Disclaimer:  I own a 'puter, I own a bed, I own a roto rooter, I own something red.  But I do not own Fushigi Yuugi... (Sam I am) cuz they don't eat green eggs and ham!  (A/N:  TOOOO much caffeine... and a really bad rhyme.. make for a pretty weird Kokkei this morning)

Author's Note:  Second to last chapter!!!!   ::collective gasp::  I can't believe this either.  And ending is a rare thing for me.  But, anyway... don't know how wonderful this chapter is... the end may be a bit choppy... demo, daijobu, ne?

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Jiyuna was dreaming, or had been, until alarms of danger started going off in her head.  Lucky for her, she'd always been a light sleeper, so when foot steps were heard nearing her door, she was awake, all her senses flaring.

*Those aren't the footfalls of a man,* her mind told her. *They're too heavy, but they aren't clumsy enough to be Miaka's. It's either a servant, or something else.* Jiyuna guessed on something else, so she crawled out of bed, moved to the darkest corner of the room, and stood in shadow, waiting.

The door opened a crack, and even though the torches were lit, barely a sliver of light reached inside the blackness of the room. Jiyuna watched safely from the shadowed corner as the door was pushed open further and a figure stepped in. Tall and lithe, with a long braid fluttering in the wind, the figure moved stealthily toward the bed.

Jiyuna knew it was Soi. What she didn't know was what the Seiryuu seishi was doing here, especially in her room.

"Dammit," Soi muttered. She must have realized that Jiyuna wasn't in the bed. "Where'd that peasant bitch go?"

*To show myself, or not to show myself,* Jiyuna thought. *To die, or not to die... decisions, decisions,* she added bitterly.

She moved quickly into the center of the room. *Why delay the inevitable?* "What do you want, Soi?"

Soi jumped, clearly surprised that Jiyuna was actually in the room.

"Well, well, well." Soi crossed her arms, a condescending smile flickered onto her lips. "She doesn't hide."

"What do you want?" Jiyuna repeated.

"I," she waved a slender hand around, "have come to stop the summoning ceremony, of course."

The other girl's eyes narrowed, though Soi couldn't see them in the dark. "If you're here to stop the ceremony, why are you in my room?"
Soi's face fell, only a little, but enough that Jiyuna saw it. "Ah, um, well..." She shuffled her weight onto her left foot. "If I hold you hostage, surely they'll stop," she said quickly.

Jiyuna grinned. "Actually, they'll probably go faster."

"Let's find out, ne?"

Soi lunged across the bed, the only barrier between her and Jiyuna, but Jiyuna was quick, and darted to the left. She ran around the foot of the bed and out the door, while Soi struggled to detangle herself from the covers from the bed.

Jiyuna had reached the large courtyard between wings of the palace, when a loud rumble of thunder made her stop. "Shit!" she whispered.

Looking up, she saw Soi standing on the roof, lightning flashing around her.

"What the fuck do you want with me, Soi?!"

The Seiryuu seishi smirked. "It's quite simple, really. I want you to die."

"Why?"

"Because," she said. "If you're dead, then Nakago-sama will forget about you, and remember that it's me he loves."

Rain began to fall; cold, hard, stinging rain. It dripped down Jiyuna's face, into her eyes, soaked her clothing, and plastered her hair down. She stared up at Soi, a look of something like incredulous wonder on her wet face. "Nakago? What does he have to do with this?"

There was a flash, and Soi was suddenly in front of her, laughing. It was a laugh full of bitterness... and hatred. "What does he have to do with it? Everything you foolish peasant!  He loves you... but not for long."

Jiyuna glared. "Do not... call me a peasant. You know nothing about me!"

The other girl took a step back at Jiyuna's outburst. "Hmm... a bit touchy, are we?"

"Touchy, no… getting pissed off, yes," she replied.  "I don't get you, Soi.  You say you hate me because Nakago loves me.  But, I don't love him, so what's the problem?"

Soi pushed her face close to Jiyuna's, narrowed her eyes.  "The problem is that he can't do much else lately besides think of you.  He won't let me raise his chi, won't take any kind of visitors, and when I try to talk to him, he goes off and mopes."

Jiyuna started to laugh.  "Nakago, mope?  C'mon Soi… you have to do better than that!  You're jealous!"

The Seiryuu seishi took a step backward in surprise.  "Jealous?" she asked stupidly.

"Yes…" Jiyuna hissed the word, leaning closer to Soi.  "You're jealous that a so-called pathetic peasant girl like me got closer to Nakago than you ever could!"  The shocked expression on Soi's face gave her the perfect opportunity to get in the first hit, so Jiyuna leapt forward and swung, connecting her fist with Soi's jaw.

The elder girl stumbled backward, holding her throbbing jaw.  "You'll pay for that!" she spat, and disappeared once more.

*Shit!*  Jiyuna spun around, looking up at the roofs of the buildings, searching for signs of the powerful woman.  She spotted her, on the roof above the other seishi's living quarters, her arms up in the air… calling…

"FUCK ME!"  Jiyuna ran, all the while watching the sky.  When the first lightning bolt began its rapid descent toward her, she halted, then jumped to the side and rolled out of the way.  It hit the ground, forming a black spot.  Jiyuna could hear the sizzling from the heat.

Loud, high-pitched laughter echoed throughout the courtyard, bounced off the walls of the buildings, reverberated in Jiyuna's head.  She barely had to time to recover from the first bolt of lightning when a shower of electric blue began pouring down from the blackened sky.  She jumped, jumped again, and managed to get out of the way of most of them, but a single bolt came down and grazed her arm, burning through her tunic and flesh.

