Miaka was set on finding the other three warriors quickly, so she wanted to get started the next day. They all rushed about making preparations and were so exhausted by the time that evening came that they hardly ate anything. Except for Miaka, that is. When dinner was over, Misara headed to her room and plopped down on the bed to think about these new developments. For the life of her, she couldn't think of why Taylor was in this world at all. She sat up quickly, her eyes wide. Did the Seiryu Seven want her as their Goddess like Misara was for Suzaku? She lay back down. No, there was only one Goddess of the Sky, and that was her. There couldn't be another one. Miaka didn't say much about her trip to Kotou, but she did assure Misara that Miaka's friend Yui would make sure Taylor was safe, at least until Misara could get her back. From the looks of things, Yui had become the Priestess of Seiryu, making her and Miaka enemies. Misara felt awful for the two of them, who had apparently been best friends since kindergarten, just as Misara and Taylor were. Miaka seemed pretty optimistic about it though...she knew Yui didn't hate her and had most likely been forced to become the Priestess of Seiryu. Misara sighed, but was interrupted in her thoughts by a loud conversation in the next room. Miaka and Misara's rooms were adjacent, and one of the voices sounded like Miaka. Misara didn't mean to eavesdrop, but since the other voice was Tamahome, she pressed her ear against the wall to listen.

They were arguing about something...Miaka ignoring him, it sounded like. Just then, the door in Miaka's room opened and she heard Miaka gasp. A third voice joined the others, this one was definitely Hotohori. Misara rolled her eyes and pulled away from the wall, disgusted with the way this soap opera was turning out. Before she could get back to her bed, she heard Miaka scream. Misara, startled, hurried over to the next room, only to find the three of them staring at the ceiling. She looked up, and almost screamed herself. A man, dressed in black, was sitting on the ceiling, and his evil sounding voice resonated through the room.

"Give us the warrior called Tamahome, and the Kotou armies will advance no further!" He demanded. In a flash, Chichiri appeared at Misara's side and moved his hands in a strange fashion. The black man dropped from the ceiling and jumped at Chichiri. Before he reached the monk, Misara had hurled herself at Chichiri and knocked him to the ground, catching the tip of the assassin's knife on her arm. The man didn't stop to fight, and bounded out the door, only to get a piece of railing thrown at him by Nuriko. However, he missed, and the intruder quickly vanished.

"Sorry about that, Chichiri." Misara said quietly, pulling herself off the monk and inspecting her wound. It wasn't too deep, but she was still dripping blood onto the carpet.

"We have to...give Tamahome...to Kutou?" Miaka asked quietly, her eyes wide.

Hotohori shook his head. "Absolutely not-we would never ask him to give himself up to the enemy." He said firmly. Tamahome stared at the ground, and didn't say a word. By this time, Chichiri had pulled himself up from the floor, and he looked at Misara strangely.

"You...you're the Goddess of the Sky." He said. "That's why you protected me, no da." He scrunched up his face in thought. "Don't you have to touch my symbol before you protect me? Because you didn't, no da. So why did you do that?"

Misara was lost in thought for a moment, then answered softly, "I don't know." She looked up at him and shrugged. "I don't know why, Chichiri." She sighed. "Although, I might as well touch it now, you know. No use waiting."

He nodded and lifted his pant leg to reveal his symbol, shining brightly on his knee. Misara bent down and placed her hand over it. Almost instantly, the same symbol appeared on her knee as that blinding red light swirled around them. The emotions she felt from Chichiri, gratitude mostly, were all overshadowed by a thick dark feeling she got from him. It made her overwhelmingly sad, and when she pulled her hand away, trails of tears were running down her cheeks. She stood quickly and wiped them off as another wave of exhaustion hit. She bid them goodnight, a little absently, and wandered off to her room, where she fell asleep almost immediately.


Later that night, when the entire palace was enveloped in silence, Misara was awakened by Tamahome. When Misara had rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and saw the determined look on his face, she knew exactly what he was going to do. She was about to protest when he put his hand over her mouth.

"Don't even say it, Misara. I got the same thing from Miaka, and I don't need to hear it again." He sighed. "I don't think I should be asking this now, since I'm leaving in a minute and you'll go off with Miaka to find the other warriors. I'd...feel safe...in Kutou alone...if I know you'd protect me if you could. So, could you...?" He trailed off, looking expectantly at her. She looked sadly down at him, then blinked hard and nodded. He nodded too, and a moment later, his symbol appeared on his forehead. This time, however, instead of touching it with her hand, Misara, trying her hardest not to cry, leaned over and kissed it. As soon as she did, the tears spilled from her eyes and that same red light sparkled, illuminating the entire room. The emotions she felt from Tamahome were so deep that she didn't even want to think about them, and she pulled herself away. He stood, and wiping the tears from her eyes, whispered, "You won't tell Miaka that I'm gone, will you? Promise me..." She nodded and a moment later, he was gone.


