Chapter Twenty-One: Kaikei-shou (There's a Light at the End of this Tunnel… Right?)
"Now," Hotohori whispered. "We have to leave now." I felt him sag against me, and I automatically looped an arm around his back to support him. Nuriko strode forward to get his other side. He didn't even look at me, but just kept his wide eyes on Nuriko's face as he bunched his fist into her sleeve, tugging at her arm like a five-year old does to get his parents' attention. "Yoshimi, we have to leave now."

She didn't say anything, but just nodded, then glanced past him to me. I returned her nod with one of my own. "Yeah." I swallowed hard to get the knot of worry out of my throat and promised myself that Joumi – sweet, delicate, super-gentle Joumi – was tough enough to handle an illness. It was about as easy as believing in aliens, time-travelers, and espers. "Let's go get the others."

Tasuki and Ren both glanced up as Nuriko and I walked back into the dining hall, leading a stunned Hotohori between us. Ren's eyebrows bunched together in concern, and even Tasuki wilted a little when he saw us. "Whoa, ya'll look darker'n summer storm clouds. Whassa sitch?"

I glanced a little nervously at the other Rekkai members, then leaned in and whispered, "We need to leave right away. Arisa's sister collapsed." Ren's eyes widened, but I was paying closer attention to Tasuki. "How fast can you get packed?"

"Shi-it," he hissed, drawing out the 'I' again so it sounded more like 'sheet.' His eyes snaked over to Nuriko. "She gon' be okay?"

"It's uncertain," she said.

He cocked an eyebrow at the pale Emperor standing between us. "Is he?"

"Just… a little shell-shocked," I explained, shooting a glance that was half-worried and half-annoyed at Hotohori. "Can we get moving, please?"

"Yeah, yeah, 'at's fine. I be cool t'fly in half," he said, and I had to hope that 'half' meant 'half an hour.' He stood, nodding to Genji to take care of our plates. The little Rekkai member saluted, though I didn't miss the pucker of worry on his own face. 'That's me, the magnificent miko,' I thought with a sigh. 'Ruining people's breakfasts at the speed of light.'

"Mikako," Nuriko murmured, "I shall escort Sai to our room. We'll meet you at the front doors in half an hour."

I dropped my arm from Hotohori's shoulder and waved the pair of them away, frowning as Hotohori trailed after Nuriko, his hand still bunched in her jacket. I kept getting the feeling I was watching an adult taking care of a kid, and though I was a little used to Hotohori acting like a preteen, this whole toddler routine was really disconcerting. I couldn't decide if I wanted to hug him or shake him.

Tasuki frowned after the pair of them, then scratched his head and turned back to me. "So… is this chick Sai's squeeze 'r somefin'?"

And damn it, as serious as the situation was, I started laughing. Judging by the muffled noises coming from beneath Ren's down-turned baseball cap, I got the feeling he was doing the same thing. "Let's get going," I said, shaking my head and hurrying out of the cafeteria.

"'Ey, wha'so funny, na? I ain't cracked no goddamn joke!"

"We'll explain later," I told him, fighting to keep my giggles under control. Now that I'd started, it was really hard for me to stop. Sort of that coiled-spring-that-just-sprung-back-up feeling, I guess. "Just… well, let me promise you that Sai and Arisa's sister, are absolutely, positively, unequivocally not an item."

"An' 'at's all I gets t'know?" he cried, throwing up his arms and chasing after us. "C'moooon Mika, Ren, 'at ain't playin' square! Fuck, ya'll gots t'tell me somefin', else I'm-a bust right open – Pop! – an' then you both gon' feel like shit, keepin' secrets from yo' com. You dig?"

"You gon' be a dead cat, you keep 'at up."

I screeched to a halt so fast that Tasuki rammed into me. I didn't really notice, though, because I was much too busy staring down at the seishi next to me. "Ren-kun… did those words just come out of your mouth?"

"Ah!" He flushed and looked away, one hand clapped to his mouth and the other tugging nervously at his oversized sweater. "I'm so sorry, Mika-san! I guess hearing Yuu and Ken again just… er… um…"

Tasuki laughed and clapped Ren on the shoulder. "HA! I knowed you couldn' fo'get yo' roots! Shit, s'like I allus says, you c'n take th' ikko outta th' PJs, but you sho' 's hell can't take them PJs outta th' ikko. Ain't 'at right, Ren?"

Ren glanced over his shoulder to flash a quick smile at Tasuki, but the grin looked a little strained to me. I hoped that I was just imagining things. I was worried enough about Joumi as it was – I did not need Ren going all mental breakdown on me for the second time in two days. Maybe my anxiety showed on my face, because Ren glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and his forced smile disappeared. "Gomen, Mika-san. I know you're in a hurry. Why don't I get our things packed up, and you can help Yuu? It might go faster that way."

"Eh?" The suggestion was so sudden that it caught me a little off-guard. "Uh, sure. All my stuff's in my suitcase already anyway. A-and don't apologize!" I added, catching Ren midway through scampering off down the hallway.

"H-hai! Sorry!" he called over his shoulder. He nearly tripped on his jeans, but somehow kept himself upright long enough to disappear around the corner.

