After Miaka recovered from her stomachache, the four of them headed out once more. They wandered in the direction of Mt. Reikaku, hoping to find another clue to the whereabouts of the fifth Celestial Warrior. Five hours later, they were tired and hungry, so they stopped in a clearing in the forest and climbed wearily down from their horses. Misara noticed that they were out of water, so she took the liberty of finding a stream and getting some more. Walking through the woods, she looked eagerly for water, and was rewarded a few minutes later by a small brook. After she had drunk her fill, she filled up their water jugs and headed back to the others. Much to her surprise, no one was there...even the horses were gone, along with all their stuff. Trying not to panic, Misara walked around quickly, thinking perhaps she was just lost. However, it was obvious that she wasn't. She took another drink of the water and was about to look around some more when she was hit from behind. The blow was so hard that she was knocked unconscious almost instantly, and the jug shattered as she fell to the ground.

She was crudely awakened much later by a kick in the back. Her eyes flew open and she twisted around to trip whoever had kicked her. Her assailant hopped out of the way, laughing, and she hurt too much to try to see who it was. Her hands were bound behind her back, and she hurt all over. She closed her eyes again, and was given another kick. She was then pulled to her feet by an evil-smelling man, who leered at her. She looked around, only to find that she was in some sort of hideout...from a window, she could see that she was in the mountains. She was quickly distracted by a loud voice behind her. She was spun around to face the person the voice belonged to, and she couldn't help but cringe when she saw him. He was rather short, fat and had tiny little eyes that could barely be seen on his face.

"Hey girly..." He said, sneering at her. "Why don't you tell us where your little friends went?" Misara said nothing, because she didn't know, but she didn't want him knowing that. His face twisted up in rage, and he waved a big metal fan around, cursing at her. She tried not to laugh, because it looked like one of the paper fans she made in elementary school to keep herself cool when it was hot out. For an instant, she wondered if he needed such a big one to cool himself because he was so fat. She must have smiled, because he got even madder and slapped her. Any smiles were long gone, and she glared at him with intense hatred.

She must have given him the reaction he wanted, because he laughed at her, and then slapped her again. I must look awful with all this abuse, she thought sardonically, hoping Hotohori wouldn't see her all beat up.

The fat man was talking to her, and she wasn't listening, which earned her another slap. "Now listen here, girl, cause you're gonna be a hostage for when your friends come back." He said, smiling wickedly. Misara turned her head away and rolled her eyes. No way are these guys that stupid, she thought to herself. But then again, she reconsidered, they probably were. The fat man saw her roll her eyes, and became so enraged that he whacked her over the head with his metal fan, and she fell unconscious again.


The five figures were sneaking around the bandit hideout, trying to be quiet. Since Miaka had promised to get Genrou's fan back, Hotohori and Nuriko had reluctantly agreed to help. Genrou and his friend Kouji were leading the way, when all of a sudden, an apparently love-struck young bandit appeared and threw his arms around Hotohori.

"I don't care if you're a man!" He cried. "I love you anyway!" Miaka started snickering, and Hotohori wailed.

"Nuriko, help!!" he cried. Unfortunately, his shriek attracted the attention of the bandits and their leader, Eiken, who was waiting for them to come back.

"Gotcha!" He shouted, waving his fan over his head.

"Give that back!" Miaka yelled. " That fan belongs to Genrou!"

Eiken laughed. "Ya got nothing to trade for it, and I got a hostage to boot!" Nuriko gasped, along with Miaka and Hotohori. In their efforts to rescue Miaka, and then retrieve the fan, they had forgotten all about Misara. Hotohori wanted to kick himself.

"Damn..." Nuriko muttered.

"What's he talking about?" Kouji asked, confused.

Miaka threw up her hands in frustration. "A girl who was traveling with us...she looks just like me, but she's got blue eyes..." She trailed off and glared angrily at Eiken. "Prove that you've got her in the first place, you jerk!" She demanded.

Eiken laughed again, and said, "Oh, I'll prove it all right." He motioned to one of his bandits and soon a girl was dragged forward and dropped on the ground. It was Misara, that was clear, and she was covered in blood and bruises.

