With the moonlight shining faintly through her windows, Taylor lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling. She hadn't been able to fall asleep. So many things had happened, and she was more confused than ever. She was desperate to get Misara back, she was afraid that some of the Suzaku Warriors didn't quite trust her yet, and she didn't know why she was here at all.

During dinner, Chichiri had explained that he couldn't do anything without Misara's scroll, which was in Taylor's world. Their only choice was to travel to Mount Taikyoku, where apparently a deity lived. Chichiri said that this deity, Taitskun, would explain everything and tell them what they needed to do.

So they had agreed to travel together to this mountain, and Hotohori, apparently anxious to see Misara, insisted that they leave the following morning at dawn. The trip would take a few days, he told Taylor, but they would take shortcuts and not stop too often. As eager as Taylor was to see Misara as well, she was worried about the trip. She was afraid of that red-headed warrior, Tasuki. She knew he didn't trust her, and she didn't trust him either. He had sat through dinner giving her nasty glares until Nuriko, the man with purple hair, had hit him again. Then Tasuki had completely ignored Taylor, and after they had discussed the upcoming journey, he stalked off to his room.

Taylor's brow furrowed in anger. He didn't have any right to treat her like that, like it was her fault Misara had been taken away. And why should he be that angry, anyway? It wasn't like he and Misara had loved each other. She was in love with Hotohori, so what was the deal? Then it struck her, and she smiled a little in the darkness. She was beginning to see how this love triangle worked. She just wondered what Misara's feelings were, although it was rather obvious. She did sacrifice herself, twice in fact, for Hotohori. And Taylor had to admit that he was very kind and handsome.

But he had a very sad look to his eyes. While Taylor and Misara had been in Tokyo together, before she had gone away, she had mentioned something about a wife. No one had said a word about this wife at dinner, and Taylor assumed that she would have been eating with Hotohori. So where was she?

But the thing that confused her the most was Tamahome. When he had walked in the door, he had no idea who she was or why she was calling him Taka, and she couldn't explain it to any of them. That there was another Tamahome in her world? Yeah right, Taylor thought. Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were the man that Miaka spends every waking moment with back in my world. You do look an awful lot alike. She could just picture their reactions, especially Tasuki's. Her eyebrows furrowed again. She just couldn't get over how irritating he was. Fortunately, her silent cursing tired her out, and she slowly fell asleep.

A rude pounding on her door yanked Taylor out of her sleep. Then the door opened and Taylor, whose face had been buried in her pillow, opened one eye to see who the intruder was. It was Tasuki, and he looked as though he had just woken up as well.

"We're leaving soon, so get ready to go." He muttered gruffly, then turned on his heel and loudly closed the door behind him as he left. Taylor stuck out her tongue at the door, then pulled herself out of bed. She didn't really have anything to pack, since most of her belongings were in her bag and she hadn't taken them out yet. She pulled off her pajamas and was about to put on the clothes she had worn yesterday when the door suddenly opened again and Nuriko walked in.

"Hey!" Taylor screeched loudly while she desperately tried to hide herself.

"Sorry!" Nuriko cried, dropping the clothes he was carrying to cover his eyes.

"What do you want?!" Taylor asked angrily, having to settle for the blanket from her bed.

"I just came in to give you these traveling clothes," Nuriko whimpered, his hands still over his eyes. "Hotohori ordered them to be given to you." He nudged the once-folded clothing, now a heap on the floor, toward Taylor with his foot.

Taylor snatched them up and looked at the pieces. "You can open your eyes now, Nuriko." She said, hastily checking that the blanket was in place. "I'm afraid I don't really understand these clothes. Could you help me out?"

Ten minutes later, the duo emerged from Taylor's room. Taylor was dressed (a little awkwardly, but dressed) and Nuriko was carrying Taylor's backpack. Taylor had insisted that she could carry it, but Nuriko had ignored her and shouldered it. As they stepped out of the room, Taylor saw that it was still dark, but it was slowly getting lighter. Nuriko led the way to the gate of the palace, where seven horses and plenty of sleepy Suzaku warriors were getting ready to leave. The only one who looked alert was Hotohori, who on closer inspection, looked anxious and strained. He probably hadn't slept at all, Taylor thought vaguely before turning back to Nuriko.

