Chapter Ten: Homecoming (I Wish It Didn't Taste So Bitter)
I woke up the next morning feeling downright rotten, even though the sun was shining through the window, the bed was cho-comfy, and the room was at that perfect temperature between 70 and 75 degrees. Most mornings that's really all I need, but today was different. Today, I had to tell Hotohori that I was going home. That didn't really matter all that much to me, of course, because quite frankly he could go jump in a vat of acid for all I cared, the stupid, spoiled prig, but he was the Emperor, and I was the Miko, so I wasn't so sure that he'd just let me walk out of the palace without a second glance.

So, if reasoning didn't work, I'd just have to run away.

I felt a little better with that decision out of the way, so I stood up and decided to face the morning with as much optimism as possible. After glancing around the room for a minute, I realized that Joumi had already gone off somewhere – and, after glancing around the room for another minute, I noticed a bouquet of purple lilies sitting on the table with a small note card next to it. Curious in spite of myself, I walked over and snatched up the card. My knowledge of kanji is pretty limited, now that we've got that whole International Language thing set up, but I'd learned enough in high school to be able to pick up the words 'apology,' 'join' and 'breakfast,' and of course I knew that the signature at the bottom read 'Hotohori.'

My eyebrow twitched. "Is this guy for real?" I growled before tossing both the card and the lilies into the nearby waste bin. Then I turned on my heel and stomped out of the room.

Before too long I found a servant who led me back to my room and my wardrobe, where, much to the servants' horror, I changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a comfortable T-shirt. Once I'd gotten her to stop gaping at me like a fish on dry land, I asked for directions to the main kitchens, which she gave me in an equally surprised stutter. Apparently the Miko isn't supposed to dress casually and eat with servants. Who knew?

The cooks were nice enough and treated me to a meal, which I half-heartedly picked at before I realized that I was too stressed out to eat, then I tracked down another servant and asked in as polite a voice as I could muster, "Could you please tell me where his Most Honorable—" yeah, honorable like a serial rapist –"Highness might be at this time?"

"His Imperial Majesty should be in his private study, taking breakfast with his sister," the servant answered after staring at me for a moment, like maybe she was trying to figure out if I'd snuck into the palace or was just a rebellious politician's kid. "But he's very busy right now, you know, so I wouldn't—"

"Yeah, because eating breakfast takes so much energy. Could you point me in the direction of his study?"

She did, and added, "But Ojou-sama, he doesn't like—" but I was down the hallway and around the corner before she could finish her sentence, because I really couldn't care what the Emperor did or didn't like at this point.

I found the room without much trouble – it was the same one from the evening before, when we'd all eaten dinner together, before he'd acted like a greedy jerk – and remembered my manners enough to knock once on the door before sliding it back. Hotohori, clean and regal once again, glanced up with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth, and when he saw who I was he smiled in a way that made me think he was actually glad to see me, even after calling me a "stupid bitch" less than twelve hours ago. Which, by the way, just ticked me off even more.

"I'm going home," I announced without so much as an 'ohayou, minna'. "You don't have to do anything for me if you don't want to. I'll find my own way back, or whatever. I just figured you should know."

I almost enjoyed the way his face drooped ever so slowly, morphing like a depressed butterfly from a cocky grin to a puzzled frown. Joumi, for her part, didn't say a word, but just stared at her rice and pretended to be someplace else. The ever-present Nuriko hovered in the corner, watching me but never once opening her mouth. So eventually it fell on the Emperor to speak. "Going home?" he repeated.

"Yes," I said.

"Today?"

"Now," I corrected, wondering if he'd even heard me the first time over the sound of his own arrogant blood pounding in his ears.

"Ah…" Hotohori coughed, set down his chopsticks, looked hard at the tablecloth, coughed again, ran a hand through his hair, looked up. "How do you, ah, plan to do that, exactly?"

"Taikyoku-zan," I told him. "And Taiitsukun. She can do it, I think." And by 'I think' I meant 'of course,' but I didn't want to get into the details of how I knew all of this, so I stopped there and waited for him to say something else.

"And might I inquire as to why you are returning?"

Because this world took my childhood fantasies and threw them against a wall. "My leg," I tapped lightly at the side of my injured knee, "is really bothering me. We have better medicine in my world. I want to make sure it doesn't get infected or anything."

"Will you be coming back when that task is finished?"

I'm not the best improvisational actor in the world – that's Hoshi's job, after all – but I've hung out with enough Theatre Junkies to pick up a few tricks of the trade. Plus my dad works in the restaurant business. You gotta know how to lie if you wanna make it in that world. So instead of shouting out the resounding "Hell no!" that was on the tip of my tongue, I offered him a small shrug and said, "If I can."

