Chapter 12: Chance Encounters

My own Miko? Tasuki blinked in astonishment, not sure he had heard correctly. What the hell—? Wait a second…tall, blonde hair…NAKAGO!

"Tasuki!" a familiar voice screeched happily from the blonde man's arms. The bandit's amber eyes widened in pleased surprise. He would recognise THAT voice anywhere—

"Miaka!" he yelled, scrambling around Nicholas in order to get a better look at her. He shot her a fanged grin; genuinely glad to see her again. It had been eight years since he had last seen her, and he had often thought of her, wondering how she was…

"Ano…Miaka…Why is HE carrying you?" he asked uncertainly, glaring at the person who had once been his most hated enemy. Old feelings of mistrust resurfaced with a vengeance. In spite of everything the former Seiryuu seishi had previously done to aid Miaka in their fight against Tenkou, Tasuki still did not trust the blonde man any more than he trusted a starving wolf. "What happened? Did he hurt you?" he demanded, the tone of his voice hinting that he would be more than happy to fry anyone who dared to lay a finger on her.

Miaka shook her head quickly, seeing the bloodthirsty look in her seishi's eyes. "Iie! I just twisted my ankle! It wasn't Nakago's fault!"

"Hhn," the bandit did not look convinced, but as much as he wanted to beat Nakago into a pulp, he could not do it while the man was holding Miaka. For the moment, he made do with sending a threatening glare at blonde man over the top of Miaka's head.

Silver-blue eyes narrowed in response, and the flame-haired Suzaku seishi was rewarded with an arctic stare of barely concealed contempt.

Although not a single word had passed between the two men, not even Miaka was blind or naïve enough to miss the underlying currents of hostility. Outwardly, Nakago looked as taciturn as was humanly possible, but below the surface…she could feel the acute irritation thrumming through his body. However, as always, he kept his emotions tightly in check, even though Miaka had the sneaking suspicion that his icy control was dangerously close to snapping.

She convinced herself that however tempting it was to see her one-time arch-nemesis and sometime friend lose his temper for a change, it would not in anyone's best interest…least of all hers. If the fireworks did in fact go off, chances were that she would be the one who would get scorched. As much as she hated to admit it, he frightened her when he got as angry as she knew he was at the moment.

"Tasuki…" her tone held a note of warning. She fixed her eyes on her seishi, silently willing him not to test the limits of Nakago's patience.

Tasuki caught the look Miaka was giving him. She frowned and shook her head almost imperceptibly. The message was clear: Whatever it is…DON'T.

Reluctantly, he sheathed his tessen, indicating a temporary truce. He saw Nakago relax slightly; the pale colour of the blonde man's eyes darkening into a clear sky blue as they took on an expression that was unmistakably mocking and arrogant at the same time.

Tasuki did not realise that he was gritting his teeth until his jaw muscles began to ache. The smug bastard's getting off on the fact that Miaka's on his side! I'm her seishi but she's defending HIM! KUSO! It took a considerable effort on his part to unclench his fists as well as force a smile for Miaka's benefit.

Miaka's gaze turned sharply to stare up at her blonde companion when she felt an abrupt shift in his attitude. The speed at which the change occurred was alarming…almost as if the anger which had been threatening to boil over had been suddenly and forcibly cut off; the tension in his body disappearing as if it had never existed.

Nicholas directed a thin, sardonic smile at Tasuki…nothing more than a minuscule curving of the lips, but still intimidating nonetheless. The expression was neither friendly nor trustworthy; specifically designed to unnerve anyone who happened to be on the receiving end.

"You are Suzaku no shichi seishi, are you not? It's about time you made yourself useful."

Miaka let Tasuki carry her without much complaint, pretending to be relieved. Deep down—if she was completely honest with herself—she felt inexplicably hurt by Nakago's apparent haste to hand her over to Tasuki…almost as if he had been anxious to get rid of her. Did he really consider her to be such a great burden?

He's probably tired of having to save a clumsy ditz like me all the time,

she thought sadly, careful not to let any of her thoughts reflect on her face. Despite the tough-guy image the flame-haired bandit projected, Tasuki could be very perceptive and sensitive to the emotions of others. She knew that Tasuki would happily try to beat up Nakago if given the slightest excuse to do so. If it did come down to the two men exchanging blows, one of them would end up either dead or seriously wounded…

Miaka hoped that the hostilities did not escalate to the point that she would actually have to find out who.

