K'nnich minna!! sup? I'm startin' this chapter... (duh... we know!!) and i have an idea where I'm gonna go with this now... i knew it couldn't be all fluff... *unfortunately* so I'm gonna try ta add a bad guy.. i think...

Tasuki: you... think?

Cosmos (not from SM its a friends nickname): since when? *snif*(she'd say that... so i hadta add it... *sorry for not asking cosmos-chan!!*)

Tasuki: wait... you didn't know where you were going with this?

~me~ nopers... oops... I've been making it up as i went along...

ok then? on with the story!!

oh.... yeah!! i forgot to tell ya.. but im changin the perspective thing for a few chapters... k? i will change bak for those of you who like it... but in this particular chapter.... ya can see how Kinaki sees stuff!!

Disclaimer: only Makkuro and Kinaki are mine... and i wish i owned fy.. but i dun... it belongs to the marvelous (is feeling like using big words) watase yuu!

Chapter 8

I felt his arms wrap around me and pull me towards him in my sleep, and I woke, alarmed. It had been awhile since he was there, and I hadn't slept with anyone and enjoyed the feel of arms surrounding me and keeping me warm since he left. I looked around. We and the other Suzaku seishi had slept in a cave. It was raining outside, though the sun, somehow, still managed to shine. The seishi were around the corner, my night shirt was over, laying in a heap, in the corner. I blushed a bit. And Genrou was right here, next to me where he should be. I smiled, poking at him.

"You awake, Genrou?" Soft snores answered me. I giggled and snuggled deeper into his arms. I had missed him so much when he had gone, and when I died. It feels so weird to think that. When I died. He kissed the top of my head and I looked up.

I smirked. "You're finally awake, I see."

He smiled. "Yeah, I'm awake."

Then, to ruin a kinda romantic moment, came Tamahome's voice. "Tasuki? Where are you? Kinaki?"

Genrou cursed violently and made a grab for his clothes, but.....

"Tasuki, there you are..." He was too late.

Tamahome turned around blushing. I let out a little yelp of embarrassment and pulled the covers over my head. Tasuki blushed violently. "I-i-it's not what you think Tama..." he started, but how he would explain this remained a mystery to me.

I blushed and grabbed some clothes. Tamahome turned slightly, saying "Then what is it...." he blushed again and turned around.

I smiled, giggling that he was so nervous. Had he and Miaka never done something like this? And they seemed like such a great couple... had they only done things like kissing? Rolling my eyes and coming back to real life, as I was kinda staring, I looked at Genrou. He was sputtering a stupid sounding explanation to Tamahome of why we were together.

"Genrou, why don't ya jus' tell him." I said, laughing at the look I got from him. "It's pretty obvious, and he's got a girlfriend, I'm sure he can tell what we were doing." I smiled. "Cantcha?"

Tamahome stared at me. "Well... I do know what you were doing... and Miaka and I... well... ano... ano.... you see..." I smiled as his blush deepened. "Well... actually... ano... yes... I do know what you were doing... from her and.. me..."

My jaw dropped. I had assumed he was so innocent... but... even I misjudged some people... I looked at Genrou and found that he was muttering curses under his breath. "Shimatta... all that time pretendin' ta be so innocent... Tama, ya were pretendin?"

He blushed. "Not... then..."

I smiled. "Well, ano, lets go get breakfast!! I'm starved."

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

*somewhere... in the underworld...*

A young, pale-skinned woman with black hair to her feet, styled in an odango atop her head, dressed in all black (ooh.. gothic! j/k) emerged from the shadows. On her forehead was a golden triangle. She looks into a lake which shimmers, and forms a picture of Tamahome, Genrou, and Kinaki, walking to breakfast.

In an eerily cold voice, she whispers, "Her soul, it was mine." The picture shimmers once again and it focuses on Makkuro, who's talking animatedly with Chichiri. "She took it from me and for that," the woman paused (for dramatic effect), "she will pay." The triangle on the woman's forehead changes strikingly from the metallic golden it was just seconds ago, to a deep, somber black.

The woman raised her hands and they flowed gracefully through many patterns. "Demons," she hisses, "come to your new master! I implore you to aid me in my duty!"

Two jet-black forms appear. Each is horrid and reeks of rotten flesh and their eyes burn with eternal fire. Under their skin, lightning seemed to surge. These dark creatures opened their mouths to say something and revealed the many souls they had devoured, now burning. "Master..." the first demon hisses. "We shall serve you, for a small price." The second fiend whispers, it's cold voice chilling, "We get to keep the souls of our victims."

