What a horrible day, Misara said to herself. She was sitting in the garden alone, right before the sun was about to set. First Hotohori and this morning, then the ceremony...and then afterwards...

After the real Chiriko had showed up, Taitskun had appeared out of nowhere, as she was apt to do, and demanded to know what they where doing. She then proceeded to chew Miaka and the others out for being so stupid, but had also informed them of another way to summon Suzaku. First they had to go to Hokkan to retrieve a Shinzaho from Genbu, then they had to go to Ciro and get another from Byakko. Although she yelled at everyone else, she said nothing to Misara. She did, however, say something to the others about her, just as she was leaving. "Take her with you," She had said, pointing to Misara, "because you're really going to need her." She then disappeared.

Yes, Misara agreed with herself, it had been an incredibly horrible day. I wonder what Taylor would...she stopped in midthought, then screamed. "What an atrocious friend I am!" She said out loud. "I forgot completely about Taylor in Kutou!" Suddenly, she had an idea, and ran off to find Chichiri.


"Well, I don't know, Misara..." Chichiri said reluctantly, scratching his head. "That's a pretty dangerous thing to do..."

Misara rolled her eyes at him. "Come on Chichiri! What good are my powers if you won't let me use them?"

Chichiri thought for a moment, then sighed heavily. "I suppose you can go...on one condition." He added. "You have to take someone with you."

Misara threw her hands up. "Fine...I'll take one of you with me." Secretly though, she was thankful for his protectiveness.

Now, who should I take? She thought for a moment, then decided the best choice would be Tasuki. Besides, she hadn't really seen him today. She told Chichiri that she would be right back, then ran to find her red-headed friend.

He wasn't in his room, and no one had seen him since the ceremony. Frustrated, Misara wandered around the palace. She finally found him sitting in a gazebo by the palace lake. Sneaking up on him, she threw her hands around his eyes and said, "Guess who?"

He shrugged glumly, and she pulled her hands back. "What's wrong?" She asked worriedly. "You're not getting sick or something, are you?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm not."

"Well, something must be wrong." She said. "You're usually not this depressed. Tell me what's wrong."

He shook his head again. "Nothing's wrong with me."

Misara sighed. "Well, if you say so..."

Silence took over for a moment, then Misara remembered why she was looking for Tasuki in the first place.

"Hey, Tasuki..." She started, taking his arm. "You wanna do me a favor?"

"What kind of favor?" He asked suspiciously, looking at her for the first time.

"Well..."



A few minutes later, the two were back in Chichiri's room, where he had been waiting impatiently.

"I'm sorry I have to drag you along Tasuki." Misara said, glaring at Chichiri.

"Sorry doll, I'm with Chichiri on this one." Tasuki said. "There's no way you should go by yourself."

Misara rolled her eyes. "Shall we, boys?"



It was raining in Kutou when Misara and Tasuki appeared in the palace gardens. After making sure no one was around, they ran inside, but they were still soaked by the time they found a safe place to hide. Misara leaned against the wall, out of breath, while Tasuki sat next to the door, listening for people outside.

"Damn...I hate water..." Tasuki grumbled. Misara looked at him and laughed.

"You look so funny when you're wet!" She cried happily. His hair was plastered to his forehead and dripping in his eyes so he had to keep wiping at them.

"Well, you're not much better!" He retorted. Indeed, she wasn't, she actually looked worse than he did. She shrugged and laughed again.

After a few minutes when they had dried off a little, Tasuki leaned against the door once more and said, "I think the coast is clear. Let's go."

They headed out, sneaking along the corridors and dodging the guards that marched about. Finally, they were there. Misara stood in front of the door to Taylor's room, unsure about going inside.

"Are you sure this is the right room?" Tasuki whispered.

Misara hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure..." She whispered back.

"Only pretty sure...great..." He muttered. She pinched him, then looked around one last time. Positive that no one was around, she pushed open the door, dragged Tasuki inside, and quickly shut the door behind her.

"Taylor?" Misara whispered, her eyes trying to adjust to the darkness of the room. "Are you in here?"

"M-Misara?" A voice cried out. "Are you really here?"

Suddenly, Misara could see Taylor running toward her, and she let go of Tasuki's arm and hugged her friend tightly. "I'm so sorry!" She said loudly. "I tried to bring you back with me but I wasn't strong enough...I'm sorry Taylor..."

Taylor shook her head. "It's alright Misara, you don't have to apologize."

