Chapter Ten - Return
Nikki followed the man into what looked like a rather seedy part of town. She had realized after a few minutes of walking with him that he was not as he appeared and was just waiting for a good minute to duck around a corner, but the neighborhood was looking worse and worse and she was almost willing to chance it with the creep rather than end up alone in one of the alleys. She groaned mentally when they turned down one of those creepy alleys. The woman looked around assessing the possibilities for escape. She didn't see anyone guarding the alley they'd gone into, but, she conceded, that didn't mean much.
"Where are you from?" the man asked with a sinister smile. "Foreigners aren't very well accepted here, you know."
"Foreign? Why, I'm from just over that hill! I came here with my... brother, Ayuru. We were only coming to buy grain," she lied smoothly. "Now please return me to my brother. I have no further business with you."
Nikki pulled her hand free by twisting her wrist toward the man's thumb, the weakest point of the hand. Ayuru's father had taught her that in case the Hin were ever to invade. He wanted her to be able to escape unharmed. It would obviously not work when that time came, but it had indeed come in handy now, she thought. She managed to free herself from the man who pulled her, but as she turned, two others came down the alley behind her.
"Well, by Seiryu," she swore. Her eye moved across the alley. There was an opening if she could be quick. She thought she could. Nikki dashed forward and dodged the man to her right, then swerved left to miss the next man. They ran after her, but she was mercifully in good shape because of her work in the fields during the wet season. She was fast, and outmaneuvered them for a while, but they were faster. They descended upon her and she screamed bloody murder, struggling and wrenching herself from their grasp.
One of them licked her neck roughly, sliding his tongue across her skin, tasting her flesh. She shuddered and stomped her foot on the nearest boot. The man cursed and drew back, and when he recoiled she brought her elbow back with all her strength. She whirred around and punched his nose with the base of her hand.
"Bitch!" one of the others yelled and slapped her across the side of the face, sending her sprawling to the ground. She looked up, glaring and holding her face. Her eye felt like it had exploded out of her head, but she still managed to look furious.
"Now now, gentlemen. Let's not be hasty. Don't damage that face. A face like hers will make a killing. However, she is a little too... lively. She needs to be brought down a few pegs," he chuckled and knelt over her, pinning her wrists to the ground. She grunted and struggled angrily, but he held her there, pulling open her now-dusty sari, exposing her.
"If you touch me, you will pay," she whispered fiercely, smirking coldly. "My son will destroy you."
To anybody who knew the Seiryu no Seishi, she was the picture of Nakago's coldness at its best. Her eyes narrowed and she concentrated on the feel of her boy in her mind.
"Your son?" the man over her laughed. "He can't be more than eight years old, judging by your age. I'd like to see the brat try. Should he get too close, he may meet the same fate as you."
Nikki's face winced in pain at the reminder of what would happen to her beautiful boy.
"Ayuru," she said softly as the man opened her clothes further, wedging himself between her long legs.
A flash of blue appeared from behind and the man jumped and fell back.
"Get away from my mother," the familiar, deep voice said, more coldly than a late winter's night. "You have three seconds to remove yourself from my sight."
"Or what?" the men looked confused. If anything, this man looked older than the woman calling him her son! "Will you call the police, gaijin?"
The men laughed raucously until violent energy the color of the night sky began to radiate off the man before them. To an outsider, his face would have been a placid mask. To his mother, it was righteous fury made manifest. Nikki pushed herself up as the men scrambled away, covering her body from her son's eyes. A glowing orb formed in his hand and he aimed at their retreating backs only to feel a small but firm hand on his shoulder.
"Don't waste it. You'll need it later to handle men far worse. Let's leave this place."
Indecision showed clearly on his face. These men had tried to violate his mother. But she had asked him. After a few moments, the orb dispersed and the the glowing halo dimmed until it, too, disappeared.
"I heard you call me," he said softly.
"Of course you did. There are few bonds stronger than the one we once shared."
"Still share," he murmured and took her arm, heading back toward the gate.
"How did you get away from the authorities?" she questioned. Her eyes glanced to the same sword he'd been carrying before. "And with your sword."
He gave her a pointed look that clearly said that it would be better not to ask, and she dropped it.
"Is your world still this unfriendly to foreigners?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Not so much."
"At least, then, there is some hope for our world."
They walked on in silence until they reached the gate. They walked through and returned to the Hin.
