It didn't take long for everyone to fall asleep. After walking almost non-stop for the past few days, everyone was exhausted.
Sometime during the night, Nikki woke up to find Tasuki leaning heavily on her shoulder. She pushed him off, and stretched her back. It wasn't very comfortable sleeping against the wall, but there wasn't much room to stretch out on the floor.
As luck would have it, the only available floor space was next to Nuriko. Nikki decided to take the opportunity, and silently crept to where he was stretched out on his stomach. Carefully, so as not to wake him, she lay down and rested her head in the small of his back. Satisfied, she fell asleep.
Nuriko was awakened early in the morning by Miaka, who was reading aloud from her textbook. He was startled to find Nikki curled up to his side.
"Miaka," he whined, "What are you doing so early? Be quiet! I want to sleep!"
"It helps to memorize lessons if you read them out loud. I still have to study for high school!" Miaka said.
"Just be quiet!" Nuriko moaned, putting his pillow over his head.
Nikki rolled onto her back, stretched and yawned.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Nuriko said from underneath his pillow.
"No, I was kinda awake already." Nikki answered, "Miaka, why don't I quiz you on your lesson? Quietly, of course," she added, glancing at Nuriko.
"Sure," Miaka said. Nikki dragged herself over to Miaka and opened the textbook.
Just then, Miaka heard something. "Do you hear that?" she asked.
"What now?" Nuriko moaned.
"A flute." Miaka said.
Nikki closed her eyes, listening carefully. She heard something, but it wasn't possible to tell what it was. "Let's not worry about it, Miaka," she suggested, "Concentrate on your lesson."
As Nikki read through the textbook, she started thinking again about going back to school. `It'd be nice to go to school again,' she thought, `Maybe Miaka will teach me some of her lessons.' Nikki acknowledged the thought, and resumed Miaka's studies.
It was around noon, and they had been walking all morning. Luckily, the rain had stopped sometime during the night, and the sky was a bright blue. Nikki admired the scenery as they walked. Miaka, as usual, was riding with Hotohori. "But I swear I heard a flute!" she said.
"I believe you." Hotohori responded.
"Why am I not surprised?" Nikki whispered to Tasuki. Tasuki just smiled. Nikki thought it was incredibly cute how one of Tasuki's fangs stuck out when he smiled.
It wasn't long before they spotted a village just ahead. "That's Tamahome's village!" Miaka cried. She jumped down from Hotohori's horse. "This is where we found Chichiri. Oh, Mitsukake, come with me!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hill, into the village.
"Well," Nikki stated, "It's nice to see that SOMEBODY got enough sleep last night."
The others continued into the village at a somewhat slower pace than Miaka.
"Now," Nuriko said, somewhat to himself, "If I remember correctly, Tamahome's house should be just...here!" They came to a small home just as a young boy came running out through the front door.
Nikki entered first, only to be swarmed by three other young children. She didn't mind; she loved kids. She knelt, so she was about the height of the young boy. "Hi," she said, smiling, "My name's Nikki. What's yours?"
The young boy hid shyly behind his older sister. "He's Shunkei," his sister said, "And I'm Gyokuran." Nikki felt a tug on her sleeve. She turned to see the youngest girl, who looked to be about five.
"My name is Yuiren. Are you my brother's wife?"
Nikki smiled and stood up, lifting the girl onto her hip. "I thought YOU were Tamahome's wife," she said. Yuiren just giggled. "No, I'm just a friend."
"Are you still my big sister?" the girl asked sweetly. Nikki smiled. "If you want me to be," She placed Yuiren back on the ground, and she wandered off. `Cute kids,' Nikki thought.
Hotohori entered the small home and looked around in shock. "I never knew such poverty existed!" he said.
"Poverty!?" Nikki exclaimed, "I'd give anything to have grown up in a place this nice! Believe me, you have no idea what poverty is until you've seen the places I've seen."
`Or lived,' she thought.
Just then, the oldest boy came back, carrying fresh fish. Miaka jumped up and ran to him, thinking it was Tamahome, and knocked him onto his back.
Nikki stood over her and shook her head. "You know, Miaka, maybe you DIDN'T get enough sleep last night."
That evening, Nuriko, Nikki, and the eldest boy, Chuei, prepared dinner. Nuriko wondered over how much like Tamahome Chuei was, while Nikki chopped vegetables. After a few minutes, they heard a loud growl come from just outside the window.
"Miaka," Nuriko called, "Dinner's ready!"