I sighed once he was gone. "These guys are gonna give me gray hairs at this rate." Tasuki laughed and I had to chuckle a little with him. "Well, at least Ren seems perkier this morning. Oh, hey—"

Tasuki held up his hands in self-defense. "Aw, hell nah, I awready tole you I ain't spittin' nuttin' 'bout Ren if he ain't tole you first!" He stalked off down the hallway. "'Specially if you ain't gon' gimme th' sitch 'bout Sai 'n' 'at Nee-san…"

"That's not what I was going to ask!" I snapped, hurrying to catch up with him. "I just wanted to know, er…" I rubbed at the back of my head. "What the heck does 'you're going to be a dead cat' mean? And 'ikko'? And PJs?"

I was becoming very, very familiar with Tasuki's laugh, I thought, as he cackled at me again. "C'mon, Mika. Yuu-sensei's gon' hit'chu wi' a lightnin' lesson of Sou'un Speech, One-Oh-One."

oOo

I spent the next half hour trying to forget the fact that Joumi was back at the palace passed out on a bed somewhere, and instead crammed as much Sou'un slang into my head as I could (it turned out 'dead cat' was a reference to the phrase, 'curiosity killed the cat,' 'ikko' was short for 'itazurakko,' and 'PJs' was short for 'projects,' which was another word for a poor urban district). But eventually Tasuki and I finished packing and had to meet up with first Ren – staggering under both my bag and his own – and then Nuriko and Hotohori down at the front doors. One look at their grave faces reminded me that this was no time to be acting like a Sou'un tourist. I sobered up right away, and Ren went quiet again, too. In a way, I was grateful that we had Tasuki around, since he didn't know Joumi and couldn't really be upset. In another way…

"Gyaaaaah! We gon' be ridin' in that bird?" he gaped, staring up at the private jet that had flown out for us. "Daaaaamn, Sai, you mus' be some kinda rich mu'fucker!"

"Holy shit!" he cried, staring at the plane's menu and turning it this way and that. "They's grub on here I ain't never even heard of! Th' fuck's this kanji s'posed t'mean, anyways?"

"Ch, Eiyou ain't so big," he scoffed with his nose pressed up to the plane's window. "Folks always runnin' they moufs, sayin' 's some kinda big fuckin' city, tellin' me it makes Sou'un look like a goat town. Fuck they know, na? Sou'un ain't so fuckin' small. Gon' make a sweet capital, me 'n' Ken git our way. An' Eiyou c'n jis' fuck itse'f."

…Well, some things in this world had absolutely not changed at all. Tasuki's total obliviosity seemed to be one of those things.

"So where we headin'?" he asked as we stepped off the plane and Nuriko led us towards a limousine waiting at the end of the tarmac. "You got a nice pad, 'Risa? Plenty-a rooms, na? 'Cause I needs my private-sees, gots 'portant bi'ness t'take care of, can't have no one fuckin' up my shit. You dig?"

"My gods, you never shut up, do you?" Nuriko grumbled. She literally lifted him up and dropped him in front of someone in black sunglasses and a suit. I guessed he was an imperial bodyguard or something, though I didn't have much time to think about it as another one stepped up to me and frisked me without so much as a "Pardon me, Miko-sama."

"Eep!" I yelped as his hands tickled my ribs. "Is this – hahaha! – really necessary?"

"Standard procedure," Nuriko assured me as she ushered our silent Emperor into the limousine. "I don't expect any proble—"

"OI! Get yo' fuckin' hands out'n my pants! You flippy sumbitch, you start gettin' fresh an' I'm gon' – OW!" Tasuki glared back at Nuriko, who had finally lost her temper and flicked the back of his head – and, coming from Nuriko, that had to be like getting punched by a normal person. "Th' fuck, 'Risa? You tryin' t'give me brain damage'r somefin'?"

"A bit late for that," she drawled. "Now would you hold still and let these gentlemen do their job? We're in a hurry."

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, turning his eyes to the sky. "Shi-it. Normal people say 'please' 'n' 'if you don' mind.' Don' go whackin' they coms in th' fuckin' head – 'ey, 'ey, 'EY!"

The bodyguards all ducked and cocked their guns as Tasuki lunged at his own frisker. I squeezed my eyes shut, half-expecting to find bits of seishi lying around when I opened them again, but instead Nuriko had sprung forward, forcefully holding Tasuki back. The bodyguard across from him scowled, holding up a gun that he must have found somewhere in Tasuki's coat. "I'm going to have to confiscate this."

"Th' fuck you ain't!" Tasuki roared. "At's mine, you taintlickin' goat-fuckin' piss-drin—gurghghghghgh!"

I stifled a snicker as Nuriko cut off his windpipe. "Calm down. When I release you, explain yourself coherently."

He gurgled something that sounded a whole lot like an obscenity, but when Nuriko loosened her hold he relaxed and spoke like a normal human being again (well, as normal as Sou'un slang could be, anyway). "Look. Ya'll c'n take ever'thin' I gots on me, includin' my fuckin' boxers if you needs 'em, but you ain't gon' get my enkou. I gots 'at baby made special. 'S one-of-a-kind."

Nuriko let him go again. "Explain."

"Fuck that," he snorted. "How 'bouts I shows you?"

That brilliant idea was throwing up all kinds of flashing red lights and signal flares for me, but before I could intervene Nuriko nodded and held out her hand. The bodyguard handed her the gun, and she handed it to Tasuki. Nuriko pointed to a tree a few yards off. "Shoot that."