"Well..." The lady runs a hand through her hair. "I suppose." She sighed and then said, "But make sure with me first. Some of them I need alive for the prophecy." Her azure eyes narrow. "Well," she says impatiently, "what are you waiting for? I told you to go! Go and do my bidding!" The demons' eyes burn with fire in anticipation if the souls they can devour and they float away.

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

**back where we were...**

I had finished my breakfast and now was drinking a little sake. Earlier, Miaka had asked me why I like sake... I gave her a bottle and went back to drinkin' my own. I like sake... I don't need a reason why... I roll my eyes and look around to watch everyone. Makkuro, who hasn't eaten yet, though I offered her something, is still talking to Chichiri. I shuddered. For some reason, I don't like her. She makes my flesh crawl, even though she revived me. And even that bugged me. I go to thank her the next day, and she says something like 'oh, it wasn't my choice. I am just doing my duty.' Her duty. I made a face. Well... whatever. Personally, I don't care. I've won enough of the people Genrou likes to myself.

Nuriko walked over and sat down next to me. "Hey," he said, smiling. "What are you doing?" I held up my sake bottle. He smiled. "For any particular reason?"

"Whadda ya mean?" I hiccuped, which was not a good sign. I didn't usually make myself that drunk...

Nuriko gestured to the bottles beside me. I nodded. "Is there a reason for your drinking? Just wondering..."

I smiled. He was one of those people that it was so easy to tell anything. "Well," I began, "I don't exactly know why, but I seem to be having a problem with... you know.... her. I just can't trust her for some reason... like bad vibes (*gets bad vibes from certain people...*) I don't know what it is about her that bugs me, and that probably bugs me even more than she does." I sighed exasperatedly.

He looked at me, and then to her, and back to me and shrugged. "Oh well... What I came over here for... other than that... was... well... when you died... you said to apologize to me because you couldn't help... I meant to ask you what you meant."

I shifted uncomfortably, avoiding his gaze. I wanted to help him with Hotohori... I wanted to do whatever I could to help him with his love life... He'd lived a hard life after all... So did I... I knew what it was like to have a sibling die in my arms...

**flashback mode**

My own sister... 9 year difference between us so I felt more her mother than sister... and my parents were always away. They ended up leaving us at home on our own with little money. She got real sick, and we barely had enough money to eat.

So, I went out to get a job... or some food... whichever opportunity came first... When I came home, she was about to die, and my no good parents had left me with no food and the guilt. I had to bury her myself, and then... I ran away, never wanting to go back to that town...

I was only 14 when I left, hungry and underfed. And very thin. I went to a place up on Mt. Rekakku and planned on trying to kill myself, nothing worth me living over anyways. No one knows that though... I ended up singing; it always calms me down.

And Genrou found me... and had me fed... and clothed properly, and told me that if I stayed in his room, the other bandits wouldn't bother me. He *was* the bosses favorite... or that's what he said.

But for one reason or another, I didn't feel comfortable sleeping in his room. Even so... I was ok after the first two nights or so... And he was nice, I told him of how my sister died... and of my parents... and he said things that made me feel better. I knew I was falling for him... but he had said he didn't like women...

And he introduced me to sake. I had to serve it to the bandits and them so when he asked me if I wanted a rest... I said no and sat down with them... Now I drink *almost* as well as him... but then I do have my little vial... which evens it out...

I was still reminiscing when I heard Nuriko say "I don't know what happened. It's like she's in a trance."

"Kinaki? She does that from time to time... just her mind wanders and she tunes out your voice for her thoughts." That was Genrou I figured.

I blinked twice, coming to. Nuriko was looking at me worriedly. "Is something wrong, Nuriko?"

He smiled. "It doesn't matter. I guess you were just thinking about something important." I nodded. "Gomen."

I smiled, and got up, humming a little. ".....ano.... is there some place I could bathe?"

Nuriko looked up. "There's a small lake down a ways... if you want to..."

I smiled. "Come with me. There's something important I need to talk to you about," I said, grabbing a towel. He smiled and took another and walked after me.

Ok... first off.... Kinaki is not asking Nuriko to come with her for any reason but to talk... and she probably needs help to find the lake... but..... w/e.... secondly... Yay!!! I'm so happy!!!! I finally got my story o the point where I know what I'm gonna do next... and it won't be completely..... romantic...... (it wouldn't be that good if it was all romance....) and thirdly...... reply!!!! I really need these reviews.... I might know what to do... but suggestions on how to do stuff are welcome... so are flames.... but not too many.... ok? good!! thanks for your help........... ja!!

~*Megami-sama and Tasuki-sama*~