After the silent walk back, Misara and Chichiri discovered that only Tasuki, Mitsukake, Nuriko and Chiriko were waiting for them. Tasuki tried to explain what had happened. Apparently, Miaka had wanted to go back to look for Misara with Chichiri, so she took off by herself, trying to catch up to Chichiri, and telling them to keep going without her. Tamahome had followed Miaka as well. Chichiri said he didn't see either of them while he was searching for Misara, so the five of them stood around for a few moments, wondering what to do. Finally, Chichiri spoke.
"I guess we should go on to Ciro and hope they catch up, no da." He said hesitantly, not really wanting to leave them behind. The others nodded slowly.
A little discouraged and worried, they began the trek through the desert. Misara had declined the offer of riding on horseback, deciding that she would rather walk for a while.
After a few minutes, she regretted her decision, but didn't say anything. Instead, she stopped for a second and pulled off her shoes and socks and hurriedly rolled up the bottom of her jeans, then ran to catch up to the others. After about an hour, Tasuki offered her a ride once more, and she gladly accepted. Feeling a little awkward about being so close to him, especially after the last time she saw him, she didn't say much as he tried to make small talk.
He's the reason I left, she told herself. He made me so angry that I lost all my reason and went home...and left Hotohori alone.
Suddenly, as if he had read her mind (and she wasn't so sure that he didn't) Chichiri told her that once they were in Ciro, he was going to try to contact Hotohori, and that Misara could talk to him again. Very relieved and happy, she put a little more effort into being friendly to Tasuki.
After all, she thought, he's always been so nice to me. I suppose he just didn't want me to get hurt, that's all. He IS my friend, after all.
They rode through the night, each of them growing more worried by the hour about Miaka and Tamahome, when they suddenly saw the lights of the city in the distance. With renewed spirits, they hurried toward the city as dawn broke.
While wandering the city of Ciro, looking for a place to stay, they were invited into the home of a very nice woman, who gave them everything they needed and told them that they could stay as long as they liked. So they decided to wait there for Miaka and Tamahome to return.
By the next day, Chichiri was rather worried. Miaka and Tamahome hadn't come back yet, and he hadn't been able to contact Hotohori since they arrived in Ciro. He tried many times, but something was blocking him. He didn't know what it was, but he was glad Misara was asleep and not thinking about Hotohori. Misara had been sleeping all day, mostly at the fault of Tasuki. The previous night, he and Nuriko had taken Misara to a nearby bar and let her have a drink of sake, and then didn't try to stop her from having anymore. Chichiri had really let them have it when Tasuki walked in the door after midnight, carrying Misara, who had passed out. Tasuki wasn't in great shape himself, and had not really paid any attention to Chichiri as he was being lectured. Nuriko had just went off to bed and left Tasuki to fend for himself. Tasuki was up now, being used to drinking the stuff, but Misara wasn't and she stayed sleeping in her room. When Tasuki came out of his room, Chichiri had yelled at him again for it, but apparently Tasuki didn't remember much. He thought the entire thing was hilarious, and then had proceeded to tell Chichiri about how Misara had danced on the table with Nuriko and a bowl on her head.
"She'll be so hung over when she wakes up!" Tasuki had laughed as he headed back to his room where another bottle of sake waited. Mitsukake and Chiriko were busy too, the healer trying out some new medicine and Chiriko reading all day, and since Nuriko hadn't shown his face yet, the monk was left alone to worry.
By late afternoon, Misara had wandered downstairs, holding her head and looking for Tasuki with murder in her eyes. Chichiri pointed out the direction of Mitsukake, who had given her some medicine to make her headache go away. She came back and sat with Chichiri, muttering something about aspirin. After a few minutes, she felt good enough to talk, and asked Chichiri about contacting Hotohori. A little scared as to how she might react, he hesitantly told her that he just couldn't do it, that something was blocking him from using his magic. She took it better than he expected and just nodded silently. A few seconds later, she looked at him again.
"What did you say?"
It was about an hour later when Tasuki came downstairs, and although Misara's head didn't hurt so badly anymore, she yelled at him so much that he finally ran back up to his room and locked the door. Incredibly frustrated, Misara sat back down next to Chichiri, who looked a little frightened. Suddenly, she shot out of her seat, her eyes wide and her knees shaking.
"Misara! What's wrong?" Chichiri asked worriedly.
