Chapter 14: Old Friends

They were standing at the front door of a rather large house. Miaka lifted her hand and quickly knocked before she could change her mind. She was not sure if she had made the right choice, coming back to this place. There were too many memories…too many questions that were sure to be asked…

But they deserve to know what happened

A voice called out from behind the door, and there was the sound of hurrying steps approaching. The large wooden door creaked open, and someone peered through the crack. Then just as suddenly, it was flung wide open. "Miaka!" Subaru stood in the doorway, delighted surprise in her eyes, before an instant later, she wrapped her arms around Miaka. "How are you?" the Byakko seishi asked warmly.

"I'm…okay, Subaru." Miaka smiled slightly and returned the hug, "It's nice of you to ask. How about you, Master Tokake and…" she hesitated, "and Shifeng?"

"Suzaku no Miko…what a surprise. We didn't expect to see you back here again," Tokake had appeared behind his wife. He looked and sounded as stern as she remembered, but she knew that under the harsh exterior lay a kind person.

"What a touching reunion. Is this really necessary?" The deep timbre of Nakago's scornful voice interrupted any reply Miaka might have made. In his opinion, they were wasting time on useless niceties and sentiment.

Both the Byakko seishi tensed as they finally noticed the person who had been standing a few metres behind Miaka.

"You!" Tokake growled, his fists clenched, as he recognised the unmistakable blonde hair. He stepped forward, as if to shield the two women, while at the same time, Subaru tried to pull Miaka further inside the house.

"Master Tokake! Stop! He's not the enemy…" The white haired man turned to her in surprise, Subaru gasped, and Nakago merely raised an eyebrow impassively.

"…not anymore," she whispered.

"But he's that Seiryuu bastard…" Tokake spluttered in disbelief. He glared again at the blonde man standing just outside the door. "Suzaku no Miko…" he said carefully, "Where is Tamahome?"

The girl stood silent for a moment, staring at the ground. Her hair hiding her eyes. "Tamahome is…Tamahome is dead," she choked out. She had not meant to make it sound so bald, but there was no other way to say it. Just like there was no way to lessen the agony which had resurfaced.

A single tear ran down her face and splashed onto the stone-paved ground.


"…I see…so that's what happened," Tokake said quietly. There was a sadness in his eyes; the same sadness was also etched into the lines of his face. He had been Tamahome's teacher, and had regarded the young Suzaku seishi as a son. He looked at Miaka's pale face, "Are you sure you can trust that man?" The Byakko seishi glanced over at Nakago through the window. The blonde shogun had opted to remain out in the front garden, wanting no part in the discussion.

Miaka shrugged, the small sigh she let out reflected the grief in her eyes, "He protected me and saved my life…more than once," she said tiredly.

He also tried to kill you, more than once! Tokake thought darkly. He opened his mouth to say something, but seemed to think better of it. He could see what great emotional strain the Suzaku no Miko was under. Pursuing the issue would just cause her more distress. He decided to drop the subject and directly address the request she had presented them with.

"Suzaku no Miko, we will help you in any way we can," He looked over at his wife and she nodded her head in confirmation.


All that remained of the building where Seiryuu had been summoned was a veritable mountain of crumbled stone and bricks and a few pillars which had somehow survived the coming of the dragon god. Miaka's heart sunk at the sight. Even if they knew the exact spot where the Shinzahos were buried, they would have to move tons of rubble to get to them…and some of the pieces were huge, especially the broken beams which had once held up the ceiling.

She felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "We'll find a way to do this!" Subaru whispered to her, before she moved to join her husband who was standing a little distance away.

She looked up, her eyes following Nakago as he picked his way across the chunks of broken masonry, searching for any evidence of the rooftop which had played host to the summoning of Seiryuu.

"Looks like you people could really use some help," a familiar voice said brightly behind Miaka.

She spun round at the sound of the well-loved voice, "Nuriko!!" she yelled, flinging herself at the violet haired figure.

Nuriko stroked Miaka's russet hair affectionately, folding her into a hug as the petite girl clung to him. "Hello, Miaka…It's good to see you too," the seishi smiled.

"But how…?" Miaka was confused. How is it possible for Nuriko to be here? If Nuriko was here…did that mean that the others…? Maybe, just maybe she had a chance of seeing Tamahome again…

"Chichiri and Fang Boy finally showed up at Mt. Taikyoku. All of us are there helping Taiitsukun. We all agreed we could spare me for a little while to come down and give you a hand…Nyan-Nyan was kind enough to lend me her body." Nuriko saw the tiny spark of hope that had ignited in her eyes fizzle out.

So Nuriko came alone….

"Miaka…I'm sorry about Tamahome," he said sympathetically, tightening his embrace. Seeing her like this was tearing at his heart. He loved Miaka like a little sister, and hated seeing her so sad. Sighing, he wished he could do something to help ease her pain.

"How…how is he?" Miaka asked softly, her hazel eyes clouded with tears.

Nuriko looked down at her thin, white face and gently wiped away the few tears which had managed to escape, "He appeared in front of the rest of us, fighting mad…and tried to pick a fight with Hotohori-sama, " he tried to make it seem as humorous as possible. Anything to cheer her up…

"…so I had to hurt him, just a little," he finished, hoping that he would succeed in making her smile. The purple-haired seishi squeezed her hand, "You have been so brave… and he's very proud of you, Miaka…we all are."

She did smile, even if it was just a small one. "Thank you, Nuriko…" she whispered, "I really needed to hear that." And she meant it. Nuriko always had a way of making her feel better, no matter what happened. Miaka could feel the dark shroud of depression dissipate slightly. Up till now, everything she had been seeing had been in dull shades of grey. It was almost as if the world, which had lost all its colour when Tamahome died was slowly returning to normal.

