Disclaimer: Dammit, I do not own them!
They belong to multi-millionaire rich people who're laughing their heads off
because they're making a lot of money and we don't!! Got that? Good.
*thoughts*
/what had happened in the past/
(time setting)
Ayame-chan says: Ahhh!!! Gomen nasai for
taking so long with this chapter! I've been busy with so much other stuff that
I didn't have the time! Well...now I do have some free time. Until next week
(grr...school...me no like school...). Well, this chapter introduces my favorite
Suzaku seishi, Chichiri! ::grins maniacally:: And this'll be soon a full crossover...I
hope, but I'm just incorporating both storylines so far. Now on with the show!!
Chapter Six ~ Chichiri to the Rescue, no
da!
(to where I left off, my wonderful readers...)
" 'Touchan! 'Touchan!"
Masaki bent down to pick up the running
children, hoisting two of them up on each shoulder and laughing.
" 'Touchan, okairei!" the girl
on his right shoulder said who looked about only six years old and a spitting
image of Aiko.
"Okairei!" her twin repeated
on the left side.
"Aa, tadaima," Masaki greeted
them.
Aiko stood up and walked towards the little
crowd gathering, her arms folded across her chest. "Maa, you're home early,
anata."
Ukiyou smiled at the two. "Masaki-san,
okairei."
Masaki took his gaze off his wife for a
moment to greet Ukiyou back. "Ah, U-chan, you're back early."
Ukiyou just laughed. "Maa, I'm home
earlier than you were. You lost the bet."
Masaki shook his head, still holding onto
the two girl twins that were on his shoulders and answered Aiko's question.
"The mission was easier than I thought, so they just let me go."
"Oh? And you had to walk all the way
home from Aizu?" Aiko asked sarcastically. She wiggled his nose. "Poor
thing."
After that second, the twin on the right
began to reach over her father's head to do the same thing to her twin on the
left. "Ah! Poor thing!"
The little girl on the left laughed and
repeated the same thing as they began to teeter over their father's shoulders.
"Poor thing! Poor thing!"
Masaki sweatdropped. He felt like he was
going to lose his grip on his daughters. "Oi..."
Aiko laughed. "Yamenasai." She
turned back to the others, pointing back at her husband. "See? They love
to take after me."
Masaki set the twins down and they ran
off. Aiko began introductions. "Anata, these are the people that Ukiyou
stayed with. Next to Shunsaku's Myojin Yahiko," Yahiko waved back politely,
"the girl next to Ukiyou's Kamiya Kaoru; the rooster head there's Ukiyou's
friend," Kaoru bowed politely; Sanosuke just nodded in acknowledgement,
"and I'm sure you know Nuriko by now," Nuriko grinned. "I know
you know this man," she concluded, saving Kenshin for last who stood up,
smiling.
Masaki's mouth turned into a small 'o'.
"Ooh, Kenshin, I barely even recognize you. Nice to see you again."
Kenshin laughed, "Maa, istashiburi,
Masaki, de gozaru."
The children ran inside behind him as dusk
began to fall. Aiko looked up at the sky. "Wow, it's already getting dark."
She looked back at the others. "Feel free to stay here. We have lots of
room, so don't worry about room. U-chan, will you help me with dinner? Seems
like we're going to be making more than the usual."
(after dinner at the Sasaki home)
Ukiyou sat alone on the porch, staring
up at the stars that flew by. Her eyes stared up sadly at them; her mind lost
in thought. All those times when she was in China...they began to haunt her
memories....
"U-chan?" Nuriko's voice camed
out softly.
Ukiyou blinked, startled, and turned her
head around. Nuriko stood at the doorway, concern in his eyes.
"Ah..nani yo, Nuriko?" she asked.
He cocked his head to one side, the braid
following the path as it slipped past his shoulders. "U-chan, doushta no?
Why're you sitting here by yourself?"
"A-anno...just thinking about stuff,"
Ukiyou bluntly replied, not thinking of what to say.
