Chapter Seven: Awkward Moments (And Infuriating Seishi!)
I wish I had some exciting stories to tell about my walk to the baths, or even about the bath itself, but both were painfully boring considering the things that had happened to me over the past few days. Personally, I welcomed the change of pace, and hoped – in vain, of course – that things might stay this way for a bit.

The palace had a gorgeous pool for a "bath," with steam rising off every inch of it. I bathed outside of the water as quickly as I could, desperate to feel that sizzling hot water on my tense skin. It doesn't really matter how advanced my country gets, I guess – we Japanese are going to love our baths until the end of the world. Heck, we'll probably wind up taking refuge at a hot springs when the meteor hits. That would suit me just fine.

The waters were wonderfully relaxing, and I was finally starting to feel a little bit like a real Suzaku no Miko. If I had anything to complain about, it would be the awful silence that filled the baths pretty much the whole time I was there. Nuriko accompanied me, like Hotohori had ordered, but conversation wasn't exactly her strong point, so we didn't say much. After almost ten minutes of glancing at her, opening my mouth to say something, then sighing and sinking deeper into the steamy water, I finally decided on, "So how long have you been working in the palace?"

"Two years," she said.

I waited for some details. When she rewarded my patience with more annoying silence, I remarked, "That doesn't seem like much time. And you're already the Teichou? That's pretty impressive!"

"I suppose."

Tendrils of smoke rose up between us. I wished the stupid things would form a barrier between us. At least then I could pretend like I was alone and not feel the need to make one-sided conversation. "I know I'm not supposed to ask other women this question, but how old are you anyway?"

"Twenty-five."

"And already head of the palace guards? That's cho-impressive!" I only gave her about two seconds to add something this time, and when (of course) she didn't, I hit her with, "So what got you interested in this kind of work? It seems like an awfully tough job, and judging by everyone else I've seen around here it doesn't look like a lot of women sign up for it."

Nuriko closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall of the bath, though she was so tense she still managed to look like she was standing at attention. "My father was a four-star general during the Hokkan War. He would have become a five-star, but a mortar took his leg. He dreamed of having a son to whom he could pass on his legacy. He received me. So, I became the soldier in place of the son that never existed."

Wow, I got a paragraph out of her. Sure, it was the kind of paragraph a lazy middle school kid writes, but a paragraph all the same. "That was nice of you."

"I suppose."

"Must've been tough, though."

She shrugged. I could've screamed.

"Do you like it?"

"It's what I do."

"Well, I know that…" I was starting to feel like I was talking to a stubborn five-year old, with the way this was going, "I just meant, all this military stuff, and looking after the Emperor and all. Is it fun?"

"I would hardly call what happened today 'fun.' But it has its rewards."

"Was there anything else you wanted to do?"

She spared me a small glance. It was the first time she'd really acknowledged me since we'd arrived in the baths. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when you were little, did you ever say to yourself 'I wanna be a painter!' or 'I wanna play professional baseball!' or did you always wanna follow in your dad's footsteps?"

Nuriko stared at me for a few seconds, blinking hard. I couldn't decide what surprised me more – her total confusion, or the fact that I'd gotten a response out of that impassive face. After a moment, she said slowly, "I'm not sure what you mean. I have never been allowed to want anything in my life."

…What?

My third seishi stood, stepping lightly over the side of the bath. "I'm finished in here. The servants can take you to your room, unless you would prefer that I guide you."

I realized that I was staring at her open-mouthed, but I couldn't help it. What she'd said had officially wiped every coherent thought out of my brain except How in Buddha's name was someone allowed to want things?

"Miko-sama?"

"Eh?" I blinked and shook my head, trying to bring my eyes back into focus and remember what she'd just asked me. "Oh, uh, no. That's fine. You've probably got things to do anyway, so I won't bug you. Go… go ahead. The servants'll take care of it." She nodded sharply, wrapped a towel around her surprisingly feminine form, and turned to go, but at the last second I stopped her. "Hey, Nuriko… you don't have to call me Miko-sama, okay? That's really formal, and it makes me feel uncomfortable."

"What shall I call you then?"

I opened my mouth to say 'Mika,' but changed my mind. I smiled and said instead, "Whatever you want, I guess."

