I *think* I'm outta writer's block... demo (I'm not sure if I'm using this correctly...) ... I'm not sure... oh... and the new title would be great if you can think of one... I'm desperate!! Okies! Thanx for the replies!!! They're great...

*^_~* my kawaii lil face!!!

^_^. Nuriko face!! See the mole... so cute! (i can't memba where i got this!! argh!)

and.... (((_^ Naka face!!! yay!

x^_^ Kouji face hehe

Disclaimer: *scratches her head* oh... now I memba!! um... I don't own Fushigi Yuugi!! i wish i did but i don't!

*Chapter 6*

We were about to leave the next morning, after another night of sake, and Kinaki was doing her best to fight the tears coming to her face. She looked beautiful despite that fact, though. She wore a pale sapphire kimono with an azure sash. Her hair was loosely around her shoulders and she had about four bottles of sake in her bag, or so she said. In my case, that made her look even better. "You might as well cry. It doesn't matter..."

She looked up at me and glared. "I am not going to have them all think I'm a weak little girl who can't even leave without crying. No... they know me better than to let me cry... Whatta 'bout my dignity!!" Then she smiled at the bandits we passed, rushed up to a few and hugged them, had a little talk with Kouji and hugged him goodbye, and we left.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

She insisted upon riding by herself, ("The poor horse already has one person on it. I'm not gonna make it hurt itself by carrying another one") and rode on ahead of me, chatting with Nuriko.

"You like him?" I heard her say.

"Well, ano," he said glancing at Hotohori for a second, "Yes, I do. It might seem odd though. I'm sorry if you think I'm weird..."

"No. Of course not! You're perfectly fine; you just have different... ano... interests than me. Yeah, that's it... Some of the bandits were like that. I'm ok with it as long as you don't like Genrou... You don't do you?"

"Tasuki? No, of course not."

"Oh, than we'll get along just fine! Um... Excuse me for asking, but why *did* you cross-dress? Don't answer if you don't want to... I just wanna know... Iie... never mind. That's a personal question. I shouldn't be so impolite...." She made a face. "Gomen ne..."

"Iie," he interrupted, "I don't mind, if you want to listen that is." I forced myself to stop eavesdropping at that point. Oh well...

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I must've dozed off for awhile because I awoke to Kinaki telling me to wake up. I looked up at her and asked for a few more minutes. She pulled me off the horse somehow and shook me awake. Talk about a rude awakening.

"What?" I said lazily, angry about being awakened.

"Oh... ano... Gomen ne, I needed someone to keep me company..." She looked down at her feet.

I sighed. She woke me up for company? She looked over and pulled out the sake she took from Rekakku and sat down. So *that's* what she had in mind.

"Okay, then. I guess I'll keep you company..."

She handed me a bottle of sake. "You sure it won't be any trouble?" She smiled, easily getting me to do whatever she wanted with her dimples. I sighed. There was no way I could get her to change her mind and just let me sleep, but I'd live I guess...

"Yeah, I'm sure." I had a little of the sake she had given me and looked at her. "You do anything with this?" I asked suspiciously. She had a little, black, elaborately decorated vial with something in it that completely overdosed what you drank. I had it once and lost track of at least a week. The weird thing about it was that she could drink it right out the bottle and be perfectly fine. It's probably because she made it herself. I wouldn't know.

She laughed. "You mean this?" she said pulling the vial out of the front of her kimono. I blushed for a second then answered, "Yeah, did you?"

She smiled evilly, and giggled. "Maybe, why?"

Uh oh. That can't be good. "Did you? I mean really?"

"Nope. I was just kiddin." She leaned forward and kissed me. When she pulled away she was smiling.

"And it's not that strong, is it?" As if to demonstrate, she took a long drink out of the bottle, shuddered, smacked her lips and smiled. "You sure you don't want some?"

I sighed, closing my eyes. She could be immature at times, but she wasn't too bad. She was younger than me, also. About two years. I drank outta the sake bottle and relaxed. That liquid of hers made you shudder if you drank it, so I was pretty sure there was none in here.

And then, I remembered something. We had left the other seishi up there. I looked at her. "We should get going. The seishi might be looking for us."

She shook her head. "I told Nuriko where we were going. He said he'd tell them if they asked. And they're going to set up camp soon. They won't be too hard to find."

I sighed and she sat up and looked at me, smiling and blushing slightly. Her arms encircled my neck and our first amulet princess proceeded to massage my lips and rake her long fingers through my untamed hair. I smiled against her lips and let my arms encircle her waist and pulled my fingers through her soft hair.

"I missed that," she breathed, pulling close to me.

"Yeah," I said, "so did I." I hugged her fiercely and kissed her silky hair, smiling as I did so. She once again brought her lips to mine.

And a shadow came over us. "Oh, this is what you were going out to do?" questioned Nuriko, according to my ears. I looked up. I was right.

"Just wanted to tell you we were setting up camp. Are you two gonna just stay here tonight? I *could* tell them I couldn't find you or something." He laughed.

Kinaki leaned her head on my shoulder. She didn't want to leave, but she was kinda like me and slept late. She sighed.

"We're gonna hafta go back. I won't be able to wake up tomorrow easily. You know how I am when it comes to waking up..."

