Welcome to this incredibly short chapter! Sorry it is so late and so short - I hope it was worth the wait!

Now, from here we are going to skip over whole events and replace them with something else, as well as divert the story line more clearly. You'll see what I mean by the end of this chapter :)

Enjoy! Do not own, do not profit, only read for entertainment value please.

Another Side

Chapter 45

A Wolf Changes the Tides

The darkness lightened further, revealing a large door, decorated in deep browns and bright greens. It took up the entirety of the back cave, and Igneous wondered on how they hid the door from their sights.

"It's so big." Thank the Lord for Miaka, Igneous thought to herself.

"We've kept the door closed through our Chi, and now we will open it for you. Apologies, but only the priestess is allowed to walk through here." Igneous shrugged, finding that fair. She didn't move from within the protective circle of her family – she was still trying to get feeling back into her body, her lungs aching for air now that she could freely breath again.

Igneous would prefer not to do anything like that again, but she couldn't have Miaka go through it, especially the humiliation of having to undress in front of the people she trusted the most in her life right now.

Nuriko helped Igneous redress, frowning at the faded scars, anger and indignation flaring within him. When (and it was going to be a when, not an if, not with all that Igneous had suffered so far) Nuriko met that man, he wouldn't live long enough to plead for his pathetic existence. He imagined breaking the man in half, or maybe just breaking each of his bones piece by piece.

Tasuki thought along the same lines, but he was more for watching the man burn alive.

Chichiri, however, wore a frown on his face. He exchanged a look with Mitsukake, the both of them thinking about the wounds and how long it must have taken them to heal for them to still be a prominent scar on Igneous' body. Along with those thoughts, the monk thought about what Tai-itsu-san told him before, that if he would just look he could see all the strings that Igneous had wrapped around her soul.

Now wasn't the time, he told himself, turning back once more to see that Igneous was finally and properly clothed. I will wait until we are in a safe location.

They sat there, waiting for the two warriors and Miaka to come back out of the room. When they did, Miaka was admiring a necklace in her hands, the gem bright and green and surrounded by gold. It was a wonderful necklace, but…

"This is only the first item you'll need to summon Suzaku." They were all devastated to learn this. What more could they do, what more would they have to do?! Already, they had nearly lost one of their own, and that was a horrifying enough even to deal with.

"How do ya know that?"

Hikitsu answered Tasuki with, "We questioned one of the thieves – they mentioned that if this shentso-pao is not combined with that of the western nation Xi-Lang, there wouldn't be enough power."

Tasuki scowled, rightfully so. Igneous sighed, rubbing her head. "She shoulda come clean up front!"

"While I agree, we can't go over that right now." Igneous stepped around Tamahome's sobbing self, apparently seeing his dreams crumble right in front of him. She smiled at Miaka, the both of them feeling determined. "We can do this – we got here, didn't we?"

The Warriors looked at each, smiling and nodding. "Well, let's get going then! No time to lose."

"There's a short cut to Xi-Lang across the desert, just south of Bei-Jia. You go through there, you'll make it in no time." Hikitsu smiled at their group, feeling somewhat… proud of their mission. It almost reminded him of when they were with their own priestess, of going on their own adventure to accomplish their hopes and dreams.

Miaka frowned. "What about you two?"

Tomite laughed. "Us? Our job's over and done with – we're returning to Heaven." They stepped back into the opulent room, waving as they left, sending an apologetic smile towards Igneous. "We've been waiting for 200 years, it is time we rest."

"Safe travels," Igneous replied, a bright light shadowing the two warriors until the doors shut tight. Now, only the sconces on the wall provided scant light, but Igneous knew that even that was fading quickly. "Alright guys, let's get going!"

Tamahome and Miaka walked up front, quietly talking, both followed by Igneous, Nuriko and Tasuki.

"Are you going to be okay, Igneous?" Nuriko asked, voice low and quiet. She sighed, nodding her head. They could both feel that she wasn't alright right then, but there were other things to focus on, such as getting the next Shentso-Pao and then… Well, Igneous still didn't know what was going to be in store for her.

Now that Nuriko was connected to her, once she died, he would die. Nothing would prevent that, and nothing Igneous could do would stop it. As a Xiang, her duty was to die – that was it. Igneous was conflicted though – would she fight what her role was to be, just to keep her family together longer? How would that affect Miaka, could they still save Hotohori's kingdom if need be?

The doors were before them, still as intimidating as before. Tamahome pushed them open just as the lights went out, the sun reflecting the brightness of the snow before them.

Igneous, though, didn't focus on that.

Without really thinking, she reached forward and pulled Miaka back, something in her screaming in warning if she stepped through first.

"What the - "

A blur rushed by them, nearly missing Tamahome. Once it stopped, they could see that it was a huge wolf, burns marking the left side of its face and haphazardly wrapped in chains. One bright eye glared at them, the muzzle slowly lifting as it started to snarl at them.

"Could it be..." Miaka whispered to herself, hand tightening on the necklace. She startled herself, putting it inside her coat for safekeeping since it was not a good idea to be carrying it out in the open.

