"So, that was Tai'itsukun, na no da." The girls just stared at him.
"Ummm.... are you guys OK?" Tamahome asked, coming closer to the girls concern mirrored in his eyes.
"Gather all your allies..." Hotohori said, repeating Tai'itsukun's words, his voice trailing off.
"So, there's a fight, huh. You can count the Mt. Reikaku Bandits in." Tasuki said, posing confidently, as if they would be all the help Konan would need.
"Thank you, Tasuki. I think we will have need of the Mt. Reikaku Bandits."
"What the &&*% going on, and who was that old woman?" Sarah said, the first to speak of the girls.
"That, was Tai'itsukun, na no da." Chichiri smiled.
"I know she's an ugly old hag, isn't she?" The next thing they knew Tamahome was flying across the hallway and hit the wall with a `bang'.
"I heard that Tamahome!!" The old voice billowed.
"Ummmm.....right." The five said in unison.
"Ohh man, they're &$&^*@ doin' it again!"
The five started to laugh.
"Tasuki?" Hotohori's said, startling the younger Seishi. "Could you go ask the Mt. Reikaku Bandits for they're help?"
"Already done, you know the Mt. Reikaku Bandits will always stand with you Hotohori."
"Well someone needs to tell all your bandit friends, flame brain!" Tamahome said.
"What was that Obake-chan?" Tasuki said, growling showing his fangs.
"Ohh, kawaii, kawaii, kawaii!!" Heather and Katie said in unison.
"Quit that!!!!" Tasuki yelled, fangs showing even more.
"That's enough Tasuki, I would ask that you leave at once. If you would accept this task."
"Of course, Hotohori, I'll leave right away." Tasuki said, being serious for once.
"Me too, me too." Katie and Sarah were chanting while hoping up and down.
"NO!! No way!"
"Why not?" Sarah asked, "I haven't been to the mountains in a long time."
"Could I go to?" It was Amanda's first real sentence since she'd come here.
"Can we all go?" Katie asked, blue eyes sparkling big.
"Errrrr, I said NO!!" Tasuki yelled at the girls.
Katie's eyes started tearing up.
Nuriko came up behind Tasuki and smacked him upside the head. "Look what you did, you hurt her feelings!!" he said pointing at Katie. Who was on the verge of crying.
Tasuki snorted. "Fine, but you all can't go!"
"How about two of you go with me and Tasuki." Nuriko said, looking at Hotohori for his approval, which he gave. Then he looked at Katie and Amanda, "come on."
"What about me??" Sarah said, hands on her hips.
"You can stay here with us." Tamahome said. Sarah's eye's lit up.
"OK."
The four Started out for Mt. Reikaku early the next morning. They were given garments that would suit them for riding and attrack less attention. They said their good-byes to their friends. Tasuki said it would be only about a 3 day journy, 1 1/2 days to get there and 1 1/2 days to get back.
It was a very beautiful and interesting trip, that took the four thourgh Konan country. Although not much happened during the trek to Mt. Reikaku, but small talk and the occasional teasing of Tasuki. Once they got there is when the real fun started.
....................
Elsewhere
Back at the palace the three girls that remained sat on Heather's bed. "This is pretty boring." Sarah said.
"Yeah but it's best to stay put." Heather said. "You remember what happened last time don't you?"
Sarah winced "yes," she hissed.
"What what happened?" Shana asked. Heather began the story.
.....................
Everyone was running around yelling. Tasuki ran up to the nearest bandit and grabbed him. "What the &^$(&^(&$# goin' on here?" He said shaking the young bandit.
"Gen...Genrou?" The bandit stammered, surprised and relived to see the former Mt. Reikaku leader. "We...we're under attack."
"By who?" Tasuki urged the boy.
"I...I don't know," he stammered.
A high pitched scream came from within the bandit fortress, which now glowed an errie red color. Fire, Amanda thought. It's on fire! Nuriko, Katie and Amanda came to stand by Tasuki. The boy squirmed free of Tasuki's grasp and ran toward a taller blue haired man. The man had a scar running down his left check. Tasuki recognized him and ran toward him, followed by the others.
