this strange place.
I heard Inoue giggle, then raise her voice in answer to my unasked questions. "Subaru-sama, this is where I lived before going to work at the palace. Everyone here will like you, and you'll probably find this interesting."
Interesting? What was she talking about?
That question, however, was not responded to. Inoue trotted across the yard and opened the door quickly, stepping in and disappearing from my sight. I carefully placed my feet on each of the three steps leading to the low terrace and followed her through the door.
The boards in the floor were somewhat rough, but worn with age in places, making pale paths to other parts of the house. There was no upper story, and no staircase leading to it, but three other doors along the corridor the front door opened onto were what seemed to be bedchambers. There was also a main social room, decorated with small tables and cushions, a small dining room, and at the back, a kitchen. "Inoue?" I called, looking around the small but serviceable kitchen.
"I'm in here!" Her voice came from further back along the corridor, and I retraced my steps to one of the bedrooms.
The door was mostly closed, and I knocked sharply with my knuckles, waited for an acknowledgement before I entered. The room was filled with sunlight from two large windows covered with thin screens, and sticking out into the middle of the floor was a bed. Inoue sat on the edge of the bed, talking energetically to the man lying under its covers. He appeared to be about fifty or so, and healthy, if a bit tired. I didn't know why he was lying there like an invalid, but he coughed softly and it became clearer. The cough was clouded and dry, a sign of severe sickness. It sounded like something was wrong with his lungs, but he still managed to muster a smile at the girl perched on his bed.
"Uncle, this is S- Doulin-san. She's with me at the palace now." I silently thanked her for not saying just WHY I was at the palace. "I wanted her to meet you."
I bowed respectfully, the word "uncle" flitting through my mind. Where were her parents? "It's a pleasure to meet you."
The man's eyes, a clear green, rose from his niece to me and he smiled kindly. "Welcome, Doulin-san. The pleasure is all mine. Please, have a seat." He motioned to a table complimented by two mismatched chairs that stood near the wall. I picked up one of the chairs and carried it to the bed, placing it near Inoue and sitting gratefully. "Excuse me for saying, but you're not looking well. Perhaps we should ask Inoue-chan for some tea…"
"Oh no, no, I'm perfectly all right, just a little tired." But it was too late, Inoue was looking at me. Again.
"Uncle's right, you need to rest and have something to drink. I'll be right back." She hopped off the bed and zipped out of the room in the direction of the kitchen.
I glanced at the man in the bed and looked down at the floor, my fingers lacing themselves together in my lap. I was staring to act like Inoue, and she was starting to act like me. It was strange. A lot of things so far had been strange. Did a change of scenery change everything else that much?
"So, Doulin-san, how long have you been at the palace?"
The old man's voice startled me back into the thinking world. "Only a few days… Gomen ne, Inoue-chan never told me your name."
"You may call me Tsurmura-san," he replied, smiling again. "Just like my niece to forget half the introduction. She can sometimes be a bit scatterbrained."
"Oh, she's very nice to me. Almost over-protective at times. And she never forgets anything."
"I never said she wasn't anything but good." The smile flickered, being overshadowed by a look of sadness as Tsumura-san glanced at the door. "What with her parents being gone and her having to go to work at fourteen… she's had to grow up very quickly, perhaps too quickly." The sadness was again chased away by the smile, directed at me. "But she's making friends, that's always good."
"Her… her parents are dead?"
He nodded silently. "Killed in a fire two years ago. They came to live with me then, and I tried to raise them as best I could, but I never married and didn't really know how to deal with children. Thankfully they're both stable young adults and can take care of themselves almost, but even so…" He trailed off, staring morosely out the window.
I cleared my throat hesitantly. "Excuse me, but did you say 'they'?"
He nodded again, gaze still on the window. "I did."
"Who are 'they', Tsumura-san?"
"Inoue and her ototo, Joji. My brother's children. I take it you didn't know she had a sibling." I shook my head slightly. "She does, and he works hard. He's taken over my business for me almost, and with only one of the men staying to help him. That's why Inoue-chan works at the palace now. We need the money, the work we do doesn't earn enough by itself, especially lately."
The door opened again and Inoue walked carefully in, expertly balancing a full tray stacked with tea, cups, tealeaves, and all the trimmings in her right hand. I jumped up and took the tray from her, ignoring her protests and setting it on the table, preparing the cups and leaves myself. I refused to listen to Inoue's protests that she was the hostess so it was her job to prepare the tea, and was rewarded by a slightly astonished and pleased look when she took a tentative sip of my tea.
The thought that she was scared it would be horrible crossed my mind, and instead of wanting to hit whoever would think that, this time I merely giggled silently, amused by the prospect. It was natural: she did that job nearly every day of her life, while she didn't know what kind of training I'd received in the feminine arts. I was a seishi, after all. I couldn't blame her for being a bit skeptical.