The next morning, Misara rolled out of bed, sleepy-eyed, to the sound of frantic footsteps outside her door. She opened her door and peered out. Miaka was talking to Hotohori, looking wild-eyed and frantic, with a piece of paper in her hands that she was begging Hotohori to read. Immediately, Misara felt guilty that she hadn't told Miaka that Tamahome had left, but then she remembered her promise to him. However, that only made her feel worse. Before she could duck back into her room, Miaka spotted her and hurried over.

"Misara!" She cried. "Did you know about this? That Tamahome was going to run off? He promised he wouldn't..." She trailed off for a moment. "Did you know?"

Misara sighed, and looked at the ground. By this time, Nuriko, Chichiri and Hotohori had gathered around to hear her answer. "Yes..." She said softly. "But he made me promise not to tell you, Miaka!" She said louder. "I wanted to tell you, but he made me promise..." She looked up at Miaka again. "I'm really sorry, Miaka."

Miaka shook her head. "It's alright...you promised...I shouldn't be mad at you." She narrowed her eyes. "I should be mad at Tamahome! But since he's not here now, and we have other things to do, I guess we should start looking for the other Celestial warriors." She sighed, and stuffed the note in her pocket. "Let's get started, okay?" She looked around at the four of them, and they all nodded simultaneously, and headed off to get dressed.


When Miaka, Nuriko, Chichiri and Misara were finally ready, they met with Hotohori in his throne room. He bid them goodbye and wished them all good luck, but it was obvious that he wanted to come. However, his advisors felt it in his best interest if he didn't go, and so he reluctantly agreed to stay behind. As they were heading out the door, he stood and told Miaka to take care. Then, almost as an afterthought, he repeated it to Misara. The two nodded, then walked out, followed by Chichiri and Nuriko.

After traveling down the road for at least an hour, Miaka pulled a compact out of her pocket and stared at it. Misara leaned over on her horse and tried to look at it. It wasn't an ordinary mirror...in fact, it had a symbol on it. Misara, not being able to read it, asked, "What does that symbol stand for?"

Miaka looked at her oddly. "It's mountain...I thought you..." Her eyes grew wide. "Where are you from again, Misara?"

"Michigan, or basically, the United States...why?" She answered, thoroughly confused.

"I'm from Japan!" Miaka cried. "I don't speak English very well at all...but I can understand you..."

"You're right! I don't know a word of Japanese, but I understand everything you say, and Nuriko too!" Misara looked at Nuriko. "Do you know English?"

Nuriko gave her a look. "What the heck is English?"

Misara stared at her for a second, then started to laugh. "This is weird...but I guess it's something Taitskun did so we could all understand each other. What language are we speaking now?" She asked.

Miaka shrugged. "I thought I was speaking Japanese...you're right, this is weird. What do you think, Chichiri?" She turned around to speak to him, but he wasn't there. Misara spun around in her seat.

"Where did he go?" She asked, a little frantically.

"Don't worry about him, Misara." Miaka said. "I think he knows what he's doing."

Misara stared behind her for a moment, and then shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, then." She said reluctantly.


A little while later, they had stopped to eat at a small restaurant. The three of them sat down to eat, and Miaka ordered almost everything on the menu. When the man taking their order looked suspicious about how they were going to pay for it, Miaka stupidly pulled out a big pouch of coins and set it on the table. The guy's eyes widened, and he hurried off to get their food.

"Put that away, Miaka, before we get into trouble." Nuriko whispered hurriedly, glancing around the room. The only other customers there were two men, sitting far across the room, but they looked at the three of them and smiled wickedly, and Misara knew they had seen the gold. She glanced at Nuriko, and saw that Nuriko knew it too. The man brought their food, and before Nuriko could stop her, Miaka had wolfed it all down, then grabbed her stomach and winced.

"I don't feel so great..." She moaned. Before she could say anything else, the two men appeared next to their table, and tried to steal the money.

Nuriko fended off the attack of one of them, but when the other waved his sword at Miaka, Misara jumped at him. Tamahome's symbol shone on her forehead as she kicked him across the room, straight at...Hotohori? Misara stared in disbelief at the Emperor, ignoring the two men as they ran out the door.

Hotohori ran over to where Miaka lay on the floor. "Miaka!" He cried. "Are you alright?"

"I think the food was poisoned, your Majesty." Nuriko said worriedly.

"No...it wasn't poisoned..." Miaka said groaning. "I just ate too fast..."

Misara buried her face in her hands, and shaking her head, began to laugh.