Miaka shrieked when she saw the first hut catch fire. It was too soon. She wasn't ready to leave these wonderful, kind people. She was with Taria and Ayuru when it happened. The Kutou soldiers marched in, tearing down all in their path, even women and children. Miaka wasn't sure what she was to do. She wasn't supposed to be there, and she wasn't sure where the children were supposed to be.
"Mother!" the boy cried and darted off toward the village and his mother's hut.
Miaka supposed that the hut was probably where he was meant to be. She grabbed Taria's hand and followed the boy. It took two or three near death experiences before Miaka realized she should erect a shield around them. Ayuru dodged through the streets that blazed orange and Miaka followed, determined, at least, to get him to his destination safely.
"Mother!!!" he screamed, running into the little hut.
"She's not here! Where is she?!" he cried, tears of frustration running down his beautiful face.
"I'm sure she'll come back. You should wait here for her. I'll go find Taria's parents. Don't leave. Promise me you'll stay here," she said to him gravely. Her heart broke as he nodded. They could still escape... but it would create a terrible paradox. Miaka took Taria and ran to find the girl's parents. They walked quickly through the quaint town, now a disaster of burning and death, and saw the hut where they had dined so recently. When she was last there it was a happy place, bustling with life. Now it was burned, great slats destroyed, nothing more than a flaming pile of rubble, lit up like the star festival. Miaka sensed no life there.
"Miaka-san," a striking Hin man said as he passed, carrying weapons and heading for the front lines of the invasion. "You shouldn't be here. Take the child and go far away."
The woman nodded. "Let's head for the blue lake," Miaka decided. "But... Ayuru!" she wailed, tears in her pale eyes. "He'll be fine, I promise." She smiled even as tears ran down her face. She took Taria's hand, erected a shield and ran for the lake.
Nakago stepped out of the gate and into the village of his nightmares.
"It has begun," he said quietly, eyes surveying the burning village.
"Where should I be?" his mother asked.
"The hut. I'll take you," he replied.
"No. Find Miaka. You have already lived this once. Find her and go."
"Mother..." his voice was barely above a whisper.
"Ayuru," she drew his form close, wrapping her arms around his well-muscled form. "I will always love you. You have made me so proud. Whatever mistakes you have made have been forgiven. Take care of Miaka. Never forget your family."
"I love you, mother," he said so softly she barely heard, his face buried in her beautiful golden hair. "I'm sorry for what will happen."
"I know."
Just then Miaka came dashing through the woods, Taria in tow. "Nakago!" she cried, running to him as he pulled away from his mother. "It's happening."
"I'm aware," he responded. "You must take Taria and go."
She nodded in agreement. "Goodbye, Ayuru."
"Wait," he said, kneeling before the girl. "Be strong," he told her, looking into the face so much like Kaena's. "Ayuru needs your strength."
"I will," she said. It was as if, somehow, she knew.
The Hin man wrapped his arms around her briefly, feeling the girl who had died so long ago in his arms. "Goodbye."
Nikki took the girl's hand. "Goodbye, my child." And they ran.
"We must go," he said to Miaka, who only stood there sobbing. He pulled her by the arm and they ran off into the woods. And the land of the Hin burned with brilliant blue light behind them.
Away from the dimensional travelers, several important things were happening. A young girl opened her eyes for the first time in days. She had been suspended in time until that moment. Her first response was to cry. She was in a dark chamber, her right foot chained to the floor like a short leash. The tiny girl, so much like her parents, was terrified and unwittingly thrust into danger. Although she was frightened, she began to think. She had always been the brightest in her class, and not just because of her book smarts. She examined the room. She was alone, though there were others cells. How she knew that, nobody would have been able to guess, but she was right. She was not near her parents, but she could still feel them in her mind as she always did, and took comfort in that.
A man stepped into the room, looking down at her small form. "So you're awake," he said.
"You're not a human," she said accusingly, pushing herself to her feet and glaring as if his facade was a blatant lie.
"You are correct," It said, It's face smiling without mirth. "Do you know what I am?"
"Dark thing!" she hissed, her blue eyes dark and twisting with anger. "You feel dirty."
The man frowned. "What a subjective term," It came to the edge of her cell, It's hands dangling through the bars. The girl scooted back so It couldn't reach her. She would think of It as nothing more than It because it wasn't he or she, it just... wasn't. "You see darkness as evil... we see light as the oppression... If you were like us, you would understand. Perhaps we can show you."
