Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yuugi.

Chapter 20: North, South, East, West

Narrator

Kuro paced impatiently in front of the Kutou general. "I don't understand," he said. "Dugureng has always been loyal to Kutou. He wouldn't betray us. There has to be some explanation."

"Apparently he's one of the Genbu Seishi," the general said. Kuro felt his blood run cold. They knew. The secret he had kept for Dugureng his whole life was finally out. How could Dugureng have done this?

"Nonsense," he said. "Dugureng is just your average idiot. He's no seishi."

"Clearly you didn't know your friend as well as you thought you did. He's a seishi. I have witnesses."

"Witnesses saying what?"

"That his body glowed with a green light. That he cast some sort of shield around two seishi, saving their lives. That he turned against his comrades and fought for Hokkan." Kuro felt weak at the knees. Every word was a kick to his stomach. He wanted to throw up.

That fool.

"Nonsense," he muttered.

"It's the truth. It seems he has betrayed us all."

He had warned Dugureng. He had hoped his empty threat would keep him from leaving. No such luck. Now Dugureng could never come home. He would be hunted down and killed. Kuro's heart pounded with fear for his friend. How could he possibly protect Dugureng now? Did the boy have to ruin everything?

"What do you want me to do about it?" he asked the general. "If Dugureng has indeed betrayed us, there isn't much I can do."

"You are, reportedly, his best friend."

"It seems as though admitting to such a thing would not be in my favor at this time."

"On the contrary, it means that you are going to be given a chance to serve your country."

"What do you mean?"

"Dugureng, or Inami, as we should call him now, trusts you. You'll be able to get close to him."

"So?"

"We want you to kill him."

"What?"

"Come now. It's not that hard. We want Inami dead."

Dead. They wanted Dugureng dead. By all rights he deserved it. Kuro's anger at the younger man couldn't be denied. He had betrayed Kuro. He had betrayed Kutou. He had betrayed Seiryuu.

"For your troubles you would be richly rewarded," the general continued. "What do you say?

But he was Kuro's best friend. He was the one who forced Kuro to eat, sleep, and bathe as he went into deep morning. His eyes crinkled around the corners when he found something funny, no matter how hard he was trying to hide it. Dugureng had trusted him with his greatest secret. He couldn't tell a lie to save his life, but if it meant saving Kuro's he was a master. He had loved the same woman. He had given her up.

If Kuro said no, he would undoubtedly be punished severely. Perhaps he would even be killed. Certainly he would be labeled a traitor. Although the general phrased it as a request, Kuro knew his proposal to be an order.

What did he owe Dugureng anyway? He'd told him not to leave. He'd warned Dugureng that he'd come after him himself. Following the general's orders would really only be keeping his own promise. And Kuro always kept his promises.

Kuro looked the general straight in the eye and said the only thing he could.

"No."

The general smiled sweetly.

"That is such a shame," he said. "I had so hoped we wouldn't have to force you."

Inami felt like he had been poked and prodded by a thousand people. No one in Hokkan seemed to be willing to trust him. His symbol has been examined again and again as he stood there, his legs freezing and his cheeks burning in shame.

And he had thought Hokkan would accept him.

A heavy, roly-poly of a man waddled into the room. Inami scowled at him. It was probably yet another one of the emperor's men. As if he hadn't seen a thousand of them already.

"Haven't you people had enough," he snapped. He'd been keeping his temper in check all day, acting polite and nice to every stupid bimbo who came in here to check out his butt, and he was tired of it.

Much to his surprise, his guest laughed. "A couple of us were taking bets on when you'd finally loose your patience," he said. "It looks like I just lost."

"What'd you bet?" Inami asked, his voice still sharp despite his efforts to calm it. He had to seem benign to these people. If they thought he was a threat they'd kick him out in an instance, and then he'd have nowhere to go.

"I bet you wouldn't," the man said.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence," Inami grumbled, "but everyone has a limit. Can't we just get this over with?"

"We're already done. I just came in here to tell you that you've passed the emperor's inspection. While you've been in here suffering from unheard of indignities," the skin around the man's eyes crinkled in a silent laugh as he spoke, "we've been doing a thorough background check. I hope you don't mind. There's some very interesting things we found, but nothing that would make you seem suspicious."

Inami had to stifle a gasp. How much did they know? Did they know about Yind? Did they know about Kuro? Did they know about…? No. Surely not. He'd never told a soul. Not even Kuro himself.

"Have the other seishi been treated this way?" he found himself asking.

