I already had this chapter typed, so you guys are special and get it today! I am so sorry about the last two chapters and their lack of being typed, but I promise that the next bunch are all ready to be posted! Yay! Anyway, I wrote these before last semester started, so they're not really as good as the last two… I did have Literature, after all, and I learned how to write better, so these just aren't as good! I'm sorry! But hey… this one's actually finished before I post, eh?
But the disclaimer comes now, so Tasuki?
Tasuki: Nu-uh! I'm sick o' doin' yer 'disclaimers' when I ain't yer favorite anymore!
*Taryn Eithne makes pitiful face, then sends Tasuki flying* But you were still my fav! Anyway, I guess Hotohori gets to do the disclaimer!
Hotohori: I will not lower myself to do a bandit's job.
FINE! We'll just get on with the story…
Chapter Twenty One: The Music of Meeting
"Pipe down, for crying out loud!" Kori moaned under the yelling. She rolled over in her blanket. It didn't help. "It isn't even daybreak!"
"I can't help it. Reading this out loud helps me memorize!" Miaka cried back to Nuriko. "My exams are coming up!"
"I have no idea what you're blathering about, but we're too tired for this," Nuriko sighed. Kori covered her ears and couldn't hear the next few sentences, but the muffled voices were still keeping her awake. She sat up and was about to shout some rude hushes, but a flute in the distance rang in her ears.
"A flute?" Miaka asked, but Nuriko and finally Tasuki both shut her up with a very firm, "SHUT UP!"
"I heard the flute, too," Kori stated, rubbing her head. Tasuki sighed and rolled his eyes. He turned to Mitsukake.
"Did you hear anything, Mitsukake?" He asked. Mitsukake shook his head.
"Probably just some insect, right?" Nuriko suggested.
"If Miaka says she heard a flute, she must have heard a flute," Hotohori insisted. Kori let out a mushroom-shaped puff of smoke.
"I heard it, too..." she mumbled inaudibly. Then added loudly, "Do I see a village over there?" She pointed to where she saw it.
"Hm??" Everybody turned.
"It's Tamahome's village!" Miaka cried suddenly
"Wow, it's been a while!" Nuriko stated happily.
"Tamahome's...??" Hotohori asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"This is where we found Chichiri! We met his family here! His brothers and sisters, and his sick father..." Miaka's eyes lit up suddenly. "That's right... Mitsukake, come with me!!" she cried, taking Mitsukake's arm.
"Your eminence!?" Everybody heard. Miaka jumped sky-high and turned towards the voice. "I thought it was you!"
"Chuei!" Miaka called. Chuei wobbled a bit and Miaka caught him. "Wh-what's wrong!?" she asked.
"It's my father! He's in terrible pain!" Chuei replied quickly. "I just went to the doctor, but he wasn't there... Your eminence, please help him!"
"Take me to your house!" Mitsukake cried, taking Chuei's arm. Chuei did so. Mitsukake looked Tamahome's father over when they arrived and made some quick mental notes. "He seems weak," he stated seriously.
"Please sir," Chuei pleaded. "Can you do something to help him!?"
"Don't worry, Chuei!" Miaka stated reassuredly. Mitsukake nodded and waved his hand over Tamahome's father. The familiar white light shone dimly for a moment before fading away. Tamahome's father eyes fluttered open and he looked around wildly, then sat up quickly.
"What is..." he began, but Chuei cut him off.
"F-Father..." Chuei whispered in disbelief.
"He'll be alright now. I was able to cure him," Mitsukake explained.
"Th-Thank you so much!!" Chuei cried. "I don't know what to do to repay you..." he paused when Mitsukake swayed a little.
"Mitsukake!?!" Miaka asked. He nodded.
"I just need soe rest... I use my own strength to heal. I can only heal once a day," he mumbled weakly (Didn't he just heal twice with Shoka and Miaka??)
Chuei reached towards Mitsukake to reveal a handful of money. "Mister... It's all the money we have..." he stated.
"I don't want it," Mitsukake replied. "Fish would help your father. Use the money to buy some for him... and for this one too," Mitsukake laughed at his cat, who was meowing like it hadn't been fed in days.
"I'll do that right now!" Chuei cried happily. Everybody seemed to wake from their trance at this point. Hotohori looked around, shocked.
"Th-This is Tamahome's home... Wh-What miserable accomodations! We never knew people could be so wretchedly poor!" he cried.
"Your highness..." Kori whispered, sweat-dropping, "You're talking about yourself in the term we." Hotohori ignored her.