"Coming!" she answered.
Nikki turned to Nuriko. "You know," she said, "I don't think we made enough food,"
"But we've been cooking all afternoon!" Chuei exclaimed.
Nikki nodded. "Like I said, I don't think we made enough food!" Nuriko sighed and shook his head.
Nikki carried the plates of food to the ravenous Miaka, and the seishi. As she set Hotohori's plate in front of him, he asked her for a cup of water.
Nikki sighed, "Yes, your Majesty!" She had intended for the remark to be sarcastic, but Hotohori looked up at her with a look of wonder, as if to say, `How did you know?' It suddenly dawned on Nikki that there might be some truth behind her remark. Nikki smiled and gave him a wink, and got him his water.
Later that night, Miaka and Nikki stood at the basin brushing their teeth. Miaka looked out the window. "Nuriko," she called, "Do bats attack people?"
"Not usually," he answered.
Nikki felt a chill run down her spine. She just had a weird feeling. She couldn't explain it, it was just a gut feeling. Something was going to happen; something bad. She pushed it away, crawled into bed with Miaka, and tried to sleep.
Later, Miaka awoke to hear the same flute she heard before. "Nuriko, Nuriko, do you hear that?"
"It's nothing," he moaned, "Go back to sleep."
Nikki sat up. "No, I hear it, too!" she said. It sounded like it was coming from far away. Miaka got up and went to the door, to see if she could see where it was coming from.
Suddenly, she screamed, and ran away from the house and into the forest. Tasuki and Hotohori followed her.
"Miaka!" Nikki called. She started to run after her, but Nuriko caught her in the doorway. He wrapped his arm around her waist and dragged her back inside.
Nikki was trembling, so he sat her down on his bunk. She had a look of sheer shock on her face.
"Shhh," he whispered, "Calm down."
Nikki shook her head. "I should have stopped her...I knew this would happen!"
Nikki's voice was so quiet, Nuriko had to lean forward to hear her. "What do you mean, you knew this would happen?" he asked, concerned.
"I don't know. I felt it! I knew something bad would happen!" She wrapped her arms around herself and began rocking back and forth. "This is all my fault!" she said, "I should have stopped her. I shouldn't have let her leave. This is all my fault!"
Nuriko put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his chest. "This isn't your fault," he said, resting his head on top of hers, "Nobody blames you. You had no way of preventing this." Gradually, Nuriko could feel Nikki calm down.
After a few minutes, Miaka, Tasuki, and Hotohori returned, with another young boy, whom Miaka introduced as the final seishi, Chiriko. He was the one who had been playing the flute.
Nikki ran to Miaka and embraced her tightly. "I'm so glad you're okay!" Nikki said.
Miaka, somewhat startled, didn't know what to say except "Thanks." Eventually, everyone calmed down, and went back to bed.
The next morning, the seishi, Miaka, and Nikki left for the capital. Nikki said goodbye to each of the children, and gave them a hug. Yuiren tugged on Miaka's skirt, pleading with her not to go. Chiriko pulled out his flute and played a soothing melody. Yuiren fell asleep immediately. Waving goodbye, Nikki turned and left before the kids wanted her to stay, too.
"I almost hate to leave," she said, pretty much to whoever was listening, "Those kids are so cute. Especially that little Yuiren; she's so adorable, it's almost impossible not to love her. Miaka, watch where you're going..."
Just then, Miaka, who was walking just behind Nikki, tripped over a small rock. Nikki reached out her arm and caught her.
"How did you know?" Miaka asked.
Nikki thought for a moment, and shrugged. "I don't really know," she said slowly, "I just kind of...knew. Besides, with you, Miaka, it's kind of expected" They continued walking.
`Great,' Nikki thought, `Now I'm the one getting weird. Maybe I'm psychic or something. How else could I have known?' That thought sent Nikki into almost complete mental overload, so she shrugged it off and kept moving.
Late that afternoon, they finally arrived back at the capital city. As they entered the Palace courtyard, a young man that looked exactly like Hotohori came running out to meet them.
As he neared, he suddenly changed in appearance to be a young man with blue hair, wearing a mask. Nikki wasn't that surprised. Miaka introduced him to the group as Chichiri.
Nikki stood there, and wondered how he could function properly with his hair. The bangs were pretty much sticking straight out to the front! "Nice hair!" she said to him.
"Da!" was all he said in response.
`The guy's a real nut-job!' Nikki thought to herself.