"You never told me you had a brother," I said casually as I resumed my place in my chair, Inoue her spot on the bed, Tsumura-san propped up comfortably with pillows behind his back and head.
She smiled. "You never asked."
"Inoue-chaaaaaaaann…"
"I give in, I give in! But you didn't. And we never really had a chance to talk about our families. Something always seemed to get in the way." She shrugged, but I knew just what she was talking about: seishi duties or consequences of such duties. "Would you like to meet him?"
A small corridor, barely tall enough for me to walk through upright, connected the kitchen with the east wing I'd seen when I walked in. The clanging sound, nearly unnoticeable in other parts of the house because of the thick walls, resonated here with an echo that drove beats into my skull. It seemed to be going faster than before, nearly feverishly, without stop. Inoue turned and pressed a finger to her lips, telling me to be quiet, and we both peeked around the corner of the wall.
There was a boy there, just a bit taller than me but much more heavily built, which I attributed to two years of work. It was he who was making the clanging sound. The room he was in was dark except for the daylight spilling in the door and the blaze from a giant fire in the large, solid fireplace along the opposite wall. There was also a thick wooden table with large, sturdy legs in the corner, and at the moment the boy was there, his back to us, hitting something with a hammer he held in his right hand. It glinted in the firelight as it reached the apex of its swing and came crashing down again. He shifted position and in front of him I could now see a long piece of metal, glowing dull red. He put down the hammer and slid the length of metal into the fire, heating it.
"He's very busy today, Uncle said they received three new orders," Inoue whispered in front of me. "That means three new swords, and soon."
I nodded, beginning to understand. Their uncle was a metal worker, and this place was his forge. But when he'd gotten sick, his nephew had begun working to earn the money his uncle had. It was a good reason for giving up childhood, if you had to. "I thought he had a helper though, that's what your uncle said."
"It's one of his off days."
I nodded and returned to watching, fascinated with a process I'd never seen before. Joji withdrew the metal from the fire and brought it back to the table, picking up the hammer again and rapping it sharply. What I could see of the white-red metal bent easily, then straightened as he hit it once again. I noticed he was working without a shirt, and I could hardly blame him; the heat was beginning to get to me and he was right next to the fire.
Then he glanced at the hammer in his hand, shook his head, and threw it forcefully behind him - straight at us. I couldn't stop a little scream from escaping and trying to duck, but it went to the right of us and thudded against the wall.
It didn't hit the floor.
Instead a new hammer, smaller than the one he'd thrown, appeared out of nowhere to our left and flew right at him, no flips, spins, or turns, straight as an arrow, to land right in his open hand still positioned above his shoulder. He quickly closed his fingers around the handle and began whacking the metal again, but I could scarcely be less interested than I was at that moment.
Because on his left shoulder blade, glowing like white fire, or white-hot metal, was the symbol for "stomach."
"Doulin-san! DOULIN-SAN!" Inoue yelled, running up to me seconds later. I was no longer in her house, but I had no recollection of having traveled from there to where I ended up, two blocks up the street near an inn. "Doulin-san! Please, calm down!" She grabbed my arm to keep me from retreating further in shock. "Onegai! Onegai!"
"I… He… He's got a… He's a seishi! He's a SEISHI! Oh Byakko…"
"Iya, Subaru-sama, don't faint! Don't faint! I'd be in so much trouble if you did!"
I pressed my free hand against the wall of the inn, leaving heavily on it and Inoue, bracing myself to keep upright, breathing hard, trying to overcome the shock to my system. Stupid stupid STUPID! I shrieked at myself. "Fire" and "forge!" "Fire" and "forge!" Gaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh, Subaru no DAMN BAKA! How could I not have seen it?! The set up, the clues, Toroki's vision, it was all so apparent now! Somehow, that boy was a seishi. Which meant he had to come to the palace with us and protect Suzuno. I had to go back there and ask him to come with us. It was my duty as a seishi.
But duty and health were warring, and at the moment health was winning. The shock had been too much for my still-frail body, as had the running afterward, which I had to have done. I was collapsing, leaning more on Inoue, my hand sliding down the wall as I slowly sank to the ground, my consciousness seeming to waver for a moment.
"Subaru-sama!" Inoue called my name once again, pulling me back to my feet and half-draping me over her. "Listen to me! You are not going to collapse! We're going back to the house, you can collapse there, here you'd get all covered in mud!"
It was so inane it was funny. I giggled quietly at her comment, and fought to keep myself awake the two blocks back to her house.
The gate had been left open and it still swung slightly on its hinges. Inoue gave it a kick to open it and half-dragged me through. I barely registered the fact that Joji, or whatever his seishi name was, was now standing in the yard, holding the horse by the mane and watching us with concern and worry as his sister helped me into the house. She dragged me down the hall to one of the other bedchambers, that was decorated in a more feminine style than anywhere else in the house, and lay me down gently on the bed, fluffing the pillows beneath my head. "Subaru-sama, I think I owe you an explanation…" Her tone was once again timid, mousy, and I had the uncomfortable feeling that she was going to bow.