Hotohori stared at me for another long moment. All things considered, I had to give the guy credit: he was handling this pretty well. But then again, after last night, maybe he wasn't all that thrilled with me being his Miko, either. Maybe he would rather just pretend that my coming here had been a bad dream, too. Whatever his feelings, after a moment he nodded and stood from the table, offering me a bow. "Very well, then. Your wishes will be met, Miko-sama, as best as your servant can grant them. Regrettably, I am unable to accompany you on your journey," "Regrettably for who I wanted to ask, "but the least I can do is send you along with money and a suitable guardian. Nuriko?"

"Hai, Heika?"

"Please supply Mikako with transportation to Taikyoku-zan, and accompany her as far as you are able."

"Hai, Heika."

He said all of this without once turning his eyes away from mine, and Nuriko pretty much did the same thing, so that I sort of felt like they were waiting for me to say 'thank you,' or maybe even to change my mind. But I wasn't about to give him any sort of pleasure, so instead I just said, "I'm ready to leave now, so…" and trailed off.

Nuriko nodded. "We'll take my car. Do you mind waiting in my quarters while I pack a small bag, Miko-sama?"

I told her it was fine, so she unpeeled herself from the Emperor's side, walked around the table, and stood in the doorway, waiting for me. I turned to follow, but at the last moment Joumi rose, dashing towards my side and grabbing my hands in hers.

"Mika-chan!" she squeaked, and tears almost sprang to her eyes, and for half a second I felt a little regretful. But it only took that half a second for her to regain her composure, and by then I'd regained mine too, so when she said, "You will come back, won't you?" I responded as coolly and calmly as anything with, "I told His Majesty I'd try, didn't I?"

Joumi swallowed hard and nodded. "Sou desu. S-sou deshou ka? Well, then… have a s-safe journey, and I will… see you… sometime soon, I hope. I'll pray for it. Tha… thank you for your company, yesterday, Mika-chan. I shall miss you. Toku-dono will, too."

"Ane-ue, what in heaven's name are you two whispering about? And why do you look so depressed? Mikako said she would be back before long. We needn't act as if this is 'sayonara,' you know."

She glanced back at her brother and forced a smile that she couldn't possibly feel. "You're right, Toku-dono. My apologies."

Then she released my hands and took her seat back at the table, which pretty much sealed my decision. Joumi liked me, sure, but when push came to shove she always stood by her brother. He really could've raped me the night before, and she would've excused it somehow. Whether that's true or not, well, you'll have to decide for yourself, but that's how I felt at that moment, so it wasn't difficult in the slightest for me to turn away from that rotten Imperial family, march right out the door after Nuriko, and never once look back.

oOo

I followed my third seishi down a pathway, through a garden, and into a different, simpler part of the palace. All the buildings here looked a little bit older, but no less well-tended, and there was a certain hominess that the Imperial quarters didn't quite have. Maybe it was the little plots of land in front of every house – and they were mostly real houses here, or at least duplexes, not those little attached compartments like with the official palace. It was more like a rich suburb than anything else, I guess.

My curiosity got the better of me, and I asked, "Is this where the upper-level military folks live, then?"

Nuriko grunted an "un," then, to my supreme surprise, added, "Many of the apartments at the end of the lane are reserved for visiting ambassadors and world leaders, but otherwise, yes, this area is reserved exclusively for the military, particularly the palace guard."

Wow, a compound sentence. Maybe she was warming up to me. I didn't have an answer for her, though, so I fell into silence again, and she willingly did the same. After another few minutes she turned sideways into a little yard with a patch of rosebushes, a young cherry tree, and a wooden wind chime hanging from the red-tiled roof – surprisingly feminine for the Teichou, and incredibly well-kept considering that she never seemed to leave the Emperor's side.

"Nice place," I said, following her up the walkway. "I didn't know you were into gardening."

"Considering we've spoken twice, that's not surprising," Nuriko replied in a voice that almost sounded miffed, though I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. "And as it is, I don't garden. I haven't the time. My younger sister studies at a nearby private school. She lives with me. She's the one with the interest in housekeeping."

I couldn't help but smile at that. Of course Nuriko would be living with her little sister. And how lucky, that she was alive in this time!... was what I wanted to think, but I was too tired and sick of this world to really care much about anything anymore. Still, it seemed rude to let the conversation drop there, so I asked, "Oh? Is she here now?"

"I imagine so."

Nuriko slipped a key out of her pocket and slid it into the keyhole, turned it to the left, and stepped back to let me into a cozy living room decorated with old-fashioned wooden chairs, tables, and a soft blue-covered futon. "Cute," I offered. "Your sister's work again?"