"Tasuki?!" the man with the blue hair said, looking to the left seeing his old friend.
"Kouji," Tasuki started, words hurried. "What's goin' on here?"
"A group of men came from the backside of the mountain and attacked. Man, Genrou they're strong. I don't know where they came from."
"KOUJI!!!!" A bandit came running from Kouji's right. "The girls still inside, we couldn't get to her!"
"A girl?!" Amanda and Katie looked at each other.
"%#*^*!!" Kouji swore, kicking the ground.
"Could she be the on.....HEY, where do you think you two are going?!!!" Nuriko yelled after the two girls running toward the bandit fortress. Tasuki and Kouji looked up to see the two girls dissapear into the fortress.
"^%##$##&$@," Tasuki said, starting at once after the two girls. Nuriko followed quickly along with Kouji.
"What's going on, who are those two?" he asked Nuriko.
"I'll tell you later," Nuriko said. Seconds later they were surrounded by fire in the fortress.
Amanda and Katie ran for all they were worth. Another girl, Katie thought. Who, who could it be? As they turned the corner they were hit by a fleeing figure and fell to the floor in a jumbled mass. The two girls found themselves staring at girl with long brown hair. Their eyes went wide. Jamie, Amanda and Katie thought. Jamie was the sixth.
"Amanda? Katie? What are you guys doing here?" she said, looking at the two. They removed themselves from the floor. Flames beging to gather closer around them, threating to cut off all possible ways out of the buring building. Voices came from down the hallway. "Nevermind, tell me later." Jamie grabbed Amanda and Katie's arms and started to run, when three figures came before them. Jamie's heart sank, no way, they found me already.
The three figures emerged from the fire, Jamie recognized Kouji and gave a sigh of relief.
.......................
Elsewhere
"What do you think they're doing now?" Heather asked.
"Probably having more fun than us," Sarah commented, staring at the ceiling. She was feeling kinda hot when a chill came over her. A moment later she was hot again then cold, then hot, then cold. She looked over at her two friends who were repelling each other, like two different sides of a magnet with their fire and water elements. "Would you two stop that? Your making me feel like I'm going through menopause."
Shana and Heather laughed and continued to repel each other. Then something amazing happened, fire erupted from heather's hands and water from Shana's hands. The two elements collided and exploded with some froce sending the two girls in opposite directions. Smoke filled the room and quickly dissapated. Hotohori and the remaining Seishi came running at the loud noise. The door swung open and they rushed in.
"What's going on? What happened?" Hotohori knelt beside Heather, who was still daised by what happened.
Chichiri helped Shana off the floor, "you OK, na no da?"
"Yeah I..I think so," she stammered.
"Is anyone hurt?" Mitskake asked.
The three girls shook their heads no.
"Shit that was cool," Sarah said jumping off the bed to the floor. "They didn't just project cold and hot air. They actually projected their fire and water elements!"
The Suzaku Seishi looked at each other then back at the girls.
...................
"What the #$@&* is wrong with you two?" Tasuki yelled at Amanda and Katie.
"Ummm...." Katie started, but was interrupted by voices behind her. The three girls turned to face 5 men dressed in black.
Jamie and Amanda shrunk back and Nuriko pulled them behind his back. Katie stayed rooted to the spot. Black, men dressed in black, Katie thought. Just like that time when Heather, Sarah and I first arrived in Konan.
"Give us the girl," one of the cloaked figures said, looking somewhat confussed as there appeared to be two more girls.
