Author Fangirling: This probably my favorite chapter. As always, reviews are fondly read over and over.

So, Taka had Nuriko and Tasuki's jewels, and we knew where Hotohori's was, just not how to get to it. There was the one that disappeared from the library, which I'm pretty sure Tetsuya probably got his hands on. I get this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach when I imagine Taka being without those memories, but it's fine as long as Tenkou doesn't get all of them, right? Taka just needs a few to let him still exist. That's no excuse just to stop here and drag Tetsuya home, though, because Houki and the prince's lives are in danger for as long as that jewel is there.

That accounted for four out the seven jewels. There were only six warriors in this world, though, so I was just now starting to wonder where the wild card seventh could be.

It aggravated me just how stupid Tetsuya was being. No wonder he likes Yui so much, he gets strung along just as bad as she does! And he thought he was so sure who the good guys and bad guys were. After we're done with this mess, I'm going to give him such a hard time for this.

There was a twinge of guilt when I thought that. As much of a jerk as Yui was to Miaka, Miaka never gave her any kind of grief over it. Miaka's just a nicer person that I am, I guess, and wouldn't even think of anything like that. Plus, those two are so close that not even an experience that big could come between them forever. Sometimes it's hard to tell who Miaka cares for most, whether it's Yui or Taka. I'm prone to say Taka, but she flip-flopped so much between Hotohori and Tamahome for a while that it was difficult to say if she was just hung up on a crush. Once she and Yui made a connection when they were little, it was like there was no other contention for that spot in her heart.

How does Miaka do that, anyway? Attract so many people to her that they can never quite give her up? I'll bet a lot of the other warriors would love to have Taka's opportunity, if only just to see her again.

I had a lot of time to think about this as we were waiting around the palace. Nuriko had left, saying that as a ghost he'd be to scout out the others and maybe Nyan-Nyan quicker than I could, and he had put Hotohori in charge of Houki's care. Hotohori didn't even have the chance to say he'd take that task, Nuriko just gave it to him. He was still pretty daring to think he could give the emperor orders, but maybe their one-sided romance and Suzaku-brotherhood gave him some leeway. Tasuki volunteered to go look around too, and Hotohori ordered me (as was more fitting for an emperor, to give orders rather than take them, I guess) to stay there should anything happen regarding the jewel, as Tasuki had told him how I was like Tamahome's medium in this world.

So… there was mostly a lot of sitting to do in Houki's room. She seemed much more lively than when I had first met her, and was sitting up and sharing a meal with me. "You must be very proud of your sister, the priestess."

"Yeah, yeah I am," I gave her a canned response. I really wasn't worth much more around here except for being related to the priestess. But hey, she was the national hero and legend, not me.

"Does your homeland share the same kind of stories about her?"

"Not really, we keep it pretty secret that she ever came. Just me and my friend know about it. Besides the Priestess of Seiryuu and Taka, anyway."

"…Taka?"

"Oh, that's what he's going by nowadays. It sounds more normal in our world than does Tamahome."

"I see. Names will be something to consider soon," she put a hand to her belly. "Taka…"

Behind her, Hotohori was shaking his head quickly. "Not Taka. Nothing against Tamahome, of course, but this is my son."

I resisted the urge to tell him that if he was able to look in and see that it was a boy, he should have been able to see where the jewel was, too. Still, because Houki couldn't hear or see him (although she said she was able to feel his presence), I thought I'd help him out a bit. "I don't know how much His Highness would like that name…"

"What would he suggest?"

"Boushin."

"Boushin," I repeated, noticing his quickness, "it seems like one he already planned out."

"Boushin," she grimaced, "It would have to grow on me."

"How could you not like it?" he shouted at her unhearing ears. "Boushin is a perfectly strong, appealing name for my child, the next emperor and leader of my people! Besides, they would choose an official name for him when he takes the throne anyway!"

"Look out!" I yelled and pointed to our new visitor. This was random demon number… what? Four? Maybe five? I can't get rid of these things.

It struck immediately towards us, and fortunately was a bad shot and only knocked over the table stacked with food that Houki and I had been sitting at. Hotohori's automatic response was to shield his wife, but because he had no physical form, he couldn't even catch her as she fell from the chair due to the force of the blow. As it drew back to launch it's whatever-it-was at us again, I jumped to her side and barked at him to leave her to me and use his sword against the thing. It wasn't that strange giving an emperor orders after all.