After a few minutes, Tasuki noticed that Hotohori was missing. No sooner had he mentioned it, when Hotohori came down the stairs, dressed in his royal finery. Tasuki, Mitsukake, and Chiriko nearly died of surprise.
"Ack!" Tasuki gasped, "He's the Emperor!?" Hotohori nodded, and gave a discreet wink to Nikki. She smiled and bowed respectfully as he passed.
That evening, a large dinner was prepared for the seishi. Hotohori brought up the subject of finding Tamahome in Kutou.
"I'll go," Miaka volunteered, "It was my fault that the Universe of the Four Gods was lost, so I'll get it back. I'll bring back Tamahome, too." With that, Miaka had made up her mind to go, and the discussion was over. Chichiri assured Hotohori that he would go too, to protect Miaka.
Chichiri told Miaka that he would use his magic to speak with Tamahome, to let him in on their plans, so Miaka rushed off to get ready.
Nikki excused herself from the table, and went to the room she would be staying in. Luckily, it was only a few doors down from Nuriko's room.
Nikki dropped her bag, and flopped onto the bed. It was large and comfortable, And Nikki could stretch her arms out and not feel the edge of the bed. `I feel like I've died and gone to heaven!' she thought, `Well, in a way I guess I have, only I'm not dead. That makes it even better!'
After she had settled in, meaning, she put her clean pants and shirts in a drawer, she left her room to explore the palace.
Hotohori had said that the seishi could go freely anywhere in the palace, and Nikki liked to consider herself to be one of the seishi. She wandered down countless corridors, past dozens of doors.
"This place is huge," she whispered to herself, "It'd be real easy to get lost!"
"You get used to it after a while," a voice said from behind her. Nikki turned to see Nuriko leaning on the railing of the balcony, which encircled most of the upper floor.
"Oh," Nikki said, leaning on the railing next to him, "I didn't think anyone would be here."
Nuriko stood up. "If you want me to leave, I can--"
"No!" Nikki said quickly, "No, I don't mind you staying," She mentally kicked herself for her momentary loss of composure.
"So," Nuriko said, leaning his back against the rail, "What do you think of the palace?"
"It's...big," Nikki answered. They stood quietly for a moment trying to think of something to talk about. "The stars are really bright," Nikki said finally. Nuriko nodded. Another moment of silence passed.
"There's something about Chiriko; I don't trust him." Nikki blurted.
"What?" Nuriko looked at her questioningly.
"I don't know why I said that," Nikki shook her head, confused, "It was weird. It just popped into my head. Anyways, Miaka's going to find Tamahome, huh?" Nuriko nodded. "Well, I'm probably going to go to bed now," Nikki said.
"If you need anything, my room is just down the hall," Nuriko reminded her, as if she could forget. "Goodnight," he said, and he leaned down to kiss her cheek. Nikki turned her head in surprise, and his lips fell directly onto hers.
Nikki stood there in shock, and it wasn't until moments later that she realized Nuriko had left. She gripped the railing as tight as she could, because she figured if she let go she'd fall.
Her legs had turned to rubber. She felt dizzy, and she couldn't breathe. She eventually gave up on trying to stand, dropped to her knees and leaned back against the railing. Sure, she'd kissed other guys before, many of them more intimately, but no-one had affected her like this before.
She started grinning, for no reason other than she felt insanely happy. She had to place her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
She managed somehow to find her way back to her room through the maze of corridors, and lay down on the bed. Smiling, she closed her eyes and fell asleep, and slept well for the first time for as long as she could remember.
The next morning, Nuriko knocked on Miaka's door. There was no answer, so he walked in. Miaka was still sleeping. Nuriko sat down on the edge of her bed.
"Miaka," he said. There was no response. "Miaka," he said, louder. She didn't even move. "Oh, look!" he exclaimed, "So much food!" Miaka sat bolt upright in bed. "I figured that would wake you," he chuckled, "I came here to wish you luck for tonight."
He reached over and placed his hand on top of hers. Miaka thanked him, and gave him a hug.
Nikki opened the door to find Nuriko and Miaka embracing, on the bed. She stared in disbelief for a moment, then shook her head to clear the thought. She knocked on the door. "Good morning!" she said cheerily.
Nuriko spun around, pulling away from Miaka with a guilty look.
"Miaka, Hotohori asked to see you," Nikki tried her hardest to appear indifferent, but Nuriko must have sensed something. He decided to wait until Miaka left before he said anything.
"It's not what you think," he said apologetically.
