Chapter 20: In the Shadow of a Rainbow

…only to be jerked roughly back upwards.

Her eyes flew open, and she found herself dangling in mid-air. With her heart pounding, she cautiously craned her neck upwards, and saw Nakago holding her up by the back of her uniform like one would hold a puppy by the scruff of its neck. His mouth was pressed into a thin, hard line and there was a dark, thunderous expression on his face.

Wordlessly, he hauled her back onto the ledge, and she clung to the rock with trembling, white-knuckled hands, gasping for breath. The shock had caused all the blood to drain from her face…and she turned even paler when she realised the full implications of what had just happened.

I almost…died.

It was one thing to exchange barbed quips with Nakago about falling off the ledge…but it was quite another for it to actually happen. She had come within a hairsbreadth of dying, and the realisation shook her to the core. A wave of nausea hit her, and she had to choke it back to keep from throwing up all over the ledge.

Nakago was NOT in the best of moods. His heart was racing and he could feel the slight tremor in his hands. He clenched them to stop the telltale sign which gave away how unnerved he was. He was angry at her for her carelessness and for nearly giving him a heart attack. He hated the unfamiliar feeling which had stabbed at him when he'd seen her slip off the ledge. Did she have ANY idea what had nearly happened? Had it not been for his quick reflexes, her lifeless body would be lying some seventy-five metres down at the foot of the cliff, broken and bleeding. If the initial fall didn't kill her, the jagged rocks at the bottom would surely have. He wondered how she had managed to stay alive for as long as she had…she was a disaster waiting to happen! He was thoroughly convinced that if he gave her enough rope, she would most likely succeed in hanging herself. He gritted his teeth. The Suzaku no Miko was proving to be more trouble than she was worth.

She slowly lifted her face to look at him, but he refused to even acknowledge her presence. He turned his head away from her and continued moving towards the cave opening, as if nothing had happened. With wobbly knees, she picked her way along the last few feet and all but tumbled onto the cave floor, her whole body shaking like a leaf in a storm.

He was leaning against one uneven rock wall, silver-blue eyes as cold and forbidding as the arctic tundra.

When she finally found her voice, she stammered, "Nakago, I…I—"

"Save it." He cut her off sharply. He didn't want to hear any explanations or excuses. He had very little patience when it came to incompetence, and the Suzaku no Miko had just proven hers beyond measure.


Nakago had taken one of the torches lining the walls and lighted it. They moved deeper into the cave, following the passageway which seemed to go on forever. Miaka had finally stopped trembling, but her mind kept replaying that heart-stopping moment out on the rock ledge over and over again. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she did not notice that they had come to a large cavern, with tunnels branching off in every direction.

"Suzaku no Miko, now would be a good time to see if that crystal really works," the blonde shogun said impatiently, jolting her back into the present.

"H…Hai," she whispered in a small voice, glad that he had even seen it fit to speak to her again. She hated herself for being so clumsy and careless…for having to depend on him so often to save her. Hurriedly, she rummaged into the bag she was carrying, fumbling with the crystal and almost dropping it in her haste.

It rested innocuously in the palm of her hand, looking like any ordinary ball of glass. She looked up at him hopelessly, completely at a loss as to what to do next, when she suddenly saw his eyes narrowing at the object in her hand.

She yelped and reflexively let go of the crystal as it became so hot that it nearly burnt her hands. However, instead of dropping to the ground, it remained suspended in mid-air, glowing pink in the dim cavern. Before she could say anything, the orb floated to one of the tunnels and seemed to pause at the entrance, as though beckoning them to follow it.

Seeing no reason not to, they did.

The tunnel stretched off into the darkness. At first, it seemed that they were walking on level ground, then gradually, Miaka realised that the floor had turned into a gentle slope downwards. There were several sharp twists and turns, and often, they would come to places where three or four tunnels would converge, but always, the crystal sphere floated ahead of them, guiding them with its pink glow.

After what seemed like an hour of walking through the maze of tunnels, they finally arrived at another cavern, larger than the last. This one was different from the ones they had seen so far.

Its walls glowed eerily. Nakago soon realised that the light was coming from clumps of luminous fungus growing on the rock. Almost every available rock surface was covered with the glowing parasitic plants, and the effect was a spectacular display of slowly pulsating green light. He had never seen anything like it, and judging from the amazed expression on the Suzaku no Miko's face, neither had she.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her reaching out, but before she could touch anything, he snapped out an order.

"Don't touch it."

Miaka froze, fingertips poised inches from the cave wall. Her face turned to him in confusion. He pointed to an assortment of bones from various small creatures like bats and rats littering the cavern floor, lying half-hidden amidst the fine powdery sand. "It's poisonous," he told her dryly.

Her eyes were wide as she snatched her hand back, staring at the walls with horror.

Nakago turned sharply as a faint sound echoed down the tunnel they had just come from. Apparently, they had been followed. Looking down at the ground, he saw that they had left deep, easily discernible footprints in the soft powdery sand. So that's how…His thoughts darkened as he sensed more of Tenkou's assassins.

The Suzaku no Miko had already moved to one of the tunnels leading away from the cavern. Next to her, the orb hovered silently, its pink light overwhelmed by the green glow of the cavern walls. He crossed the space separating them in a few strides, wondering what she was waiting for. An engraved invitation? he mused humourlessly.

As he reached her, he discovered the reason for her hesitation. The tunnel sloped very steeply downwards; the tunnel floor almost seeming to drop away into the darkness. She glanced at him in panic and apprehension, waiting for him to do something.

So he did.

The next thing Miaka knew, Nakago kicked her in the pressure points on both calves. Predictably, her legs buckled and she landed on her rear. Before she could react, he shoved her, and she shot forward down the tunnel into the darkness, unguided and hopelessly out of control.


Notes:

1) Don't you just love it when Nakago does stuff like this to Miaka? He does care about her in his own convoluted way (the incident on the ledge hints at that...would he be so pissed if he didn't care?), and he's supposed to be making sure she doesn't get killed...but that doesn't stop him from being evil to her!

2) "When anything strengthens the bond of friendship, the friends have walked in the shadow of a rainbow."

--In the Shadow of a Rainbow (Robert Franklin Leslie)