He obeyed and leaped into action, slicing off the whatever-it-was first. Houki was dazed and looked over to me to ask what was going on, and what that thing in her bedroom was. "You'll be alright, we're here to protect you," I told her, which was probably one of the more heroic things I had ever said, despite not really being able to do much and just hoping Hotohori would make demon-kabobs out of it. Still, adrenaline took the better of me when it struck at us away, this time with better aim. I moved Houki to the other side, placing my hand on her stomach as I did so, but had no place to go myself, and the thing went straight into my rib cage.

I felt the impact, but the adrenaline was merciful enough to make it just feel like a blur instead a painful sensation. Still, my body couldn't hold itself up, and I felt myself sinking, feeling heavier. In the midst of all the noise, I could hear them shouting my name, but I didn't make any effort to respond; I just wanted to fall.

Would it all have ended there? I guess I should have felt more scared, but it was a strange, peaceful numbness. Houki was screaming my name by now, I could tell that. My hand had fallen lower down her belly, and the one thing I distinctly felt there was a warmness. Maybe that was the prince I was feeling, I thought, and just smiled a little, before everything started feeling much colder, and the room looked darker.

"Keisuke!"

That wasn't a voice in the room. That was Taka's.

"Taka… I can't…"

"I just got them… the memories of Hotohori!"

"Oh… that's great… maybe the demon won't go after Houki…"

"Keisuke, you can't die there. Hold on!"

I didn't feel like I could say much. Dying… was that really was I was doing?

Sairou seemed nice. Not that it was my first time zapping myself here, but this place seemed nicer than the last. This village was supposed to be the place where Amiboshi was living without his memories and thinking he was 'Kaika'. Of course, anyone's who's read the book could have told me that much. If Suboshi's spirit was still wandering around in the book like the Suzaku warrior's spirits, then the only place I could think for him to be would be here. He wasn't hard to find, just sitting on a hill and watching things down below. It was easy enough to walk up and say, "Hi, you must be Suboshi."

"Leave me alone, jackass."

That was unexpected. But knowing Suboshi, maybe I should have expected it. No wonder Yui didn't go for this guy.

"Excuse me? I'm Tetsuya. Shouldn't you find it at all interesting that I can see you?"

"That's exactly why you're not interesting to me," he grumbled with only a side glance at me. "The only reason you'd be able to see me is if you're dead and working for Tenkou."

"I'm not dead."

"But you're working for the creep, aren't you? For the last time, I want nothing to do with that guy and he should leave me and my brother the hell alone."

"Hey, whoa! That's not why I came. Has Tenkou tried to offer you things before or something?"

"Yeah, like somebody's body to use just so I could do his dirty work. I'm not interested in being alive again for something like that."

"Well, I admit he's got some pretty strange people working for him," I couldn't help but smile, until I realized what that said about me. "How do you know so much about him already?"

He snorted and shook his head a bit. "Yeah, he's only got bodies to offer to dead people, maybe some power and revenge. Nakago used to work with the guy, but that was because he liked that Nakago was powerful to begin with. He only approached me and Tomo after we were dead. So if you're not dead, does that mean you're powerful?" He seemed sarcastic.

"Well, I wasn't before I met him. But I was weird by the standards of people here, being from Yui's world and all."

That one hit a nerve.

He lunged, and I guess because of the powers Tenkou gave me to be able to touch the other ghosts, Suboshi was able to put his hand on my neck instead of just through it. He wasn't choking me (yet), but had a crazed look and was right up in my face; it was enough to make me yelp a little. "You know Lady Yui? How? How is she?"

"She's fine, she's doing great in school, and she's cheerful again. Mostly," I frowned. I couldn't lie to Suboshi. He knew just as well as I did how badly she had been hurt, and he had been even more affected by it than I was. "The things that happened in this world still stick with her, even though she doesn't talk about it much."

"Lady Yui," he frowned and let his grip go some. "Can she ever hope to heal?"