Nikki crossed her arms and turned her back to him. "It's none of my business, I don't care what you were doing."
Sometime during the night, Nikki woke up to find Tasuki leaning heavily on her shoulder. She pushed him off, and stretched her back. It wasn't very comfortable sleeping against the wall, but there wasn't much room to stretch out on the floor.
As luck would have it, the only available floor space was next to Nuriko. Nikki decided to take the opportunity, and silently crept to where he was stretched out on his stomach. Carefully, so as not to wake him, she lay down and rested her head in the small of his back. Satisfied, she fell asleep.
Nuriko was awakened early in the morning by Miaka, who was reading aloud from her textbook. He was startled to find Nikki curled up to his side.
"Miaka," he whined, "What are you doing so early? Be quiet! I want to sleep!"
"It helps to memorize lessons if you read them out loud. I still have to study for high school!" Miaka said.
"Just be quiet!" Nuriko moaned, putting his pillow over his head.
Nikki rolled onto her back, stretched and yawned.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Nuriko said from underneath his pillow.
"No, I was kinda awake already." Nikki answered, "Miaka, why don't I quiz you on your lesson? Quietly, of course," she added, glancing at Nuriko.
"Sure," Miaka said. Nikki dragged herself over to Miaka and opened the textbook.
Just then, Miaka heard something. "Do you hear that?" she asked.
"What now?" Nuriko moaned.
"A flute." Miaka said.
Nikki closed her eyes, listening carefully. She heard something, but it wasn't possible to tell what it was. "Let's not worry about it, Miaka," she suggested, "Concentrate on your lesson."
As Nikki read through the textbook, she started thinking again about going back to school. `It'd be nice to go to school again,' she thought, `Maybe Miaka will teach me some of her lessons.' Nikki acknowledged the thought, and resumed Miaka's studies.
It was around noon, and they had been walking all morning. Luckily, the rain had stopped sometime during the night, and the sky was a bright blue. Nikki admired the scenery as they walked. Miaka, as usual, was riding with Hotohori. "But I swear I heard a flute!" she said.
"I believe you." Hotohori responded.
"Why am I not surprised?" Nikki whispered to Tasuki. Tasuki just smiled. Nikki thought it was incredibly cute how one of Tasuki's fangs stuck out when he smiled.
It wasn't long before they spotted a village just ahead. "That's Tamahome's village!" Miaka cried. She jumped down from Hotohori's horse. "This is where we found Chichiri. Oh, Mitsukake, come with me!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hill, into the village.
"Well," Nikki stated, "It's nice to see that SOMEBODY got enough sleep last night."
The others continued into the village at a somewhat slower pace than Miaka.
"Now," Nuriko said, somewhat to himself, "If I remember correctly, Tamahome's house should be just...here!" They came to a small home just as a young boy came running out through the front door.
Nikki entered first, only to be swarmed by three other young children. She didn't mind; she loved kids. She knelt, so she was about the height of the young boy. "Hi," she said, smiling, "My name's Nikki. What's yours?"
The young boy hid shyly behind his older sister. "He's Shunkei," his sister said, "And I'm Gyokuran." Nikki felt a tug on her sleeve. She turned to see the youngest girl, who looked to be about five.
"My name is Yuiren. Are you my brother's wife?"
Nikki smiled and stood up, lifting the girl onto her hip. "I thought YOU were Tamahome's wife," she said. Yuiren just giggled. "No, I'm just a friend."
"Are you still my big sister?" the girl asked sweetly. Nikki smiled. "If you want me to be," She placed Yuiren back on the ground, and she wandered off. `Cute kids,' Nikki thought.
Hotohori entered the small home and looked around in shock. "I never knew such poverty existed!" he said.
"Poverty!?" Nikki exclaimed, "I'd give anything to have grown up in a place this nice! Believe me, you have no idea what poverty is until you've seen the places I've seen."
`Or lived,' she thought.
Just then, the oldest boy came back, carrying fresh fish. Miaka jumped up and ran to him, thinking it was Tamahome, and knocked him onto his back.
Nikki stood over her and shook her head. "You know, Miaka, maybe you DIDN'T get enough sleep last night."
That evening, Nuriko, Nikki, and the eldest boy, Chuei, prepared dinner. Nuriko wondered over how much like Tamahome Chuei was, while Nikki chopped vegetables. After a few minutes, they heard a loud growl come from just outside the window.
"Miaka," Nuriko called, "Dinner's ready!"
"Coming!" she answered.