She stared at me again, probably in the same way I'd stared at her before. Boy, but we sure were good at this confusing each other thing, even if we sucked at regular conversation. "H… hai, Mikako."

"Oh, and Nuriko?"

"Mm?"

"I know we started off kind of rough with the whole prison thing, and you trying to kill Riki and all – though personally I've kinda wanted to kill him for a while too, so I can't really blame you for that… but anyway, now that things're settling down, well… I hope we can be friends, okay?"

"If Hotohori-sama wishes it," she said. "Good-bye for now, Mikako." She offered me one short, tense bow, in which she reminded me just how much cleavage I didn't have, then turned on her heel and marched out, leaving me alone.

I stared into the steaming bath water for a moment, trying to digest what she'd said. I gave myself a headache just thinking about it. Maybe it was how my parents raised me; or the way society had told me from the day I was born that "you can be anything you want to be!" (of course they'd kinda gone back on that once I got to high school, where they explained to me that "you can be anything you want to be, except a doctor, because I'm sorry honey but you're science score on the entrance exam was cho-warui"); or maybe it was just that I was stubborn as hell, but I couldn't even begin to comprehend this seishi.

"If Hotohori-sama wishes it…" I mused while the servant girls were slipping me into a comfortable summer dress, while I was being led down the hall to my room, and even once I was splayed out on my bed. "If Hotohori-sama wishes it… What in the hell is that supposed to mean? Does she want to be friends or not? Why couldn't she just come right out and say 'I hate your guts' if that's what she's trying to say? Or better yet, how about a simple, 'I hope so too, Mikako.' Or maybe she's not allowed to have friends without someone else's permission, either…"

Someone rapped sharply on my door, interrupting my train of thought, which may have been the best thing since that train was gradually heading towards a cliff of no return. I didn't bother to rise, but instead rolled over and called, "Come on in, it's not locked!"

The door slid backwards to reveal a tall, dark and handsome figure standing in the frame. I wish I could've been as excited as the description would suggest, but it was just Riki. He took one look at me and snorted. "Not two hours here and you're already too lazy to get up off your ass and answer the door! I knew this place was gonna be bad for my health, not to mention my business."

"What does my relaxing have to do with your business?"

"You think I want my cook lying down on the job?"

"You think I'm still your cook? I'm the Suzaku no Miko, you stupid git."

"And I'm your boss, you flat-chested brat." He plopped down on the end of my bed without so much as an 'excuse me,' then proceeded to study his reflection in the nearby mirror. "Remember, you still owe me for saving you from those slave traders out in Kutou."

"Those were your employees, baka!"

He scowled. "Oh, so you remembered that, did you?"

"It was only three days ago," I grumbled, watching as he fluffed up his hair and grinned back at his reflection. I could've smacked him again, but was too tired by that point to bother. It wasn't like it did a lick of good on this stubborn prig anyway. "What're you doing in here? Or didn't they give you a mirror in your own room?"

"What? I can't check in on my dear little Miko-sama?" He had his back to me, but I still caught the sarcastic smirk through the mirror, and it took every ounce of strength I had not to grab him by the collar and chuck him out of my room – on second thought, out of the country! – when he grinned like that. "After all, I'm so dedicated to you, my beloved Miko-sama, that I just couldn't stand the thought of being away from you for more than a few minutes. My heart nearly died from the agony!"

"Ah. So you came here to be an ass." I shoved myself off of the bed and stormed over to a nearby bookshelf, snatching out the first one I could grab and snapping it open to somewhere in the middle. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at his behavior, but it was still starting to rub me raw! I mean, here I was, his Miko, for heaven's sake, and he couldn't even give me a tiny sliver of respect? Maybe that cost him too much money too, I thought with a snarl, and slammed the book shut again. Why was he still sitting on my bed, and why could I feel his eyes practically boring a hole into my back?

"Yes?" I finally said with more than a little impatience, trying to find something else to keep me busy. Maybe if he saw me so enraptured by the little black box in the corner – wait, was that a television? – he'd finally go away…

"Be careful tonight," he murmured suddenly.

I blinked. Hold on. What?

I turned slowly, still blinking like a bat caught in a flashlight beam, and stared at him for a moment, trying to work out what he'd just said. What was up with my seishi and confusing the hell out of me lately? "Um, excuse me?"