He didn't reply, but instead aimed, cocked, and fired in a movement so quick my eyes only caught a blur. I think I must've whistled, but no one heard it because it was overwhelmed by an earsplitting cracka-BOOM! that echoed around the tarmac. I instinctively ducked behind the limousine, but straightened again when I heard Tasuki laughing. "Shit. Ya'lls actin' like you ain't never see'd my enkou b'fore. Oh, but I guess you prolly ain't, has you?"

I poked my head up over the car and stared at the nearby tree. I couldn't be sure, but I was pretty much positive that my jaw hit the top of the limousine. Something had blown a hole in the side of the tree, so that half of its trunk about a third of the way up was nothing but a smoking crater. And, judging by the way Tasuki was grinning and twirling his gun, I had a pretty good idea how that crater had happened. "Wha…wha…?"

He winked at me. "Like 'at, Mika? Fuck yeah, you does. Bet'chu thinkin' t' yo'self, 'I'm sho' fuckin' glad I gots this seishi wi' me.'"

I was actually thinking something more along the lines of a wordless string of question marks and exclamations points, but he looked so proud of himself that I didn't have the heart to tell him that. So instead I just asked, "How did you do that?"

"This," he said, pointing the gun at me. I squeaked and ducked for cover again. "Ch! C'mon, Mika! How th' hell you s'pose t'summon a god, you can't lookit one fuckin' gun?"

"How am I supposed to summon a god if you blow my head off first?" I snapped back.

"I ain't stupid. I gots th' safety on."

"Point it somewhere that isn't my face or I'm not coming out."

"Fine, fine. Fuckin' wussy girls…" When I peeked out again, he had the weapon tilted over his shoulder. "You cool now? C'n I 'splain wi'out you frowin' a bitch fit?" I scowled back at him and wished I had something I could chuck at his head. He must've taken that as a sign to keep talking, because he said, "Anyways, like I been sayin', this here gun's special. Uses these, er… fuck, I 'unno how it works, but they's like 'splodin' bullets, you dig? Second they hits somefin', it's all SPRRRRRRG," he mimed an explosion with his hands, "an' fire 'n' blood 'n' guts 'n' shit." Tasuki grinned. "Pretty fuckin' sweet, na?"

"I'm nauseas just thinking about it," I assured him.

He looked back at Nuriko with a shrug. "So's yeah, no way in hell is I lettin' this baby get consecrated."

"Confiscated," Ren corrected from behind me. "But, um, Mika-san? Nuriko-san? Sorry to interrupt, but I do think you should let him take it. Yuu's a really good shot, and you might need him to protect you sometimes, so…"

I waved his argument away. "Yeah, I know. I wasn't planning on taking away his 'baby' anyway." I smiled at both the bodyguard and Nuriko. "He's a seishi too, you know? So I think it's safe to let him keep the gun." I pointed a warning finger at Tasuki. "Just promise me you won't use it on anyone without my permission. Fair?"

"Yeah, 'at's fair. I's here t'keep yo' ass from gettin' iced. Makes sense I use my icer when you ax me to."

My eyebrow twitched at that awful 'ax,' but I bit my tongue and kept silent. I opened my mouth to suggest that we get moving, but Hotohori beat me to the punch as he stuck his head out the window and said pretty much the first full sentences we'd gotten out of him since breakfast. "Would you stop bickering and get in here? The palace is a good twenty minutes away, and I'm very worried about Ane-ue."

"Eh? Palace? Ane-ue? Th' fuck's he goin' on 'bout?"

Ren and Nuriko just sighed and hustled Tasuki into the limousine. He glared at me, waiting for an explanation, but I shook my head and waved him into silence. "Best not to 'ax' any questions right now," I suggested. "You're gonna get a big enough headache from the answers later, I promise."

At the time, I was just too worried about Joumi to figure out the gentlest way to tell Tasuki that his seishi ally was the emperor he'd been hoping to 'cap' for the last year or so. It seemed a whole lot easier to just let him figure it out on his own. Looking back, it was a pretty irresponsible way to do things, but in the long run it wound up working out okay – because, when Tasuki did find out, he didn't have to be trapped in a limousine with his enemy. He had some space, to… well, let's call it 'vent his frustrations.' That sounds nicest.

"Welcome home, Heika," greeted the pair of attendants who met us near the front gates of the palace. They bowed low as Hotohori stepped out of the limousine, and the rest of us piled out behind him. "Greetings to you as well, Miko-sama, Teichou, and fellow Seishi-sama."

"Where's Ane-ue?" Hotohori demanded. Judging from the winces on the attendants' faces, I had a feeling he was ignoring protocol something fierce. I couldn't really blame him, though. "We received a call saying she'd collapsed. Is she okay? What's going on?"

The attendant on the left opened his mouth to reply, but he didn't even get a syllable out before the loud rebel behind me screeched, "Heika? HEIKA? Th' fuck's goin' on here!"

"Oh, boy…" I muttered, at the same time Ren said, "Gomen, Yuu, but 'Sai' is just an alias."

"I don' give two shits what planet he from, th' fuck they callin' him Heika fo'?"