"You'll be riding with me," Nuriko yawned, attaching Taylor's backpack to the side of the horse.

Before long, with much prodding from Hotohori, the warriors and Taylor set off in the early morning light. They hadn't traveled far before Taylor started to ache from riding. They weren't riding very slow, she had noticed, and Hotohori up in front seemed to want to go even faster. Just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, they stopped for lunch.

Taylor was starving, she hadn't eaten breakfast, and she was so sick of riding that she practically jumped off the horse before Nuriko could reach up to help her.

After the short lunch, made even shorter by Hotohori's insistence that they go, Taylor reluctantly climbed back onto the horse and the group took off once more.

They were not allowed dinner.

Because of the fast riding and the lack of dinner, the group was looking mutinous. Well, most of them. Tamahome and Tasuki were glaring ahead at *nothing* in particular, and Taylor kept hearing random mutterings from Nuriko behind her. Chichiri just looked worried, and the other two warriors, Mitsukake and Chiriko, didn't have any verbal complaints, whatever their faces might have given away. Hotohori, in the lead as usual, was oblivious to all of it and more determined than ever to reach the mountain by nightfall.

It was just starting to get dark, and Nuriko whispered to Taylor that they should stop and make camp before it got really dark. He voiced this to Hotohori, who didn't answer right away. Nuriko made an indistinct noise under his breath, just before Hotohori shouted back.

"I can see the mountain up ahead! We're almost there."

Nuriko looked and groaned. Apparently, everyone else felt the same way. Even Taylor could tell the it was still pretty far off.

"Ah, your highness, we're not going to be able to find anything in the dark, no da." Chichiri spoke up. "Why don't we wait until morning?"

After a few moments, Hotohori reluctantly reined his horse and stopped. Everyone else stopped quickly, waiting for Hotohori to make his decision. He looked up at all their weary (and some angry) faces, and quickly said, "Yes, I think we'd better find a spot to camp for the night."

The night passed uneventfully, as everyone was too exhausted to do anything other than go straight to sleep. Hotohori stayed awake, keeping watch.

The next morning, however, Nuriko was the one keeping watch when Taylor was prodded awake. Taylor had a suspicion that Nuriko had forced Hotohori to finally get some sleep. But this morning, he was wide awake and ready to leave before the rest of them were finished with breakfast. He was trying to hurry them along, and they did so reluctantly.

"She's waited two years, she can wait five more minutes." Tasuki muttered under his breath. Taylor silently agreed with him, but Hotohori heard it as well. He didn't say anything more or try to hurry them along until they were all on their horses and heading toward the mountain.

Before the morning was half over, they were climbing (very slowly) up the mountain. The paths apparently hadn't been used in years, and they were covered in brush, stones and other debris. As the group picked their way up the paths, Taylor could sense Nuriko's frustration, and once in a while, Tasuki would curse behind them. He wasn't having good luck with his horse, who seemed more interested in eating than following the group.

Lunchtime came and went, but they didn't stop to eat. The Suzaku warriors didn't seem too upset over this, which Taylor didn't understand. Everyone looked confused and frustrated as they climbed higher and higher. The paths started to get narrow, and eventually they had to go in single file. The afternoon dragged on, and the sun beat down heavily on the group.

"We should have found it by now." Nuriko spoke up. Chichiri half turned on his horse ahead of them and agreed. He looked confused and a little frightened.

"Taitskun's place is protected by magic." Chichiri explained to Taylor. "No one with evil intent can find it, but we should have been there hours ago, no da." He paused. "I do not understand." He added, more to himself than to Taylor.

The sun was starting to set and Taylor was worried. Suddenly, the ground beneath them turned from rocky path to a wide, smooth trail. Hotohori gave a shout and galloped forward, the others following quickly. Up ahead, Taylor could see the outline of a large building in the setting sunlight. Once they had reached it, she could see it better. Hotohori had stopped his horse in front of it, a look of utter disbelief on his face. The others reined their horses beside him and stared.

The building was completely ruined. The door hung loosely on its hinge, the windows were smashed and the columns once holding it up were in pieces on the ground.