He gritted his teeth and glanced up at me through his bangs. It looked like it took every ounce of his strength to say it again. "Be careful. Tonight, I mean. With the Emperor."

"Eh? Is that why you came here?" He nodded and I laughed. Now his eyes did shoot up to meet mine, and they didn't exactly looked pleased, and that only made me laugh harder.

"And what the hell is so funny?" he half-snarled, raising a hand to the bedpost as if deciding whether he should beat me to the floor or storm out of the room.

I sat down hard in one of the nearby chairs, still trying – and failing – to suppress my chuckles. "Whew, I'm sorry, Riki, but that's gotta be one of the weirdest things I've ever heard. I never thought I'd hear you say anything like that to anyone, let alone to me!" I cocked an eyebrow and leaned forward, grinning at him teasingly. "You sure that seishi loyalty thing isn't kicking in?"

"Don't be stupid!" he yelled so loudly that I nearly fell out of my chair. "This doesn't have a damn thing to do with loyalty, or with my being your seishi, or with none of it! I make my own rules, remember? And there's nothing you or anyone else in this palace can do to change my mind on that!" He folded his arms over his chest and turned away, almost like a pouting little kid. "I just… owe you, is all. With those guards, from earlier. They would've killed me if you hadn't done… whatever you did... so I owe you one for that. And now I'm repaying it. We're even. That's all this is about, okay?"

I sighed and slumped over the back of my chair. "No fair. I was starting to think you'd developed a heart, or at least something red and lumpy that resembled a heart. But I guess those are too expensive too, huh?"

"I wouldn't know. I've never dealt in organ swapping."

I rolled my eyes and glanced across the table, noticing a small white box in the corner. It took me a moment to recognize it as an old-fashioned icebox… wait, no, wrong time period. It was a mini-fridge. I licked my lips. Man, but could I go for something cold and bubbly right about now. I hopped out of my chair again and limped towards the mini-fridge, watching the sulking Riki out of the corner of my eye. "Well thanks, I guess. But you're 'repayment' is a little lame. Why would I need to be careful around Hotohori?" I popped open the refrigerator door and glanced inside, eyes scanning several colorful aluminum cans and a couple of plastic bottles filled with water. The colorful cans looked more inviting, so I grabbed one and cracked open the lid. At least that was one thing I was familiar with. The pop-top never had gotten around to evolving – or maybe it had just been perfect from the very beginning. I took a sip of the cool liquid, relieved to find it fizzy on my tongue, and turned back to my first seishi again. "I mean, I know he can be kind of dangerous, and maybe he isn't the best leader in the world, but he's been perfectly civil to me."

"Once he found out who you are," Riki reminded me.

"He was suspicious at first. It's understandable. He said so himself."

Riki snorted. "You sound like one of those sniveling palace girls, falling all over their darling Heika." He stalked over to the mini-fridge and helped himself to one of the drinks.

I bristled. "Would it have killed you to say 'please'?"

He popped open the lid and went on as if he hadn't heard me. Rotten bugger. "I've heard stories, is all I'm gonna say. The Emperor is used to getting what he wants, and it doesn't matter if other people want it or not. And he's sort of… interested… in you. He's gotta be, or he wouldn't've wanted this to be some big private deal."

"Well, maybe I wouldn't mind spending some private time with him," I retorted. "Maybe I like him."

Riki chuckled darkly. "Not in the way he likes you." He glanced up, and for a tiny second I could've sworn I saw a speck of concern in his eyes, but it was gone before I could tell for certain. "All I know is, the palace residents – men and women – gave him the nickname 'The Iron Dove' when he took the throne, and they call him that for a reason. There's steel under that silky voice and that bishounen face, you got me? So keep your guard up and those crazy cat claws of yours ready." He took a long sip from his own can, taking his sweet time swallowing before looking up again and flashing me a sarcastic smirk. "It'd suck if I almost got killed for no reason."

I rolled my eyes. "Glad to see you're so worried about me" I took another sip of my drink – some kind of soda, though I couldn't figure out the exact flavor just yet – and watched Riki through the edges of my bangs. "Nee, prick?"

"Prick?" he narrowed his eyes. "What happened to 'asshole' and 'you stupid git'?"