Ren pinched his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "Not alien, alias. It's a fake name. Suzaku no Hotohori is also His Imperial Majesty, Meigiri Toku." He touched a hand to his old friend's arm. "Sorry…"

"Fuzakeru na!" Tasuki snapped, ripping his sleeve out of Ren's grasp. "Ain't no way he's ack'shly…" He hesitated, staring at Hotohori, who had glanced back a little fearfully to watch Tasuki's reaction. Tasuki held up his hands in a triangle shape, and it didn't take me long to realize that he was blocking out Hotohori's bleach-blonde hair with his hands. I braced myself as his eyes widened and his jaw just about came unhinged. "Aw, fuck." He whirled on me. "You best be shittin' me, Mika."

"Nope," I said with a helpless shrug. "Sai is Toku, and Toku is the Emperor, and the Emperor is Hotohori, and Hotohori is a seishi." I drew lines in the air as if connecting each name one-by-one, then offered Tasuki a nervous smile. "I could sketch up a diagram for you if you want, but it's not gonna really change anything. Sorry 'bout that."

Tasuki's head and pointing index fingers whipped back and forth between me and Hotohori. "He's… y'mean… this mu'fucker's… but he's… and I'm his…" His fingers finally curled into fists. "Aw, fuck me. Fuck me!" We all jumped as he slammed his fist into the side of the limousine, leaving a nice dent in the shiny metal. He whirled on Hotohori, and our Emperor finally came out of his worry-daze long enough to look downright terrified, but at the last second Tasuki threw up his hands and whirled on his heel, stomping off across the palace grounds in a blur. "This is fuckin' bullshit, man! Fuck. Ing. Bull. Shit!"

True to his seishi power, he disappeared before any of us had a chance to respond. Not that I have any idea what that response might have been. There wasn't much you could say to someone when they found out that their sworn enemy was also one of their closest allies. "Er…"

"I'll go after him," Ren volunteered. "If Joumi-senpai's awake, tell her I'm sorry I couldn't be there, too."

"Thanks," I said with a strained smile. "And be careful. He looked like he was ready to blow up half the bloody palace with that enkou gun of his."

Ren returned my smile with a tiny, nervous one of his own. "Daijoubu. Yuu won't do anything that might hurt the summoning of Suzaku. He just needs to cool off. I'll bring him back when he's ready."

I thanked him again, watching as he scurried off after our very pissed-off fifth seishi. I sighed and turned back to the attendants, both of whom looked about ready to wet themselves. "Sorry. When it comes to the imperial line, Tasuki's got a vendetta the size of a walrus. Anyway, what's going on with Joumi-senpai?"

"Ah, oh, um, yes…" The attendant on the left stepped back and gestured forward with one hand. "The Imperial Princess is in her room. We thought that would be most comfortable for her. She's been… well, I'm not qualified to properly explain. I'll take you to Koubou-sensei."

"Koubou-sensei?" I repeated, and looked to Nuriko for an explanation as we set off across the palace grounds. "Is that your local doctor or something?"

She nodded, though her eyes never left Hotohori's back. "We have a full medical staff on call. Koubou-sensei is the best in Konan." She raised her voice a little to make sure that Hotohori could hear. "I am quite certain Joumi-dono has been treated well. No doubt she is feeling much better."

The attendant didn't say anything to that, which made my stomach do a little flip-flop. I didn't know much about the way things were run in the palace, but I got the feeling that the reason this guy wasn't answering questions had nothing to do with whether or not he was 'qualified.' He probably just didn't want to be the messenger who got shot for delivering bad news. I quickened my pace, and didn't miss the way that Hotohori and Nuriko both sped up as well. All three of us knew the way to Joumi's quarters, so we outstripped the attendant before too long, and soon arrived in a breathless pile at the doors.

A man in a white coat stood outside, looking pretty self-important. He bowed when he saw us, though, and opened the door without a second glance. We crammed through, Hotohori just a half-step ahead of Nuriko and me, and found ourselves facing another white coat. This one bowed as well, but held up a hand when Hotohori moved towards Joumi's bedroom. "Please wait here. I'll get Koubou-sensei for you."

He disappeared into Joumi's bedroom, then reappeared a moment later with a trim, thirty-something woman in a doctor's coat and scrubs. I feel bad admitting it, but I was actually a little surprised to see a woman. I guess I'd just thought Konan – and this whole twentieth century world – was more misogynistic than that. Well, good for them, I guess.

Koubou-sensei smiled and ducked her head briefly to the three of us, though the smile never once reached her eyes. It made my stomach clench even tighter. "Heika, Teichou, Miko-sama. Thank you for coming so quickly."

"Ane-ue?" Hotohori asked, and his voice was so small and frightened that Nuriko and I both instinctively grabbed hold of his hands.

She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "She's been in and out of consciousness since we called. She's resting right now."

"Can we see her?" I asked, shooting another nervous glance at Hotohori.

She hesitated for a second, then nodded and opened the doors to the bedroom again. Hotohori wriggled out of our grasps as he strode forward, beating us into the room again and immediately taking a seat in the chair by his sister's bed. Nuriko and I walked up slowly behind him, my eyes trailing up and down the room. They had Joumi – paler than usual, and with her eyebrows scrunched together like she was in pain – hooked up to a couple different machines, including a mask strapped across her face. I wasn't too familiar with twentieth-century technology, but I knew an oxygen mask when I saw one. One of the machines kept making Darth Vader noises, and it made me feel a little dizzy. I had to concentrate on making myself breathe, and almost missed Nuriko's question.