"Dark is evil because it doesn't love!" she began to cry as It opened the cell and stepped toward her.
"Light is oppressive because it binds us!" It hissed at her. "Because we did not follow the ways of the Creator, we were banished! Because we dared to think for ourselves, we were made dirty, hated, abhorred!"
It knelt before her, It's hand brushing her cheek, and she began to scream. The sound was piercing and filled with terror and the knowledge of every evil that ever had been or would be. Her body convulsed and she fell to the floor, her eyes blank. She had retreated into herself.
"Don't!" a sharp voice said from behind. A figure was slumped over the newcomer's shoulder. "If she retreats she will be of no use. We didn't capture her to kill her."
"She is a danger to us, we should exterminate her while we still can!" It yelled, whirring around. "She speaks only of truth and light!"
The man threw the limp body into the cell next to the still form of the girl. "She holds power and we will use it! We will turn her to us. She will see what we want her to see."
"You will use those methods, then?" It asked, chuckling.
The man nodded and then began to laugh. "There is no more fitting justice for what has been done to us."
The Things left, laughing. Once they had left, Kaena opened her eyes, looking around. She had just learned of terrible things. Before her eyes flashed the life of her father in his previous life and she wept for him. She saw him in his village, talking to her a girl who looked so much like her, and she had seen the girl die. She had seen what the emperor had done, and she had seen the pain, and what he had become. She saw the things he had done to her mother, and to Yui-san, and in that moment she wept for the havoc evil had wreaked in their lives. Her father and her mother had hated each other, he had tried to hurt her like the emperor hurt him. She had seen evil and her spirit began to crack, shards falling from her tiny, beautiful soul. But then she heard a voice, somehow embodied, not from the man in the cell with her, but through him.
"All things work together for the good of the Creator," it whispered. And that moment, she saw how good had worked through the evil to bring her parents together, to bring her to life. She cried tears of joy, looking at the form.
"Thank you, Hotohori-san," she said softly, looking at the empty body.
Hotohori removed his hand from Nikki's shoulder. He had spoken through his body even though he wasn't in it. It was a strange sensation, feeling his body channel his words without being animated in any way. Nikki had helped him to show her what good could come through evil. He had a feeling that it was a very important thing for her to understand. In her parents' lifetimes, they had seen unthinkable evils, but it had never been without purpose. Even the most sinister plots had brought the story to where it was meant to be, though the play was still unfolding. In seeing that, however, Hotohori felt confident that whatever happened, it would be part of a plan mapped out long before the book, long before life itself.
"There is one more thing we must do before I leave you," the beautiful Hin woman said, taking the former emperor by the hand. They stepped forward, but instead of physically moving, it was as if the world moved around them, changing from scene to scene more quickly than his eye could perceive. They were in valleys, then mountains, then at a vast temple where they stopped.
The temple was mammoth. It appeared to be made of the finest granite, white and shimmering in a beautiful sun. The front was ornate with massive stone pillars and archways, with jewels on each step leading to the vast entrance. Hotohori wept at its splendor. He had been here before. Inside were sleeping spirits, spirits cleansed of all past pains and evils, ready to go out.
"This is the house of the dead, where souls waiting to be reborn must stay until their time comes. One soul in this house, however, was taken before his time by a nefarious plot. The girl was used by demons to kill him and exact revenge, but only brought about fate's intended destination. He has been waiting here, sleeping until the time when he would be again needed. This is a soul you should know well. You must call him."
Hotohori knew of which soul she spoke. This soul had been taken before his time by a girl named Sui Nifei. He had been murdered, but through his death came the birth of the Hope. It was fate, and it was not fate, and now it was time for him to awake and take his place in the battle to come. The Suzaku no Seishi raised his chi then, calling that familiar force from the temple. He could feel it awakening.
"Will he remember his death? Will he remember this place?" he asked even as his chi became a beacon for the departed soul.
"He will remember everything until the moment he died, but nothing more. He may briefly recall the beauty of heaven, but those memories fade quickly."
"Is this why I came here? Will I return once he revives?" the Seishi asked.
"No, you have one more task, but that time has not yet come. I will return when it comes," she responded. "Look," she breathed. "He lives."
From the entrance of the temple came a lithe figure. Hotohori could see his eyes blazing through the dim, ever-mist of the temple. He was clothed in Konan finery, with gold trim on his loose-fitting apparel made from the finest silk.
"Welcome back, my friend," the Konan emperor said with a joyous smile. "I have missed you."