"I'm expanding my vocabulary," I answered sweetly. He scowled and grumbled something rude on his breath. I giggled, but forced back my semi-good humor and stared at him, waiting until I had his full attention before continuing. "Listen… I know this is all sort of sudden, my being the Suzaku no Miko and all…"

"You could've at least told me," he growled. "Ran halfway across th' country with a friggin' Miko in my truck!"

"Hey, I didn't know about it myself!" I snapped right back, but when I caught the skeptical look in his eye I scratched my nose and glanced down again. "Or at least, I didn't know for certain… agh, but that's not the point!" I set my empty can down on the nearby table and turned to Riki, watching him carefully, trying to judge how that unpredictable temper of his might react to what I had to say. "The point is, I'm sorry you got dragged into this. I didn't mean for you to, but you did. And you are who you are, there's no denying that. You're my seishi, Tamahome. And I need you're help to summon Suzaku."

His jaw clenched and I could've sworn I saw a flash of crimson flare around his body. "Shove it up your ass."

My mouth dropped at his blunt refusal. "But… But I thought…"

"Listen, kid, just because I repaid my debt doesn't mean I'm gonna start following you around, throwing flowers at your feet. I've got a business to run, remember? I've got much more important things to do than chase around some flat-chested brat who thinks she's on some holy mission from the gods."

"'More important things'? What could be more important than this?" I demanded, gesturing towards the walls around us. "Konan needs you, Riki! And you think you can just—"

Riki raised his head up to meet my gaze, and without saying a thing he completely snapped off my words. I took a step back, surprised by the bitterness in his eyes – and something else, though I couldn't place it right then and there. Something that almost looked like sorrow, but a sorrow ten times more painful than anything I'd ever seen before. Something that went deeper than the here and now. Something that spanned centuries. But how…?

"Konan needs me?" he repeated, each word slipping out in a dangerous, disbelieving whisper. "And which Konan would that be, Mika? Is it the one your beloved Emperor runs, the one that couldn't pay for my high school 'cause they put all the lower-income education money into war funds? Or is this the Konan that the Council runs, the Konan that damn near had me executed 'cause I beat the piss out of some asshole politician trying to get his kicks by forcing himself on my cashier? Or maybe you're talking about the Konan that the gangs run." His lips curled back into a smile, though it was anything but pleasant. "Yeah, that's a good group, isn't it? That's the one that I've gotta hunt down and kill on a regular basis just to keep them the hell away from my shop, isn't it? Oh, but you knew all about them, even if it's the only thing you do know about." Riki snorted, scratching hard at the back of his head. "Yeah, Mika, the country that tossed me into the gutter and made me fight every step of the way back to the top. That's the place I'm gonna help save. That's the place I'm gonna give a damn about."

I balled my fists up at my sides, gritting my teeth to keep myself from attacking him right then and there. "How can you be so selfish? This isn't about how you've been treated, you stupid git! This is about—"

"What? About the starving little orphans at the West End? About the poor widowed wives whose husbands got mixed up in the wrong territory war? About the unlucky businessman who has to shell over half his profit to the organization member who runs his block?" he snorted. "I've heard the legend, Mika, and I don't want to hear any of that noble BS. When you summon Suzaku, you get the three wishes, and the rest of us can rot in hell. You know why you're here, why you saved my ass back there, why you went through that ceremony in the temple. And it doesn't have a damn thing to do with the city that you barely know."

"That's not true at all! I just—"

He whirled on his heel, crushing his can in his outstretched hand and flinging it to the ground. "You know what? Forget all of it, okay kid? I'm outta here. Go drool on the Emperor, see if I give a rat's ass about what happens to you tonight." He stopped in the doorway, turning hard on his heel and glaring back at me, scratching hard at the back of his head, that same look of bitterness and hurt raging from his eyes. "It doesn't really matter, anyway. You wouldn't be able to summon Suzaku even if you did have all of your seishi."

"Why's that?" I gasped out, surprised that I could even talk through the growing fire in my chest.

He spread his arms, mocking my gesture from before. "Haven't you looked around, kid? Suzaku died a long time ago."