"What happened?"

"Kaikei spore," Koubou-sensei said quietly.

"What?"

Hotohori and Nuriko shrieked the word at the same time, but it was the unhidden shock in Nuriko's voice that finally kicked my lungs back into action. I turned to stare with wide eyes at the pair, hoping I'd find some kind of answer in their eyes. The head doctor must have noticed my confusion, because she explained in a hurry. "Ah, Miko-sama, forgive me. Kaikei is a plant that grows in the ocean. Its seeds are normally harmless, but if collected and dried before taking root, the spores are deadly to animal life. They get in your lungs, and…" Hotohori moaned, but Koubou-sensei acted as if she hadn't heard him. I thought it was a little insensitive of her, to be honest. "…Well, they slowly suffocate you, basically."

I felt myself collapse into a chair, and again just barely caught Nuriko's question. "It's so rare, though. How could this have happened?"

"It was in a letter addressed from a Benovitian prince, though we quickly identified it as a fake."

"An assassination attempt, then," Nuriko hissed between her teeth. "But how—?"

The head doctor shrugged, her short hair bobbing in time with her movements. "The spores are small, rare, and difficult to identify. Security simply missed it." Nuriko's eyes narrowed, but Koubou-sensei held up her hand. "The guard responsible has been relieved of his duties. If that seems like too small a punishment to you, then know that he is also being treated for Kaikei-shou at the moment. This is not the time to blame others, Teichou. The important thing right now is to look after the Imperial Princess."

"Yes, however…"

"I don't understand," Hotohori whispered. I glanced over and bit my lip, watching as his hands kept running over Joumi's pale one over and over again. He didn't look up as he spoke, though I could hear the hint of tears on the edge of his words. "Ane-ue's not supposed to deal with political correspondence. That's my duty. So why would she have—?" He stopped short, and finally whirled around. The open terror in his eyes made my throat seize up. "No. Please, Koubou-sensei, don't tell me it was when—?"

"It happened when you fell 'ill' and took a holiday, leaving the imperial duties to your sister for the last two months," she finished flatly, and added, "I'm sorry," though she didn't sound very sympathetic.

Hotohori moaned again and slumped against the bed. Nuriko stepped forward, one hand stretched out like she might set it on his shoulder, but at the last second she curled it into a fist and let it drop to her side. She turned back to Koubou-sensei. "When did you find out about this?"

"A few weeks ago," she explained. "The Imperial Princess came to me complaining of difficulty breathing, and I properly diagnosed her. We began treatment immediately, though she requested that I keep the information secret from everyone else. She said she didn't want to worry her brother."

Nuriko spoke louder than usual so she could mask the sound of Hotohori's strangled sob. "What can we do? I've heard that Kaikei-shou can be cured if treated quickly. Surely there must be something—?"

"I'm sorry. I've done what I can," Koubou-sensei said, in that same flat tone that kind of made me want to hit her. It made me think that her 'I'm sorry' was a load of bull, and that she didn't really care one way or the other about Joumi, or Hotohori, or any of us. "Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that we caught it early enough. Her breathing's getting worse. I plan to put her on a ventilator tomorrow if her oxygen levels don't go up by then, and to continue administering the proper antibiotics to combat the Kaikei-shou. At this point, though, there's little I can do but prolong the inevitable. It would take a miracle to cure this, now."

"Then Ane-ue… will…?"

I'd seen Hotohori break down once before, but that time had been different. He'd been half-crazy at the time, hit by those nightmares of his, and I'd been too angry with him to care one way or the other. This time, though, when his shoulders started to shake and his whole body seemed to sort of crumple in on itself, the way a puppet does when you cut its strings, and I saw his hands tighten against Joumi's fingers like maybe he could will her back to health… And then even Nuriko looked away, pressing her thumb and forefinger to her eyes…

Well, it was just too much for me. I stood, and the room lurched as I did, but I somehow kept my balance even as the black spots around the corners of my eyes started to close in. I sped through the open bedroom door, thinking absolutely nothing but knowing that I needed to find a place where I could gulp down real air, and not the awful smells of sickness and medicine and that dizzying shii-shoo sound of the oxygen machine.

I don't even really know how I did it, my vision was so shot by that point, but I managed to push open the main doors to Joumi's quarters and stagger out to the terrace—

"M-Mika-san!"

"O-oi, Mika, shikarishiro!"

—And straight into Ren and Tasuki, which was great, because as soon as I got outside my legs gave out from beneath me, and I would have gone head-first into the walkway if they hadn't reached out an arm apiece and caught me. I muttered something that I don't really remember, but it must have been the right thing to say, because they dragged me to the railing and helped me lean up against it. I kept my head down, gulping in breaths until the black spots disappeared from my eyes and the scenery stopped lurching like a Funhouse from Hell.

"Ugh, how embarrassing…" I moaned to no one in particular.

"Mika-san, what happened? Is everything okay?"

I gulped down another breath and shook my head slowly. "It's Joumi-senpai," I whispered. "Kaikei-shou."

"What?"

"But I allus thought that 'as some kinda urban legend…"

"I dunno, but that's what the head doctor told us," I explained. "Said it was some kind of… of terrorist attack against the Emperor, or something."