Tamahome looked around. He saw the Hin woman and immediately knew who it was. "What is this place?"
"Heaven," he said.
"Are you dead too?" the man asked.
"I'm not dead, my spirit has fled here. You're not dead either, not anymore. You're going back to the land of the living."
Dimensions and years away, Miaka sat upright. She and Nakago had made it as far as the border and then stopped to rest. They laid on the soft grass in each other's arms, each left to their own thoughts. He had finally dozed off, but at her distressed cry, the blue eyes had snapped open.
"Tamahome," she whispered. "Kaena... I feel them both."
"I, too, feel Kaena," he replied, pushing himself up wearily. "But Tamahome..." there was obvious doubt in his eyes. "He has been dead for twelve years..."
"I know his spirit, Nakago," her eyes flashed angrily at his doubting tone. "I know he died, but I know what he felt. Maybe not here, but somewhere... he's alive."
Nakago frowned, thinking suddenly of all the implications. He was confident that Miaka was his, and he hers, but this was an extraneous variable he had no controls for. Would Tamahome view him as a friend who his friend loved, or as the man who had stolen his love and taken what was rightfully his? The blue eyed man wrapped his arms securely around his wife.
"Kaena is not in this dimension," he said quietly. "We will need to find this dimension."
"Should we, then, find another gate and jump again?" Miaka asked softly, relishing in the warmth of his arms around her. His chin rested on her head, his hands holding hers. She would try not to think about Tamahome for now. If he was alive in some other world, she was happy. Why she had only felt his presence just now, she didn't know.
"Yes, but until then, we should sleep," he responded. "We know that Kaena is alive, so we should sleep now so that we can fight later."
Miaka agreed, and they laid back down under the light blankets they had packed. The night was cool and they could still see the dim burning of the Hin lands behind them. She turned to her husband, touching his face, and he looked at her curiously.
"Are you all right?" she asked. "I know it had to be hard, being there again. It was hard for me, to see how it happened."
He looked at the sky where orange still lit the night. Right now he and Taria would be spending their last few hours together before light broke. In the morning, the emperor would kill her, and that night, he would kill him in a different way. "No," he said to her. "But I will be. It was different this time."
"Different? Will it mess up the time lines?" she looked concerned.
"Nothing was different from how I remember it, but... this time I got to say goodbye."
"You know she loved you, she gladly went there to save you."
"I know," he said softly.
Miaka brought her lips to his, tasting the sweetness of his soft lips. His arms were tight around her. In so many ways he protected her, keeping her safe from physical harm, keeping her from becoming to concerned with life's worries, but her presence continued to be a reminder of what he was and what he had been and done, and that it could be forgiven. Though he protected her, she protected him as well. He drew his lips away, resting his face against her slim, graceful neck.
"I thank you for looking after her," a voice said. "But now I'm going to have to ask you to step away from my girlfriend."
Miaka's eyes snapped open and she looked at Nakago, who was gazing steadily behind her head. The voice. She knew that voice. She slowly pushed herself up and away, turning. At first she only saw shadow on the face, but she knew who it was. She blinked to be absolutely certain, but sure as the sky was blue, behind her stood Tamahome.
"I'm not sure how I got here... last thing I remember was being at the hospital, but it's good to see you're... well..." he had an odd look on his face.
It was the same face she had known better than ten years ago. He hadn't aged a day. His eyes were the same shimmering shade, his hair just as she had remembered. But it couldn't be real.
"This has to be... a trick..." she pushed further away, leaving the blonde man slightly distressed (she so easily pushed him away). "You're... you can't be here."
Nakago stood up.
"It's me," he said confidently. "See?" As suddenly as he appeared, so did the character of oni on his forehead. She knew it was him, but she couldn't force herself to believe it. "Now come here and hug your boyfriend! Did you miss me?"
Nakago watched in silence as Tamahome took her hand and pulled her up and away from him, wrapping his arms around her. He didn't seem to notice the tiny laugh lines on her pretty face. He didn't notice that her hair was shorter a little less shiny than it had once been. He didn't notice the more mature feel of her body. He didn't notice anything was different until he looked at Nakago. He pulled away, looking at the blonde Shogun behind her. "You look older, Nakago."