Jamie grabbed on to the back of Nuriko's shirt, and inched closer to him. The men in black stepped closer, Tasuki and Kouji moved to greet them. One of the men reached out to grab Katie who was now standing closer to the men in black than Tasuki and Kouji. He grabbed her arm tight and was about to pull her towards him when a blast of wind through him back into his comrads. Katie stood still as if paralized. Tasuki took the moment to grab Katie. He pulled her close took out his fan and `Rekka Shien'd the entire group of black cloaked men. Katie came out of her stuper and looked up at Tasuki who was looking at her as if she were very badly hurt. She looked at Amanda, Jamie, Nuriko, then at Kouji all of them had the same look on their face.
"What?" she asked,a little uncomfortable from all the stares she was getting. Nobody said anything but sighs of relief came from everyone in the group.
Jamie looked around, "Ummm....guys." They looked up at her then at what she was looking at. The way the three guys had come was totally shrouded in flames. They looked behind them, thanks to Tasuki's tessen it was totally covered in flames as well.
"What do we do now?" Nuriko said.
Jamie and Katie looked at Amanda. "What?" she said.
"Amanda, what's your element?" Jamie asked.
"Water. Wh...."she looked at the flames. "Oh, right." But what can I do but make it cold? she thought. She put her hands in front or her cupped as if holding a ball. She concentrated. The heat of the room subsided a little.
"What the heck is she doing?" Kouji questioned.
"Shut up," Nuriko elbowed him, almost sending him into the flames. "Opps, sorry about that," He smiled.
The room got colder, and everyone looked up. Drops of water formed in mid air and hit the group, small at first, but getting bigger with each passing moment. The flames died down, then stopped all together. Jamie put a hand on Amanda's shoulder. She looked up at her soaked friend and smiled.
"No way. She didn't do what I think she just did, did she? Of course she did, she's special. You don't say?"
Nuriko sent Kouji into the nearest wall. He got up and with the others started to run out of the building. The fire burned on in the other area's of the building but the group was soaked so it didn't really matter. Once they were outside, they saw something worse than inside the burning building. Dead bodies strewn everywhere most of them had blue armor on, bloodied weapons lay on the ground and in their victms. Men were fighting all around them.
"That armor," Nuriko said in recognition. "That's Koutou armor."
A Koutou warrior came at them aiming for Nuriko. He dodged easily and hit the man upside the head, sending him flying over the burning building to the other side.
"What's going on here?" Kouji asked.
"A surprise attack by Koutou," Tasuki growled.
....................
Elsewhere
The five Seishi and three girls gathered around a big table.
"What do you think this means?" Hotohori asked, looking at the three girls.
"Well your highness," Chiriko started. "Tai'itsukun said something about the girls having special powers."
"We had special elemental powers before, but it wasn't like this." Sarah broke in.
"Maybe so but Tai'itsukun also said something about another girl, na no da." Chichiri said, seriously. He removed the smiling mask to reavel one red eye and a big scar where the other would have been.
Hotohori looked up, "Do you think that the growth in their powers is due to the sixth girl coming."
"It's very possible, na no da."
Then the sixth has finally come, Heather thought. I wonder who it is.
........
The koutou army surged against the Mt. Reikaku Bandits. Several men broke through and heaved themselves at the small group. Katie instinctivly put her hands in front of her. A blast of wind came from her hands and smashed into the Koutou warriors sending them back. Katie dropped her hands starring at what had just happened. Tasuki already had his tessen in his hands.
"Rekka Shiiien!!!"
The Koutou warriors vanished in a pile of ash and smoke. But were quickly replaced by more. The Mt. Reikaku Bandits were losing this fight and they knew it. Before Tasuki could send another round of fire towards the Koutou warriors, a concentrated stream of water rushed forward to meet the new attackers. They lay motionless on the ground. Still more Koutou warriors came, this time it was fire that wizzed past the three men and struck the Koutou warriors. They turned to see Jamie, fire coming from her hands. Tai'itsukun's words remembered now `Special powers' she had said. Here words took on meaning now as the three guys watched the three girls throw back Koutou warriors again and again. Slowly the girls moved forward brushing off attacks as if they were nothing. A sound rang through the battle field and one by one the Koutou warriors began to retreat. A cry of victory rang through the bandit camp.
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