I paused to take another breath, and though I didn't see what happened behind me, Tasuki's angry declaration of "Th' fuck you lookin' at me for, na? You think my Rekkai gon' pull somefin' like this? Shi-it, Ren, you best think twice you think I'm-a do somefin' that low!" told me that Ren had just shot him an accusing stare.

"G-gomen," he said, right on cue. "I didn't think it was really you, I just—"

"Whole fuckton-a folks out there wantin' this sumbitch emperor iced, an' some of 'em ain't so goddamn nice 's me 'n' Ken, you dig?"

"H-hai. Gomen. A-anyway," Ren went on, and I could tell he was looking at me again, "what did the head doctor say, Mika-san? They can cure it, can't they?"

I shook my head slowly, annoyed at how much effort even that little action took. "She said… she said Joumi-senpai's not gonna make it. She's got time, but… I don't know how much… and Hotohori and Nuriko, they're really…"

I shuddered and squeezed my eyes shut again, more frustrated than queasy this time. Because Joumi was going to die, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do for any of them. Not for Joumi, who was pretty much the nicest person I knew in this world and my own; not for Hotohori, who had to be going through hell, thinking it was his fault his sister was dying; and not even for Nuriko, tough as she was, but so scared for both her emperor and her friend.

Two hands, one larger than the other, touched my back. My eyes snapped open, staring out across the palace courtyards, and slowly I felt a smile sneak onto my lips. Because no, that wasn't right. There was something I could do, and it was something that only I could do, too. And, right now, it was probably the only 'something' that any of us could manage, for Joumi, and Hotohori, and Nuriko, too.

I took a breath. "Thanks, guys," I said to the owners of those two hands. "I'm really glad you're here. I'm gonna need your help with this next part."

"What is it, Mika-san?"

"Yeah, you jis' ax and we gon' get it f'you."

I glanced over my shoulder to shoot them a crooked grin. "I need to use the phone in Joumi-senpai's room, and I need you two to help me get there. My legs are still closer to 'jelly' than 'not jelly' at this point, and I can't sit around here waiting for them to fix themselves."

Ren blinked and Tasuki cocked an eyebrow, but they both must've understood the urgency because they didn't ask questions. I shoved myself off the veranda and they caught me before I could hit the ground again, and between the three of us we made it back to Joumi's living room and down onto her couch. I grabbed the phone just as Nuriko slipped out of the back room, looking more weatherworn than I think I'd ever seen her. "Are you all right, Mikako?"

"Well, I've been better, but…" I pulled the crumpled piece of paper out of my pocket, the one that Hoshi had written her information on a few days ago, then punched in the phone number. I glanced up at Nuriko with a strained smile. "Here's some good news: we might just be able to find that 'miracle' Koubou-sensei was talking about."

"Mm? But how…?"

Before I could answer her the ringing stopped short, a receiver picked up, and the familiar sing-song voice of my best friend came pouring through the phone. "Moshi-moshi, Kasumiya Hoshi, currently of the Bu residence, speaking."

"Hoshi," I said, feeling my legs solidifying as I spoke. "It's Mika. Can you get into that Kutou Parliamentary Library that you were saying Bu-san was in charge of?"

She fumbled for a moment. I gotta admit, it always made me smile whenever I caught Plot Master Hoshi off-guard. "Er, yes, I suppose I could."

"Great. I'm on my way to the imperial libraries myself. We'll hit this thing from two directions."

"Hit what thing from two directions, Mika-chan?"

"Joumi-senpai's sick, and there's no cure, so—"

"Very well," she said, as quick on the uptake as ever. "I'll search for every newspaper article I can find on strange medical occurrences and 'miracle workers' in Konan."

"And don't worry if he's not a doctor, or non-practicing, or whatever," I added. "In fact, you should probably be expecting that."

"Oh, certainly. What's your phone number so I can contact you if I uncover anything?" I read it off to her, and could practically see her curls bobbing in a determined nod from the other end of the line. "Excellent. I'll request Mitya's aid as well. We shall alert you to every scrap of information we discover. Please be certain to do the same for us."

"I will. Thanks, Hoshi-chan! Bye." I hung up in a hurry, then tightened my fists and sprang to my feet. "Yossha! Okay, Nuriko, Ren-kun, Tasuki, come with me. We're going to track down our Mitsukake even if we have to scour every newspaper from the last hundred years to do it."

oOo

I dragged the others through the palace with me, pretty excited about my latest Miko Mission. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that I was in a world where the internet was still considered a novelty – and where, when people said 'newspaper,' they were actually talking about physical papers that carried the news.

"You mean I literally have to search through every single one of these?" I gaped, my mouth slack as I stared up at the rows and rows of dusty, oversized leather books that held all the yellowed papers from the last half century.

"Don't be silly," Nuriko assured me, gesturing to a row of metal cabinets. "Those are merely the hard copies. It will be much easier to manage if we use the microfilm versions."

"Microfilm," I repeated blankly.

"Yes. It's a fairly new system, but it's rather useful. Of course," she added with a small frown, "only one of us will be able to access it at a time, as there is only one viewing machine here. The others will have to use the hard copies."

"And we still have to search though every single one, don't we?" I repeated, and this time Nuriko nodded matter-of-factly, like I'd asked if it was true that the earth revolved around the sun. I held out my hands pleadingly. "Don't you have some kind of database? A search system? Something?"

"If you'd like to use the computer," Nuriko pointed to a nearby pile of plastic that I assumed was a computer, "you may, but it will only tell you the location of the newspapers, not what each of them contains."