Nuriko walked forward and sat down next
to her. "Thinking about what? You know, you're scaring me nowadays."
She blinked a few times in confusion. "Scaring
you? Naze?"
"..Well, you didn't seem like yourself
the past few days."
Ukiyou chuckled softly, as if finding the
answer funny to her. She looked down at her folded hands. "Maa, I guess
you could say I've changed. After all that time trying to search for the Shinzaho...I've
been wondering if it was really worth becoming the Suzaku no Miko. I mean, if
I didn't become the miko, a lot of lives would've been saved."
"U-chan, it's not your fault---"
Nuriko began to say.
"But it is my fault!" Ukiyou
replied harshly. "If it wasn't for me, then Hotohori-sama, Mitsukake, Chiriko,
and Tamahome....." she trailed off, but continued on quickly. "If
it wasn't for me, then they wouldn't have died! I-I don't want that to happen
with the others here..."
(somewhere in the house)
Sanosuke hummed softly to himself while
walking around the premises of the Sasaki household. Damn, he had to admit that
the place was pretty large compared to Jou-chan's dojo. It looked small on the
outside, but once you got in, it looked totally different than what it seemed
to be.
*I guess that's what Riskbrokers or whatever
have to do in order to keep their identities hidden...* he thought.
He reached the back area and paused, listening
to the voices that were talking not far away. His eyebrow arched slightly as
he tiptoed closer. *U-chan?*
(back to Ukiyou and Nuriko...)
"U-chan," Nuriko put a comforting
arm around Ukiyou's shoulder, "That's not going to happen."
"Demo, they found me," Ukiyou
replied, resisting the urge to cry. "And they'll probably find Yui-chan,
too."
"Yeah, you're right, they found you,"
Nuriko admitted. "Demo, you got me and the others right? Even though Chichiri
and Tasuki aren't here, that doesn't mean that they're not looking out for you.
And I understand how you feel about the others' deaths. Shikashi, you know that
we would protect you at all costs. Even if it means that we have to sacrafice
our lives to protect you. That's what being a Suzaku seishi's all about."
"But I don't want any protection from
you guys," Ukiyou replied. "Tamahome promised that he would never
leave and protect me forever, demo...." Tears formed in her eyes. She tried
to fight them back. "Demo..."
"Tamahome did what he did because
he loved you that much," Nuriko explained. "And what's in the past
is what's in the past. You have to move on." And then he let out a small
laugh. "Ha, Tama-chan wouldn't like seeing you like this. He knows that
you're strong, ne?"
Ukiyou smiled softly. "Hai..."
"And you got a job to do, ne? The
Seiryuu seishi are partnering up with that guy who wants revenge from Kenshin,
so you gotta do whatever it takes to prevent them from getting what they want,"
Nuriko pointed out.
Ukiyou couldn't help but giggle. His words
reminded of her of someone she knew very well. "You starting to sound like
Sanosuke, Nuriko."
"Well, speaking about Sanosuke, you
two seem rather cloooosssssseeeee, U-chan," Nuriko drawled the last line,
a teasing glint in his eye.
Ukiyou waved her arms frantically. "No,
no, no! It's not what you think! Sano and I are just friends!"
(to the eavesdropping Sanosuke...)
All the muscles in his body stiffened.
*So, I'm just a friend?* Sanosuke thought to himself. He clenched his fists
tightly. *Then what the hell were all those times in the Sekihoutai were? Nothing?*
He shook his head. *No, she's right. U-chan's
right. We're only just close friends.*
Are you sure about that? The
inner voice in his mind asked him.
*Shutup! Who the hell asked you for an
opinion anyway?*
The sounds of an explosion echoed closeby,
catching Sanosuke's attention. "The hell is that?"
(to the oh...indoors)
Aiko stared out the window with her husband.
"So they followed them after all."
Masaki turned around to his eldest son.
"Shunsaku, I'm counting on you to take your brother and sisters and get
out of here."
Shunsaku behind the doorway and nodded.
"Hai."
They followed their son and exited the
room while Kenshin and the others who were sleeping ran out.