She grunted another "un," and I thought maybe our short dialogue was dead again, but at that moment a door to the left of us swung open and a female voice cried. "Onee-chan, okaeri!"

I looked to the newcomer, and felt like maybe I'd just keel over right there. The teenager who greeted me was about as far away from her sister as she could get, from her long dark hair pulled back in a big purple bow to her matching summer dress – embroidered with white flowers, and ruffled at the hem, Lolita-style, which of course made me think of Hoshi – to the bright smile dancing across her face. She was probably a couple of years younger than me, if that, with flushed cheeks – no doubt from working outside all the time – and long, feminine lashes. She'd probably be gorgeous like her sister when she got older, but for now she was the perfect definition of 'Kawaii,' and when she smiled at me I felt obligated to do the same.

"Tadaima, Arisa-chan," Nuriko muttered.

The girl's grin turned into a pout as she planted her hands firmly on her hips. "Onee-chan, is 'Tadaima' all you can say? You're home early and you've brought a guest, not to mention I rearranged the whole living room this morning because you said you kept bumping into the table when you got home late at night – and all you can say to me is 'Tadaima'? I think I'm offended." She looked to me. "Should I be offended, you think?"

"Probably," I agreed, because I didn't know what else to say to that mini-rant. Apparently Nuriko's sister had inherited all the talking genes.

"Gomen," said the seishi, and I could've sworn a half-smile flickered across her face. "The room looks lovely. This is a… friend of mine, from the palace. I'll be taking her back to her home, and it's going to take me a couple of days, so I came home to pack a small bag. We'll be gone in ten minutes or so."

"Oh," her sister's frown deepened.

"Would you mind keeping my friend company while I prepare myself?"

Like clapping a light on, Arisa's face switched from dark to light in half an instant. "Mm! I'll make her feel right at home! In fact, I just made some tea, and there's enough for two people, and I think I've got some of those little biscuits that that one ambassador brought, so I'll grab a few of those too, and we'll have a foreign tea party! I'll look after her so well she won't want to leave again!"

Nuriko chuckled, and I tripped over the edge of the carpet out of sheer shock. "Arigatou, Arisa-chan. I'll only be a moment."

"Take your time, Onee-chan!" and as her sister disappeared into the other room, Arisa turned towards me, ducked a hasty bow, cried "Please make yourself comfortable! I'll be right back!" and disappeared the way she'd entered.

I sat down like she'd asked and took a moment to look around the room again, this time taking in the red-stone fireplace and the family pictures above the hearth. Nuriko; Arisa; Nuriko and Arisa; a young Nuriko with an older boy – maybe a close friend? – and…

But before I could swivel to look at any others, Arisa reentered the room, already chatting up a storm. "So we only have a couple biscuits left but you and I can still eat them, and I'm afraid they're oatmeal-raisin but they're still delicious and really fresh, if you like that sort of thing. The tea is western, too, if that's OK – I just love Benedick culture."

I decided that 'Benedick' was the Konan-equivalent to England. "Sounds good to me. Though Nuriko probably won't take very long, so…" I trailed off, because Arisa's face had gotten all cloudy again. "Ano… Arisa-san?"

"So she's got everyone calling her 'Nuriko' now?" she muttered darkly, then looked up again and flashed a pained smile. "How long have you two been friends?"

I giggled and rubbed the back of my head. "Well, 'friend' might be a bit strong. We only just met yesterday, and not under the best conditions."

"Oh?"

"It's… kind of a long story."

"Oh." She sat down across from me, handing out a 'biscuit' (or 'cookie,' as Hoshi's mum calls it) and pouring two cups of tea. "Well, I'm glad Onee-chan's making friends here and there, even if the stories are complicated. All she ever does around this ruddy palace is protect the Emperor, and sometimes, like once every month, she and Joumi have tea together. But I don't think either of those count as friendships, and that's not fair to her. Of course she's so quiet anymore that it shouldn't surprise me, and she's such a workaholic… Ne, are you taking classes nearby, too? It'd be such fun if we could have study sessions together!"

I blinked at the sudden topic change. "No, I'm not going to school here. Actually, I'm going home for a while."

"Oh, home! Do you like 'home'?"

"Most of the time, I guess."

Arisa sighed wistfully. "That must be nice. I can't stand 'home,' not with that overbearing control-freak running the Estate like a bloody warship. Otoo-san's so outdated. I hate it. Onee-chan loves him to death, though I can't figure out why. But then again I'm just the youngest, and a girl too, so he never had any expectations for me. That's why I'm going to study hard and become a politician. Ne, when I'm rich and powerful, you should come visit me. We'll have good biscuits then. Chocolate-chip."