"Wh-what about the internet?" I asked. "I mean, all these papers have online archives too, right?"

Nuriko met my dumbstruck gaze, totally straight-faced. "Why would anyone use a computer to read the newspaper?"

I wanted to face-vault, but I was pretty sure that doing that in real life would really smash up my nose. "Oh for the love of…" I shook my head hard. No. This was for Joumi. I had to remember that. "Okay, okay." I faced the cabinet again, clenching my fists and raising them in a challenge to the stacks. "Yossha!" I said again to pump myself up. "Let's start with the newest and work our way down! Skim the headings for anything about gifted doctors or miracle healings, we're bound to come up with something! Ready, set…" I dragged one of the oversized folder-books off the shelf, staggering under the weight. "…go…"

The others joined me willingly enough, but we all soon realized that this was going to be much harder than we'd thought. First of all, Tasuki and I were both useless when it came to really complex kanji – we wound up having to ask Nuriko to write down a lot of likely kanji combinations, just so we'd know what to look for – and Ren was pretty much helpless when it came to lugging around the giant newspaper books. A few times he tried to use his flickering ki-manipulation abilities to bring them down mentally, and wound up nearly buried in books in the process. I heard so many 'sumimasen's that I thought my ears were going to start bleeding. Eventually we relegated him to microfilm only, though even then he had such a tough time with the technology that he couldn't move very fast.

Nuriko would've made the perfect research companion, but she was obviously distracted, reading over the same pages over and over again, and always glancing at her watch or at the door, as if expecting someone to come barging in and give her some news on Joumi or Hotohori. I felt bad making her work when she was so upset, to be honest, but I wasn't sure what to do. After all, there was no way Nuriko would abandon me without a good reason…

…And then I remembered my promise to Alice and felt the light bulb switch on. "Hey, Nuriko?" I called quietly, not wanting to interrupt Ren and Tasuki, who were both diligently scouring papers. "I was just thinking, Alice-chan's gonna be pissed if I keep you here. She kinda made me promise that I'd make sure you spent some time with her, and it's already late afternoon." She glanced up and I clapped my hands together in front of my face. "Do me a favor and visit her for the rest of the day, please? She'll start throwing biscuits at me again if you don't."

She hesitated, but I got the feeling it was more out of duty than actual desire. "But what about—"

"Don't worry, Ren-kun, Tasuki, and I can handle it. Oh, and write down your home phone number, okay? I'll give you a call if I find anything."

I half-expected her to keep arguing, but Nuriko must've been more worried than I'dguessed, because she just bowed, said, "Very well, Mikako," wrote down her number, and disappeared out the doors.

"That was really nice of you, Mika-san," Ren remarked after she'd left. "Nuriko-san felt really upset to me. I think she probably needed some time to relax at home."

I grinned and threw him a thumbs-up. "My thoughts exactly. So let's all work extra-hard and find something before the night's over, okay? That way Nuriko, Hotohori, and Joumi-senpai can go to bed with all their worries solved."

Of course, saying that and actually making it happen were pretty different things, and another couple of hours passed without us finding anything useful. We were only about three years back at this point, and I was starting to realize how absolutely impossible of a quest I'd assigned to myself and my seishi. Judging by the way Tasuki and Ren were slowing up, I thought they must be thinking the same thing.

'But I can't stop now,' I reminded myself as I stretched up on tiptoe to grab one of the higher newspaper booklets. 'Like it or not, this is my best bet for finding Mitsukake. So I'll just… have to…'

My thoughts trailed off as Tasuki reached up behind me and snatched the book from the shelf, holding it out to me with a grin. "Here y'go, Shorty."

I stuck my tongue out at him for the 'Shorty' remark, but said, "Thanks," anyway, following him as he carted it over to a nearby table. "Oh, you don't have to do that. I can carry it just fine."

"Yeah, but I likes this carryin' shit better'n all this researchin' shit," he explained. "Not 'at I ain't gon' keep lookin', you needs me to, but s'hard, lookin' froo all them 'dic'lous kanji. 'Sides," he added with a crooked smile, "luggin' these bigass books ever' which way le's me get out s'm pissed-off energy I still gots kickin' 'round."

"Oh, yeah," I said with a smile that was kind of a wince. "I got so worried about Joumi-senpai that I forgot about that. How're you doing? I know you'd kinda made it your job to hate the Emperor, but…"

He hissed out air between his teeth. "I ain't gon' lie, I kinda thought I 'as gon' cap that mu'fucker when I first foun' out. But s'like, shit, I gots t'know this Hotohori guy at th' Rekkai shindig yester'night, an' he ain't so bad. S'a fuckin' shitty-ass emperor, an' kinduva dumb sumbitch, but he ain't so bad. An' he a seishi, too, so…" He shrugged, leaning up against the table and looking to the ceiling. "Ah, I'll deal f'now. I'm jis' mature like 'at, I guess." He smirked down at me. "What'chu think, Mika? Thinkin' yo' fifth seishi pretty fuckin' noble, ain't'chu?"

Just as he finished talking his stomach roared out a complaint, and I couldn't help but laugh. "Right now, I'm thinking more that my fifth seishi is pretty freaking hungry, actually," I said, and I didn't miss the way Ren sort of looked up from his own research when he heard the word 'hungry.' I smiled at the both of them. "Hey, it's about dinnertime, isn't it? Why don't you two give Nuriko a call and see if you can't eat with her and Alice-chan?"