"But-" Misara started, but Taylor cut her off.

"It's alright, Misara. I'm glad you came. We're so glad you're here."

Misara took a step back. "What do you mean...we?"

Taylor tried to hug her friend again, but Misara kept backing away.

"Why are you acting so strange, Taylor?" Misara asked nervously.

"I'm not..." Taylor insisted as she lit a candle on the table. Once Misara could see her friend's eyes clearly, she knew something was wrong. Taylor's eyes were cloudy, not bright like they usually were, and she had a smile on her face that didn't look like her usual smile. In fact, it looked a little forced. Misara looked at Tasuki worriedly, but he wasn't looking at her. He was watching Taylor suspiciously.

Misara opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the door opening. She swung around, surprised, and saw Nakago standing in the doorway.

"So...the goddess returns to me. Convenient, you know. We're just about to search for a couple of Shinzahos...care to join us, Misara?" He said smirking.

"No." Misara said forcefully. "I'd rather not."

"Well, that's a shame." He said sadly. "After those horrible Suzaku warriors burned you alive, you still want to protect them. They are not your only responsibility, you know. You're supposed to protect me too! Besides, what do they have that Seiryu doesn't have? I promise I won't burn you alive like they did, Misara. Will you come with me now?"

Misara's eyes narrowed in anger. "No!" She said again. "I'd rather die."

He laughed, and she cringed at the sound. "We can arrange that..." he said.

Taylor moved toward Nakago, but Misara grabbed her arm before she could reach him.

"Don't, Taylor! He's-" Before she could continue, Taylor wrenched her arm out of Misara's grip.

"I don't want to go to Konan with you!" She declared. "I want to stay here. I like it here."

Misara stared at her, her mouth open in shock. "What're you saying?"

Taylor rolled her eyes. "Hello? I-do-not-want-to-go-with-you! Get it?" She turned toward Nakago, but Misara grabbed her arm again.

"Has he put a spell on you or something?" She cried. "You don't understand what you're doing! I can't let you stay here...with HIM!" She held on tighter as Taylor tried to break free. "You're coming to Konan with me!" Misara yelled loudly.

"No!" Taylor cried. "Leave me alone!"

"I'll give you a choice, Misara. You can go back to Konan, without your friend, or you can stay here, with me, while your friend goes safely to Konan. How about it?" Nakago said, smiling that smile of his that Misara almost couldn't stand to see.

"I don't think so, blondie." She muttered, as she closed her eyes and concentrated on Chichiri and Konan. As a red light surrounded her, Taylor broke free. Misara moved to catch her friend, but Tasuki grabbed her from behind.

"We've got to go, NOW!" He yelled over Misara's cries.

Misara squirmed and pushed on Tasuki. "Let go of me!" She cried. "I have to get Taylor!"

"She's not coming!" He bellowed. "We have to go!"

"No!" Misara screamed at him, the red light getting brighter every second. "LET GO!" She looked at Taylor and saw her standing next to Nakago, glaring at Misara.

Suddenly, the light became blinding, and Misara had to cover her eyes with her hands. When she opened them again, she was back in Konan, in Chichiri's room. Chichiri was standing next to her, and Tasuki was still holding on to her waist. For some reason, all the other warriors were there as well, along with Miaka, and they were all looking very worried. Hotohori, on the other hand, just looked angry.

Tasuki loosened his grip on Misara, and she took the opportunity to give him a huge push into the nearest wall. She was surprised at her own anger, but it took control over her and she couldn't stop herself.

"I hate you!" She screamed at him. "How dare you! You held me back! I was trying to save my friend and you held me back! Do you know what you've done? You threw her to the wolves!" He just looked at her, his eyes emotionless.

"Why didn't you tell us?" He asked her. "Why didn't you say that you had to protect the warriors of Seiryu like you have to protect us?"

An extremely loud "WHAT?" echoed through the room, but Misara was oblivious and continued yelling at Tasuki.

"You saw what had happened to her!" Misara continued. "That is my BEST FRIEND in that HORRIBLE place and you threw her to the wolves!" Before she could say anymore, he turned away from her and started to walk away.

"Just a second!" She cried. "I'm not done hating you yet!"

He turned and looked at her, his eyes full of sadness, and in the back of her mind, she realized what she had done.

"Oh, yes I am!" She sobbed, bursting into tears and bolting out of the room, with Hotohori hot on her heels.