"Boy, I can tell you stories," the man said. "When Tomite first brought Takiko to the capital, they were both thrown in prison!" Inami felt his eyes widen a bit.

"Really?" he asked.

"Really," the man continued. "All the seishi have had background checks. They just don't know it. Please don't tell. I don't think they'd be too happy about it. Uruki might even get violent, knowing her. But the emperor is a cautious man, and what precautions he wishes to put in place will be put there. He is the emperor, after all."

"Who are you?" Inami asked.

"My name is Houjin. I'm one of the emperor's top advisors, and a friend. Now pull your pants up and let's get you out of here."

Takiko

For the time being, the capital was safe. Unfortunately, the main Hokkan army at Gogetsu had been defeated. The surviving soldiers had fled back to the capital. More than half the soldiers stationed there had been killed. It was only a matter of time before the Kutou army moved it's main army from Gogetsu to Tolan, and then we would have a much bigger force to defeat.

My seishi sprawled across my room. Namame and Hatsui had claimed the chairs, Hikitsu leaned against the wall, Tomite sat by his feet, and Uruki and Inami lay flat on their stomachs playing a game of cards on the floor. I sat on my bed, watching them.

"So what now?" Hatsui asked.

"We need to find the last seishi before Kutou attacks again," Uruki said.

"How long do we have?" I asked.

"Who knows?" Uruki said.

"Well," Namame began, "We can't know for sure, but it takes a single rider about two and a half weeks to get to Tolan from Gogetsu. With a whole army…" He thought for a moment. "I'd estimate that we have at least four weeks. Probably more, since they should wait for reinforcements and supplies before they leave Gogetsu."

"That sounds about right," agreed Tomite. There was silence for a few moments, broken only by the muffled curses emitted every once in a while by Uruki. She was loosing her card game.

"So… How're we going find the last seishi in four weeks anyway?" I asked. Silence greeted my question.

"Enlightening," I muttered. Uruki snorted. I earned at least a halfhearted smile from most of the others.

"We need to figure out where they would most likely be," said Namame. "Everyone between here and Gogetsu has fled, so we're not going to find anyone towards the south, and most people anywhere near the Kutou border are also long gone, so that rules out the east. We still have the north and the west. In order to get back in time for the ceremony, we can only travel for about two weeks. There's only a certain radius we can search in."

"We'll never be able to search even that radius in two weeks," Tomite said.

"We have to try," said Uruki. "We can chart the most efficient course to travel the most ground in the amount of time that we have."

"We still won't get far. There's too much land," Tomite said.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Uruki asked, growing angry. "Sit on our asses and complain? We have to try!"

"I'm not arguing that!" Tomite replied. "But there has to be something better we can do then blindly wandering around hoping they'll show up! That'll never work!"

"Both of you, shut up!" Hatsui said. "Genbu, I had no idea the fabled Genbu Seishi acted like such children."

"You have no idea," I said dryly.

"What if we split up," said Inami. There was silence for a few minutes as the rest of the seishi thought about his suggestion.

"I don't know…." Namame said "It's not as safe if we're not together. What if something happens?" I could hear the words he left out as clearly as if he'd said them. "What if something happens to the Miko?"

"I was alone with only Tomite for quite some time," I said indignantly.

"And you almost died twice," Tomite responded quietly. "I remember, even if you don't. When you got lost in the city… When we were attacked by Miboshi in the cave…" He shook his head.

"But I didn't," I replied. "I was fine. And I won't have only one seishi with me. We can split up into two groups of four. Three seishi will be more than enough protection."

"I don't know…" Tomite said.

"You know how important it is that we find this last seishi, Tomite!"

"Maybe you should stay here, in the capital, Takiko," Tomite said. I scowled.

"Not a chance," I said.

"Takiko…"

"No."

"Taki—"

"No! I'm putting my foot down on this one. I'm coming with you, whether we split up or not." There was silence. Tomite scowled. I rarely snapped at people, with the exception of the morning before I'd had my tea, but there was no way I was going to watch them walk into danger without me again. I wouldn't be able to take it.

"Well, she is the miko," Namame said. "I suppose we'll have to do what she says."

I had to stifle a sigh of relief. I was afraid they would force me to stay. I watched as they pulled out maps and discussed what were the quickest paths they could take and where the last seishi was most likely to be. I mostly tuned them out. I couldn't compare with any of them, even Inami, in knowledge of Hokkan and its lands.