As soon as the door clicked behind him I lost what little control I'd had left and kicked my chair across the room, panting hard from the sheer energy it took to be so, so… so pissed at somebody! How could Riki say all of that, especially after everything that had happened? How could he just turn his back on me – on everybody – without even a second glance! As if none of this mattered to him… as if he really did only care about himself…

I heaved a shuddering sigh and slammed my hands into the table, surprised to find a tear at the corner of one of my eyes. "Damn you, Riki," I hissed, pounding a fist into the smooth mahogany. "Damn you, damn you, damn you! I am not going to lose the chance to summon Suzaku, not because of you! I don't care if I have to drag you back to the palace, you aren't going to be the reason why I fail, you aren't going to ruin the one thing I've dreamed of doing my entire life! It isn't going to end this way… I'm not going to let it…"

I slumped down in the remaining chair, burying my head in one of my palms and laying the other flat on the table, fist clenching and unclenching as if it couldn't decide whether it wanted to be pissed off or just flat-out depressed. My dream world was turning into a nightmare, and every time I took a tiny step forward, every time I got half a centimeter closer to realizing my fantasy, something grabbed me by the ankle and dragged me back another five meters.

I heaved a tired sigh and caved in a little bit on myself. "Oh, maybe Hoshi was right after all…"

Someone knocked on my door, and I jumped those same five meters straight up into the air. "Gyah!" I yelped in greeting, because it was the only thing I could think to say at the moment.

"Um… Miko-sama?" a female voice that I didn't recognize asked timidly through the wood. "My name is Taki. I was sent here by Joumi-sama. She says I'm to help you dress appropriately for your meeting with the Emperor this evening."

"Eh?" I slid open the door, staring at her in total disbelief.

"Your meeting with His Majesty… I'm supposed to help… For tonight…"

I smacked my forehead with my open palm. Of course, baka! In all that commotion I'd completely forgotten about my appointment. I was supposed to have tea with the Emperor so we could figure out how to work all this legend stuff out. My heart jumped a little at the thought of spending a few private hours with the gorgeous seishi – and the only seishi who'd shown a speck of friendliness since I'd arrived – and just like that the sunlight seeped back into my dismal little world. Hotohori was my seishi, my loyal seishi, and he also happened to be the Emperor. If I couldn't get Riki to come back on his own, I could drag him back with the Imperial Army. They could cart him through the door, hoisted up by his boxers on the end of Violet's sword…

"Bwehehehe..."

"Um, Miko-sama, are you feeling all right? Did I say something funny?"

I clamped a hand over my mouth to stifle my sniggering and waved the other dismissively. "Oh, no, it's fine. I was just… thinking about something."

"It must have been a good something then, Miko-sama."

I nodded, grinning wolfishly as the servant turned her back to lead me down the hallway. "Oh, it was a very good something, Taki-san." The image of Riki dangling from a pair of heart-patterned boxers flashed through my mind again, and it took every ounce of strength I had not to die laughing right there. "In fact, I think it's one of the nicest daydreams I've had in a long time."


Japanese Terms:
Teichou – Captain
cho-warui – Super-bad
baka – idiot
Heika – Highness/Your Majesty
bishounen – pretty-boy

Suffixes:
-san: Mr., Mrs., Miss
-sama: Lord, Lady
-chan: Term of affection, usually used on female friends and little kids
-dono: Super-polite term (and very old-fashioned)

Author's Note 6/7/06
I'm a bad person.
And I'm very, very sorry.
Was the wait really three months long? It didn't seem that long for me. I got so busy that the time just flew by... and the fanfic never got written. To be honest, this isn't where I planned on ending Chapter Seven when I first started writing it, but I've been having problems with the last scene with Hotohori, so I decided to just save that for Chapter Eight. I didn't want to make everyone wait any longer, otherwise they might give up on this story, and I'd hate for that to happen!

Thanks to... wow, a lot of people for reviewing Chapter 6. Ayriel, ThePastIsThePast, Celtic-Cross14, Kristall, TigerChickTigress, Merodi-chan, KiWi, GhostGirlSora, DianaLW, inuphantom13, Lady Seiryu, and caspercat22! Wow, so many names! I hope I didn't make you all too upset with the wait! And I hope you liked this chapter, too! Again, a big 'I'm sorry' to everyone. I'll try to do better in the future, I promise.

Next Time: Mikako meets with Hotohori, but will her idyllic image of the Emperor be shattered in the meeting? See you in the next chapter!

/ Tangerine Infinity /