Miaka stepped back toward her husband. The last time he had seen the blonde shogun, he had been about twenty-seven, and now he was over forty. His handsome face contained some fine lines and his blonde hair was shorter and lighter—Nakago knew the lightness was due to tiny amounts of grey appearing. Tamahome's eyes flicked from the man's older looking face to to the arrangement of diamonds on Miaka's left hand ring finger, and then to the band on Nakago's hand. Nakago put his arm around her shoulder protectively.
"Tamahome... he is... we are older," she looked at him, trying to make him understand. Tears spilled from her eyes as he came to realize what they were. "You died in that hospital. Twelve years ago."
"Do you think this has anything to do with Miboshi's return and the summoning of the demon lords?" Nuriko asked gravely, looking at a strand of long hair that had been left, the only thing remaining of Hotohori.
"Miboshi? Wasn't he one of the Seiryu no Seishi?" Xansho asked softly. It could have been any of them that was taken.
"Yes. His urgings brought about the release of the four demon lords as well as his own resurrection. He attempted to return the darkest of the evil lords to life as well, to grant himself immortality."
"When was this?" Boushin asked.
"Shortly after Miaka and Nakago visited you both... it was that same journey that ended with Miboshi's resurrection, and eventual death," Nuriko allowed himself a little smirk. He wasn't so easily killed. "I wonder... I wonder if this even has to do with the plot that ended in Tamahome's death."
"I'm not sure how it could..." Boushin said softly. "But what exactly happened?"
"To summarize a long story, Miboshi said he was attempting to grant himself immortality. He did this by stirring up the Jigoku no Yashi in hell and using them to summon the four dark lords, who then assisted Miboshi in his escape from Hell. Miaka summoned Suzaku and sealed him and the demon lords. A year later, Tamahome—Miaka's lover at the time—was murdered by a girl named Sui Nifei. The girl was in love with Miaka and was very jealous of Tamahome. However, some demons used her to get close to Nakago and Miaka because... Well, Miaka told me once that she and Nakago were destined to be together, that Tenkou and Taiitsukun had both tried to keep them apart to prevent something, but that fate had won in the end. Something didn't want those two together, but I don't know why. I do know, though, that the same demons that told them that were searching for something, and they found it. Some sort of artifact."
"It's possible that they're..." Xansho looked thoughtful and a little distressed.
"What?"
"Well, I heard at one point from a servant that knew Nakago that the Hin had a term for a person who was destined to be with another... I can't remember the term, though. Something like 'ai no mitte mirai'--love of the seeing future or something," he looked unsure of his explanation and paused.
"Go on," Nuriko urged. "Anything you know will be useful."
"Well, it had to do with a legend of a blue lake in the Hin lands, but I've heard similar legends through other people, like diplomats and travelers. Basically, if two people are destined to be together, the child or children they produce will be special. They'll be children of fate, and they will bear a great power and a great responsibility. Legend has it that Taiitsukun was one of these children, that she was mortal but that she gave up her life as a human to guard the world."
"Come to think of it, I have heard something like that, but I thought Tenkou was that 'ai no mitte mirai' or what have you," Boushin agreed. "Although I thought Taiitsukun gave up her immortality to seal Tenkou... I'm not sure."
"I thought Tenkou was a demon lord," Nuriko looked confused. "But I'm sure you remember more lore than I... I've been dead in this world for thirty-five years or so."
"I think I remember," Boushin declared. "The legend I was taught is as follows. Thousands of years ago, a powerful man was born. He was a child born of two people destined for each other and he grew in power. He traveled the world in search of more power, to learn more magic, but as he traveled, he gained more and more knowledge of dark magic. Over the years, his lust for power warped him and he became the most evil and powerful sorcerer of the age."
"Yes! He split the countries!" Xansho looked as if a light had been switched on. "He caused so much famine and disaster that the regions began to rebel against one another. They had always lived in harmony to that point, but Tenkou split the lands into what we know them as today—Sairo, Hokkan, Kutou, and Konan."
"And these four countries were at war. That was the time that Taiitsukun was born. She was also a child like Tenkou, extraordinary and powerful, but unlike him, she was merciful. She was pained by what evils he had released. She managed to seal Tenkou's spirit into another world."
"The ShiJinTenshiSho," Nuriko realized. "She broke off a piece of the dimension and sealed his soul there, leaving his empty body to wander in the other. And she stayed in the world of the book to guard it forever. The book isn't another world, the book is the gateway! That explains why I and the other Seishi could be reborn in Miaka's world. It's not the "real world" because they're both real, they're just separated."