She fell to her knees, grabbed her arm painfully.  Upon inspection, she saw that the burn extended from her shoulder nearly down to her elbow.  The skin was red, raw, and a few trickles of blood ran down her arm, mixed with the rain already there.

"Son of a bitch!" she whispered.  If Soi kept this up, she'd get her eventually, and then…

"Soi!"

Jiyuna recognized the voice right away.  She didn't lift her head to look at him, only stared at the ground and listened.

Soi halted her attack on Jiyuna when the deep bass broke through the thunder and rain and reached her ears.  She peered down at the courtyard, saw Jiyuna on her knees.  Her gaze drew away from the girl, toward where that voice had come from.  It was impossible.  He couldn't have gotten here this fast, could he?

And yet, there Nakago stood, his cerulean eyes boring a hole through her head.  Eyes showing only hate… pure, unforgiving hate.  His stare wavered, and shot to Jiyuna, who still refused to look at him.

Soi was the first to speak.  "Nakago..."

The shogun looked back up at Soi, his eyes thin slights behind the shaggy blonde bangs, confusion and something akin to anger etched on his flawless face.  What was he doing here?  All he could remember was Suboshi telling him that Soi had gone.... gone to stop the ceremony.... but he had known.  He had known she was going after Jiyuna.

He saw it in her eyes.

In a flash, Soi was in front of him.  Her shoulders were slumped, defeated, and her gaze focused on his chest rather than his face.  "Soi... what are you doing?"

She looked up at him then, sadness embedded on her face, and... were those tears in her eyes?  "I-uh... I..."

*What is she sputtering about?* he thought, annoyed.  He glared, crossed his arms over his chest.

And then, Soi's face changed.  The sadness disappeared, as did the tears, and determination was left.  "I came to stop the summoning."

"And a fine job you're doing."

His sarcastic words stung, but Soi kept her composure.  "And I'm here to kill her.  She stole plans from your tent when you had her there, probably meant to give them to the Suzaku seishi."  She pulled out a rolled up scroll from her belt, showed it to Nakago.  "I found this in her room."

The shogun took the scroll, recognized it as one he had been reading a day ago.  Soi had turned away, began to walk slowly toward Jiyuna.  "No one steals from Nakago-sama," she said.

"Iie."  It was only a small, simple word, but it had an icy edge to it that made Soi shiver.  She turned back slowly to Nakago, confusion clouding her face.

"Nani?"

"Iie, Soi," he said again, glaring at her.  "I won't let you kill her."

"What the hell are you talking about, Nakago?  She stole from you and was going to help them stop us."

Nakago shook his head.  He wasn't sure what he was doing.  But, for the first time in his entire life, he could not kill.  Nothing could bring him to do it... nothing.

"Doushite?"

The sound, a whisper of a light breeze on a warm summer day, a golden voice gone rough with pain and sorrow, reached his ears.

Jiyuna looked up at Nakago, locked her crimson eyes full of tears with his.  Nakago gasped aloud.  There was so much pain in those eyes.  Mental anguish, he knew.  He had felt that countless times during his life.  Jiyuna looked as though if she began to cry, there'd be no stopping.  And he knew that he was the cause of that pain.  He had hurt her, more deeply that anyone he had killed... and he could hardly stand it.

"Doushite?" she asked again.  Her chin began to quiver, but she drew a deep, shaky breath and rose to her feet, gripping her burned arm.  "Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?  Why didn't you let Soi kill me a few moments ago?"

The shogun averted his eyes from Jiyuna's.  He didn't know.  He had no idea why he couldn't kill her, he just couldn't.  Even when he had blasted her with his chi, he wasn't trying to kill her.  He had convinced himself that was, but he wasn't.

*Bastard,* he mind told him.  *Just tell her that you love her!*

He shook his head emphatically.  No!  He did not!

*Like hell.*

Soi was staring at Jiyuna and Nakago, her lips parted slightly in amazed wonder, and jealousy.

Jiyuna tried to take a step forward, but in doing so she jarred her injured arm and collapsed back to the wet ground, dropping her head in her hand.  Her sobs came softly, barely heard above the roaring of the wind and rain from the storm.

Nakago nearly ran to her side to comfort her, but at the last moment stood fast.  He was not the type to comfort, ever.  In fact, he should just take Soi and leave.

Leave?

Could he leave her now that he saw her again?  Could he really get on his horse and ride away, knowing full well that he'd never see her again?  "Leave us, Soi... go back to camp.  The others are on their way, you can meet them and all go back."

"But—"

He gripped her arm roughly.  "I said go!"

Soi tore her arm from Nakago's painful grasp.  The force of it sent her stumbling backward.  Anger boiled over.  Her face turned red, she began to shake with rage.  Electric sparks flicked off the tips of her fingers.  She raised them, pointed at Jiyuna and bellowed "Hakujin Rahiooo!"

And, nothing happened.  Almost nothing.  The storm that had been raging on suddenly subsided, and the clear, star splattered night sky overcame the clouds.  The full moon hung low and large, casting a white-ish light on everything.

Jiyuna smirked bitterly.  "You're too late Soi... they've sealed Seiryuu."  She glanced at Nakago... glanced.. then gaped.  The blonde seishi's face was pure white.  Paler than the moon, paler than the stars that shown in the sky, paler than the drained look on Soi's face.  He was trembling, fear showing on his face.

"Y-y-you..." he stumbled for words, found none, and simply stayed quiet.  *I thought I lost you!* his mind cried out.  But, he could not find the will to speak the words.  Jiyuna was staring at him, shocked, still gripping her wounded arm.

Neither of them saw Soi pull the dagger from her boot.