Ren frowned. "But what about you, Mika-san?"

I waved away his concerns. "Oh, don't worry, I'm not all that hungry right now. I'll search around for another hour or so and then meet up with you guys. Tell Alice-chan to make a little extra for me, okay?"

Ren hesitated, but Tasuki grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of the library before he had a chance to protest again. "Ah, hells yeah! I been droolin' 'bout grub since we done got here! Le's jet, Ren-kun! I'm-a eat so much, you gon' have t'roll me t'bed…"

The door slammed shut behind them. I shook my head, but I was smiling as I did it. Having Tasuki around certainly was good for the ol' team morale, I thought. And it was so weird, how darn similar he was to his old self. I made a mental note to talk to Hoshi about it later. For the moment, though, I still had a whole mess of newspaper articles to tackle.

My stomach was grumbling pretty fiercely, but I didn't let it bother me. I even gritted my teeth when my promised 'hour later' was up and kept going, telling myself that I'd go eat in 'just five more minutes.'

And, about twenty minutes later, my eyes landed on a headline that made my arms shoot straight up into the air. As my hands clenched into Fists of Triumph, the phone behind me rang. It surprised me so much that I nearly fell out of my chair. I straightened in a hurry, though, and dashed over to the phone, picking up the receiver and saying "Moshi-moshi?" even though I already sort of knew who it would be.

"Mika-chan—"

"Hoshi-chan—"

"I've found him!" we both said at the same time, and then started laughing.

"What did you discover?" Hoshi asked.

"You first," I insisted.

"Oh, very well," she said with a small sigh that told me she wasn't actually all that upset. "Mitya came across an interesting article regarding a young Konan medical student who studied abroad in Kutou some seven years ago. Evidently there were a series of incidents involving this student and ill patients, where it seemed as if his treatments worked where no other doctor's would. 'Brilliant' and 'gifted,' the professional physicians raved. And yourself?"

"Four years ago," I began in an excited hurry, "a young doctor was dismissed from Eiyou Central for undisclosed reasons. It caused a big fuss, I guess, because all the other doctors who worked with him said he was 'gifted' and 'brilliant,' and thought the dismissal was totally unfair." I paused, waiting for her to say something, but when the line stayed empty with expectant silence I took a breath and said, "Okay. Since we're both too bloody nervous to talk first, we'll do it this way: on the count of three, at the same time, we'll say the name of our doctor. Fair?"

"Quite."

"Okay, then. One. Two. Three."

"Oudou Shinri!" we shouted at the same time, and nearly deafened each other with our earsplitting "kyaaaaaah!" victory squeals.

Japanese Terms:
Kaikei-shou – Kaikei is the name of a plant. "Shou" simply means "illness."
itazurakko – literally "mischievous boy," it can also have the meaning of a street urchin or even a punk kid. Here, Tasuki uses a shortened version (ikko) to describe himself and Ren; so in this context it basically means "a kid who grew up on the streets."
"Fuzakeru na!" – "Don't screw around!" "Don't fuck with me!" etc.
"shikarishiro" – "Hang in there," "Pull yourself together," etc.
"Yossha!" – "All right!" "Oh-kay!" "Let's do this!" etc.

Names Explained!
Enkou （焔項）– "flame cannon." The 'model' name of Tasuki's one-of-a-kind weapon.
Koubou（硬望）– "rigid ambition." The head doctor's family name.
Kaikei （海茎）– "Sea Stalk." A plant that grows in warm salt water in the UotFG.
Oudou Shinri (拗道　真理) – his family name uses the kanji for "crooked path." His first name means simply "truth."

Author's Note: 12/21/08

(Peeks head above desk bashfully) Um… hello, everyone.

So I suppose I should start this Note with an apology, shouldn't I? I mean, this chapter did take about four months to get out… But I swear I have Good Reasons for that, I really do! The first is of course that I just survived the Semester of Suck (remember when I used to enjoy college? Ah, those were the days). The second is that I'm working on an Original Novel now, and it's sort of taking Priority One at the moment (but more on that when/if I (a) finish it and (b) get it published). But even so, as Ren would say: "Moushi wake arimasen!" (Bows low)

But hey, here's the Good News: I took part of NaNoWriMo to go on a week-long BW writing spree, so I've actually got the next two chapters written and ready to go. I'll probably post them in monthly installments, possibly bimonthly depending on how quickly I can write Chapters 24-30, which is tentatively the end of Book One of BW. (Er, I'll explain this in next time's Author's Note, since this ones getting a little lengthy.)

At any rate, what did everyone think of this chapter? Things have been getting a little serious, huh? And it's always doubly sad when bad things happen to such nice people, huh? Poor Joumi! Well, good thing we've got Tasuki around to keep things from getting too dreary. (laughs) As always, I'm curious to hear what everyone thought – good and bad comments alike – so don't be shy about sending reviews or PMs! Oh… and Five Nerd Points to anyone who got this chapter's Random Anime Reference. (grin)

Next Time: Mikako and the gang race to find Oudou Shinri, their only hope to save Joumi. Will their search bear fruit, or will it lead to a dead end? See you next chapter!

/ Tangerine Infinity /