The wolf took a couple of steps forward, shoulders hunched and fur raising, looking quite an intimidating sight. The growls rose in volume, and then it became clear to the Suzaku group that this wolf was not a normal one.

Nuriko scowled, clenching his own fists. "It must be that creature, that Seriyuu warrior that I fought..."

"His chi… it is definitely that of a warrior, but how can this be?" Chichiri readied his staff, wanting to rush forward but there were too many people in the way. "Wolf blood must have run in his veins..."

Hearing that, Igneous got an idea. She pushed Miaka behind her, capturing everyone else's attention. "Hold on, I got this."

"Igneous -" Tasuki started to hiss something, but was stopped by Nuriko surprisingly enough. He watched his daughter carefully, and he could feel her thought process, could just see the way her brain thought. "Wha – Nuriko!"

"Trust her," he replied, still clenching his fists. His own thoughts said she was in danger and that he needed to reach forward and drag her out of harm's way, but he trusted Igneous, and he knew that she could at least de-escalate the situation before something stupid happened.

Igneous crept forward, eyes locked with that of the wolf's one eye. She spoke low and slow, making sure that she could be heard with the silence of the snow around them. "Hey there, you look hurt." He growled more, a blue light faintly coming from him. "It's okay, I'm not here to hurt you, can I step closer?"

The more she spoke, the lower the hackles became, his eye becoming softer the longer Igneous spoke to him. His tail started to softly wag, everyone looking on in astonished amazement. He lowered his head, looking utterly pathetic as Igneous stepped closer. He whined when she gently pet his muzzle, making sure not to go anywhere near his marks.

"There, that's better, right?" Igneous smiled at the wolf, ignoring Miaka and Nuriko's surprise and suspicion in her mind. "You're just hurt, I want to make sure that you're going to be okay." He whined pathetically, laying in the snow and pushing his head into her lap, the both of them slightly cold but ignoring it. Igneous gently ran her hand along the edge of the burn mark, unfurling the chains that she could reach.

Something in her hissed at the chains, at the way they seemed to be entangled into his fur and weighing down the wolf. This was wrong, something was saying in her, he didn't deserve this. Igneous promptly tossed away the things, still ignoring everybody else and keeping an eye on the wolf. Something was wrong with him, the way he seemed to slump into her embrace, his eye slowly closing, his breath slowing down.

He was dying.

It was… saddening, really, to see. She leaned closer to him, red hair a curtain between them and the world of snow. "I'm sorry." He huffed, but nothing else escaped the wolf. "I'm sorry that the world has treated you so coldly, so cruelly. I pray that you have a better life waiting for you."

Another whine.

"What's going on?" Chichiri frowned, noticing the way that Igneous' shoulders hunched in as she sat there in the snow.

"He's dying." Nuriko looked sad himself, hand clutched over where his fatal wound once used to be. "He's dying, and she's mourning him."

Miaka was quiet, but she walked forward and knelt next to her friend, laying a hand next to Igneous' on the wolf. He whined once more, the good eye opening to look at both Miaka and Igneous. There was something in him, something hateful and burning blue, that told him to attack, kill, take that necklace and return it to his master…

But he didn't have a master, not anymore.

Half of him died, and soon the wolf would follow. He knew this, the wolf did, he knew that his life was not long to live, which was why he tried to immediately follow orders, for the pain of transforming was more than his body could usually bear if he wasn't resting.

But he rested, oh he rested now.

Huffing, the wolf closed his eye one last time, something sighing in peace inside of him.

It was quiet once again, a soft powder of snow moving quietly.

"Can we bury him?" Igneous asked, gently petting the Seriyuu Warrior's head.

"Why?" Tamahome asked, crouching down next to the girls. "He's not our warrior, he's not one of us."

Igneous' glare was stone cold. "Just because he is an enemy does not mean he doesn't deserve respect." She turned to Miaka, the both of them hefting the huge wolf between them with some difficulty. "If you're not going to help, stay out of my way."

Nuriko quickly took over holding the beast, all three of them finding a soft spot near one of the barren trees and quickly digging a shallow hole. Sighing, Chichiri came over and started to help make it deeper, just so it wouldn't be dug up by any animals looking for an easy meal.

They all stood and prayed for the soul, with Igneous also asking her father to make sure that the warrior was given a peaceful after life.

With a few more moments of silence, they all turned and left, none of them seeing a single rose, bright red and dripping blood, sprouting from the ground where the Seriyuu warrior was laid to rest.

Sorry this chapter is so short everybody (less than 2000 words, YIKES), but I figured ya'll would liek to know how Igneous would have handled this particular situation. Well, here we go! This was kind of something I've been setting up with the beginning by showing Igneous' affinity with animals. I'm gonna be real - I almost forgot about it entirely and was trying to figure out how to deal with this particular situatuion. Well, that was fixed :D

Reviews:

PurpleDeathDragon - Thank you for your review! Yeah, when I was reading up on it, I thought the situation was pretty weird, but then I read about Genbu's warriors and I was like 'that makes sense' - one of them was a major pervert, but decided it wasn't something to touch upon here. Again, thank you for your review! It did make me laugh :)

Thank you guys for your patience! Enjoy the holidays and I'll see you again next year for the next chapter :)

Tiryn