Jillybean01: Wow this is the first time that I have updated that's not the day after my last post.

Kita: Come on, get on the ball!

Jiru: What ball?

Kita: ...///sweatdrops///...Nevermind.

Chichiri: I'm hugry, no da!

Jillybean01: Oh go and eat some fish...Hey where's Tasuki?

Chichiri: Ummm...sleeping, no da? ...///Turns around to find Tasuki on the floor. He was kicked again...///

Jillybean01: Poor Tasuki...Oh well! On to the neverending, must always be here, boring of a Disclaimer!!!!

Disclaimer: You know the drill as well as I do...I don't own these Fushigi Yugi guys...yup.

Chapter 10

Jiru woke up with a start. She had bean having a nightmare about Kita. She dreamed that Kita had been bound and dragged against her will and something was forced in her mouth while she screamed. She didn't know what it was but it oddly took the shape and form of...chocolate?

"Kita", she whispered. "Where did you go?"

Jiru sat up and looked over to see two men sleeping nearby. The one with the blue hair she remembered. But the other one with the red hair and fangs lying on the floor, she didn't recall.

'I have to get out of here', she thought, 'no matter how friendly these people are.' She stood up and quietly tip-toed to the bedroom door so as to not wake the sleeping figures, and went out.

Chichiri, however, was not asleep. He was watching Jiru through his mask. When she woke up without questioning him, he assumed she thought that he was sleeping. (Darn, Chichiri and his mask of unreadable expressions!)

'I'd better follow her and make sure she's alright, no da.' Chichiri knew that she would be safe in Tai-yun-jun's palace seeing as it had protection barriers galore but he followed anyway.

Jiru had no idea where she was going, she was just following her instincts actually, as she made her way around too many corners to count.

Shortly after she started walking off she felt a strange but eerily familiar presence behind her. 'Is there someone or something following me?', she asked herself. She turned around.

Chichiri was caught off-guard when she looked back. Before she could see him, he jumped up, turned chibi, and hid behind a large statue in a panic.

Jiru shrugged her shoulders and kept walking. Glad that she was walking on Chichiri turned back to normal size and let out a big breather. "Whew! That was close! She has the senses of an animal, no da!"

Somehow Jiru found her way outside and found Tai-yun-jun sitting near a pond, as if waiting for her. Though to Jiru it just seemed that an elderly lady was just taking a rest. Chichiri found himself a big tree as he made a dive towards it. Hoping that he wasn't being noticed. 'I just wanted to make sure she was safe, no da! Not spy on her!' Chichiri sweatdropped and sighed in disappointment at his curiosity. He stood alert when Tai-yun-jun started to speak.

"After all these years, Jiru, we finally meet again." Jiru looked at Tai-yun-jun in confusion. "Excuse me? Not meaning to be rude or anything but do we know each other? How do you know my name? Where am I, why am I here and more importantly, why isn't Kita here?" Jiru couldn't control herself as she had too many questions. (Chichiri was actually asking himself the same questions, so it's all cool.)

Tai-yun-jun looked at Jiru seriously. "Your curiosity has an undying passion Jiru, but now is not the time to answer them. I just wanted to see how much you grew since the last time I saw you." Then added with a smile. "Well it seems that we are not alone in wanting truth and safety."

Jiru looked even more confused than ever. "What do you mean?" She asked. "Were alone."

"Didn't you sense someone following you before?", Tai-yun-jun replied. "You can come out now Chichiri, there's nothing to worry about."

Chichiri popped out from behind the tree with a sheepish grin on his mask as he bowed before her. "I apologize for my intrusion, no da." He hid his anxiety very well...or did he? "I didn't mean to spy on you two. I was checking to make sure...da?" He paused as he didn't know Jiru's name.

"It's Jiru." Jiru answered shocked at having seen a grown man hiding behing a tree.

Chichiri acknowledged her and nodded. "Thank you, no da. Yes I was checking to make sure Jiru was alright because before she had a bad fever, no da. I didn't mean to interfere with..."

Tai-yun-jun cut him off with a (magical?...not really) wave of her hand. "There is no need for you to explain Chichiri. You have every right to be worried about her. I mean, she did come out of thin air right? So it's completely natural to be concerned." 'This is good', she thought, 'He's taking care or her already, her new guardian.'

Jiru was not used to this. She blushed at hearing that for the first time in her life someone, besides Kita, had been worried about her. Tai-yun-jun looked from the blushing Jiru to the somewhat nervous Chichiri. "Look, you two seem tired, so I will let you go and rest. You will need it for the day ahead of you."

Chichiri and Jiru went back to their respected rooms without speaking. The former with a thoughtful expression. The latter completely wiped out. (So you can see why nothing was said). But every now and then they would sneak glances at each other.

----------------------------

"So...you come here often?...Chichiri is it?"

He nodded for his name. "Occasionally, no da.", he replied. "But it's usually when something important comes up, no da." They were both walking together in a...field of roses?! (holy crap!) Jiru was talking about Tai-yun-jun's place not the rose field...that was natural.

Jiru looked at him all confused-like. "What could be so important?" Chichiri looked down at her very thoughtfully and in, you guessed it, more confusion. This time thought his mask was off. He didn't seem to notice or mind though, neither did Jiru.

"Well," he said scratching his head. "I suppose that would be you, no da."

Jiru couldn't help but laugh. "Ha! What could I possibly do that would be so important. I usually mess things up!"

Chichiri put his finger to his chin. "Hm, I don't know, no da." He smiled at her as he thought up something wonderful, giving Jiru the victory (or peace) sign with his fingers. "Well you would have to be important for Tai-yun-jun to like you so much, no da!" Then added more seriously. "Plus you were covered in that white holy light when you popped up here, no da."

Now it was Jiru's time to look thoughtful and even more confuzzled. "Really? I don't remember that."

"So have you had that white streak in your hair for long, no da?"

Jiru looked up. "What? What are you talking about? My hair is fine."

'It's just as I thought', Chichiri said to himself. He decided he would switch the subject. "Race you to the end of this rose field, no da!" With that said he turned chibi and started hopping through the flowers.

"Hey wait up!" Jiru shouted forgetting all about her hair, as she too turned chibi and hopped after chibi Chichiri.

Jillybean01: O.o. okaaay...that was special.

Jiru:.///still chibi///...I like roses, but wouldn't they have thorns. Ouch!...///trips in a pile of thorns./// I spoke too soon.

Chichiri: .///still chibi as he runs to Jiru///...I shall save you, no da! Daaa!!...///falls and trips over Jiru.///... I tried, no da. ..///sniffles///...

Jiru: ../// barely alive ///...

Jillybean01: Oh and I apologize if this story is taking a slow turn. I just want all of the characters to be properly introduced to each other. Plus I like detail, so if it gets boring please tell me and I will do what I can!