"Nani yo, de gozaru?" Kenshin
asked.
"It seems that the Seiryuu seishi
followed you guys along with some of Enishi's comrades," Aiko answered.
Kenshin's eyes widened. Kaoru gripped onto
Kenshin tightly.
"So what should we do?" she asked.
"Get out of here as fast you can.
Shunsaku's gathering the children, so follow him if you don't want to join the
fight," Masaki answered. *This is going to be a long night...*
(the explosion site which is right by where
Nuriko and Ukiyou were at)
Nuriko covered Ukiyou from the debris of
the explosion and numerous amounts of rocks and dirt scraped his skin. After
a few moments, they opened their eyes and faced a blue chi in front of them
not far away.
"They're here," Ukiyou said,
her eyes filled with determination and grief.
The symbol of "kokoro" on Nakago's
forehead faded away as he stared coldly back at her. The Kenshingumi and gang,
with the exception of Shunsaku and Yahiko, piled out. Sanosuke ran out from
the corner.
"Oi, U-chan, what the hell was that??"
he stopped in midstep and stared at the huge hole that was made in the wall.
Nakago smiled arrogantly along with the
man beside him. Kenshin recognized the man, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Enishi..."
Enishi chuckled quietly to himself and
stared back at Kenshin through his sunglasses. "Well, were you trying to
escape from me, Battousai? It didn't work." He
gestured towards Nakago. "See, my friend here is also looking for the girl
who is protecting you."
"You won't win," Ukiyou's voice
replied coldly. "Even if you gather the strongest fighters of the world,
you'll never win."
"Hmph, we'll see about that Suzaku
no Miko," Nakago replied. "You're rather shorthanded, are you not?"
A large shadow appeared above the group,
covering the moon with its figure and began to fall down to the ground.
"DAAA!!!" a voice shouted from
the figure.
They stared up in confusion as the figure
split into two and landed separately on the ground. One looked like a monk,
with light blue hair and smiling. He was the one who shouted from above and
landed on the ground with ease.
Ukiyou blinked a few times. "Chichiri?"
The other figure didn't land as gracefully
and landed on his ass with a thud. He had flaming red hair and amber eyes, and
was apparently cursing to himself and to the other man at the same time.
"Dammit, Chichiri! Next time why don't
you tell me BEFOREHAND when we're going to $*(#@' land!" he shouted.
It was Nuriko's turn to blink in confusion.
"Tasuki?"
"Maa, Tasuki-kun, you gotta be aware
of these surprises, no da," Chichiri answered Tasuki's question.
Enishi turned his head to Nakago. "And
just who're they?"
Nakago answered calmly, "Oh, they're
the remaining warriors of Suzaku. Don't worry, they're not that much of a threat."
"Oro?" Kenshin said, pointing
at the two newcomers. The others sweatdropped.
"Just what the hell are you two doing
here?" Nuriko asked.
"The hell are you asking me for?"
Tasuki answered back. "Ask the freakin' monk here!"
"I thought there was something odd
going around here, no da!" Chichiri answered. "I felt the Seiryuu
seishi's ki here, no da, so I transported me and Tasuki here to help out, no
da!"
"Well...I guess we have more people
now than before..." Ukiyou slowly said.
Enishi jerked his head to the soldiers
behind him. "Attack."
MUSE NOTES:
( Chichiri )
[ Tasuki ]
/ Taka-neko \
(Da! Kinda strange, no da? This is supposed
to be a crossover, no da! Ayame-chan's kinda tired, so we had to finish this
for her, no da!)
[The hell do you mean that she's tired?
She practically killed me this morning over breakfast!]
/Mreow\
[Taka, quit taking his side! Why don't
you take my side for once?]
/Mreow, meow, meow.\
(See, no da? Even Taka-neko agrees that
you are too brash, no da!)
Hey, you guys quit arguing! My oniichan
wants to me to get off the computer!
*The muses nod in agreement*
Good, now, I hope you liked this chapter!
Kinda strange, but I'll make it up in the next one!