Chapter finally stopped fighting me! I was actually stuck on this for A LONG WHILE before I found out where I went wrong, so here we are! I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long, but I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Do not own, do not make money off of this.

Another Side

Chapter 52

Closer and Closer

Opulence was definitely the word that Igneous would use to describe what was going on around her. Candles were being lit, the workers scurrying to and fro to make sure everything was absolutely perfect for the ceremony.

Personally, for Igneous, it was weird that candles were being lit. The sky was bright blue, the sun shining unhindered. It was a pretty day, but it still gave her a bad feeling. She didn't know how to feel about the fact that Yui would be able to summon Seiryuu, if nothing else for the fact that Igneous didn't know what Yui would wish for.

Once, Igneous would have been confident in saying exactly what it was that Yui wished for, but since the whole debacle with that blonde asshole and the… The entire situation was fucked up, really. Igneous could make some guesses as to what Yui would wish for, but she wouldn't know until Seiryuu was summoned.

Even then, would Igneous know? She would just die, right?

It was also weird, coming face to face with the fact that Igneous was going to die, but not really feeling anything about. The redhead supposed she came to terms with that fact long ago, trying to worry about it in the grand scheme of things. Maybe she just didn't care anymore… No, that wasn't true, but there just wasn't any time to worry about it.

Not now, not anymore.

"It's almost time." Yui walked by her, dressed in silk and lace and looking ethereal in the blues and golds her attendants adorned her with. She looked like a queen, and Igneous didn't know whether to stare in awe or be envious of her obvious beauty. "I will summon Seiryuu, and you will be my sacrifice." The blonde turned, and Igneous frowned.

There was something wrong with Yui's eyes, as if she wasn't all there. She could tell that some parts of her were there, but something seemed to overshadow that.

It wasn't right, and it set Igneous on edge.

Yui leaned in close, hair ornaments clinking against each other. "How does it feel, knowing this is the last day you'll live?"

Igneous didn't have words… Well, that wasn't true. She had tons of things she wanted to say, she wanted to spit and rage and scream, but… Igneous didn't feel anything at the moment except resignation. So, she only stared at Yui, calm and defiant.

Yui's eyes flashed and she backed up, turning to look at the handiwork of the attendants that were setting everything up for this momentous day. She seemed to be so proud… Igneous still felt wrong about this.

Though that could be just the fact that Seiryuu was going to be summoned and not Suzaku, but the end result would be the same either way, wouldn't it?

"Priestess." Then there was Nakago, standing there regally in his armor and completely ignoring Igneous. Probably for the best, since he always seems to pull up anger and fear in her, neither emotion working well for her in this instance. "We have captured the warrior, but he will not tell us where the last Shentso-Pao is."

Igneous narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out where this peculiar conversation was going. They also needed the Shentso-Paos to summon their god? The Suzaku clan were gathering Shentso-Paos only as a second resort, since the original ceremony failed thanks to Amiboshi. What happened with their ceremony, or was Nakago planning something else…?

"Hm…" Yui turned to Igneous once more, a smirk gracing her lips. "Let's see if the Xiang can convince him to give it up for us." She waved her hand, and Nakago started to drag Igneous off, Yui following behind with a bag in her hand given to her by one of the other warriors, though Igneous didn't know the name of this one.

Down a few hallways, they came upon an open room with a young man held prisoner inside, his arms held high and cheeks bloody from an obvious interrogation.

Nakago allowed Yui in first, completely ignoring the redhead in his arms.

"Byakko celestial warrior Tatara." Igneous startled at that, confused. Another celestial warrior, one from a different god? Which one was Byakko again? Igneous thought she should have asked Suzaku about that, but Yui's words interrupted her train of thought, holding out the bag for this Tatara to inspect. "You see before you the Shentso-Pao of the priestess of Genbu that we obtained in Bei-Jia. The laws say you must give the Shentso-Pao to the priestess who gives this to you."

