Pinkshuchan: LALIHO! Hey everyone! Pinkshuchan here! I've come up with the next chapter of Feudal Journey and I think it's a chapter you're going to love. In the last chapter, Ryuichi told the story of Suzaku and his love for a priestess. How will that affect saving Suzaku from the Dark Venom? Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 20

Friend or Lover

Our heroes continued travelling to reach Suzaku. Ryuichi told them that Suzaku's temple lied in Kii. That meant that they would have to go a bit west and then move south. When they reached the direction where the village in Musashi was, Eiri told the others it was best to avoid it and continue moving. Tatsuha complained that he wanted to see the village and rest there but after the monk told him what would happen if the village saw the kappa and all the hurt Shuichi endured being born there, he changed his mind. So they continued onward to Suzaku without stopping for a few more days.

But then as they were travelling, they saw a hut. Eiri and Shuichi could've sworn they've seen that hut before but decided to stay there. And they were right to think it was familiar, for the one living in that hut was...

"Well well well!" a familiar eerie voice called out to them, "It's you two again. I thought you would never show up."

Eiri groaned. Shuichi laughed with joy. Yes, they had once again met Granny. It had been so long since they've seen her. If she was there, that meant something was going on. Shuichi was the first to speak with her. "What are you doing here Granny?" he asked, "Is something happening here?"

"Just something important that concerns you, that's all," Granny responded, "And I see you both are accompanied by two tsukumogami and a kappa. The more the merrier I always say."

"Sometimes I think it's better without them here," Eiri growled, remembering everything that happened since he got companions.

Granny glared at him. "Have you still not learned your lesson? You still are a disgrace of a monk." And once again, as she always does with pretty much everything Eiri had said, she whacked him in the head with her cane.

Tatsuha laughed like a maniac. "Aw man!" he roared with laughter, "She really got you good bro."

Granny turned her head to glare at the kappa. "It is wrong to laugh at your companion's suffering." she hissed before giving him a whack on the head as well.

Eiri smirked. "Yeah Tatsuha, it's wrong to laugh at your companion's suffering."

And Granny glared at Eiri again. "Don't think you're off the hook!" And so Granny brought her cane back and forth to hit Eiri and Tatsuha as they were enjoying each other's pain from getting a smack on the head by Granny.

As for Shuichi and the two tsukumogami, they were just watching Eiri and Tatsuha getting 'disiplined' by the old woman. That was except for Hiro for he was thinking about something. Shuichi looked over at him. "You ok?" he asked.

Hiro looked up at him. "Yeah I'm fine," he replied, "It's just for some strange reason I feel like I've seen her before."

"Really?" Ayaka gasped, "I don't remember her and you and I have been together for a long time since we've been created."

"I know. Still, she looks familiar. Don't remember where though. I'm sure I'll remember when it comes to mind."

Later that day while Tatsuha was 'asked' to help Granny pick some herbs and Hiro and Ayaka were keeping watch in case of yokai, Eiri and Shuichi sat by each other, watching the scenery around them. The trees appeared to be dancing as their leaves swayed against the soft cool breeze. The sun was beginning to set; changing the bright blue sky into a lavender colour. All the animals in the forest could be heard scurrying around as they looked around for food before night came. But yet it was quiet as neither monk nor boy said a single word. They just sat there side by side with Shuichi's head and Eiri's shoulder. But it didn't stay quiet for long.

"Yuki?" Shuichi spoke up in a soft voice, "Am I your lover?"

Eiri looked down at Shuichi to see hopeful amethyst eyes. "Why the hell would you ask a stupid question?" he asked in his usual cold tone, "Did someone say otherwise? And when I mean someone I mean Tatsuha as it might be his plot to lure you into his arms. Unless if it is someone else-"

"No, it's not Tatsuha," Shuichi replied, "It was just some thoughts in my head. I know that we should think of ourselves as lovers with all the... 'things'... we did. But yet there's a part of me that says that we may only be friends. I want to feel like we really are lovers... but I feel that the voice that says I'm only your friend is telling the truth as well. That's why I'm asking; are we lovers?"

