The Suzaku Seven sat silently at the table in Hotohori's room, with the exception of Tasuki, who was put back in bed by Mitsukake. Sleeping next to Tasuki was a tiny baby, Misara. After the fire had died, they had dug her out of the ashes, a little sleeping baby. She had only woken once because she was hungry, and she had been quickly handed to a servant to be fed, since none of them knew what babies ate. Tasuki took her when she was brought back, and wouldn't let anyone else hold her. While the two were sleeping, the remainder of the Suzaku Seven and Miaka discussed their next plan of action.

Since Nakago was still in possession of the Miaka's scroll, they had to get it back. It was the scroll that they needed to summon Suzaku; the one Hotohori had given Miaka when she became priestess.

After Misara had shot Tamahome with one of her arrows, it was discovered that Tamahome was under the influence of Kudoku, a powerful drug that had no cure. It would alter the personality of whoever took it, which explained Tamahome's actions. Apparently Tamahome conquered the drug and was all right, except for the wound in his shoulder, which Mitsukake quickly healed. Tamahome assumed that Nakago still believed he was under the Kodoku spell, and so he volunteered to retrieve the scroll from Nakago.

After that was taken care of, they turned to Chichiri to explain what had happened with Misara. A long explanation followed, which resulted in Miaka becoming very angry.

"I can't believe none of you would tell me about this!" She exclaimed angrily. "To think that you would keep something like that from me!"

"Hold on a second Miaka-I didn't know about it either!" Nuriko said.

"Neither did I." Chiriko spoke up.

"Then who did?" Miaka said, exasperated.

"I was the only one, besides Misara, that knew. She only knew because of a dream she had. She couldn't even read this scroll, no da." Chichiri said quietly.

"Why wouldn't you tell us that she had to do something horrible like that?"

"Don't get mad at Chichiri, Miaka." Tamahome said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure he has his reasons."

"I only found out about it earlier today. Misara knew a lot longer, but why she didn't say anything I don't know." Chichiri sighed. "Apparently there are many things we do not understand about the Goddess of the Sky yet."

"Why wouldn't she tell us something like that? Does she trust us?" Miaka yelled.

Chichiri shrugged. "I'm not the one to ask, Miaka."

"What else do you know?" Miaka said loudly. "Or are you going to keep everything else a secret too?"

"Miaka!" Nuriko said in surprise. "Don't take it out on Chichiri!"

Miaka slouched back in her seat, a scowl on her face. Then she sighed, and straightened up. "I'm sorry, Chichiri. I know it's not your fault, but I'm angry just the same. Why would she have to do something horrible like that just so we could summon Suzaku?"

"I know...it's not fair." Hotohori spoke up. He had not said a word since the incident, and it looked sometimes as though he were not paying attention. He kept looking at the floor, his eyes sad. "I just wish..." he continued. "there was something I...we...could have done to prevent it."

Chichiri nodded in agreement. Before he could speak, Miaka cut in again.

"What does the scroll say now, Chichiri?"

Chichiri looked surprised. "Oh...I don't know. I haven't really looked at it." He opened it up and saw that there was new writing in it.

"Great." Tamahome muttered.

Chichiri looked sideways at him before reading it. "It says that we have to wait for the Goddess to reach her regular age before we can summon Suzaku."

"What??" Nuriko screeched. "We have to wait that long?"

"How old was she, anyway?" Miaka asked. "I never thought to ask her that."

Nuriko shrugged. "I think she was about 15 or so...I didn't ask either. Chichiri?."

The monk shrugged too. "I didn't think to ask, and she didn't say anything. Regardless, it's a long time to wait, no matter how old she was. I just wish we knew."

"16." Hotohori spoke up once more. "She was 16 years old."

"How do you know?" Miaka asked.

Hotohori shrugged and turned away. Miaka looked at him for a moment before speaking again.

"So we have to wait 16 years to summon Suzaku?"

Chichiri sighed. "I suppose, although it doesn't make any sense."

Nuriko stood. "This DOESN'T make any sense, and it's not going to make anymore tonight. Let's go get some sleep and think about it more in the morning."



The next morning, everyone in the palace was awakened by a loud girly-sounding scream. Everyone raced to Miaka's room, wondering what had happened. Contrary to their beliefs, it was not Miaka.

"Hey, where's Tasuki?" Tamahome asked. Everyone suddenly bolted out the door and into Tasuki's room, where they found him standing in the corner, waving a pillow around and pointing at the bed. Nuriko ran over to his bed.