Nikki turned to Nuriko. "You know," she said, "I don't think we made enough food,"
"But we've been cooking all afternoon!" Chuei exclaimed.
Nikki nodded. "Like I said, I don't think we made enough food!" Nuriko sighed and shook his head.
Nikki carried the plates of food to the ravenous Miaka, and the seishi. As she set Hotohori's plate in front of him, he asked her for a cup of water.
Nikki sighed, "Yes, your Majesty!" She had intended for the remark to be sarcastic, but Hotohori looked up at her with a look of wonder, as if to say, `How did you know?' It suddenly dawned on Nikki that there might be some truth behind her remark. Nikki smiled and gave him a wink, and got him his water.
Later that night, Miaka and Nikki stood at the basin brushing their teeth. Miaka looked out the window. "Nuriko," she called, "Do bats attack people?"
"Not usually," he answered.
Nikki felt a chill run down her spine. She just had a weird feeling. She couldn't explain it, it was just a gut feeling. Something was going to happen; something bad. She pushed it away, crawled into bed with Miaka, and tried to sleep.
Later, Miaka awoke to hear the same flute she heard before. "Nuriko, Nuriko, do you hear that?"
"It's nothing," he moaned, "Go back to sleep."
Nikki sat up. "No, I hear it, too!" she said. It sounded like it was coming from far away. Miaka got up and went to the door, to see if she could see where it was coming from.
Suddenly, she screamed, and ran away from the house and into the forest. Tasuki and Hotohori followed her.
"Miaka!" Nikki called. She started to run after her, but Nuriko caught her in the doorway. He wrapped his arm around her waist and dragged her back inside.
Nikki was trembling, so he sat her down on his bunk. She had a look of sheer shock on her face.
"Shhh," he whispered, "Calm down."
Nikki shook her head. "I should have stopped her...I knew this would happen!"
Nikki's voice was so quiet, Nuriko had to lean forward to hear her. "What do you mean, you knew this would happen?" he asked, concerned.
"I don't know. I felt it! I knew something bad would happen!" She wrapped her arms around herself and began rocking back and forth. "This is all my fault!" she said, "I should have stopped her. I shouldn't have let her leave. This is all my fault!"
Nuriko put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his chest. "This isn't your fault," he said, resting his head on top of hers, "Nobody blames you. You had no way of preventing this." Gradually, Nuriko could feel Nikki calm down.
After a few minutes, Miaka, Tasuki, and Hotohori returned, with another young boy, whom Miaka introduced as the final seishi, Chiriko. He was the one who had been playing the flute.
Nikki ran to Miaka and embraced her tightly. "I'm so glad you're okay!" Nikki said.
Miaka, somewhat startled, didn't know what to say except "Thanks." Eventually, everyone calmed down, and went back to bed.
The next morning, the seishi, Miaka, and Nikki left for the capital. Nikki said goodbye to each of the children, and gave them a hug. Yuiren tugged on Miaka's skirt, pleading with her not to go. Chiriko pulled out his flute and played a soothing melody. Yuiren fell asleep immediately. Waving goodbye, Nikki turned and left before the kids wanted her to stay, too.
"I almost hate to leave," she said, pretty much to whoever was listening, "Those kids are so cute. Especially that little Yuiren; she's so adorable, it's almost impossible not to love her. Miaka, watch where you're going..."
Just then, Miaka, who was walking just behind Nikki, tripped over a small rock. Nikki reached out her arm and caught her.
"How did you know?" Miaka asked.
Nikki thought for a moment, and shrugged. "I don't really know," she said slowly, "I just kind of...knew. Besides, with you, Miaka, it's kind of expected" They continued walking.
`Great,' Nikki thought, `Now I'm the one getting weird. Maybe I'm psychic or something. How else could I have known?' That thought sent Nikki into almost complete mental overload, so she shrugged it off and kept moving.
Late that afternoon, they finally arrived back at the capital city. As they entered the Palace courtyard, a young man that looked exactly like Hotohori came running out to meet them.
As he neared, he suddenly changed in appearance to be a young man with blue hair, wearing a mask. Nikki wasn't that surprised. Miaka introduced him to the group as Chichiri.
Nikki stood there, and wondered how he could function properly with his hair. The bangs were pretty much sticking straight out to the front! "Nice hair!" she said to him.
"Da!" was all he said in response.
`The guy's a real nut-job!' Nikki thought to herself.