"Do you think maybe Tenkou is trying to break free? To destroy the wall between the worlds so that he can be reunited with his body?" Boushin asked.
Nuriko's eyes widened. That sounded exactly like something the evil sorcerer would do. He smacked his own head and then regretted it, rubbing at the lump forming there. "If Nakago and Miaka really are one of those couples that were destined to be together, that would make Kaena a child like Tenkou and Taiitsukun! Do you think... that maybe she was taken to be a vessel to unite Tenkou's body and soul?"
The men looked gravely at each other. If that was true, she was in grave danger. But, if they could have done it already, they would have, meaning they were still in need of something, Nuriko deducted. "But... what do they need to do that? What kind of artifact would they need to use..."
"If he intends to use her body as a vessel, he would need to remove her spirit from her body and seal it to take his place," Boushin realized.
"I wish Chichiri was here!" Nuriko punched the table and it cracked. "Oops... sorry."
Through the crack in the table wafted a very much two-dimensional Chichiri, floating up like a flat caricature. "Ask and you shall receive, no da!" the sorcerer said happily, popping into a three dimensional form and bowing to the two emperors.
"Chichiri! How do you always do that?" the strong Seishi demanded, very surprised.
"Sore wa... himitsu desu!" he leaned forward and winked, waggling one finger.
Nuriko scratched his head.
"That was an anime reference, no da," he sweat dropped. "Xellos da..."
"Whatever," the other Seishi shook his head. "Have you heard what we've been talking about? Are we on the right path or barking up the wrong tree?"
"I can't say for sure, but Taiitsukun thinks so. You are correct in believing that the girl is safe, but if Tenkou manages to truly separate her body and spirit and merge his own, or worse, if he summons the dark lord into his body... these words will merge and whatever is left will probably not be salvageable."
"So you think they are looking for an artifact, then? The gangs..."
"Yes, the gangs are definitely connected, and I think you're right, they are looking for some holy artifact, probably one to hold Kaena's spirit," he said softly, looking solemn.
"What kind of thing would hold a spirit?"
"Well, a powerful item like the book of ages... that's what the ShiJinTenshiSho is, you know. The book writes history as it occurs and remembers all history in it."
"Wait, the ShiJinTenshiSho is the Book of the Ages?" Nuriko gaped.
Chichiri nodded, smiling. "Indeed it is. No ordinary object could be used for such a task!"
"So are there any other highly magical, God-created objects around here that they might be looking for?"
"They already have the Stone of the For Gods..." Chichiri mused. "So it's not that, though they probably have some sinister use for that as well."
"Stone of the Four Gods?"
"The item the bandits stole from the ship Miaka and Nakago were on. It's a small stone, said to be made up of the tears of the gods when the world was split. It has highly magical properties, but I'm not sure what they want with it. It's traditionally used to summon holy power, though I suppose it could be twisted to use... to summon... oh Lord," Chichiri disappeared.
"What just happened?" Boushin looked confused.
"I don't even know," Nuriko shook his head.
"Perhaps your royal library has a record of such items?" Xansho asked Boushin, lifting a delicate brow. "I know our shelves are littered with old lore and spell books and other such things. I'm sure yours are as well."
"How can we find what we're looking for if we don't even know WHAT we're looking for?!" Nuriko growled again, this time kicking a chair, which went flying across the room and shattered into splinters against a giant stone relief of Suzaku.
"Well, we're looking for a magical item, so that eliminates spell books, at least, but as for the rest... I think Xansho-san is correct. We should scour the libraries."
"There's more than one?" the Seishi looked daunted already.
"There are twelve libraries in this palace," Boushin said and then called the nearest guard over. "There, now the servants will find for us every book of lore that so much as mentions a magical object. If we can figure out what they're looking for, maybe we can find it first."
"Or we could witness the end of the world while still reading about golden chamberpots and magical swords that can't be pulled out of magical stones..."
Boushin went to fill his mother in on what was happening and Xansho excused himself to speak with his troops. It seemed that he would be staying a while after all. Nuriko sat alone in the large room, staring at the relief of Suzaku. Why did these things keep happening? And where in all hell was Hotohori? He shouldn't have pressured him, he thought guiltily. Maybe if he hadn't been so eager to get away from Nuriko he wouldn't have wandered off alone. The Seishi rested his face in his hands. Would they be able to stop it before it was too late this time? It seemed like every advantage fell to the bad guys. Nuriko, feeling utterly hopeless and scared for his friends, hid his face and wept.