Unfortunately, the pain in Misara's arm caused her to go a little out of her way when she tried to teleport. Perhaps 'a little' is an exaggeration. She collapsed as soon as she came out of the red light, and didn't get a chance to see what was around her. When she woke again, she was in a bed...her bed at the royal palace of Konan, in fact. Her arm had been mended, but it still hurt to move it much. She was about to climb out of bed when the door opened and Hotohori walked in. Misara was speechless as she stared at him.

"How...how did you get here?" She finally blurted out. Hotohori glanced around suspiciously and closed the door behind him. Suddenly, Misara heard a 'poof' and saw a bright flash of light. When she uncovered her eyes, she saw Chichiri standing in front of her, smiling. "Chichiri!" She cried happily, and bounded out of bed to hug him. "Is this what you've been doing the whole time?" She asked, and he laughed.

"Hotohori wanted so much to go with Miaka, Nuriko, and yourself, so I told him I'd sort of...sit in for a while. See?" He snapped his fingers, and the special effects went off again. When Misara looked up, she was hugging Hotohori. Startled by that fact, she quickly moved away, and when Chichiri reappeared, he had a confused look on his face.

Misara waved her hand, trying to get him to ignore her action. "Never mind." Suddenly, she remembered something. She took Chichiri's hands and made him sit with her on the bed, her face very puzzled.

"When I tried to teleport back to Miaka and the others from Kutou, I came here instead. Do you know why?" She asked.

Chichiri looked at her with surprise. "What were you doing in Kutou without the others there in the first place, no da?"

Misara realized her error and stumbled over her words. "I...well...I was...talking to...Tamahome..." She trailed off, hoping that would satisfy him.

It obviously didn't, but he chose to let it go. He shrugged his shoulders at her. "I have no idea why you'd get off course like that, no da. I suggest you ask Taitskun about it, but that's up to you, of course." He stood and patted her head. Turning back into Hotohori, he headed for the door. "Get some rest, and you can try again tomorrow." He closed the door firmly behind him. Misara stared in bewilderment, then shrugged. She climbed back into bed as she realized that she did need some more rest, and that sleep would feel good. She closed her eyes, and almost instantly fell asleep.

Outside her door, Chichiri stood silently, still looking like Hotohori. He moved his hands and muttered some words for a sleeping spell, then opened his worried eyes and walked back to his throne room.


Later that night, Misara was having a very peculiar dream. She was walking through the shrine of Suzaku, dressed in very expensive-looking clothes and feeling a bit nervous. Her subconscious wondered why she was nervous, but was interrupted by a loud noise up ahead. It sounded like a bird call, but for the life of her, Misara couldn't identify it. Not that she was a bird expert or anything, she reminded herself. She kept walking until she reached the statue of Suzaku. Standing next to it was a tall man, and Misara hesitated for a moment before continuing forward. His eyes were closed, and he had red hair, not like Tasuki's, whose was more orange. A red symbol shone on his forehead, and his outfit was unlike anything she had ever seen. He opened his eyes and looked at her in surprise, as if he weren't expecting her. Then his eyes became sad, and he came forward and weakly held out his hand for her to take. Misara hesitated again, but her instincts told her to go with him. She reached for him, but when she clasped his hand, she almost let go with shock. It was so cold, it almost hurt to hold it, but she held on tightly as he led her slowly, as if he were very tired, through the shrine to a large fire. There he stopped, and let go of her hand. Casting one last glance at her, he walked into the fire, and Misara screamed in horror along with him, as he was burned alive.

Suddenly, he stopped screaming, and Misara couldn't see him anymore. The fire unexpectedly died out in an instant, and in the pile of ashes, Misara saw a child. A baby, actually, who was crying very loudly, and standing around the baby were eight dark figures, who were also weeping.

All of a sudden, Misara understood three things. The first thing was that the man had been Suzaku, and Suzaku was a phoenix who, according to myth, was reborn from the ashes after it burned itself. The second thing was that the eight people surrounding the baby were the Suzaku Seven and the Priestess, just before the summoning ceremony for Suzaku. The last thing came as a huge shock to her when she realized that SHE was the one who had to be burned alive like that in order for the Priestess to summon Suzaku.

As soon as she grasped that, she turned and ran. She wasn't sure where she was going, she just wanted to get away. As she ran, she saw through her tears the blurry faces of the Suzaku Seven, begging her to stay. She kept on running, and passed them all by, ignoring their cries. Suddenly, she heard a voice as she was running. It sounded like Nakago's voice, but it was kind this time.

"I won't let them hurt you..." the voice said, echoing around her. "I'll keep you from this fate..." The cries of the Suzaku Seven grew louder but she didn't stop.
The voice floated around her mind. "I'll save you, Misara...I'll keep you from this horrible fate...trust me...just trust me..."

