I just want to say now that I love you, Seasyngr. Your reviews are just so inspiring… so this chapter is for you! Mainly just cuz it answers so many of your questions, but… well, I just felt like it! So Merry Belated Christmas!

To Spirit Element: Thank you so much! I would really appreciate it (and my reviews would, too!) ^^ I just love getting reviews…

But anyway, I don't

Chapter Eighteen: A Turn of the Tides

"Hey, everyone! Let's go for it! Let's pray and see what happens!"

Miaka and the seven Suzaku Warriors all gathered around the still burning flame. Miaka closed her eyes tightly.

'Please, Suzaku… Please…' She paused at the sound of a large clank.

"Sorry…" Kori stated, leaning against a pedestal of a brass-like vase that had just fallen over. "I feel a little dizzy. Just keep going, I'm fine!" A few of the seishis looked on with a little concern for a moment as Kori eased herself painfully to the floor, but turned back and continued to pray.

'Come down to us… PleaseI!'

Something in the fire suddenly moved and Miaka paused. It flickered again.

"Suzaku?" Miaka asked cautiously, looking intently into the flames.

"What are you doing, you fools!?" The face of Taiitsukun was very large and very angry. Everybody in the room except Kori fell backwards. "Oops."

"You guys are pathetic!" Tai cried as everybody stood up warily.

"Tai—" Tamahome muttered.

"Taiitsukun!" Tasuki finished for him.

"We pray to Suzaku and get Taiitsukun! Why!?" Miaka cried.

"What do you expect?" Tai snapped. "You botched the ceremony. Priestess of Suzaku, you failed to gather all Seven Celestail Warriors. And now it's too late." Tai stated officially with a scowl on her face.

"Now you'll never ne able to summon Suzaku! And after all I did for you, providing you with the crystal ball to help you find the Celestial Warriors."

"It's too late…" Miaka mumbled, falling to her knees.

"Now that you've burned the Universe of the Four Gods, the situation is irrevocable! You little fool!" Tai continued. Tamahome glanced at Miaka.

He turned back to Tai and shouted, "Hey, Geezer, you could be a little nicer!!" with a rather frustrated face. "Miaka did the best she could to—"

"Who are you calling geezer!?" Tai shouted back.

"I… uh… hate to interrupt anything," Chiriko squeaked finally. "But that guy over there doesn't look so well…" He pointed to where Kori was very quickly loosing consciousness. Miaka, Tasuku, Mitsukake, and Chichiri were over to her in a flash.

"Kori!" Tasuki shouted, taking her by the shoulders and shaking her.

"Ugn…" she groaned, falling forwards. "It hurts…" Her voice had gotten very high, demonstrating her immense pain.

"Mitsukake!" Miaka cried. "Use your healing powers!"

"I can't," Mitsukake stated back (when any normal person would have shouted…). "I used them right before the ceremony to heal a large gash on… the other Chiriko…" he paused

"Who is that!?" Tai shouted, pointing at Kori.

"He's a bandit of Reikazukan mountain!" Tasuki replied quickly.

"It can't be. I keep feeling the spirit of Suzaku in him!" Tai shouted back.

"I feel it, too," Chichiri stated suddenly. "I first felt it when I saw Kori, and it was then that the Suzaku spirit in Miaka seemed to weaken slightly. As time went on, it grew in Kori and weakened in Miaka."

"Yer bullshittin' me!" Tasuki shouted, staring disbelievingly at Chichiri. "Kori's a bandit from Reikazukan Mountain! We don' let jes any ol' girl become one!"

"Could it?" Miaka asked. "Taiitsukun!" she cried suddenly, "Kori is actually a girl from my world! Could the spirit of Suzaku have transferred to her??"

"It is very possible…" Tai paused and went into deep thinking.

"This is insane!" Tasuki cried again, standing up. "Kori, take off yer shirt an' show 'em what you are!" Kori only whimpered in response and kept clutching her stomach.

"Tasuki, calm down," Nuriko stated calmly (leave it to the other crossdresser to be more sympathetic ^^;). "She's too weak to move right now!"

"That's what Chiriko… I mean, Amiboshi meant!" Tamahome cried suddenly. "He said that when we found the Priestess, it would be too late! Her life force would already be gone…"

"It must have been Nakago's life force energy blast."

All eyes turned to Chichiri, who had removed his chibi mask was standing very still in thought.

"I noticed that the energy blasts he was sending were an unusual reddish-blue color when they were fired at Kori. I imagine that when he hit her it inserted his own chi into her and has been poisoning her since."