"I'll… see what I can do," I said, and couldn't hold in my laughter anymore.

Nuriko's sister puffed up her cheeks and glared at me. "Moooooou, you're laughing at me! Being a politician isn't silly! Why, Benedick even has a female Prime Minister, you know! It's only this stupid place that's got something against girls anymore!"

I shook my head and waved a hand, fighting back my giggles. "No, it's not that, Arisa-san, I promise! I was just thinking about how different you are from Nuriko. With her I feel like I've gotta drag the conversation along – with you, I can barely keep up!"

"Oh." Now Arisa laughed, too. "Yeah. Onii-chan always joked about how I talk enough for the both of us. Onee-chan says the same thing. Though… it didn't get really bad until…" she got all foggy again, then shook her head and looked up. "Ne, call me Alice, not Arisa, okay? Only Onee-chan calls me Arisa anymore, because she can't pronounce foreign names to save her life. And Otoo-san, but he doesn't count."

My ears twitched at 'Onii-chan,' because hadn't Nuriko said…? But before I could say anything Alice turned to me and was off again, asking, "Ne, what's your name? I'm so rude – I never thought to ask!"

"Oh, I'm Kasumiya Mikako."

Alice's teacup stopped halfway to her lips. "You're who?"

"K… Kasumiya Mikako," I repeated.

"No, you're not."

I raised an eyebrow. "Yes… I am."

"S-so you're the… the Mikako? As in… the Mi… Mi… Miko?"

"Oh." I sighed. "Nuriko told you that? Yeah, I guess I am the Miko, except—"

But I never finished my sentence, because the biscuit in Alice's left hand whipped forward, slamming straight into my forehead.

"GET OUT!" she screamed, grabbing another biscuit and winging it at me. I barely managed to bring up an arm to protect myself, which was a good thing because she threw her teacup at me next, and I had to practically dive behind the couch to avoid getting a face-full of chamomile. "GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN, NOT EVER, YOU SCUMMY MIKO!"

I scrambled to my feet, still ducking a barrage of biscuits. "Alice-san, what—?"

"It's your fault!" she shrieked, running out of food and resorting to sharp words, now. "You're the reason Onee-chan's so different! I want you to disappear! I just want you to go away forever!"

"Alice, I—"

"Arisa-chan, what is going on?"

Our heads whipped to the door to see Nuriko standing in the frame, wide-eyed, with a suitcase under one arm. For the first time ever, she actually looked shocked, and maybe even a little annoyed.

Alice pointed an accusing finger at my chest. "Why did you bring her here, Onee-chan? I HATE HER! Everything is all her fault!" Her eyes fell on mine again and bore right through me, blazing with what felt like a lifetime's worth of frustration and hatred. "You're supposed to be this powerful Miko, right? Then give me back my Onee-chan! Get her to be herself again, damn you!"

"Arisa-chan, stop telling such foolish lies," Nuriko almost-snarled, stepping forward and setting a protective hand on my shaking shoulder. "I apologize for this, Mikako. Let's go."

"It's not a lie and you know it!" Alice cried as we turned to leave. "You didn't get so cold until that stupid symbol showed up! It's all the Miko's fault that you're stuck in this stupid palace with that stupid Emperor doing his stupid, stupid chores!"

"I chose my own path. You know that."

"No, you didn't! You never chose a damn thing! You just did whatever Otoo-san wanted, and you gave up everything for that! You gave up yourself for it, and that stupid symbol let you do it, too!"

"That's enough, Arisa-chan," Nuriko growled.

Her words fell on deaf ears. "But you just don't get it, Onee-chan! You're not his son, and you're never going to be and you're never going to make him happy, because he's a rotten old bastard anyway, so just stop it! Stop trying to be Onii-chan!"

Nuriko threw open the front door and pulled me out. "Ittekimasu," she muttered through her sister's shrieks, and slammed the door behind us with a decisive clang.

I was too dazed to do anything but let Nuriko lead me (though her 'lead' is more like a 'drag') towards the back of her house and into a little side building where she kept her car. She opened the passenger's door for me and I crawled in, without even an 'arigatou,' and just sat there, staring at my sneakers. I don't even know what I was thinking then – if I was upset or angry or just confused – or even if I was thinking anything at all. It was like Alice's tirade had kicked my brain inside out.

"I apologize for my sister," Nuriko said, fiddling with her keys.