Nuriko turned as he sensed the approach of another person and realised who it was. He could not contain the big smile which had suddenly found its way across his face.

"Nakago," the seishi said with a toothy grin.

Nakago did not seem the least put out by the appearance of the spirit, "You must be the gay cross-dresser, Nuriko," he stated calmly, watching with amusement as the Suzaku seishi struggled, hissing and spitting, against the Miko's restraining hold; The seishi's hands were outstretched, as if to throttle him.

"Nuriko, stop!" Miaka said reproachfully while glaring at the blonde shogun.

The seishi sighed, "I know, I know…we've been watching you guys, remember? Still…" he turned an evil look on Nakago, "It's kind of hard to forgive the man who killed you," he said grouchily.

Nakago lifted one slender blonde eyebrow, "I didn't kill you. Ashitare did that."

"Same thing! You gave Wolf Boy the order! And you DID kill Hotohori-sama!" Nuriko retorted. He cracked his knuckles, stalking up to the former Seiryuu seishi. "If you hadn't saved Miaka's life, I'd kick your ass into next year." The purple-haired man suddenly stepped away, grinning evilly, "Tamahome still wants to kill you though, for what you did AFTER you rescued Miaka from the river…the whole undressing and sharing the same blanket incident really had him homicidal!"

Miaka blushed furiously from the roots of her hair right down to her toes. "NURIKO!!" she wailed in embarrassment. Oh. My. God…OH MY GOD!! THEY ALL SAW THAT??

Nuriko chuckled before turning back to Miaka, "Now come on, we'd better get started…I can't stay for long and we don't have all day!"


Nakago's calculations on where the two sacred artefacts were buried were confirmed by Subaru and Tokake. Being Byakko shichi seishi, they were able to sense the shinzaho belonging to Byakko no Miko when they came into close proximity to it.

Nuriko told everyone to stand clear, as he picked up the huge pieces of rubble and tossed them easily over his shoulder. Tokake and Subaru seemed amazed by the unexpected source of help, but were more than happy to accept it.

The Suzaku seishi grunted as he moved a gigantic pillar out of the way. His jewelled bangles transformed into wristguards, making the job easier. Giving it one last heave, the pillar rolled off to the side. Miaka sucked in a breath at the flash of something reflecting the sunlight among the dull grey stone and she scrambled forward to pick it up.

"We found it!" She yelled in excitement, holding it up for everyone to see. The small hand mirror which had belonged to Byakko no Miko was fully intact; the magical properties inherent in it had protected it from being destroyed when the building had collapsed.

Finally…Finally we're making some headway…Miaka thought. They were one step closer to stopping Tenkou.

"All right, the other one should be somewhere around here…" Nuriko muttered to himself. "Hey Blondie, any ideas?" he called out to the blonde man, "It's your fault that the Shinzahos are here, buried under all this rubble, you know."

The purple-haired seishi was rewarded with frosty stare, before Nakago completely ignored him. "Just asking! Geez! Who shoved an ice-cube up his ass?"

"Nuriko! Over here!" Miaka was standing with Tokake and Subaru.

Tokake looked up from his deep concentration at the Suzaku seishi's approach. He pointed at part of the collapsed ceiling, "I think I sense something under that…it's faint, but definitely there. It has to be the other shinzaho…there is nothing else around that has that kind of magical signature."

Nuriko nodded and began lifting the pieces of plaster, stone and wood, while smaller fragments, dislodged by the movement rained down on him. Unperturbed, he gave a particularly large section of the collapsed stonework a hard push. With a loud grating sound, it slid sideways. Nuriko squinted into the dark crevice underneath and stuck his hand in, feeling around for something.

Miaka watched anxiously as her friend reached into the small hole, hoping…Please, please let it be here…

Grinning triumphantly, Nuriko lifted his prize up to the sun. The highly polished metal glinted. "Here! Miaka, catch!" he yelled throwing the necklace to her.

Miaka started forward to catch the artefact, but she tripped over the loose rubble and would have badly scraped her hands and knees had it not been for Tokake catching her. A hand appeared above them, easily fielding the necklace in mid-flight.

"Could you possibly be any clumsier, Suzaku no Miko?" Nakago looked down at her with undisguised contempt. He inspected the necklace which the Genbu no Miko had worn during the summoning of Genbu. "I never expected to hold this again, " he commented dryly, before dropping it into Miaka's hands.

She glared at her blonde former-enemy, remembering the time he had been wearing it around his neck and she had tried to get it back from him. Without his armour, the way Nakago was dressed now reminded her uncomfortably of that horrible time. She quickly pushed the memory to the back of her mind.

"Miaka! I'm so sorry! Are you all right?" Nuriko had rushed to her side.

"I'm okay, Nuriko…just me being my ditzy self!" she said cheerfully. Holding the two shinzahos side by side, she could hardly believe that they had finally found them…A near impossible task had been made possible by the combined efforts of Byakko's people as well as all her own seishi. It was because of them… Hotohori, Chiriko, Mitsukake, Tasuki, Chichiri…and Tamahome, that Nuriko had been able to come and help her.

Her friend looked relieved that she was unhurt. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he reached inside his tunic, "I almost forgot! Taiitsukun said to give this to you…It will help guide you to the amulet." Nuriko handed something that looked like a small crystal sphere to Miaka.

"Nuriko…" she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes, "Thank you, all of you. Tell them…" she searched for the appropriate words.

"I know…I'll tell them that you said hello," the seishi winked at her, "It was good to talk to you again, Miaka…" Nuriko scooped her into one last bear hug, "Always believe in yourself, and never ever lose hope. We all have faith in you…and Tamahome loves you always."

Having said that, the purple-haired Suzaku seishi disappeared.