"Miaka…what's with Blondie anyway? He IS still Nakago…I mean, even though he's now a person in your world, he's still a asshole…right?" Tasuki whispered conspiratorially to her, putting an end to her depressing train of thought. Along the way, she had recounted to him everything that had happened, starting from their arrival in Konan to the fateful attack by the assassins, and Tasuki had been first shocked, then enraged to learn that Tamahome and her brother had been kidnapped by Kutou.

It had taken a while for the stream of extremely colourful language to die down, but now that Tasuki had calmed somewhat, his attention had moved to the silent blonde man with them. Seeing Miaka cradled in Nakago's arms, as close together as lovers, had been like a scene out of a bad dream brought on by drinking too much watered-down sake. Miaka? With that monster! Nah, not a dream… more like a nightmare! he thought darkly. The mere thought of them together like…THAT… was almost too much for him to handle, and he felt slightly ill just thinking about it.

It was little wonder that he had been immensely relieved when Miaka had confided in him about how worried she was about Tamahome—now apparently called Taka—and the tears which had silently slid down her face had instantly convinced him that she still loved 'Obake-chan'. So the only reason why Nakago was carrying her was because of her wrenched ankle. Thank Suzaku, Tasuki was not usually the type of man to pray, but he had breathed a wordless prayer of thanks to the heavens all the same.

Miaka looked up at Tasuki's question. Comforted by his warm, cheerful presence and the unspoken sympathy in his amber eyes, her tears had dried. It was always nice to have a shoulder to cry on. In addition, Tasuki had immediately insisted that they go to Kutou, promising her that he was willing to do whatever it took to rescue Tamahome and Keisuke…even if it meant burning down the imperial palace in the process. She felt her confidence growing, the fierce worry and grief easing a little. With Tasuki's help, surely…I'll surely get Tamahome and Oniichan back safely!

"He's still Nakago…" she agreed, lowering her voice to avoid being overheard; scowling as her gaze flicked to the blonde figure walking some distance ahead of them, "…And still a jerk most of the time!" she muttered hotly under her breath. Try as she might not to take his rejection personally, Nakago's harsh criticism when she had turned to him for comfort earlier still stung.

The bandit grinned evilly, a slightly maniacal gleam entering his eyes, "I was hoping you would say that…"

They stopped several hours later to allow Tasuki to rest, since Nicholas gave no indication of ever wanting to volunteer to carry Miaka again. Not that the bandit would have allowed it anyway. There was absolutely no way Tasuki was going to let his Miko be touched by the man who had once tried to kill them.

Seeing that Tasuki had decided to take a nap and Nakago was nowhere in sight, Miaka gingerly tried putting her weight on her twisted ankle. It hurt when she put pressure on it, but not as badly as it had in the morning. She would be able to walk normally on it soon, but not just yet. She sighed, managing to limp to the nearby stream before carefully sitting down again and taking off her shoe to massage the sore joint. Her shoulder still ached whenever she moved, and she winced at the sharp twinges of pain. Gritting her teeth, she bravely stretched several times, feeling the pull of the bruised muscles. Itaaaaaaiiii….

A sense that they were no longer alone had her looking up, only to find that Nakago had suddenly reappeared at the far edge if the clearing. Miaka squinted in disbelief. Was she imagining things, or was he holding something by the neck?

She blinked as he approached. Oh my god…

He was indeed holding what looked like a large bird…and by the looks of it, the poor creature was still alive…

He came to a stop beside her. She stared at the pheasant and it stared back at her with glassy, terrified eyes. It had long, sweeping tail feathers and sported a pretty pattern of chocolate brown markings on its breast. Its back and wings were a glossy golden brown which seemed to subtly shift tones in the sunlight.

All at once, it occurred to Miaka what Nakago meant to do with it. She swallowed nervously, her throat suddenly dry, "You're…not going to kill it, are you?"

He regarded her impassively, "Would you prefer to eat it while it's still alive and twitching?"

And as if on cue, her stomach growled, causing her to flush brightly in embarrassment. She was mortified… why did she always have to get hungry at the most inopportune times? Here they were, discussing a matter of life and death (at least for the pheasant in question), and her stupid appetite had to—

"But…but it's so beautiful…" she argued weakly.