I shrugged. Nuriko coughed once and turned the keys into the ignition, and the little vehicle roared to life. As we pulled out of the driveway, I turned my eyes to look out the window, and they stayed there for most of the trip, not even turning when Nuriko said, a few minutes later, "I'm sure you're curious about what she said. About her brother."

Again, I shrugged, which I guess Nuriko took as a sign to say something else. "I didn't lie to you. Neither did she. We had a brother, three years my elder. He's dead now."

"Okay," I finally said. I could kind of sense Nuriko getting uncomfortable, which almost struck me as funny, that anything could rile her up, but it made the air in the car unpleasant, so I added, "You don't need to feel bad or anything. I like Alice-san. So if she's upset with me, she probably has a good reason."

Besides, I added to myself, she made it just that much easier for me to leave. I'm not really wanted here, and the people who want me want me for all the wrong reasons. So, I can just leave. And I don't ever, once have to look back.

oOo

I don't have any exciting stories about the trip to Taikyoku-zan. Maybe that was for the best, though. Nuriko and I sat in relative silence for about ten hours, listening to the radio, breaking each other's privacy only to say something like, "Are you hungry? There's a stop up ahead" or "I need to use the restroom." Otherwise, peace and quiet, and the occasional nap. After the past few days, I was only too grateful for it.

Until, out of nowhere, Nuriko pulled off the main highway and into a little picnic area, then threw the car into 'park' and said, "This is as far as I can take you. Taikyoku-zan is still considered Holy Land. You won't find any more roads or towns from here. Just follow the dirt path up the mountain about two miles. It should only take you an hour, I suspect. I've never been there myself."

I blinked. "Oh. You aren't… coming with me?"

"You'll be safe without me. That is my only priority."

"Oh." I felt a lump in my throat, but I swallowed it back before it could embarrass me. I opened the car door and hopped out. "I guess I'll see you later, then."

"No, you won't," Nuriko said, and she said it with such certainty and somberness that I couldn't tell if she was accusing me or just stating a fact.

I bristled anyway. "I'll come back if I can."

"No, you won't," she said again, reaching across the way and closing my door behind me. "You won't come back for anything, if you can help it."

I set my hands on top of the open window, half-ready for a fight and half-just ashamed of myself for being so transparent about it – and for giving up in the first place. "You mad at me, then?"

"No," Nuriko answered. "Just disappointed. I am not a religious person. But even I thought the Miko would not abandon her people so easily."

I snorted. "Yeah, and what people might those be? The ones who try to kill me, the ones who try to rape me, or the ones who just throw oatmeal-raisin biscuits at me?"

Nuriko shifted the car out of park. "Mm, I suppose you're correct. Jaa, sayonara, Miko-sama."

Moments later she was flying out of the small lot, kicking up a tiny cloud of dust as she went. I watched until the car had disappeared into the very distance, first as a speck, and then as absolutely nothing, before stumbling backwards and collapsing into a nearby park bench. I stared up at the crisp blue sky, watching a pair of sparrows dart in and out of the nearby trees, and heaved a long, heavy sigh, the kind of sigh that's supposed to either let out tears or hold them all back.

I didn't let myself cry again, though. I had decided to be done with all that the night before, and I wasn't going to break my promise now. Besides, what reason did I have to be crying, anyway? I'd decided to leave everyone behind, and I had damn good reasons for it, too. No one cared about me. Konan was a mess. The seishi were hopeless. The two people who'd been kind to me were only kind to me so I would help their asshole friends. And the one girl I'd met who seemed semi-normal hated me. It didn't matter why. Not anymore. It was just one more reason to leave. So why would I cry? Why had I expected anything from Nuriko? Had I really been holding out for some last redeeming plea?

"Mikako, you're such an idiot," I murmured to the sky. Then I stood up, cracked my back, and took off up the dirt path.

I didn't think on the rest of the journey. I just set one foot in front of the other, stared down at the path, and took step after step up the gently sloping mountain. The forest became thicker, quieter, more peaceful, but it didn't do much to my mood. I just kept focusing on the trail, and home, until finally the path widened and flattened out and at last I looked up, and found myself at the top of the mountain, and standing in front of me were my three seishi, smiling sheepishly.

Go ahead and read that last sentence over again. I know I must have blinked at least a hundred times when I saw that.

Riki rubbed the back of his head. "Oi, Mikako… the Emperor called me and told me about what happened. Listen, I… I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't've run off. You really helped out, back there in the palace, so…"

Hotohori bowed low. "I, too, must give you my supreme apologies. My behavior was inexcusable. However, I hope you will overlook such horrid misconduct and focus on the greater goal, the goal we all wish for – I sincerely hope you will stay and save Konan."