After a few minutes, Tasuki noticed that Hotohori was missing. No sooner had he mentioned it, when Hotohori came down the stairs, dressed in his royal finery. Tasuki, Mitsukake, and Chiriko nearly died of surprise.
"Ack!" Tasuki gasped, "He's the Emperor!?" Hotohori nodded, and gave a discreet wink to Nikki. She smiled and bowed respectfully as he passed.
That evening, a large dinner was prepared for the seishi. Hotohori brought up the subject of finding Tamahome in Kutou.
"I'll go," Miaka volunteered, "It was my fault that the Universe of the Four Gods was lost, so I'll get it back. I'll bring back Tamahome, too." With that, Miaka had made up her mind to go, and the discussion was over. Chichiri assured Hotohori that he would go too, to protect Miaka.
Chichiri told Miaka that he would use his magic to speak with Tamahome, to let him in on their plans, so Miaka rushed off to get ready.
Nikki excused herself from the table, and went to the room she would be staying in. Luckily, it was only a few doors down from Nuriko's room.
Nikki dropped her bag, and flopped onto the bed. It was large and comfortable, And Nikki could stretch her arms out and not feel the edge of the bed. `I feel like I've died and gone to heaven!' she thought, `Well, in a way I guess I have, only I'm not dead. That makes it even better!'
After she had settled in, meaning, she put her clean pants and shirts in a drawer, she left her room to explore the palace.
Hotohori had said that the seishi could go freely anywhere in the palace, and Nikki liked to consider herself to be one of the seishi. She wandered down countless corridors, past dozens of doors.
"This place is huge," she whispered to herself, "It'd be real easy to get lost!"
"You get used to it after a while," a voice said from behind her. Nikki turned to see Nuriko leaning on the railing of the balcony, which encircled most of the upper floor.
"Oh," Nikki said, leaning on the railing next to him, "I didn't think anyone would be here."
Nuriko stood up. "If you want me to leave, I can--"
"No!" Nikki said quickly, "No, I don't mind you staying," She mentally kicked herself for her momentary loss of composure.
"So," Nuriko said, leaning his back against the rail, "What do you think of the palace?"
"It's...big," Nikki answered. They stood quietly for a moment trying to think of something to talk about. "The stars are really bright," Nikki said finally. Nuriko nodded. Another moment of silence passed.
"There's something about Chiriko; I don't trust him." Nikki blurted.
"What?" Nuriko looked at her questioningly.
"I don't know why I said that," Nikki shook her head, confused, "It was weird. It just popped into my head. Anyways, Miaka's going to find Tamahome, huh?" Nuriko nodded. "Well, I'm probably going to go to bed now," Nikki said.
"If you need anything, my room is just down the hall," Nuriko reminded her, as if she could forget. "Goodnight," he said, and he leaned down to kiss her cheek. Nikki turned her head in surprise, and his lips fell directly onto hers.
Nikki stood there in shock, and it wasn't until moments later that she realized Nuriko had left. She gripped the railing as tight as she could, because she figured if she let go she'd fall.
Her legs had turned to rubber. She felt dizzy, and she couldn't breathe. She eventually gave up on trying to stand, dropped to her knees and leaned back against the railing. Sure, she'd kissed other guys before, many of them more intimately, but no-one had affected her like this before.
She started grinning, for no reason other than she felt insanely happy. She had to place her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
She managed somehow to find her way back to her room through the maze of corridors, and lay down on the bed. Smiling, she closed her eyes and fell asleep, and slept well for the first time for as long as she could remember.
The next morning, Nuriko knocked on Miaka's door. There was no answer, so he walked in. Miaka was still sleeping. Nuriko sat down on the edge of her bed.
"Miaka," he said. There was no response. "Miaka," he said, louder. She didn't even move. "Oh, look!" he exclaimed, "So much food!" Miaka sat bolt upright in bed. "I figured that would wake you," he chuckled, "I came here to wish you luck for tonight."
He reached over and placed his hand on top of hers. Miaka thanked him, and gave him a hug.
Nikki opened the door to find Nuriko and Miaka embracing, on the bed. She stared in disbelief for a moment, then shook her head to clear the thought. She knocked on the door. "Good morning!" she said cheerily.
Nuriko spun around, pulling away from Miaka with a guilty look.
"Miaka, Hotohori asked to see you," Nikki tried her hardest to appear indifferent, but Nuriko must have sensed something. He decided to wait until Miaka left before he said anything.
"It's not what you think," he said apologetically.
Nikki crossed her arms and turned her back to him. "It's none of my business, I don't care what you were doing."