Nicholas was torn between the urge to either laugh or sigh in exasperation. In a way, it was rather endearing, but sometimes the Suzaku no Miko was just too compassionate for her own good. Too squeamish to kill, he was almost certain that she would starve to death if left alone in the wilderness. Of course, there was always the remote possibility that the pheasant he'd caught bore a vague resemblance to…a phoenix? Guilt over eating something which looks like Suzaku? The thought was becoming more hilarious by the second, and it was getting more difficult to keep a straight face, but the opportunity to bait her was too good to pass up.

He lifted an eyebrow in amusement, "I take it then," he looked her in the eye, "That it would be perfectly all right to kill it if it were ugly?"

Miaka was grateful that Nakago had not killed the bird in front of her. He had actually been considerate enough to do it while her back had been turned. She had heard a sudden, muffled snap and cringed, not daring to look behind her. Her only consolation was that he'd wrung its neck in one quick movement, and the poor pheasant probably had not suffered…well, not much anyway.

Still…she tried not to enjoy eating it too much. Roasted over a fire, the meat tasted good, and she'd been more hungry than she had realised. It did not help matters, that Nakago had watched her with that distinct, mocking gleam in his blue eyes which indicated that he was undoubtedly laughing privately at her.

Damn the man. She hated it when she was forced to admit that he was right…and she hated it even more when he derived amusement from a situation at her expense. It made her want to wrap her hands around his throat and squeeze until those handsome, annoyingly perfect features of his turned blue…

She turned her attention to Tasuki, who had promptly awakened at the smell of food. She was glad that Tasuki had not tried to further antagonise Nakago. On his part, the former shogun largely ignored Tasuki, although she could still see the obvious contempt he had for the bandit. He had at least been almost civil to Taka, and she had always thought that out of all the Suzaku shichi seishi, Tamahome was the one whom Nakago had the most disdain for. So why does he dislike Tasuki so much? Miaka wondered, puzzled.

She was interrupted mid-thought when a group of men came crashing into the clearing waving their swords threateningly. Tasuki spat out a curse and leapt to his feet, drawing his tessen with an exaggerated flourish.

Tasuki grinned widely. It looked like he was going to get to beat some people up after all…

Nicholas watched with detached interest as the Suzaku seishi gleefully sent a massive wave of flame towards the first batch of attackers. The men in the front lines panicked and backpedalled, trying to get away from the fire, but only succeeding in crashing into their comrades who where behind them. Apparently, they had not laid out any contingency plans in the event that their supposed 'victims' proved to be more powerful than they were.

Amateurs,

he decided

Disorganised and discouraged, they began to retreat, everyone scrambling haphazardly to get away, pushing aside and trampling over their own brethren to do so.

In less time than it had taken for Miaka to finish her meal, the threat had vanished. Tasuki looked disappointed and sighed regretfully. The battle had ended almost as soon as it had begun…he had hoped that the attackers could have posed more of a challenge. Several of the men who had been unfortunate enough to get caught in his flames were lying on the ground, moaning in pain from an interesting variety of burns…

All except one, who was out cold. And the man was not even suffering from burns of any kind. In his haste to get away, the hapless individual had run in the wrong direction, and had the even greater misfortune of running straight into Nakago's fist.

He stared in wary fascination as the blonde man relieved the unconscious man of his sword and scabbard, easily resheathing the weapon before calmly stepping over the limp body without giving it another glance.

Tasuki whirled around when he heard the snapping of a dry twig and lifted his tessen to teach whatever new danger which was approaching a good lesson. His eyes widened when another group of men emerged from the trees at the edge of the small clearing, wielding an assortment of sharp and potentially deadly weapons.

Incredibly, Tasuki suddenly started grinning and waving to them.

"Oi, Kouji! You guys missed all the fun!"

Notes:

1) And it so begins. Tasuki's first instinct as a Suzaku seishi is the protect his miko, and he doesn't trust Nakago, even though deep down he knows that Nakago is no longer trying to hurt Miaka. Old suspicions die hard. Tasuki is older now, but he's still the same guy Miaka knew.

2) Hehhehheh...that little scene with the pheasant was for a little comic relief, and hey, they've got to eat sooner or later. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!