Nuriko opened her mouth, but I held up a finger. "Matte," I said, then turned my eyes back to the skies again. "Taiitsukun, is this really the best trick you could come up with? I'm idealistic, but I'm not an idiot. Really, I think you're losing your touch."

An unseen voice chuckled. "Well done, Suzaku no Miko. You're much sharper than your original predecessor."

I rolled my eyes. "No offense to my aunt, but a feather is sharper than she was. And don't call me the Suzaku no Miko. I'm not."

The seishi illusions – because of course that's what they were – standing in front of me wavered and disappeared, and in they're place stood a boy, about nine years old or so, twirling a yo-yo lazily in his left hand. He glanced up at me from around a mop of curly black hair and a red baseball cap, watching me with amber eyes as deep as eternity. His lips curled upwards into a mysterious smile. "Kasumiya Mikako."

"Taiitsukun," I replied, offering the deity a low bow. "I like you're new form. It's cho-kawaii. Quite the improvement from the Sunakake-babaa."

One eyebrow twitched ever-so-slightly. "That troublesome nickname is never going to stop haunting me, is it?" Taiitsukun coughed and looked up again, all composure once more. "Might I ask what you're doing on this holy mountain, and by yourself, no less?"

"You're the Controller of the Universe, right?"

"I have been called that, yes."

"Then, with all due respect, you shouldn't ask questions when you already know the answers," I said, offering him another small bow. "With all due respect, of course. You know why I'm here, you know the situation, so there's no reason to stand around discussing it. I want to go home. I'm not injured. My own ki should be enough." I reached into my pocket and pulled out my favorite little bit of technology. "My friend Hoshi's reading this right now, I'd guess, and she has a PSMini with her too. So that'll be the connection. Is there anything else you need?"

Taiitsukun blinked. I think I'd caught him by surprise, all things considered. "Ah… you… certainly are familiar with the methods of this world, aren't you?"

"I did my research," I answered shortly. "Could I please go home now?"
The deity stared at me for a long, hard moment, and the sheer depth of those powerful eyes coming out of that cute little-kid face might have been the most unnerving thing I've ever seen. I held my ground, though, and tried not to look as uncomfortable as I felt. "You don't intend to return."

"Not if I can help it."

"Are you certain about that, Kasumiya Mikako?" he demanded, taking a couple of steps forward until I could've reached out and touched him. "If the story is left unfinished…"

"Lots of stories are left unfinished," I answered with a shrug. "Why else do you think there are so many starving authors?"

The corner of Taiitsukun'd mouth twitched ever-so-slightly, though I hadn't really planned on making a joke. The situation really wasn't that humourous, come to think of it. I waited to see what was so funny, but all he said was "The authors of this story would be intrigued to hear that," before turning his back to me and slipping the yo-yo into his pocket. Taiitsukun clapped his hands twice, calling out "Nyan! Your assistance, if you please!"

"Oh, we're gonna do it right out here?" I asked, glancing around the clearing.

Taiitsukun glared at me out of the corner of his eye. "You said you were in a hurry."

I couldn't argue with that, and even if I'd wanted to I wouldn't have had a chance, because at that moment a pink bubble burst above our heads, and out floated a 12-year old girl dressed in a standard sailor-suit schoolgirl uniform. "Nyan!" she announced before landing lightly next to the great deity. "Tai-kun called?"

The deity shot his servant a death glare, fighting hard to keep the twitch out of his eyebrow. "You insolent…! I told you not to call me that!"

"But in that form, Tai-kun is totemo kawaiiiiii!" the Nyan squealed, curling her hands up under her chin. "So Nyan-Nyan will call Tai-kun 'Tai-kun', and Tai-kun will call Nyan-Nyan 'Senpa—' itai!"

Taiitsukun dusted off his hands and turned back to me while the Nyan nursed a swollen cheek. Little tears were about to burst out of the corners of her eyes, and the whole situation was so adorable that I almost fell over laughing. But Taiitsukun met me again with those deep eyes, and I sobered up right away. "Your ki is strong, like you said. We can do it right now… if you're certain that's what you want."

"Taiitsukun, again, with all do respect, you can stop repeating yourself. I'm sure."

The deity heaved a sigh, and even Nyan-Nyan looked a little depressed. "Mou…" the little girl murmured. "Konan is still bleeding, Tai-kun."

"Yes," Taiitsukun murmured, "but they've done it to themselves, Nyan. Is that not so, Kasumiya Mikako?"

I didn't know how to answer that, so I offered him a nothing-sort of shrug. He accepted that, I guess, because he clapped his hands together and closed his eyes. "Focus on your home, Kasumiya Mikako." He peeked out of one eye long enough to turn to Nyan-Nyan and snap, "Nyan! Pay attention!"