"So Kori's really a girl in disguise!?" Tasuki cried. Taiitsukun rolled her eyes.

"The bright one finally understands…" she muttered under her breath. "But this is no time to try and understand. The Priestess of Suzaku is in danger and we must get her to my mountain before it is too late."

"How much of a chance does she stand?" Chiriko asked cautiously looking to the girl whom nobody had ever seen looking as fragile as she did then.

"Not much, I don't think, but better than it could have been," Tai replied drearilly. Chiriko sighed in response. Tai nodded to the others quickly, then waved her arms. Before both she and Kori disappeared, she instructed the others to meet her at the mountain.

"It was 'er own damn fault, anyway!" Tasuki shouted suddenly, breaking the solemn silence. "She coulda told us she was a girl! Then we mighta coulda helped 'er!"

"Tasuki, she had perfectly good reasons for hiding her true identity!" Miaka retorted sharply. Tasuki turned towards her.

"There is no good excuse for lying," he stated sharply before turning on his heels and storming out of the room.

The other seishis and Miaka simply stared after where he had disappeared.

"Well, somebody needs to convince him to come with us to see Taiitsukun," Nuriko stated after a moment's time. The others nodded in agreement, but nobody moved. Finally, Nuriko sighed and headed off to find Tasuki.

***

Kori slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She covered her face with her arm to block out the impending light, but removed it to get a good look at her surroundings. Where ever she was, it was really quite beautiful, though the serenity of it all made her feel as if she could fall right back asleep.

Wait, asleep? Why was she here, if she was just sleeping? And she was… naked?

Kori flew up in the bed and looked around wildly. She immediately regretted it, though, when a sharp pain ripped through her stomach. Well, at least she didn't have a hangover or anything… she knew those from her first experience with the bandits and their sake. That had not been a pleasant morning, and yet this one had seemed okay until she sat up.

Then she remembered the previous day's events. Or had it been today? It didn't matter; what did mater was that everybody knew who she was—and what she had been hiding. Not only that, but she was the Priestess of Suzaku. How had she earned the title? Miaka was a worthy Priestess, despite some easily-overcome faults… so why did she now have to accept the role?

"Hey! You're awake!" A small girl with teal-ish hair had suddenly appeared in front of Kori, causing her to let out a small shriek. "We're so glad you're okay! We weren't sure if you were going to make it! I'm Nyan-Nyan, by the way! Shout if you need anything!"

Before Kori could utter two words, the girl had disappeared just as quickly as she had come. Kori let out a puff and began to lose herself in her thoughts again. Miaka had found the Suzaku Seven, and now it was Kori's turn to complete the summoning of Suzaku. Kori would be the one that would have to—

"Nyan-Nyan has informed me of your awakening. We are quite fortunate to have been able to save you, Priestess." Kori turned towards the voice to see Taiitsukun hovering near the bed.

"Why me?" Kori asked cautiously, puttin gher face in her hands. She heard Tai let out a deep sigh before she heard her spoke.

"There is no controlling how or why Suzaku chooses to act, Priestess. I would assume that when Miaka went back to her world, she did not take the spirit of Suzaku with her. Bodyless, the spirit sought the sought out something to live inside—and it found you. However, Miaka's return probably forced it to return to her. However, it seems to have chosen yo as it's inhabitor, and thus has been transferring itself slowly since it found you again, when you and Miaka met."

Tai paused in her explaination and looked at Kori, who still had her face in her hands.

"You must accept the role of the Priestess, Kori," Tai pleaded quietly, touching the girl's shoulder lightly.

"I… I know," Kori replied heavily, letting out a deep breath. She shut her eyes tightly, opening them before looking up to Tai.

"Is there any way I can get home for a while?"

***

So the truth is out!! Ah!! Oh, and I know it's probably so wrong it's not funny, but please bear with me. I just… thought of it and was so proud and now I'm not so sure… but

PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!!!

I'm desperate. Can you tell? Flames are welcome, as long as there's basis. Otherwise, I let Tasuki have them.

But keep looking for the FIRST COMPLETELY ORIGINAL CHAPTER SINCE STORYLINE of Secrets Best Left Alone: Chapter Nineteen: Decisions to be Made!!! Gee, it kinda becomes obvious wher I start making titles up… ^^;

~Tayrn Eithne

Oh, and I think this is the teaser:

"'I am, after all, the true Priestess of Suzaku!'"