Before long two paths had been mapped out, one for each group. I would be heading to the north with Tomite, Hikitsu, and Inami. Namame, Uruki, and Hatsui would be heading west, towards Sairo. If everything went well, one of us would find the seventh seishi and we would meet up back in Tolan for the ceremony in a few weeks. I desperately hoped that everything would go well.

Tomite knocked on my door late that night, as I had known he would. He had been too unhappy about my insistence on coming not to try to stop me one last time. And, as he had known I would, I let him in. It was only fair.

It was the first time we'd been alone together since he had kissed me. Since he had told me that he loved me. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to act.

"Takiko," he began, "Hokkan isn't a safe place. If the weather doesn't kill us, there are countless other dangers."

"I know that, Tomite," I said, my voice soft.

"There's bandits, there's soldiers. What if Miboshi comes back? I'm not foolish enough to think we beat him into submission last time. We barely won at all."

"I know."

"You need to stay safe. If something happens to you everything we're worked so hard for is ruined. Hokkan will never be saved."

"Tomite, I've been with you every step of the way this entire time. Every second I've been in Hokkan I've been in danger. Nothing has changed. Why do you want me to be separate now?" He was silent for a few seconds. "Tomite?" I prompted.

"What about your father? And your friends? Your entire world? You want to get back to them, right?" he said. The comment stung and he knew it.

"You didn't answer my question," I said, ignoring it. He was silent again.

"If you won't answer my question then this entire conversation is pointless," I told him.

"I…"

"You what?"

"I just…"

"What?"

"Uruki almost died. So did Namame. So did I. And I…" I watched as he visibly struggled for words. His eyes were downcast, searching the floor for… Something. I went to him, placed my hands on his tanned cheeks, and tilted his head up so he was looking at me.

"You what?" I asked, more gently this time.

"I couldn't do anything, Takiko. I was helpless. And since then all I've been able to think about was that time in that cave when you almost died. When Miboshi attacked, and I could barely do anything at all. During that fire, with you lying there, passed out on the floor. There's been so many times when you've been in danger, Takiko, and with just the slightest tweaking of circumstances you'd be dead."

"And you've saved me, every time," I said.

"But what if next time I don't? What if next time I fail?"

"That's what Uruki, and Hikitsu, and the others are for."

"What if we all fail?"

"You won't."

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do. I have faith in you." And I did, too: completely hopeless, unabashed, never-ending faith. He shook his head.

"You're hopeless," he said quietly.

"Yes."

"Why won't you stay, Takiko?"

How could I explain my need to stay by his side? How could I make him understand that I knew just how close I had come to loosing him — all of them — and how much pain the mere thought caused me? How could I show him that leaving my friends to face danger alone was more than I could bear?

"Because the hours sitting down in that little room were the most tortuous hours of my life," I finally settled on. "I could hear the fighting, but I couldn't do anything. Even if I'm there, I might not be able to do anything, but at least I'll be there. I'll know. Just sitting there, waiting for some news… It was more than I could stand. I couldn't do that again. I just couldn't."

Tomite was silent. He looked into my eyes, as though he was searching for something. I met his eyes with my own. Finally, he sighed and looked away.

"Okay," he said quietly, resigned. He turned, about to leave, but I caught his hand.

"Tomite, I… I have to know…" I began.

"What?" he asked.

"I know it's completely off subject, and you probably want to go to bed, and I don't want to be a pain —"

"Just ask, Takiko." I was quiet for a minute, trying desperately to get up my courage. Trying to find the right words. He waited patiently for me.

"What you said to me, before Kutou attacked… What happened… Was that because you were thought you weren't coming back? Or did you mean it?"

"Takiko…"

"Because I won't be mad if you didn't," I rushed on. "I won't. I just… I just need to know." My face was burning. I couldn't meet his eyes. What if it was all a lie? He'd certainly not said anything since, and before… At Namame's home… I didn't know what to believe anymore.

Tomite pulled me towards him. His arms went around me, holding me to him. A warm, callused hand rested on my cheek, pulling my face up so my eyes met his. My heart was pounding. How could he not hear it? Could it really be? Could he?

He kissed me. It was nothing like the terrified, desperate kiss before the battle. This was soft and sweet. His lips brushed against mine. Our bodies melded together, like they were meant to be that way. One hand was in the small of my back, the other in my hair. I clung to him, wanting more and wanting only this at the same time.

All too soon he drew his lips away, but his arms stayed, keeping me in his embrace.

"I love you, Takiko," he said softly. "More than anything in the world. I love you."

"I love you too," I whispered, and stood on my tiptoes to kiss him again.

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