"Awwww!" He exclaimed happily. "How adorable!" The rest of the group inched over cautiously to the bed, where they found Misara still sleeping. Although she had been a baby the night before, she looked about three years old this morning. Nuriko grinned at Chichiri. "I guess we don't have to wait 16 years, right?"

Chichiri shrugged in confusion. "I guess...not. If this keeps up."

"What's going on??" Tasuki whined from the corner where he still cowered.

Nuriko rolled his eyes, then leaned over and picked Misara up. Immediately, Tasuki came over and took her out of Nuriko's arms, causing Nuriko to whine.

"I thought you were scared of her, Tasuki." Nuriko exclaimed.

"I was not scared of her! I was just...surprised, that's all." He muttered.

"And why do you always get to hold her? What do you know about kids anyway?" Miaka asked.

Tasuki's sarcastic reply was interrupted by Misara, who had woken up. She looked around at everyone curiously, her enormous blue eyes taking in everything.

Nuriko was overjoyed. "Oh, let me hold her! She's so cute!" He reached out to take her from Tasuki. Misara saw his outstretched hands and pulled away, clinging to Tasuki fiercely.

"No!" She said. "I want Taki!"

Nuriko frowned. "Don't you want to see your uncle Nuriko?" He held out his arms once more and smiled.

Misara considered for a moment, then said simply. "No want Iko. I want Taki."

Nuriko groaned. "What have you done to this kid, Tasuki?"



Tasuki pretty much monopolized Misara the entire morning, even eating lunch with her on his lap, much to Nuriko's chagrin. He managed to steal her away while Tasuki wasn't looking, which resulted in an argument between the two.

That afternoon, Misara wandered off while Tasuki was busy with something. First she wandered into the rooms where Hotohori conducted imperial business, and proceeded to move all the papers on his desk to the floor. Unsure of what to do, Hotohori sat and watched, flustered. When she was done, she toddled over to him and sat on his lap. After pulling on his hair for a few minutes and examining the buttons on his clothes, she promptly fell asleep in his lap, and stayed there until Tasuki ran in frantically. She woke up just as Tasuki carried her out of the room, and insisted that he put her down.

When she ran away again, Tasuki found her with Tamahome. It appeared that Tamahome was very good with kids, and Misara was having tons of fun playing hide-and-seek with him. But was obvious who her favorite was when Tasuki showed up and she left with him without a fight.

She got away from him again an hour later, finding Chichiri and Nuriko this time. Nuriko played with her until Tasuki came, looking more hysterical than before. Another fight ensued, during which Chichiri picked Misara up and carried her off while the other two were fighting. Taking her to the pond in the palace, he let her fish for a while, but she had more fun wading in the water than catching fish. She escaped from him and was found sometime later, sitting with Chiriko and playing his flute. This time, Tasuki was determined to keep an eye on her. When they had dinner in the garden, he tied a string to his wrist and the other end to hers. While Nuriko kept Tasuki distracted, Miaka cut the string, and Misara wandered away.

Tasuki was so incredibly tired from chasing Misara all over that he went to bed early, taking Misara with him. While they were sleeping, Tamahome went back to Kutou and successfully retrieved the scroll. They were all ready to summon Suzaku. They just had to wait for Misara to grow up again.

During the night, Misara woke up. She had had a nightmare, and the tall blond man in it scared her. She didn't cry, however, and quietly slipped out of bed. Stepping outside, the three-year old wandered around the palace until she found Hotohori's bedroom. After several attempts to open the door, she finally got inside. Climbing into bed with Hotohori, she fell asleep again on his chest. Sometime later, Hotohori woke up and found her there. He decided not to take her back to Tasuki's room, and instead smiled and fell back asleep, his arms around the sleeping child.



The next morning, they awoke once more to a scream. They ran to Tasuki's room, where he was digging under the covers and looking under the table.

"What are you doing, Tasuki?" Nuriko said groggily.

"I can't find Misara!" He cried.

"Hey, where's Hotohori?" Tamahome asked. Everyone groaned and ran to Hotohori's room. Opening the door, they found Misara in Hotohori's bed, asleep with the Emperor. Unfortunately, it seemed that Misara had grown up overnight, and everyone stared dumbfounded at the sight of the 16-year old sleeping with Hotohori.

"That doesn't look very good, no da." Chichiri said quietly.

"Maybe we should wake them up." Chiriko offered.

Tamahome stifled a laugh. "Let's just let them wake up by themselves."

Everyone smiled suddenly, and closed the door quietly on their way out.