The man stayed silent, though his eyes were calculating, roving over all of them, though he lingered on Igneous. She didn't know why, but Igneous didn't really get a feeling of danger or wariness from him. Maybe his priestess had already summoned their god? If so, where was she? What about the other Byakko warriors?

The armored woman, whom Igneous could guess was another Sieryuu warrior, stepped up, glaring at the young warrior before them. "Do you want more torture?" The man only greeted them with silence. "Do you want to die?" That was when Igneous noticed another red string, this one coming from the Byakko warrior's hand. The string seemed to loop around his wrist and then around his hand, though when she followed the end of it, she could only find a fraying black end…

Did that mean his own soulmate was dead? That was… well, that was depressing.

"HAND IT OVER!" The woman seemed to be getting irritated at the warrior's silence, but Igneous rooted him on. Anything that irritated the shit out of the Seiryuu warriors was a win in her book.

The man narrowed his eyes further. "Kill me, and the Shentso-Pao will never be yours. You did not obtain that Shentso-Pao, Priestess of Seiryuu, someone else did. I can tell." That seemed to rattle Yui a bit, judging by the tenseness of her shoulders. How could he tell that Yui was not the one to personally obtain the damn thing?

Tatara nodded towards Igneous. "I can tell that she had a part in obtaining that Shentso-Pao." He tilted his head up, and Igneous could tell he was a formidable warrior there, steadfast in faith and strength. "You would go this far to have Seiryuu grant your wishes?"

Yui snapped back with, "JUST GIVE IT TO ME! With it, I can summon Seiryuu and punish Miaka and Igneous and go back home."

The redhead could only stare at her friend, tears in her eyes. Did her friend really no longer care for her? Did she not understand that once Seiryuu was summoned, Igneous was going to die, no longer exist?

The hope that Igneous had held, private and small, about Yui caring and loving both of her friends, shattered.

Her best friend, one that had helped her climb out of the darkness that Igneous wallowed in for years, was no longer her friend.

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

Nuriko stopped, clutching his chest. He gasped, having fallen to his knees, the pain lancing through him sharp and almost unbearable.

"NURIKO!" All the other warriors stopped at Miaka's cry, seeing their fellow warrior fallen to his knees. "What's wrong are you okay?" They all searched for blood, but could find no obvious wound. That must mean…

"Igneous is… Her heart just broke." Nuriko stared at the ground, his mind grasped to Igneous's string as he tried to figure out what the hell just happened. He could tell that she wasn't physically harmed (he could feel the familiar burns of rope around him, fear and anger lancing through him at random intervals, but no obvious wounds), but that sharp pain could not be mistaken for anything else.

"What happened?" Chichiri laid a hand on Tasuki's shoulder, trying to ground him and remind him that they couldn't go rushing off to find their wayward friend, especially with the news the Byakko warriors had brought them mere minutes before. Still, the redhead seethed, his hands clenching in intervals in want of punching at least someone before the day was completely out.

Nuriko closed his eyes, concentrating harder on Igneous, trying to see if he could figure it out. He tuned out his squabbling warriors, focusing and focusing and focusing.

"Fine, we'll just leave you two here." Igneous was surprised, looking back over her shoulder at Nakago and Yui. Both of the blondes glared at the two of them. "We will get that Shentso-Pao from you, Tatara." They both turned and left, Nakago smirking at Igneous before shutting the door behind him.

Igneous turned once more, sitting cross-legged, wanting her arms free but knowing that it was impossible in the position she was in. She looked to her side, and Nuriko was surprised to see that Igneous could see him too.

Well, this was new.

Both of their eyes widened, but Igneous kept quiet, instead turning to the other prisoner in the room with her. Based off of what he was told, Nuriko could guess that this was Tatara, though he had definitely seen better days. He was so young compared to his other two warriors – was there a spell of some sort keeping him looking like this?