"You better believe you do," I murmured. "Just start at the beginning, I'm listening."
She nodded quickly and sat on the end of the bed, fiddling with the hem of her skirt in her fingers. "It all started two years ago, when… you know. Uncle said you did. It was night, and someone had left a candle burning on accident, and our house cat knocked it over. It started this fire. Our parents got caught in it while they were just waking up, and we were trapped in our room by the smoke and the flames. Neither of us was brave enough to jump out an upper-story window, we still thought Dou-san and Kaa-san would come and save us." Inoue's voice was steady, in control, but I could see the glisten of tears touch the corner of her eye as she continued with the story. "No one came. Then we heard these snapping, groaning sounds above us, and the roof started to fall on us. The fire had burned the support beams. We both screamed and dropped to the floor, covering our heads with our arms, waiting for the tinder and burning wood to hit us. Instead there was this tremendous, long crash, not two feet above us, and though we felt the vibrations we weren't struck ourselves. When we dared to look up there was this ceiling of metal above us, holding back the roof. And not metal-metal, random pieces of worked metal. Things that had been close by, especially, like the statue that had been just down the hall. And then Joji-kun passed out, and stayed like that for four days. Uncle took us in after they dug us out the next day, helped me nurse Joji-kun back to health. He knew what it was, and so did we, because I had seen the white mark on his back before he'd fainted. His powers saved our lives… But we were scared we'd be separated, and so none of us ever told. And then I heard the seishi weren't that… honorable. Which is complete lunacy, of course," she added quickly as my eyes narrowed, "but some people choose to believe it." Her eyes hid themselves as she tilted her head down in apology, nearly closing. "Gomen nasai, Subaru-sama, I wanted to tell. But last month when I came home I told him about the miko and two seishi being at the palace, and he got scared. He made me promise not to tell anyone, he didn't want to 'go to war' and fight. He wanted to stay here, working peacefully, watching over Uncle. He's… he's not like you other warriors. You're all so alive, so vibrant, so… and so is he, but in a different way… Gomen."
"I understand," I said quietly. "You were just watching out for your brother, it's all right. But." I made my voice get harder, more forceful. "But he has to come with us. Without him, we cannot complete our mission. We cannot summon Byakko. I hate to say this, but without him one of us might die. Something he can do may save our lives." I frowned, finally remembering an important question. "By the way, what can he do, besides make hammers fly?"
"It's not exactly that… the closest we can think of is metal does what he wants it to, even flying in midair like a bird to get to him. You saw." I nodded unhappily, remembering my overreaction. "That's part of why he's such a good metal-worker, but he still loves the job." She sighed. "He's only fourteen… are you sure you can't go without him?" She looked at me plaintively, seeking a last hope.
I shook my head. "Iya. We might be able to for awhile, yes, but someone with that ability… well, let's just say that would be very useful in combat. But…" Tokaki was going to kill me for offering this, but I knew Joji would see reason and come with us. "But if he wants to, he can probably stay here until the actually summoning."
She nodded reluctantly. "It's the best we can do, I suppose…"
"Just one more question."
Inoue watched me expectantly.
"What's his seishi name?"
"Kokie."
"Kokie…"
After sleeping for an hour to recover from my overexertion, I returned to the forge, bolstering my confidence and courage. Was this how it had been for Tokaki when he'd asked my own parents to let me come? Was he really shaking like a scared leaf under that controlled exterior? Inoue stayed back as I walked slowly into the forge under my own power.
Kokie was still working that same piece of metal with the same smaller hammer. As I got closer I could finally tell the color of his hair: black, like his sister's. I stood silent in the middle of the floor until he noticed me as he turned to do some task and his face creased in a frown. "Are you all right, miss? I saw nii-chan bring you inside earlier…"
I nodded. "I'm fine, I'd just received a… a shock and didn't feel well. But I have a question I need to ask you."
"What is it, miss?" I could now see his eyes: the silver of metal.
I swallowed a bit nervously, then stood up straight and looked him in the eye. "Would you come to the palace with me, Kokie?"
AUTHOR'S NOTES II: For anyone who thought Inoue was a seishi, I go "ha ha" at you. Ha ha!
~grins~ Seriously, I never meant for her to be a seishi. In fact, she wasn't supposed to have as great a part as she's getting, but I liked her character too much to just get rid of her. And at the same time I couldn't figure out a way to get Kokie in, so when I got this idea I jumped at it ~_~ It works pretty well, all in all.
And I didn't tell ANYONE about that. I refuse to spill anything about the seishi coming up, not even to Mouse-chan. Even SHE thought Inoue was a seishi. So don't feel left out! ~_~
One last thing. The next chapter might take me a little more time, as I'm trying to work on my other things as well. For the past two/three weeks I haven't really written anything BUT Market, and the other stuff's gathering dust. Time to brush it off and get to work again! Ja!