"Tamahome is..." She couldn't think of the words to describe it. "He...his life force is...gone..."
The five warriors of Suzaku huddled around Misara, who had collapsed on the floor. Once Chichiri had told them of her outburst, Mitsukake examined her and told them that the loss of Tamahome's life force in her body and the aftermath of being drunk had led to her collapsing like she did. As Chichiri threw a rather mean look at Tasuki and Nuriko, Misara suddenly woke, and sat up quickly, causing her to have to lie back down again as all the blood had rushed out of her head. After a few moments, she felt good enough to sit up.
"What happened to Tamahome?" Chichiri asked her worriedly.
She shook her head slowly. "I...don't know." She admitted. "I just...suddenly felt an absence...in my heart...and I knew it was Tamahome."
The others looked at each other worriedly. "Do you think we should try to find him?" Nuriko asked.
Misara shook her head again. "I...don't know where he is anymore. I mean, I can't feel him...so I don't know where to start looking for him."
"What about Miaka?" Tasuki asked. "Is she alright?"
Misara shrugged, a look of helplessness on her face. "I don't know..." was all she said.
Faced with the realization that they could do nothing, the warriors of Suzaku sat down around the table a little angrily. Misara sat with them, ashamed that she couldn't help either, even with her powers. Suddenly, she once again felt something from Tamahome. It felt as if his life force was slowly returning. Just as she was about to speak, the door burst open and an old man ran in.
"Are you the warriors of Suzaku?" He asked hurriedly. They nodded, confused, and he continued. "You've got to get out of here now! Your priestess is in trouble and you're in an illusion!"
Everyone jumped up. "Who are you?" Nuriko cried.
"I am Tokaki, of the Byakko Seven." He said simply.
"What do you mean, we're in an illusion?" Chiriko asked, confused.
"One of the Seiryu warriors has made an illusion of Ciro and you walked right into it. In reality, the six of you have been sitting in the desert for days and if you don't get out of this illusion, you'll die."
With no other choice, the warriors of Suzaku and Misara followed the old man out of the city. He turned around and pointed behind them, and when they turned to look, the entire city had vanished.
"I found Tamahome." Tokaki said as they hurried off. "He fell off a cliff, but somehow, he's alright. He's going to catch up with us soon."
Everyone sighed with relief as they reached the cliffs. Suddenly, a scream rang out and everyone knew instantly that it was Miaka. They hurried up as fast as they could, but when they got there, they found that Tamahome had already beaten them there. He was fighting with a boy who looked like...Amiboshi? Misara rubbed her eyes frantically.
"Amiboshi?" she cried. As she shouted, a body that was lying on the ground groaned and moved. With a closer look, Misara saw that he, too, looked like Amiboshi.
"Amiboshi!" She cried again, running toward the boy lying on the ground. She knelt down next to him. "Are you alright?"
He turned his head and looked up at her. "Misara?" He asked softly.
"Get away from him!" The other boy cried.
Misara ignored him. "Are you hurt?" She asked Amiboshi.
He shook his head very slowly. "I wanted to tell you something..." he said.
"I said, get away from my brother!" The other boy cried out again, but Tamahome wouldn't let him through. Suddenly, he got past Tamahome and ran over to where Amiboshi lay. He picked up his brother. "Get away from him, you Suzaku demon." He said angrily.
Amiboshi looked up as his brother. "But...Suboshi...she's not..."
But it was too late. Suboshi backed away from her, still carrying his brother.
"I wanted to...tell her something..." Amiboshi said softly.
"What could you possibly have to say to THEM?" Suboshi cried.
"I wanted to say...that' I'm sorry..." Amiboshi said, then closed his eyes.
His brother looked shocked, then turned back to Misara. "Leave him alone." He said angrily.
"He's not going to fight with you anymore." Suddenly, he turned and ran away, leaving a stunned Misara and some very confused Suzaku warriors.
"Tamahome!" Miaka's cry rang out, and they saw her running toward him, apparently alright. Except, Misara noticed, for the fact that she wasn't wearing hardly any clothes. But she seemed okay as Tokaki took them back to the real Ciro. It was there that they met Subaru, an old woman who was also one of the Byakko Seven. She told them that the third and remaining member of Byakko was Tatara, and that he had the Byakko Shinzaho. She also told them that he had disappeared the previous day, and that she couldn't find him anywhere.