"What did you do to her?" Nuriko asked, furious.

"Oh, she's alive, if that's what you're worried about. We just had a fun time with her, that's all." Eiken answered, strutting around next to Misara. "Wake up!" He bellowed, and kicked her in the side. Miaka and Nuriko gasped, and Misara groaned and rolled over onto her stomach. She looked up at Eiken with obvious hatred, and then noticed her friends.
"Hi guys..." She whispered, trying to smile. She tried to pull herself up from the ground, and after a few moments, was standing precariously, wobbling a bit and dripping blood on the floor.

"Are you alright?" Miaka asked softly.

"Of course she's alright! I take good care of my hostages, don't I, girly?" He said, playing with Misara's hair. She pulled away quickly and almost fell over.

By this time, Genrou was seething. His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white. Hotohori was no exception. His face was twisted in rage, and his hands gripped his sword tightly. "If you did anything..." he started.

"I've decided!" Eiken announced suddenly. "I won't kill ya." He put his hand on Misara's shoulders and kept her from getting away. He began to laugh again. "I've decided ta let this girl kill ya instead! With Genrou's fan too!"

"But boss...she'll just give the fan to them..." one of the bandits whispered to Eiken.

"Don't worry about it, idiot." He said, kicking the unlucky bandit. "She's hurt too bad to try anything like that."

Miaka stepped forward. "You coward!" She screamed. Eiken shrugged, and placed the fan in Misara's hands.

"Ya gotta say the magic words first, girly. When ya go to fry 'em, ya yell, 'Rekka Shinen' and wave it at 'em." He pushed Misara forward. She took a few unsteady steps, and when she had her balance, she looked at the five of them with incredibly sad eyes.

Hotohori stepped up. "Kill me first, Misara. I won't mind being killed by you."

She shook her head violently. "No!" She cried. "I can't...I can't do it!"

Eiken growled. "I'm getting tired of ya, girly. Do it now or I'll kill you first!" He came up behind her and pushed her forward again. This time, she fell on her hands and knees, still holding on to the fan, as tears dripped off her face.

"No...you don't understand..." She cried. "I can't...I really can't..." Eiken roared and grabbed her braid of long brown hair and pulled hard on it. However, Misara didn't scream, but surprised everyone by spinning around and tripping Eiken. As he thudded to the floor, she stood up and pointed the fan at him, hatred glaring violently in her eyes. He could only stare at her in surprise and stutter.

"I thought...you were...what the hell?" He cried.

Misara smirked. "A trick I learned from a friend. Always pretend to be hurt more than you really are, then attack." She turned to Miaka. "Tamahome taught me that, by the way." Miaka smiled at her, and Misara turned back to Eiken. "Now, you fat...bad person, tell me who this fan really belongs to. It's one of those guys over there, I presume." She said, motioning to Genrou and Kouji. "So which is it? The cute one, or the one with fangs?"


After the fan had been returned to Genrou and Eiken had been sent packing, Misara was given a place to sleep and heal her wounds, which were pretty bad anyway, although she ignored them. Unfortunately, Genrou had some bad news for them. It turned out that Tasuki, the fifth Celestial warrior who they had been searching for, was the old leader of the bandits. In other words, he was dead. They were about to give up when one of the bandits mentioned a rumor about someone in a nearby village who could bring the dead back to life. Miaka declared that they had to check it out, so the three left Misara with Genrou and headed out to find the village. As they disappeared down the road, Misara turned to go back to her room to sleep. Suddenly, Genrou was at her side, and taking her arm, was about to escort her to her room when she gasped. She stared up at him, but didn't know what to say. She had felt something when he touched her, but it was gone now.

"Sorry..." she murmured, and went inside her room. Genrou shut the door and walked off down the hallway, glancing over his shoulder curiously.


Oh boy...that was lame, wasn't it? At least that part's over, right? Anyway, I'm busily working on the next chapter....so watch for it! P.S. If you got this far and are not yet bored, I commend you! Bravo...and thanks!