Nuriko smirked. "He would know, wouldn't he?" he said with a mocking smile. She blushed, as did I, and then recovered with a comeback.

"Well, whatta 'bout you and Heika-sama?" she replied with an arch little smile.

"Y-y-you knew about that?" His face paled. "Do the others?"

I smiled. My Kinaki had found a weak spot very fast in our strong cross-dressing friend. "Only Mitsukake and Chichiri do."

He looked at me and told me not to tell anyone else. Then he led us back to the camp sight. Aki-chan leaned on my shoulder feeling weariness upon her. I smiled and followed Nuriko.

Then, out of nowhere, a dagger flew past her ear. Suddenly wide awake, she hiked up her kimono and pulled out a silver dagger about five inches long with an elaborately bejeweled hilt. I pulled my tessen out and told her not to stray from me. She rolled her eyes.

Nuriko looked around. "Where are they? I can't see them!!" Then Kinaki muttered a fairly vile oath. "The other bandits," she uttered under her breath. "Genrou, go warn the others. We'll be ok, and you're the fastest."

I looked at her. "Are you sure? That you'll b..."

"Yes, now go!!" she said interrupting me. I ran off.

When I got to the campsite, I noticed immediately that the bandits of Mt. ? had been there. Things knocked over, some obvious wounds, a few things missing. I sighed. At least everyone was ok.

"They were here?" I asked, although unnecessary. Chichiri nodded. "Ok. That's what I thought. A few of you come with me, and the rest try to salvage what's left, ok?" Hotohori walked up to join me, as did Chichiri and we left.

When we came back to Nuriko and Kinaki, there was a fairly vicious battle going on. Nuriko was easily hitting them all away, but when four are attacking you at the same time, even if your extremely strong it takes a bit more.

Kinaki had about three to handle. Her dagger plunged into the small of one of the men's back. It was only five inches long, but that was enough to rip his kidneys open.

"Rekka Shin'en!!" I yelled. The flame caught one of the men who was attacking her. He screamed in pain, and ran from where we were. After a few seconds, the screaming finished.

The remaining bandit shrieked in agony. "You'll pay for that," he snarled through clenched teeth. With that said, he pulled out a dagger and grabbed Aki-chan. I reached for my tessen, but it was already too late. He had driven the dagger into her heart, and there was no way that it wouldn't kill her.

I howled in grief and burned the remaining bandits to death.

"Genrou..." she called weakly. "Come here, Genrou."

I walked over to her and held her against myself gently. She smiled.

"Nuriko? Go get Mitsukake. Now," I told him through clenched teeth. He ran off.

"Don't be stupid. I'm going to die, Genrou. There's no need."

"No, you're not going to die."

"Yes, I am." She looked over at Hotohori. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm going to be able to perform at the palace, Heika." She smiled gently and reached up to caress my face.

"Oh, and tell Nuriko I'm sorry I didn't get to help him with..." She broke off blushing. "Just tell him I'm sorry i didn't get to help."

"Don't talk, you're going to lose your remaining energy." I choked on a sob.

She rolled her eyes. "Tell Kouji I love him, ok?" She pulled herself up and grasped my face and brought me into a long, passionate kiss. "I love you so much, Genrou. Promise me that ya won't make yourself be alone. Find yourself a nice woman, or I'll be very displeased." She laughed weakly. "I love you, my Genrou."

"I love you, too," I managed to choke out. "But you won't die. Mitsukake will be here in a minute, and he'll heal you." She silenced me with a kiss. Then she slid from my grasp, falling limp.

The rest of the seishi arrived a minute too late, but I was to heartbroken to realize.

"Is s-she... Is she d-d-dead?" I heard Miaka's quavering voice say.

"Mitsukake," I pleaded, "you've got to heal her! Help her, please!"

He sighed, sadly. "I can't heal someone who's dead, Tasuki. I'm very sorry."

I looked up. Miaka and Nuriko were crying. Kinaki had, it seemed, made friends with those two. I choked back a sob and pulled her lifeless body to myself and, despite my being a bandit, I sobbed openly into her chest.

Then, I laid her dead body down and ran into the woods. She had looked so serene, still smiling. I ran blindly, tears clouding my eyes, for about a half an hour. With no strength left, I sank to the ground and cursed myself for crying. She wouldn't have wanted me to cry, but the tears wouldn't stop rolling down my face. I wiped them away with the back of my hand, though it was meaningless.

I was so distraught, I didn't notice the soft voice calling me. When the young woman touched my shoulder, I jumped.

She had long, blue-black hair, plaited down her back, and wore a long black skirt and a shadowy indigo top. "Thou art the seishi of Suzaku, Tasuki." I wondered why she talked like that, with the 'thee's and thou's'.

I swallowed hard. "Yes, I am. Is there something you needed, because if there was, let's get it over with. I need to be alone for a bit."

"Why art thou so sorrowful?" her soft voice questioned.

"Well, one I loved just died." I choked on a sob.

She smiled impishly. "Wouldst thou like me to retrieve her soul for thy?"

What?

ooh!!!! I liked this chapter... it was so sad!! Made me cry!! and I'm the writer!! well... tell me how you like it, k? and if i should add anything or what.... okies? Arigatou, Minna-san!!

ja!!

~*Megami-Sama and Tasuki-Sama*~