"As emporer we must help the destitute rise above these deplorable conditions!" He conitnued. Gyokuran looked on in admiration. "What plaques you, child?" Hotohori asked her. She smiled.
"Are you Tamahome's wife?" she asked. Hotohori sighed.
"We are a man," he stated. Kori sweat-dropped again.
"Yeah. But you're so beautiful!" Gyokuran continued.
"Her honesty belies her wretched poverty!" Hotohori cried. Tasuki sweat-dropped with Kori for a few minutes after.
"Sir, I brought the fish," interrupted a voice. "I'll cook and clean it now..." Everybody turned to see Chuei standing in the door. However...
"Ta... Tamahome!?" Miaka cried, mistaking the boy for her lover. She pounced him immediately.
"No, it's me, Chuei!" Chuei cried helplessly under her. She stood quickly.
"With his hair in a pony tail, he bears a striking resemblance to his brother," Hotohori noted, looking over the very embarassed Chuei.
"You caught the fish at the river!?" Nuriko cried, noting the trap. "What about Tamahome's money?"
"Money must be used sparingly!" Chuei stated officially. "According to my estimates..." he rambled for a few moments and Nuriko chuckled.
"It isn't just looks! He's a mini Tama-baby!" he laughed.
Miaka's eyes teared a little, but she said nothing.
Later that night, Kori lay in bed. (Super-duper time travel… my favorite part of writing…)
'Oh my god...' she thought, looking side to side. 'I'm sleeping between two guys...' she looked again, revealing Tasuki to her left and Hotohori to her right. She sighed nervously and closed her eyes. It couldn't be as bad as she was making it… SO long as neither one of them touched her. Oh, if one of them even so much as nudged her… A shrill scream caused her eyelids to fly open again.
"Wha..." she asked as Tasuki and Hotohori both sat up.
"Miaka!" was what Hotohori first cried, grabbing his sword. Tasuki grabbed his tessen and followed, Kori right behind him with bow and arrows ready.
"Miaka!" Hotohori cried again when they reached the room. Hundreds of bats, it seemed, were attacking Miaka. He began attacking the bats as well. Tasuki and Kori both began to try and fight off, but Kori proved usless in that when she went to attack, the bats attacked her as well.
"Tasuki, help us!" Hotohori cried desperately. Tasuki had since proven helpless because he was trying to help Kori.
"All right! I'll burn th'bats off!" he shouted. "Rekka Shin'en!" It would have been successful, had the wind not caught it and sent the fire right back at them. Tasuki's attempt had failed.
"Argh!" Kori cried. The bats were now attacking her as well, and nipping at her arms and legs mercilessly.
"Someone's doing this!" Miaka shouted. "Someone from Kuto!?" She stopped suddenly and perked her ears. Kori did so also, and both could hear a faint flute. The bats all stopped attacking then and flew out the window.
"They're bashing themselves into the trees!" Kori cried, pointing to the bats running into the trees. The five all ran out of the building. Moments after they got outside, a man fell from a nearby tree. A boy revealed himself at this point and everybody gasped when they saw his flute.
"So you were the one... playing the flute...?" Miaka asked him.
"I used my flute to channel my energy into him, and it drove him insane," the boy nodded. "You're safe now." The boy swayed suddenly and collapsed.
"Hey!" Miaka cried. "Are you all right!?"
"Get up, man!" Tasuki added, nudging the boy. This small gesture revealed a symbol on the boy's stomach. Miaka gasped.
"It's... it's... The seventh constellation of Suzaku!"
The boy moaned. "They call me Chiriko... I'm fifteen years old... I lived in a village close to here..." He moaned again. "...Until recently when the Kuto army destroyed it."
"Leaving you the town's only survivor," Miaka noted.
"Well, yer safe now," Tasuki stated.
"Let's take him back to Tamahome's place," Kori offered. The others nodded, except Miaka, who thought for a moment with a very joyful expression on her face. She let a tear fall before following the others.
***
And we're… cut! Miaka's doing good as a Priestess, ya?
WRONG! But you all know what happens, right? SO I won't go into the mysterious "You'll just have to wait and see what happens" biz! You'll just have to wait and see how Kori affects it, that's all!
Okay, well I noticed that my author's notes are getting longer and longer, so I'll just stop here!
Stay tuned for the next episode of Secrets Best Left Alone, Chapter Eight: Remote Reunion!!!
~Taryn Eithne
Here's the teaser for the next chapter:
"Boy, Earth-girls could really get hungry."