"She's doing a lot better now, though. She and Miaka are the best of friends again, and it turns out she wasn't raped at all, Nakago just made her think so." He was about to rev up on me again when I mentioned his name, so to keep him from taking out his anger on me I quickly added, "I know, I hate him, too. It's his fault any of this happened to her. If only you had been the first to find her instead. I'd have trusted you to take better care of her."

"Whose to say I could have done anything to protect her? She always pushed me away when I tried to protect her, and always wanted to go fly to Nakago, or even Tamahome whenever she was hurting! And still fleeing to the Priestess of Suzaku… Who are you to Lady Yui?"

Why could I not find it in me to lie to him? That would have been to smarter thing to do. "I'm… sort of the guy she's dating. Her boyfriend."

He looked like he was either going to cry or laugh, but that expression changed back into his usual angry expression once he started speaking. "She still has such terrible taste. She's actually allowing herself to be with a man who accepted power from some evil god. Do you think that will impress her? Then again, looking at her past choices, you're probably on the right track."

"Who are you calling evil? I've never killed any children!"

"You can't understand what was going on then," he barked. "So are you saying I should join Tenkou too, so I can go after bigger game?"

"No. That's not at all what I'm saying. I'm not even planning on Yui ever finding out that I'm here or what I'm doing. I'm here to help people, people like you who loved their priestess!"

"Then I guess you're not evil. You're just an idiot. Are you sure you're not here to get revenge on anyone?"

"And who would I get revenge against?" I paused, because he probably had a point--a part of me was here because I hated Nakago so much.

"That's the only card Tenkou could think to play against me, but it's really kind of pointless to keep playing the revenge game once I'm already dead. The two people I care about most are safe now, so what's the point? I'm smarter than Tenkou gives me credit for. The guy just isn't creative enough to think that I'm not motivated by the same stuff as the other dead people are. See, I'm not the biggest idiot around here. But maybe if I were a little stupider like someone else here, Yui would have appreciated me more."

"Where do you get off saying all this crap? You don't even know what my mission is. Not that you'd like to hear it, but I'm here to help the Suzaku warriors be with their priestess, and with Tamahome who already left this world. Where is the evil in that?"

He paused, then burst out laughing. A genuine laugh! "No, you must not be evil at all. Just an idiot through and through. That's nothing like what he told me before in his revenge offer."

"Just… why do you keep mentioning this?"

"If you know anything about me and how I died and who I killed and why, you know I always wanted revenge against Tamahome."

What…? But why would Tenkou offer…?

"Any lights finally coming on?"

Is Tenkou just bipolar or completely indecisive as to employ Nakago one moment, then let me be free to do whatever I want to him when the time comes? Why is that coming to mind now?

"You're not worth my time. If you're worth anything to Yui, you'll stand to be a little bit better for her. If not, I'll come after you without any help from Tenkou, whether it's your world or mine."

Though the laws of physics forbade it, I didn't doubt that he had the willpower to come exterminate me in my own world if it was for Yui's sake. As attached as he is to his twin and watching over him, he wouldn't have any kind of problem throwing away his memories if only to be at her side. Why would the Suzaku warriors be having so much trouble with it? Aren't they more than as good as Suboshi?

I don't know when I did it, but I did wind up whisking myself back away to some other place, any other place. I felt that if I spoke to Suboshi any more I was going to throw up or get dizzy or something. I just needed a few moments to clear my head.

Maybe it's because Suboshi's crazy. He was always a character I related to (well, not at first, just after I started falling for Yui and after having read the whole thing), so I kind of overlooked that part of his personality. Keisuke could have warned me about that. I can't just edit these characters to be the way I see them, no matter how well I think I know them. Just like Keisuke's a real person I can't just edit, and even if I don't like it he'd never steer me wrong.

What do I really know about Tenkou? Am I in the right place? There's really no one I can ask. But nothing good is going to happen if I just decide to stop doing this. I still need to help the Suzaku warriors!

But if what Suboshi said about revenge and Tamahome was true, why would Tenkou had told me to help them? What would he have offered the others? Renhou and Miisu, they probably would have wanted something against the people who killed them, and Hikou was killed by his best friend over a lover's spat.

And I left him with Chichiri.

I am the biggest idiot in this entire book.