"H-hai!" she squeaked, and clapped her hands together as well.

The two started to murmur a low chant under their breath, but I wasn't listening to the words. I had my eyes closed, too, and I was thinking about my room, and my parents, and Hoshi, and Ueda-kun, and all of my friends, and my teachers. My favorite shows. My after school clubs. My life.

I thought about all of it, and the longer I focused the fuzzier everything got, and the warmer everything got, and the quieter Taiitsukun's and Nyan-Nyan's voices got, until there was nothing but me and darkness, and then there wasn't even that.

oOo

My eyes fluttered open little by little, until I found myself sitting in the spacious restroom of one of the Bullet Trains. I blinked, rubbed at my eyes, and turned my head a bit from side to side. "I'm here… but where's…?" I murmured into the fuzz between my ears. Then everything rushed back to me, and a horrible thought shook me like a rickety airplane. "Oh my gods! Hoshi! She must have had a hold of her PSMini, and instead of me just coming back, she was… she was…!"

I jumped up and darted around the small compartment, searching frantically for the missing Universe. "That book, that book, I've got to get back into that book… ooooh, why didn't I think about that before I ran away? No wonder Taiitsukun kept asking me if I was so sure! Hoshi, Hoshi, I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry…!"

"What are you sorry about?"

I gasped at the voice and whirled to see my best friend standing in the doorway, a small cup in each hand. "Hoshi…" I whispered, and blinked back tears. But the relief was too great, and pretty soon I was diving across the compartment and throwing my arms around my friend, nearly tackling her to the floor in the process. "Oh, thank God you didn't get sucked into the book!"

"Sucked into the book?" she repeated, fighting hard to keep her drinks from spilling. "Really, Miko-chan, do I strike you as that oblivious? I set my PSMini down and brought the book in here, so no one would see your dramatic reappearance. I only left you for a moment so that I might return with something to soothe your throat. I thought you'd surely be parched after such a tiring dimension-trip." She held out her left hand, smiling up at me. "Chai Tea?"

I gripped the cup in trembling fingers, murmuring a "Doumo," before sitting back down and glancing around the room again. "Say, Hoshi-chan, why are we on the train anyway? I got sucked in when I was back at your house."

"Oh, well, I didn't want to be late for school, so I brought the book with me. I had intended to tearfully tell Sensei of your crippling illness, but after I read the first couple of chapters I came to the stunning conclusion that your story ran parallel to the original, and I began to at once hope and fret that you might return before we even arrived." Leave it to my storyteller friend to figure out a fiction device like that. "Luckily, you did, so neither of us must miss the presentation!"

I stared at her. "You read all of what happened to me in less than ten minutes?"

Hoshi giggled nervously and rubbed at the back of her head. "Er… I skimmed. But I got the gist of what happened, I swear!"

My face fell, and I took a slow sip of my tea. "You were right," I murmured with all the dejection of a kid whose puppy just ran away. "It really was just a story. My aunt's adventures… they were all a bunch of lies, weren't they?"

"I'm not sure," she admitted, and reached over and sort of gave me a one-armed hug, "but I do know that I'm happy to have you back. The situation became so dire at certain moments, I wasn't entirely certain you'd arrive in one piece, if you arrived at all." She jumped up suddenly, snapping her fingers together. "Sa! That reminds me!" She reached over her shoulder and into her small knapsack, pulling out the greatest invention of all time. "Salvation for my beleaguered Miko-chan, all in one small tube!"

"Hoshi, you're a goddess!" I grabbed the bottle of Med, slipped off my jeans, and slowly unwrapped the bandage on my knee. I held the bottle over my injury and let two slow, off-white drops fall into the wound. My whole leg went numb for a second – I'll never get used to that feeling, I don't think – and the injury bubbled over with foam, like an elementary school volcano experiment. But less than half a minute later the foam cleared, and all that was left of my former gun wound was a bright pink scar, and even that would probably be gone by the end of the day. Better still, every last ounce of pain had vanished from my kneecap. I was starting to feel like myself again already.

"And…" Hoshi held up a red tank top decorated with black cats and a knee-length, black skirt adored with red lace along the bottom hem. I stared at the clothes, then up at Hoshi. She stared right back. "Well, I know it does not resemble your typical attire, Miko-chan, but 'twas the only article available in my closet that I thought would meet your approval! Unless, of course, you would prefer to look like a character from a 1980s after-school special?"