Eiri could not answer. He really did love Shuichi and he does somewhat show it in his actions but yet he was in the same predicament as the younger man. Like Shuichi, the monk also had a voice in his head that said that they were friends. He didn't know why but he figured it all started when he gained this nostalgic feeling by just standing by Shuichi. But why did the feeling of being with Shuichi feel so familiar?

Shuichi took this silence as an answer saying 'I cannot say.' He stood up and just looked straight ahead while avoiding eye contact with Eiri. "I'm going for a walk." he said calmly before he walked off. But Eiri knew that Shuichi was upset. He wanted to stop Shuichi but he was afraid of what to say. He figured he'd talk about it with Shuichi when he comes back to Granny's hut.

And so Eiri went back to the hut and waited. And waited. And waited. He heard footsteps heading for the hut. He stood up and was ready to greet Shuichi until he saw that it was only Granny and sat down. Granny looked over at the young monk with a somewhat concerned face and she saw down in front of him.

"What seems to be the problem?" she asked, "Something happen between you and that sweet pink haired companion of yours?"

Eiri sighed. He didn't want to tell his problem with the old woman but he knew that it may be for the best. He decided to tell her. "Shuichi asked something I couldn't really answer. He asked that after everything that we've done together if we were lovers. I didn't know how to respond to him. I do feel like I may... l... love him, but there is this feeling that says he's only a friend."

"And you don't know why this feeling says that you both are just friends even though you have strong feelings for him, is that right?"

A chuckle came from Eiri's lips. "You really are a wise old hag."

Granny sighed. "I'm not even going to give you a smack on the head for that one."

"What, because you're tired with Tatsuha after smacking him lots of times for being his idiot self?" Granny smacked him on the head with her cane. "OW! I thought you said you weren't going to smack me."

"You asked for it." she responded bluntly.

Eiri rubbed his head. "Yeah, maybe I did ask for it. Didn't mean you had to give it to me."

"If I didn't give you what you deserve, how will you learn to be a proper monk? Especially if you are to help the Four Great Yokai."

Eiri looked up at her with big surprised eyes. "How do you know that?"

"I overheard your tsukumogami companions discuss about it among themselves. There were bits and pieces I couldn't hear, but overall I heard something about you helping the Four Great Yokai. They can't depend on someone who plans to be reckless and do things on his own all the time. They need someone who could look up to friends to help them along the way. A love between two people can kill any enemy better than any sword. That love that you feel for your beloved pink haired friend; don't let go of it. It may protect you in the future."

Eiri lowered his head. "I never thought of that before," he told her honestly, "The monks that raised me never told me about anything like that."

"That's because the monks believe that everything they must do, they must do alone. You must follow your heart young monk and let it guide your way."

"Wait a minute! First you tell me I'm a disgrace to monks and now you tell me to go off and make myself different from the other monks? What side do you want me to go?"

"The first day we met at the crossroads, you said that you were going to rid Japan of all yokai. This was what the monks asked you to do. The monks had forgotten how much yokai mean to this world. Ever since this war between them had begun, they thought all the yokai would try to destroy, unaware of the yokai that want to protect them and fight alongside them. You've seen how this thought had gone too far in their thoughts when they tried to kill your little kitsune friend."

Eiri lowered his head in remembrance. He did remember the attempt the monks had made to kill the kitsune. He still didn't know how the kitsune managed to escape death's door.

Granny continued. "After attempting to kill your kitsune friend and managed to make you do whatever they told you because of their lies, you went on this journey to eliminate all the yokai in the world, assuming they were all evil. But you learned better."

"Shuichi was the one who showed me that there are yokai wanting to side with the humans. And following what he said we found out about the Dark Venom that was possessing most of the evil yokai," The young monk stood up. "Thank you for the talk but I have to go find Shuichi."

He was about to leave before Granny stopped him. "Just one moment. Do you also remember what I told you the last time we saw each other? I told you that your little kitsune friend would remain the same way as you've known him until one more full moon. That's the one after this one. Embrace yourself."