Because Nuriko definitely wanted to know what it was…

"Are you alright?" Igneous then chuckled to herself, weary and done with everything at the moment. "Of course you're not, that was a dumb question."

Tatara looked over Igneous, seemingly thinking. "You're… a Xiang, correct? For Suzaku?"

Igneous nodded, leaning against the wall. Nuriko could feel how tight her shoulders were, the uncomfortable position inconveniencing Igneous at best. "Yep, along with a few other titles, but we'll start there. My name's Igneous, and you're Tatara right?"

"Yes… Though I do wonder how you're here with the Seiryuu warriors instead of home, safe."

The laughter that left Igneous was short and derogatory. "Boy, I was never safe at home… I only felt safe with my warriors." A pang of sadness passed between Igneous and Nuriko. They missed each other, and Igneous missed being in the palace. "Besides that, I can kind of take care of myself. This whole incident happened because they took a coward's way out and kidnapped me while we were sleeping. I'm assuming that's how they got the Shentso-Pao as well."

"Ah." Tatara nodded. "Then you and your priestess retrieved the Shentso-Pao instead." Igneous nodded, though it wasn't a question. He sighed, slumping down in the chains. "In my current condition, I can not protect the Shentso-Pao for much longer…" Igneous frowned, her eyes seemingly tracing something above them before returning to the warrior.

The image began hazing for Nuriko, and then….

Nuriko gasped once more. He stood up with Mitsukage's help. "Igneous knows where the last Shentso-Pao is." Subaru and Tokaki nodded at each other.

"That must mean Tatara is in there as well… By the way, we've never seen magic like that before." Subaru narrowed his eyes at Nuriko. "What happened to the Xiang for you to have such a connection like that?"

Tasuki growled, but it was surprisingly Tamahome that answered with, "it doesn't matter – we have to get Igneous and Tatara out of there now." He turned to Nuriko. "Do you know where they're being held?"

"The only place I can think of is the temple over there…" They all turned to look at it, the sun glinting off of it's rounded rooftops. Miaka nodded, agreeing with Nuriko. "Besides, it seems like the best place to go right now… I have this feeling that we need to be there."

Chichiri nodded. "As you say, no da!" With Miaka leading the way, they started marching towards the temple.

Subaru kept an eye on his former pupil, not liking the way he and Miaka stuck so close together. He knew the heartache that was in store for Tamahome, the devastation that would be written on their souls once this was all said and over with because he watched it happen to his friend.

Of course, once Byakko was summoned, they had all grieved for their priestess, but none more so than Tatara. He had loved her, with his whole heart and soul, and it was obvious in the way he threw himself into his final task, how he never took another lover after she left their world.

Neither of the Byakko Seishi wanted to see it happen again, but it seemed that the Suzaku Seishi were a stubborn lot. Subaru could guess that this Igneous was stubborn as well, which made sense but still gave the old man a right headache thinking about it all.

Tokaki could only snicker at him, a knowing glint in her eyes at the pained expression going across his face.

The group stopped before the entrance to the temple, looking at each other as if for final confirmation.

"Mitsukake, make sure Chiriko stays with you." The giant nodded, glancing down at the child. Chiriko was young, and more than likely a liability, but he was still a Suzaku warrior, so they would not leave him behind. "Tasuki, you should -"

"AH, shut up!" Tasuki stomped up the steps, hands resting on his hips. "I'm going to find Igneous, ain't nothing stoppin' me."

Nuriko sighed. "I'll follow him, let's go."

With that, the two of them started running into the temple and straight into danger.

FUN TIMES FOR EVERYONE! Did a new thing for Nuriko and Igneous, which personally came out fo the blue, but it works for me so I kinda don't care. Hope you all enjoyed that chapter!

Thank you to Dragonmaster789 for being constantly here and being one of my most loyal readers/reviewers. I can't wait to see what you think of this chapter, AND THAT INCLUDES ALL OF YOU!

Till the next one!

Tiryn