I glanced down at my jeans and T-shirt, then back up at the clothes in Hoshi's hands. She was still glaring at me like I'd brutally offended her, in her typical, overly-dramatic way, but to be honest, I'd really missed her theatrical style. Hearing her talk like that, it made the whole ordeal just seem like a dream. "Beggars can't be choosers," I said, quoting one of my grandma's favorite sayings, and set to changing. Hoshi sat back down on the bench, toying with something between her hands. It took me a minute to realize it was The Universe of the Four Gods. "Oh, you can hide that back under the seat, if you want," I told her. "I'm not going back."

"You think you won't?" Hoshi asked, stuffing the book into her knapsack. She glanced up at me and must have seen the anger in my eyes, because she winced and nodded. "Sorry for asking. I just thought… I mean, Suzaku did choose you as the Miko…"

"Oh, for Buddha's sake, not you too!" I snapped, throwing up my hands and plopping back down on the sofa. "Come on, Hoshi-chan, you read all of that, didn't you? You saw the kinds of rotten things that happened to me! And even then, you know, even with all the violence and the killings and the everything about that place, I could've handled it, I really could have, if it hadn't been for those... those scummy, worthless, horrid seishi." I spat the word like poison, but changed my mind and added, "No, you know what, I won't even call them that! They don't deserve that title!"

"There's a story behind every story," Hoshi murmured, still staring at the floral-patterned wallpaper across from us. "A life weaves into another life, and another into that, and endlessly into oblivion. If stories spawn stories, and those spawn stories, then where, exactly does the story begin? When can the sinners be held accountable for their sins, and when are they simply trapped in the weavings of the author's pen?"

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "It almost sounds like you're trying to defend those prats!"

Hoshi looked up again and turned to me, smiling slightly. "Gomen, Miko-chan. I went into 'Storyteller Mode,' as you enjoy calling it. I was just… musing, I suppose. About lives – about history – about fiction – about what could have shaped such individuals. But you're right, of course. They all behaved like absolute beasts."

"Of course they did!" I snapped, crossing my arms hard over my chest. "It's a seishi's job to love, serve and protect his Miko, and they royally boffed it, so they get whatever they deserve, and it's of no concern to me. End of story."

But as soon as I said that I realized that it wasn't the end of the story, not even close. Because at that exact moment another question exploded into my mind like a nuclear blast, one that shut me up and stopped me dead in my tracks, and had me walking in silence even after the train came to a stop and Hoshi and I hurried to our first hour class:

If a seishi's job was to love, serve and protect his Miko, then what was the Miko's job?

Japanese Terms:
Ojou-sama – polite form of Miss; literally means 'Daughter-sama'
'Ohayou, minna' – 'Good morning, everyone'
'Sou desu. Sou deshou ka?' – 'I see. Is that so?' (v. polite)
'Un' – informal 'yes'
Onee-chan – Affectionate form of Big Sister
Okaeri – Welcome home
Kawaii – Cute
Tadaima – I'm back
Otoo-san – Father
Onii-chan – Brother
Ittekimasu – I'm going (said when you leave the house)
Jaa, sayonara – Well, good-bye
Sunakake-Babaa – Sand-throwing old hag; the name Miaka gave Taiitsukun
Doumo – Informal 'thanks'

Suffixes
-zan – 'mount' or 'mountain.' So, Taikyoku-zan is 'Mount Taikyoku'
…And I'm not going to worry about the other suffixes, 'cause I bet you know them by now:-)

Names Explained!
Arisa (有佐) – "Have (Ari) Help (Sa)" – so: "Helper"

Author's Note 10/16/06
Hi everyone!
Again, the chapter took forever. I know. I'm sorry. College isn't easy, you know! But I hope everyone is still out there reading! So what did you think of this chapter? I had to move things along at kind of a weird pace, so I hope that didn't bother anyone too much. Also, what did you think of Arisa/Alice-chan? Ah, Nuriko's family is shrouded in secrets! Will Mikako ever find out the truth? But I guess she doesn't want to, these days…

Thanks to KittyLynne, Kohaku Minamoto, TigerChickTigress, KiWi, Lady Seiryu, ThePastIsThePast, Meeple, Kristall, antyem13, and DianaLW for reviewing! Wow, I have so many reviews, it's so exciting! It makes me want to post chapters faster. If I can, I will, I promise!

Oh, and thanks to DianaLW for the kanji for "Reizei"! (Remember how I said I couldn't find the kanji, so I didn't know what it meant?) It translates to, "Cool (Rei) Spring (Zei)."

Next time: "Home sweet home" feels great to Mikako, but something isn't sitting right with her. Will Konan ever see its Miko again? See you in the next chapter!

/ Tangerine Infinity /