Eiri didn't know what Granny meant by 'Embrace yourself'. He left the hut in search of Shuichi. He looked up at the sky. It was a full moon. Shuichi would be out walking in the forest. He went into the closest forest and called out for the pink haired boy. He was walking around the dark forest until he heard a familiar cry. It sounded like a scream but Eiri knew it wasn't really a scream. He ran as fast as he could until he saw what looked like hunters attacking a familiar creature.

It was Eiri's kitsune.

The hunters were laughing as they tied their ropes tightly around the giant fox's neck. Its cries screeched in pain and suffering. Tears were falling on the creature's furry cheeks. Eiri couldn't watch seeing his friend in this state and ran to help him.

"Let him go!" he yelled at the hunters, "Let him go right this instant!"

The hunters' laughter began to roar. "Why the hell should we do that?" one of the hunters rudely spoke to Eiri, "This has to be the best catch we found here in this forest. There's no way we're going to give this beauty up because of some dumb blonde sissy monk."

Suddenly, the kitsune grabbed one of the ropes tied around his neck with the hunter insulting Eiri holding on to and swung it around until the hunter couldn't hold on any longer and ended up flying in the air. Eiri took this as an opportunity to jump on the kitsune's back, pull the rope with as much force as he could to free his kitsune friend from the hunters' grasp, and ride away. But the hunters were armed with bows and arrows. They kept shooting until they managed to hit the kitsune; causing him to fall to the ground.

"Kitsune!" Eiri cried, "Kitsune! Get up!" The kitsune tried as hard as he could to stand up, but he was just too weak. The hunters came running towards them. Eiri would try to fight them but they weren't yokai so his abilities wouldn't work on them and it was improper for a monk to fight with his fists. It seemed like it was the end.

That was until they heard a growl. It didn't come from the kitsune. The hunters began to shake with fright. It wasn't anything they had ever heard before. A voice followed the growl. "How dare humans disturb my slumber!" the voice growled, "I shall eliminate you from existance with my almighty power."

"No! Stay away!" the hunters yelped as they began to run away. Eiri stared at the direction of the voice just to hear a gulp followed by familiar laughter. The owner of the voice came closer and closer until the monk could see who it was.

It was Tatsuha.

"HAHAHA! Man, I scared them off good." he laughed.

Eiri sighed in relief that it was someone on his side. He heard more footsteps to see that Hiro, Ayaka, and Granny followed. They saw the kitsune lying on the ground beside Eiri and together they brought the silver fox back to the hut. Granny grabbed the herbs that she and Tatsuha had freshly picked and made a medicine. How was it that she would be the answer to every problem that had to involve her?

Many countless times the kitsune would try to stand up and leave but he would always fall down. Knowing full well that his injuries would get worse if he continued to try walking, Granny made some sort of aroma using herbs she collected along her journey, causing the kitsune to fall asleep. Eiri looked over at her.

"How long before he can walk again?" he asked in concern.

"Not long," Granny responded, "With his natural healing abilities as a kitsune and the effects of the herb, he'll be able to walk again at sunrise."

For the rest of the night, Eiri kept watch over the kitsune. Everyone else except for Granny decided to stay outside with him during the night for their own reasons. Hiro was quite interested of seeing a silver kitsune, Ayaka wanted to stay to make sure her master would remain safe, and Tatsuha didn't want to be alone with Granny. The four of them stayed there until day began to rise.

And then, the most remarkable thing happened.

The moment the full moon had disappeared from sight and Granny came out to check on our heroes, the kitsune began to glow. No one knew what was happening. But then they saw that the kitsune was transforming. His body shrunk, his paws became hands and feet, all the fur around his body disappeared, the hair left changed from silver to pink. And it was then that Eiri realized the question he was asked. Friend or lover? When someone you thought was nothing more than a friend turns out to be the one you love the most in the world. Because there, where Eiri's beloved kitsune friend lied, was the one person the monk loved more than anything.

Lying there in a deep sleep was Shuichi.

Pinkshuchan: TADA! I finally did it! I revealed Shuichi as the kitsune. I'm guessing you all had a feeling that was the case. How will Eiri feel now that he found out Shuichi was his beloved kitsune friend the entire time? Read and Review!