Misara's mind spun as she shrieked, "Please!! Don't let them hurt me!"

"Trust me..." the voice echoed again.

"I will...I do!" She cried again. Suddenly, the outline of Nakago appeared far ahead of her, and she ran with all her strength to catch him. When she got closer, he became clearer and she could see that his arms were reaching toward her. She threw out her arms and an instant before she was in his, everything froze around her and she could see herself burning in that fire. With her last ounce of strength, she threw herself at him.

As they embraced, he whispered into her ear, "I won't let them hurt you..." and suddenly, the entire world was shattered into a thousand pieces.


Misara bolted upright in her bed, ignoring the sudden pain in her arm as her hands flew to her mouth.
What have I done? She thought. What in the world have I done?


The next morning, Chichiri came into Misara's room, and to his surprise, he found her sitting at her table, not sleeping as he expected. She looked up when he walked in the door, then turned back around and continued to stare at the wall.

"Is there something wrong, Misara?" He asked. She shook her head violently, but didn't speak. He scratched his head in confusion and stood uncomfortably for a few moments. Suddenly, she spoke.

"Can you help me get back to the others?" She asked him. "I think it's my broken arm that caused me to become distracted and brought me here." She sighed. "If you helped me out, I'd get back to them safely, without having to worry about ending up somewhere else." Chichiri nodded in agreement. "Besides," she added, "I'm worried about them."

Chichiri nodded again, and Misara stood and crossed the room over to him.

"Thank you." She said softly, closing her eyes and concentrating on the others. He placed his hands on both her shoulders and when his symbol appeared on both of their left knees, she disappeared in a flash of red light.


When Misara appeared again, she found herself in Hotohori's arms. He and the others had been resting in a forest clearing. Misara saw that he was glad to see her, but she fainted out of exhaustion before he could speak.

A few moments later, she woke once more, embarrassed for fainting but still in Hotohori's arms. Her arm was completely healed, which shocked her speechless until he explained that Mitsukake had healed it. She then looked around and found Miaka, Nuriko and Tasuki grinning down at her. Next to them was the old man from the shack who had refused to heal Miaka! When they told her the tragic story, Misara tried not to cry, but couldn't stop herself. They then told her that they were looking for the last Suzaku warrior, Chiriko, and then they could summon Suzaku. Misara was happy for them, because they looked so hopeful, but she remembered the painful dream and privately wished that they wouldn't summon Suzaku very soon. Of course, she didn't say this to Miaka, who looked dreamy-eyed at the idea of seeing Tamahome again. For some strange reason, they didn't ask her where she had gone, and for this Misara was more than glad, because she didn't really want to talk about it. But it was still a little odd, she thought.

When Misara felt well enough to walk, they headed out once more to look for Chiriko. The sun was about to set when they came upon a village that Miaka and Nuriko recognized as Tamahome's. By coincidence, Tamahome's younger brother was running by, looking for a doctor for his father, who was very sick. Mitsukake managed to heal him, and out of immense gratitude, Tamahome's family put them up for the night. Just before Misara went to bed, she sat outside under a tree and looked at the stars. After a few minutes, Miaka joined her.

"How're you feeling?" She asked Misara.

"I'm really really tired...but I just wanted to have a look at the stars before I went to bed." Misara answered.

"I can't wait until we find the last warrior." Miaka said for the millionth time.

Misara laughed. "I know, I know...so you can see Tamahome again, huh?" Miaka nodded sheepishly.

Misara sighed. "You really love him, don't you?"

Miaka nodded again, more enthusiastically this time. "I do! I really love him!"

"Must be nice to have him love you back, right?"
Miaka gave her a strange look. "Well...yeah..." She said, confused. "You like Hotohori, don't you?" She asked, not very tactfully.

Misara's eyes widened in shock at the mention of Hotohori. "Well...I think he's really nice..." She said, trying to avoid the subject. Miaka snorted, and Misara couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"Stop that!" Miaka cried. "You know what I meant! I didn't ask you whether you thought he was nice or not! You like him! I can tell!!!"

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about!" Misara cried, not very convincingly. Miaka laughed.

"Whatever..." She said, standing up. "Let's go to bed, okay?"

"Good." Misara said, glad to drop the subject.

"I still think you're in love with Hotohori!" Miaka said loudly, then ran toward the house. Misara screeched in mock dismay and ran after her, both of them laughing all the way.





Well, okay. That's that for chapter 11. I tried to make that one longer, since the last chapter was REALLY short...hope you liked it. And for all those who are worried, Misara still likes Hotohori. A lot. Were any of you freaked out by that dream? I had no intention of it turning out that way, but now I kind of liked it. And don't worry (yet) about Nakago and Misara getting together, either. We all know he's a liar, right? Right. He's still a liar in this story...but maybe not about some things....heh heh....is the suspense killing you?